CAUGHT ON A CLIFF

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1931, Page 9

CAUGHT ON A CLIFF

WALKING PARTY’S PERIL. IMPRISONED BY DARKNESS. Caught on a shelf of a cliff 400 ft. above sea level, at Hell Hole, Bulge, near Otford, New South Wales, a few nights ago, a party of five women and three men were in a perilous position before they were rescued. The party, all of whom were from Sydney, had spent the day on a walking tour of the vicinity, and were trying to make their way back to Lillydale. Following the tortuous paths up the side of the clifl, they selected what they thought would prove a short cut, only to find, to their dismay, that it ended in a shelf at a dead end. By this time darkness had fallen, and rather than Fisk the dangers of retracing their steps, they decided to remain, and hope that their calls for aid might be heard. Eventually they succeeded by this means in attracting the attention of Mr. M. Collins, an Otford fisherman, whose camp is about a mile away. Scrambling down from the summit and occasionally aiding himself with a. rope, Mr. Collins finally succeeded in reaching the parly. Then, one by one, he lowered them 40ft. to the pathway they had previously traversed. Many people had been aware of the party’s intentions, and when they failed to return at the appointed time all sorts of rumours became current. One was that they hqd become engulfed in one of the' itiinor landslides for which the Hell Hole is notorious, and 50 people, led bv two policemen and a. doctor, set out in ears and on foot, with lanterns and ropes. After scrambling along the rocky path for several miles, the rescue party picked out the light from Mr. Collins’ lantern far below. After a hazardous descent they succeeded in reaching the Sydney party and showed them the. path back to the summit.