Walkers Crossing Tragedy Solved Today

the value of this life less than $100 for an becan sad should be like the AMEX

Never leave home with out it

Couldn't agree more. Epirb under the seat at all times.

One thing we used to do when in remote areas was chuck a bit of a broggie when heading off in a completely different direction. This made it much easier to backtrack, or be tracked by someone else. Becomes second nature after a while. You can't rely on GPS all the time and finding wheel tracks can be surprisingly hard sometimes.

A good rifle with reasonable range (22-250, 243, 308, 6.5 x 55) is very handy too. She could have survived indefinately where she was by living off fresh meat. You can buy something for the job for $500 easily. Even by just being patient and waiting at the windmill, I'm sure she could have speared something. As mentioned, tyres, seats, trim, oil etc will all make plenty of smoke if it's not too windy.

I don't know all the facts and I don't want to sound like Russell Coight here, but it sounds like an avoidable death unfortunately.

I suppose it's pretty easy to be critical here and it is sad that another life is lost. I was just wondering how this car could go missing for so long? I know it's a big place etc but surely someone reported her missing and had some idea of where she was heading. I would have hoped that someone would have seen her pass through anyone of the last fuel stops and have some idea of the timing. Why then was there no successful search and rescue? She appeares to have done all the right things (apart from getting lost) and should have expected a rescue.

Anyway I personally do not go to remote areas (even a little remote) without my EPIRB and Sat phone. I don't want to have to rely on passer by's and the thought of having dingo/camel for supper would have me hoping for an early rescue.

Kind regards

lol sorry bout the nic . thanks for your response usually our cookers are connected to gas although when going bush have a camp oven but good to here from someone that has used a cobb.

Hi Michelle

Your pics are just fantastic. Can't believe Chardae is now 18 months old. Will have to update my pics!

Will watch the news tonight - very unpleasant story.

Andrew

thanks for the tip we will most likely tow a trailer but yes it does bear thinking about because we are a family of five so space is vital. but at the same time trying to prepare meals to feed the tribe all at once can be time consuming so always looking for convenience.

Yes it was the single female in the Suzuki - everywhere in Birdsville were posters asking for news of her. V8 - rifle would have been no good in the circumstances as in an area where there were no cattle - the area was 'locked up' (in cattleman terms) and not much native wildlife running around (very dry). She had already been off Walkers Crossing and guided by some Moomba workers back onto the Walkers Crossing after telling them she was heading for Birdsville, then must have strayed north off the track again. Hazard a guess - about 30 klms south of Page Family Grave. Because there were no cattle in that area there was no need to check dams and waterholes. Amazing series of circumstances.
Travellers gets very 'antsy' when we in Birdsville ask questions about where they are going, what gear do they have, what experience, what communications - we really do this for their own safety and sake. This particular incident brings home very strongly that those people who 'purloin, flog, steal, take, souvenir' road signs should feel very, very bad. Our Shire has a crew just going round replacing such signs - especially the small BDV 360/340/320 klms signs which are normally placed every 20 klms - on the Windorah road they are non-existent now.
The area where she went missing is criss-crossed with roads and tracks used by oil rigs. UHF, HF, Satellite, EPIRB - what a difference it might have made.

I can understand why a wrong turn was taken on Walkers Crossing. We went that way a few weeks ago, and from Innaminka, there were a number of signs that appear to have been knocked off. Whilever we have morons that take a liking to a road sign to places like "Birdsville" and pinch them, there is always going to be a risk that something like this might happen. A mate of mine came back down from Birdsville to Moomba and found the same situation - road signs knocked off. He had a lot of trouble finding the right road, and that was using a Magellan Colour with the latest maps. I suppose that the other aspect to this is that there seem to be a lot of new tracks in the area (exploration roads perhaps) that aren't signposted and people mistakenly take them and find themselves lost.

I understand that after the Birdsville races, just about every sign in town with the word "Birdsville" on it got knocked off, and that happens every year. Ruth at the caravan park told us that their sign now is welded on as high as it is to deter morons from knocking it off. Then again, if that's the price they pay for having the numbers of visitors that they get there then, we can't complain. However, pinching signs on remote roads is a bit different. It can end up in someone dying. I don't know if that is the case with this sad incident, but I can see the dangerous potential.

It's already been mentioned here, but if the lastest nagivation gismo's don't help, a HF, Satphone, Epirb etc can mean the difference between life and death.

Andrew