Karijini death !

Pop, I don't know about you but if I were part of an elderly couple a quick drop of 70 meters would appeal more than months or years in a nursing home waiting for a merciful dose of flu or pneumonia (against which they will likely be immunising me).

G'day Bob,

Sounds ok as long as the "quick drop" is accompanied by an equally "quick death".

I'm not particularly looking forward to a lingering death either but I also ain't too thrilled about an accidental ending just now.

My personal preference would be to get shot dead by the jealous husband of a 22 year old gorgeous nymphomaniac when I'm 93 because he caught us in a "compromising" situation.

(;=))

Cheers
Pop

+1 on preferred mode of death

make that +2

Not much chance here, it's like flogging a dead horse, my wife's already bought my tombstone, Here lies my husband, stiff at last.

Yes I agree. From our experience hiking through Utah and Nevada in the states we were amazed at the lack of safety regulations. No fences around clearly dangerous drop offs, lots of info signboards and excellent brochures, ranger stations and always, always nature education opportunities and guided walks/talks but very few warnings and certainly nothing of interest or value was locked away from touch "for preservation". In fact we were so astounded at this about flip on the issue that we spoke at length to some rangers in Zion National Park - who turned out to be Aussies from Tasmania who had made their way to jump ship to work and live in the US for the wonderful National Park work available. The US attitude to natural sites is to let the people have the opportunity to see, touch and explore it now. I have no idea how they deal with erosion and damage but I didn't even see any damage or even graffiti. So on this issue I reckon they have it right. Now if only they could it right with the gun laws....

G'day Mick and Michelle

I can't agree with you both strongly enough, personal choices go a long way to preserving life and limb, also attitude towards what does and does not belong to you as an individual.

I get some what flustered at the amount of control government and it's agencies force on us, but it's when people disregard signage, fencing or any kind of physical barrier that is put in place for your safety, makes me think some people deserve a lousy outcome.

Not too long back at the viewing platform over looking Hancock Gorge a young bloke and his girlfriend casually walked around the hand rail/barrier just to get a better photo of themselves at the edge of the ofgorge, they ignored the Celtic Cross Memorial to Jim Regan who died in tragic circumstances after the rescue of a tourist who chose to bend the rules.

I pointed at the memorial cross and was told by the girl to mind my own business and that they know the risks.

This incident yesterday was an entirely different situation, but peer group pressure was a factor, the bloke was a 19 year old German.

Safe travels : Joe

Certainly tragic and sad and unnecessary. I omitted to comment my sadness at the story but I had already been aware of the news last night when I initially posted it was in reference to Mick O's comment and I do feel sorry for his family and friends. RIP young boy.

Baz, there is an element of truth in what you say. The proliferation of yellow warning signs along the roadsides is a case in point.
My approach was to sign situations that were "out of the ordinary", for example, a particularly sharp bend that was both hard to anticipate and out of keeping for the terrain. Now days there is a turn sign for practically every bend.
So in The Netherlands not that long ago the authorities did an experiment in which they took down most of the yellow warning signs in an area of one of their major cities. The result? A 75% reduction in accidents! They concluded that the absence of warning signs meant drivers had to pay more attention and make decisions appropriate to the situation.
Having said that, our propensity to always look for someone else to blame rather than our own poor judgement, has led to action in the courts and decisions being made where the costs were awarded against those with the greatest capacity to pay. For example, the tens of thousands of signs warning that "conditions on unsealed roads can change without warning" and "caution, rail crossing on side road" when the railway line is clearly in view running parallel to the road some 20 m away!
Cheers
Andrew

Hi all, I can see from reading this and comments where this is heading..warnings, fences, litigation, restrictions, closure? . good old Aus has thousands of miles of coast, let alone remote deserts and a fair few wild areas with lots of risks and dangers. as soon as you get to a "controlled " area such as a NP or local govt site we lemmings suddenly need a plethora of things to try and stop us from death and dismemberment and keep lawyers happy!
sign saying danger near 700 ft cliff on nullabor is a bit bleeding obvious.
agree with Albany coast example- even after all the well reported incidents over many years and locally instigated precautions 'swept off rocks' is still in the news.
perhaps a few extracts of the Darwin awards should be part of tourist handbook and Aussie curriculum?.

Not that I don't have sympathy for someone's death or injury, but the nature of some humans is to ignore or somehow not recognise natural danger, maybe even deliberately risk it apparently for the excitement and adventure aspect.
MG.

As sad as it is we have to also be mindful that many of our tourists are born and bred in a city where they have only seen people and traffic lights.
When the get here they are very excited and do not have the understanding of perceived risk.
I refused to allow my son to go to Kari jinx when he was at Hale. Having g grown up in the Pilbara and frequented Karijini often I could not trust his leaders with that responsibility.

Hey Munji

I’m hearing what you are saying, but I suspect the problem is we have desensitised people into thinking no warning – no danger.

Mind you, you don’t see too many city-ites standing at the edge of a skyscraper peering over (it’s dangerous!) and possibly much higher than some of the cliffs, so I suspect they shouldn’t need to be warned about standing to close to the edge of a cliff in the Pilbara, but seemingly they do!

Go figure…!

Cheers, Baz – The Landy

I think we should remove all warning signs and let nature sort it out...

Yep was amazed in the USA to see the lack of railings etc on the edge of very high drops.

Saw a kid planking on a wall at the Grand Canyon with 4000ft of nothing behind the wall. Later a mother letting her 3 or 4yr old walk along the same wall.
At Bryce Canyon which is all soft sandstone a guy who was lucky stood on an outcrop of sandstone and did the Titanic wave. No fences at all and would have had a long time to think about it if the stuff had slid away like it does.

Was probably 1000ft down from where he was. Asked a Ranger about fatalities and he said yes always a few who push it too far.

Didnt seem concerned about it though