A beautiful rainforest, just a few hours drive south of Brisbane. Filled with lovely water falls and stunning views....
How My Nikon Saved My Life..... I had quite a good time on our dive boat at the Riverfire festival (see previous blog post), with lots of wine and dancing. Ok, no dancing, but, lots of wine. and, needless to say, I did not get going on my hike Sunday morning as early as I had planned.
However, I had been looking forward to doing this 17K at Lamington National Park all week. I talked to a ranger before I set off and he said I could do it in 5 hours, if I hustled. I scoffed at him – 17 K in 5 hours – a piece of cake for an expert hiker such as myself. It was round about noon, since it is a circuit walk, I planned to keep an eye on the time, and I would turn around at the 2.5 hour mark if I had not yet reached the halfway point.
The only problem with this plan was there was no sign indicating the halfway point, my mobile phone somehow dropped out of my knapsack, so, I had no way of knowing the time and I didn’t take in account how slow I would be walking due to a cut on my foot, and a blister that I developed during the walk. But, not to be deterred from my mission, I continued on the hike and kept an eye on the sun, and figured I had plenty of time. But, I didn’t. Let me tell you, darkness falls in the woods very quickly. The next thing I knew, it was PITCH black! I might as well have been walking with my eyes shut. There was no moon, no stars nothing.
I had brought plenty of water, and plenty of food and a hoodie, so, I was ok, if I had to spend the night in the woods. But, damn it, if I just had a little bit of light! I dug around in my knapsack in desperation, looking for the mobile phone – at least I could get a bit of light. What to do, what to do, I couldn’t even see the path.
What was that rustling noise behind me? Was it a bear? A Tiger? A monster? There was no way I was gonna spend the night in the woods, no way. I was going to escape, if I had to do so, feeling the trail by crawling on my hands and knees. No bears were gonna get me, by gosh! (besides the fact that there are no bears in Australia). Then, I thought – my Nixon! I whipped out my Nixon, and the entire way back, I pressed down on the picture button, to illuminate the trail, walk a little bit further and press down the button again, all the while praying that the battery wouldn’t’ run out before I got back! But, by the grace of god and my angels looking after me, I made it back to the car, safe in sound. I will NEVER go hiking without a torch again!!! And that, myfriends, is how my Nikon saved my life! Or at least saved me from spending the night in the woods.
2 comments:
Whipped out your Nixon, huh? That can get you slapped on this side of the Pacific!
Hi Gary!
Too funny! I had Nikon mispelled everywhere! how embarssing!
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