A TRYING ORDEAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21910, 23 March 1933, Page 5

A TRYING ORDEAL

TWO NIGHTS IN THE BUSH PLIGHT OF HUSBAND AND WIFE. (Per United Press Association.) PALMERSTON N„ March 22. , Details of the experiences of Mr and Mrs Just, who were lost in the Kahuterawa Hills, near Palmerston North, show that they had a trying ordeal endeavouring to make their way out. This was aggravated by an injury to Mr Just’s foot, caused through a small axe slipping during use. Both husband and wife spent Saturday night at a stalking camp near Kahnterawa with a party, and on Sunday they left the deer-stalking expedition. Subsequently a dense fog,, which lay heavily all day over the hills, came up, and, though both are experienced climbers and knew the area well, they became completely lost. The weather remained unsettled on Monday and Tuesday, with mist enshrouding the hills. On Monday a search party was organised when the Justs failed to appear, but an exhaustive search gave no indication of the missing people’s whereabouts. Meanwhile the Justs endeavoured to reach open country, and on Monday night found themselves looking down on the lights of Pahiatua from the top of the hills some miles away. Failing to find a way out of the bush, they were compelled to retrace their tracks, spending a second night, in the bush after making a camp and a fire. On Tuesday the searchers fired guns, but Mr Just was not able to reply, as his ammunition was exhausted. The shots, however, afforded a guide, and in the afternoon the parties came face to face in the lush about a mile and a-half from tne hut not far distant from the point where they entered the bush. Both were fit for walking, but had been drenched since Sunday, and were suffering from exposure, but not seriously.