Two young children and their father were rescued from Mt Nardi in the early hours of Sunday morning after a planned bushwalk ‘took longer than expected,’ police reported later.
The trio reportedly became stranded on the mountain’s walking track Saturday evening after setting out in the late afternoon.
Grandmother to the two boys, Ela Foster, said she was with their mother, Kiah*, when they received a phone call from dad, Rod, around 7.15pm.
Rod told them he was standing on a ridge and his phone was running low on battery charge.
He later told his mother-in-law he wasn’t lost, rather, the fading light and mist meant visibility was low and he knew he and the boys wouldn’t make it home before dark.
An anxious wait by the phone
The moon didn’t rise until very late that evening, Ms Foster recalled, and she was worried it would rain and get cold in the high rainforest.
‘I was very concerned and told him to call Triple Zero,’ Ms Foster told The Echo on Monday morning.
‘We also rang Triple Zero because we were unsure if he would call but he did manage to call them,’ she said, adding the exact location of Rod and the boys was indiscernible.
Ms Foster and Kiah spent the next several hours anxiously awaiting news.
At around 1.15am Sunday they received a call from police to say a search mission had been successful.
Richmond police brave steep terrain in the dark to find family
Five officers from the Richmond Police District had stayed out well past the last of the day’s light and beyond the expected call of duty in difficult terrain and conditions to continue looking for Rod, eleven-year-old Sebastian and nine-year-old Saxon.
Two officers representing Nimbin Police Station, Steve Buchannan and Ryan Laver, refused to give up looking and eventually found the trio in the dark in a steep part of the rainforest away from the national park’s shorter walk.
Emergency services had started their search on the loop but soon realised Rod and the children must have gone deeper into forest where the track became more difficult, especially thanks to several trees having fallen across the path.
‘They went all the way and they found them,’ Ms Foster said of officers Buchanan and Laver, ‘the three others went part of the way as support crew’.
Officers David Richardson, Georja Waddington and Kyle Gowans provided the backup.
Emergency whistle proves worthy tool
Rod was glad to have Kiah’s emergency whistle from her car keys with them on the walk as he was able to use it to signal to the officers when he realised they were nearby.
Sebastian, meanwhile, called out ‘come and save us!’, Ms Foster relayed.
‘Rod said the boys handled it really well,’ the grandmother said, ‘but they didn’t know if they would have to wait until morning before being found and they had no light’.
The youngest was usually ‘comfortable in the bush,’ Ms Foster said, and ‘Sebby had taken a bag with water and a couple of snacks’.
Rod had been staying positive but after six hours the task was no doubt easier with more adult help and, importantly, torch light.
He and the children were cold and exhausted after waiting in the same place so long but then had to carry out ‘a big walk out’ of the forest, Ms Foster said.
Leeches, snakes and glow worms for company
The walk back to the carpark took at least an hour and a half, she said.
‘The poor police, they had leeches,’ Ms Foster said, ‘they had to put up with quite a lot’.
Her family members survived the episode with ‘a few scratches and leech bites, I think a tick bite,’ she said, while Saxon pointed out glow worms.
Rod told Ms Foster they could feel creepy crawlies and other insects on their skin in the dark.
The group also reported seeing two snakes on their adventure, likely a python and a tree snake.
Ms Foster and Kiah drove to the Nightcap Ranges after receiving news of the rescue to meet the boys and their father, who were still coming out of the forest by 2.30am Sunday.
‘I’d like to put it out there to always have footwear,’ Ms Foster said of her lessons learned during the weekend episode.
It was also wise to put phones on lower battery modes and to have a compass and a good idea to have a compression bandage handy in case of snake bite, she said.
‘We didn’t get home until after 4am,’ Ms Foster said, ‘the boys came home and had a bath and then slept’.
Pancakes help boys ‘bounce back’ after big adventure
Sunday was ‘a sleepy day full of nurture,’ she said, including ‘a big sleep-in followed by coffee and pancakes’.
Poor Rod had to get up to work, Ms Foster said, and was ‘tired but in good spirits’.
They felt blessed that everyone was safe and well, she said.
The boys have since ‘bounced back,’ she said on Monday morning, and ‘seemed to come through it well’.
‘They’re familiar with the bush but not like that,’ Ms Foster said, noting it was the boys’ first time exploring that part of Mt Nardi but Rod was more experienced.
‘They were having a really lovely day, really enjoying being out in the rainforest,’ she said.
‘I am sure that for any future walks they will be very well prepared,’ the relieved grandmother said.
Police praise ‘quick thinking’ rescue team
Police said the track was ‘steep and challenging, but everyone worked tirelessly to ensure a safe outcome’.
A ‘great result was achieved’ in terms of the rescue, they said, thanks to the family having done ‘everything to ensure they would be ok in a bushwalker’s worst case scenario’.
The official bushwalking preparation advice from police, which they said the family heeded, was to:
- always tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to return;
- carry enough food, water, and a fully charged phone;
- and check track conditions and weather before you start.
‘Thanks to quick thinking, teamwork, and coordination between police, our radio operators, and Police Rescue, the family was safely located and brought back to the carpark in the early hours of the morning,’ police said on social media.
Rod and Kiah declined invitations via Ms Foster for an interview with media and requested photos of their family to remain private.
* (last name withheld on request)
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