Member - Blue (VIC) replied:

"Why do they pay a guide to lose them"

Not sure about that... Many years ago, a mate and I went to the Alice and did a 3 day organised tour of Ularoo and Kings Canyon. There were two tourists, one Japanese and the other Dutch who insisted on making life hell for the guides. They both constantly wandered off to look at stuff without notifying the guides. They were both sat down for a gentle talking to by the guides, citing the dangers of the area in combination with the extreme heat. Both continued to screw up the tour for the rest of us and would roll their eyes when the guides cracked up. The Japanese guy suddenly forgot he could speak english and started giving everyone a right old serve in his native tongue. Got to the point where the guides got some coppers out there and had them removed from the group. They didn't give a crap about the dangers or the rest of the group and really upset the apple cart.

I'm not saying this woman is like this but it was an eye opener for me... Had these two gone missing, I'm sure the guides would've copped a toasting over the issue. I think tourists need to be held accountable for their own actions... If you have been paying attention to your guides, how can you possibly inadvertantly get separated from them...??? We were told to inform the guides of your every move, from looking at a flower to taking a dump... They really stressed the fact that they didn't want to lose anyone...

Rant over...

Willem replied:

Ahhh the risks we take

John L G replied:

It's a people thing.

I think your average Joe is so used to being shielded from the dangers of life from a TV mentality, that when instruction is given by others who know better, this is selfishly ignored sometimes with fatal outcomes.

I have had two instances lately which simply makes me scratch my head and wonder as to the intelligence or lack of it from what I thought were otherwise clued up people with a brain.

First was a minor incidence in some virgin sand dune country with some novices in their dad's L/C. As the area was un-traveled with soft sand and lots of smallish but steep dunes with blind crests, I sent my son in first toward the beach area to see if it was doable with the option of winching him out if it proved a bit tricky. He got through ok , radio’d the conditions and tricky bits and so we sent the visitors in with strict instructions to keep on the radio and let us know if any problems.
You guessed, it silence ensued for five minutes and by the time I hoofed it in, I found them at the bottom of a dip on the new track, bogged to the windows with all wheels going flat out and determined to get to China. Apparently didn’t need our help and were going to get out by themselves.
Difficult winch out but they refused to communicate, call for help or abide by some simple rules.
Dumb!!!

Another incident involved water after bowing to pressure to teach a friend’s wife how to SCUBA dive. This girl was a highly intelligent, top of the heap business exec with good athletic abilities so after much pre-dive instruction on equipment, procedures etc and importantly maintaining contact with your buddy whilst underwater, in we went.
That was the last I saw of her.
Spent the next 45 minutes trying to find her and she wondered why I was just a tad cross when she finally surfaced some distance away, out of air and having had a wonderful time. Her husband was also frantic at this time because I had told him of the problem and he was circling the bay looking for bubbles or bodies.

Not fun I can assure you.

So what do you do about them????

I haven’t the slightest idea. Just make sure you are not ultimately responsible for them I suppose.

John G