4 July 2013 How a regular Thursday tramp turned into a Search and Rescue. Our group of 16 trampers headed into Kiritaki hut which is in the Ruahine Range at the back of Dannevirke. We arrived at the hut at lunch time and enjoyed sitting outside on a warm day with great views. After lunch one of our group, Keith (aged 75), set off early to go back the same way we had come in. He told the leader, but most of the rest of us didn't realise this. When we got out back to our vehicles at 3 pm we noticed that Keith wasn't with us. We were concerned because no-one had seen him and he must have got lost back near the hut, deep in the hills. Four of our group went back up the track to Kiritaki hut to look for him (another 3 hour tramp!) Our leader soon contacted search and rescue and waited where we were parked. There was nothing else for the rest of us to do but drive home. A helicopter managed to do a search before it got dark and spotted him. About 7pm I got a search and rescue text call out to head to the police station. I joined a group of 12 searchers and we drove back to the start of the tramp. At 10.30pm our team of four headed up the same ridge track we had taken in the morning. A helicopter was moving around in Keith's location and shining a beam down. Soon after we were given GPS coordinates for his location and we dropped down steep farmland and into a stream into the bush to find him. Another team with a dog found Keith first at midnight, our team was only about 300m away. The rescuers gave Keith a hot drink and food, then brought him down to the stream where the rest of the searchers were waiting. Keith was in good spirits and was able to walk out with us. After 1am we all walked out with the help of the local farmer who knew all the good tracks each side of the stream so we didn't have to wade through it so much in the dark. The farmer, Mike took Keith, me and his two teenage daughters who had been helping in the search back to his house where we were glad of a hot fire and a cup of tea. Soon afterwards Keith and all the searchers from Palmerston North got a ride home in our tramping club van to the police station. I drove Keith home as he lives near us, making sure he could get into his house OK! Soon after I was in bed at 4.30am.
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| Arriving at Kiritaki hut |
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| Lunch outside the hut |
