My recent post Personal Locator Beacon explained how taking only a mobile phone when you walk in our Tassie wilderness isn’t smart: the batteries will go flat over time and any GPS location function may not operate.

A couple of days ago a man phoned the Police to say he was lost in some of Tasmania’s most inhospitable territory.  He carried only a mobile phone and had left his camping gear at a spot while he took off on a solo day walk. Thankfully, after two near freezing nights, the man who was described as an “experienced day walker”, found his way to Tasmania Police and their searchers.

If anyone is planning a walk in remote areas in any part of the world, please protect yourself and make it easy for emergency services in the event of an injury, illness or getting lost. Remember in some parts of Tasmania you can be 10 metres away from another person and not be able to see or hear them because of the density and size of the bush.

Tasmania Police made a plea for everyone to carry an EPIRB location device; a Personal Locator Beacon. “With a mobile phone you can only communicate with us, until the battery fails. AN EPIRB tells us where you are.”