LOST IN THE HILLS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 117, 3 May 1932, Page 3

LOST IN THE HILLS

SIX DAYS IN THE OPEN YOUTHS’ UNENVIABLE EXPERIENCE A JAUNT TO KIDNAPPERS. ■ Considerable anxiety, which was only relieved yesterday afternoon, had been felt for the last throe days for the safety of three young men, one of whom was Frank Tearle, aged 16, of Hastings, who left Haumoana last Wednesday on a trip to Cape Kidnappers and who had not since been heard of until 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. For two days the party were without food and were completely isolated and utterly lost in a heavy mist and during the torrential rain that has been experienced since Thursday. The other two members of the parti were Mr R. Gaylard and Mr S. Duncan, both of Hamilton and when they were interviewed by our reporter last even ing they gave a very graphic accouni of their unenviable experiences during the five days since they left Haumoana on their trip. The party wore so very exhausted when they reached Haumoaua yesterday ..fternoon that they went straight to bed after having only a very light meal, famished as they were. They had just awakened late last night and were sitting in dressing gowns before a big iii when our reporter saw them. They then looked lit.tln the worse, for heir adventure

little tne worse tor neir adventure although their feet and hands showed signs of having suffered considerably. As far as the two Hamilton boys were concerned their adventure started on February 8 last when, owing to lack of work, they decided to cycle through to Hastings and to work on the way- They came through tho King Country via Taumarunui. Ohura and Waitonga, taking the new road through tbie latter district which is open to road traffic during the summer months. They gradually travelled down doing harvesting, tractor driving and other work on their way, and they reached Hastings on April 22?

WEATHER FORECASTS FAVOURABLE. Before setting out for the Gannets on Wednesday last they waited for the weather report over the wireless and as the forecast was for northerly winds it.

was considered that the weather would remain favourable. They were joined on this trip by young Tearle and the three boys set out on their cycles and arrived at the Gannets at 4 o 'clock that afternoon. The weather was then beautiful and they camped the night at the Gannets and visited the rookcry in the morning. Their intention was to go round to Ocean Beach and Waimarama and back to Hastings through the hills and they started off on this part of their trip at 11 o’clock. The weather was still fine and when the party reached Flat Rock they were held up, as tho beach was impassable, although the tide was right

out, the earthquake of last year having brought down a vast quantity of the cliff side. The night was spent at Flat Rock and on Friday morning it was decided to go across country, but

to do so meant a climb of about five or six hundred feet to the top of the cliffs and with their bicycles this was no easy task. It took four hours and necessitated four trips before the complete outfit was landed at the top. It. was then about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and a very dense mist, accompanied with heavy rain, overcame them. They were completely fog-bound for a time and then a gale sprang up and they found it impossible to stand up on top of the hill and they had to work

round the side. After wandering aimlessly round in the fog for over an hour they then decided to camp the night where they were, as darkness was creeping on them. They were all very much exhausted, but still in good spirits and they wore able to raise a laugh over tho fact that the only food they had -left were four potatoes and five onions. Fortunately they -were able to find a wind sheltered spot in tho side of a hill and after many attempts they were able to get a fire going, but this only lasted for about twelve minutes owing to tho saturated state of their firewood. REMAINS OF FOOD COOKED. An attempt was made to cook the remains of their food, but the fire only lasted long enough to half-boil their meagre rations. They were quite famished and in spite of the sparse meal being undercooked they thought it a real feast. Sleep was practically out of the question as t.he only shelter they had was a small cycling tent and although this kept the rain off, tho flow of water front the hillside saturated the occupants underneath. The whole three were wet to the skin by then and were decidedly uncomfortable. Conditions were even worse when daylight came on Saturday morning. The mist lifted slightly, but only suffi-

ciently to enable them to see the ridges of the hills all round them. All their food had gone and the night spent in the torrential rain began to tell on tho unfortunate adventurers. They decided, however, that they must make a move, and they welcomed the dawn which enabled them to try and find just where they were. They came across a cattle track and followed it into the bottom of a gully and they were then absolutely baffled as one g lly ran into another, and then the mist again came over and put them in a further predicament. They still had the bicycles with them, which made the going far more fatiguing and several times they wore compelled to let them down the steeper gullies with ropes. They had lost all count, of time and the rain was still coming down in torrents. Following the main gully they walked all day, sometimes going through thick scrub where they had to break tracks to get.

| their bicycles through. Late in the i afternoon they realised that their bicycles were impeding their progress, and they considered it advisable to leave these behind. They were still completely lost and they had not the slightest idea which wav to go.« They could hear the sen plainly enough, but the hills echoed and re-echoed with the sound so that they failed to get the direction. Their intention wns to locate the shepherd’s hut which they knew was somewhere in the

vicinity, but it was not for another hour when, on topping a ridge, they saw it through the clearing mist about two miles away. Several gullies, all of which were running a foot deep in water, had to be traversed before they reached it, utterly exhausted at 4.30 in the afternoon. After resting momentarily they first set about lighting a fire which was got going after they had been almost smoked out and it was with tremendous excitement that they found on rummaging among the shelves, some flour, raisins, rice and tea and sugar. Ono of the party boiled some rice and another made some “dampers.” “The first batch wore pretty hard,” he said, "but after that 1 got on quite well. We did a lot of experimenting in trying to make pikelets and eventually succeeded, and, by Jove, we did have a good feed.” WEATHER-BOUND IN HI T.

They were weather-bound at the hut until 10 o'clock yesterday morning and they managed to appease theii hunger with what little food was there. They then went back for their bicycles l-ut as the tide was three quarters in they had to leave these at Black Kief. The weather had cleared considerably yesterday when they started fot the beach and it was only their intense hunger that made them risk coming home when they did. The fact that the tide was nearly full made this a most dangerous undertaking and the experience the three boys had on lh.-ir nay to Chiton shows how fortunate tney were not to have suffered any misfortune Had they left it for another quarter of an hour they would have been helplessly caught by the tide. Half way round the cliff began to fall away and on one occasion they just re treated to safety when an avalanclu of nick came down. They narrowly missed being enveloped by two ol three

landslides. In some parts the party actually had to crawl on their hands and knees through the slimy mud as they could not keep a footing. From Clifton they were taken to Haumoana by a kindly Maori, and as if adding insult to injury, the car was stuck for some time in the middle of a stretch of Hood water. It was with tremendous relief that the boys reached the home of Mrs Abbott, aunt of one of the party. They had been wet through the whole time and it dill not take them very long to get into warm blankets and sink into a deep sleep of exhaustion. The two Hamilton boys have covered 800 miles on their cycles and they intend to go through to Gisborne if they are unable to scene employment ol any kind here.