Great survival story...Backpacker believed dead in OZ wilderness found alive

So a good news story on ATS, and I thought would be of interest to survivalists

19 Year old Jamie Neale was missing in the Blue Mountains area of Australia for 12 days. Dead of winter (well below zero temps) with not ideal clothing, no food or water on him after getting lost mid bushwalk.

This terrain is dense, and wild and he was wearing black clothing.

Aussies and Brits have been following this story, and believed that the father would return home with no son, it was heartbreaking. He was about to get on a plane back to the UK, when he recieved a call to say his son had been found alive.

The father of a British backpacker found after 12 days lost in NSW's Blue Mountains says he is going to "kick his arse" for all the trouble he has caused. Richard Cass was on the verge of flying back to England when he was urgently contacted by NSW police on Wednesday after his 19-year-old son, Jamie Neale, was miraculously found by two bushwalkers in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Mr Cass was flown by police helicopter to Katoomba Hospital, where his son is being treated for exposure and dehydration. Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, Mr Cass said his son had come "back from the dead", and he was "just so pleased to see him".

news.ninemsn.com.au...

He survived on seeds and weeds.
His story will be interesting to hear to say the least, not many would have survived past 48 hours according to survival experts and search and rescue volunteers.
People do die in these mountains after getting lost.

Jamie had survived by eating seeds and a lettuce-like weed, his father said. "He was eating seeds. He ate some sort of weed which was like rocket, as he described, a kind of lettuce," he said. "What he was saying was he would go up on a height and see where the cliffs were and where he had to go, but as soon as he went down and the trees around him he couldn't see where he was.

Linmk to the terrain he was lost in
www.bodhicottages.com.au...



[edit on 15-7-2009 by zazzafrazz]

S&F Great story

I think in situations like the man was in, it is man's strong urge for survival that wins in the end and this shows that man can conquer nature if he has to.

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Hi all.

Let's have a bit of a look at this. I'm from OZ. Yep people do get lost all the time in the Blue Mountains and yep, it gets pretty cold. But it wasn't sub zero temperatures. They got close - around 1 and 2 degress (Celsius). That's pretty cool for this side of the world and to survive 12 days in that sort of temperature without suffering hypothermia??? It just makes me wonder if there isn't a bit more than we're being told.

I've walked in the wilderness in those mountains and I've been involved in searching for lost people in that area. It's a pretty unforgiving land and to survive on nothing but roots, weeds berries and leaves for 12 days is no mean feat. Some of the berries and weeds are poisonous as are some of the leaves. Eat the wrong one and you could have fairly severe problems.

I might be wrong, but if anyone has seen the TV footage of this young man, he looks in remarkably good condition for surviving on nothing but weeds, leaves and berries for 12 days and he didn't appear to have any cuts or scratches. No fire or mention of making a fire (by survival methods, like friction of 2 sticks) and healthy enough to be able to walk out unaided.

This is a British tourist. He does not know our country, much less our flaura (plants). He's not familiar with Aussie conditions or the Australian bush (which is pretty unique). I've seen survival experts do that with nothing else but a knife and a compass and even they lose weight and condition.

I am pleased the young man was found alive, many have not been, I just think there's something here we're not being told. The Australian bush is a unique rare and harsh place as I have said. If this young man's story is true and he came through looking as good as he did, then I appologise, but I want to know a lot more of the facts of how he did it first

Originally posted by sunny_2008ny
S&F

Great story

I think in situations like the man was in, it is man's strong urge for survival that wins in the end and this shows that man can conquer nature if he has to.

I think in the last 100+ years we have proven that man can conquer nature if he WANTS to. Conquer?....hell, try beat it into submission and make it scream like a little school girl.

Gooooo mankind.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by Jesus H Christ]

reply to post by Aussie Bill


You're not alone on this one.

www.thesun.co.uk...

Yeah ok i know it's The Sun, but take a look on Google, theres enough other sources with survival experts and professionals doubting this kids story.

The fact that he now has an agent and a £50,000 story deal doesn't help.

Then again, the seemingly impossible can happen from time to time.

It's not so much the food side of things i find hard to fathom, it's the water.

CX.

There is a whole thing about this that just does not sit right, it reminds me of the American divers who went missing a few years back. As the above poster mentioned there a more questions being asked than normal.

reply to post by zazzafrazz


player.video.news.com.au...

player.video.news.com.au...

[edit on 22-7-2009 by zazzafrazz]

Yes there are those now saying he could of faked it and have been living off food / in tents etc.

The truth will emerge eventually...

Definitely a bit weird. He was obviously expecting a nice strenuous bushwalk since he ate 5 pizzas before departing. Some serious carb loading there!
One wonders whether he had another three or four pizzas in his bumbag!

I've spent most of my life here in Oz, and I've done some pretty grueling long bushwalks over the years, mostly during winter months, in similar country to where our hero went missing. After three or four days, with reasonably nutritious light weight rations, my weight drops dramatically and I look like hell. And I've got the benefit of a sleeping bag as well, as well as map and compass. (self inflicted misery - only myself to blame!)

I believe this escapade had nothing to do with survival. It's far more likely that he took a temporary retreat, hid up and contemplated his navel (or the fat media fees) while munching on leftover pizza crusts.

Interestingly, his initial intention to give all of his media fees to the search and rescue organisations, seems to have undergone a bit of a turnaround. I'll be curious to see how much actually does get donated to the SAR people who spent so much time looking for him.

Originally posted by tangotemper
Interestingly, his initial intention to give all of his media fees to the search and rescue organisations, seems to have undergone a bit of a turnaround. I'll be curious to see how much actually does get donated to the SAR people who spent so much time looking for him.

I read about this yesterday, he has looked up and said he will not be sharing the money with his dad, but will be keeping it for himself.

I'd love a survival instructor to offer him another £50,000 to go out with this lad, with exactly the same gear and show them how he did it.

CX.

yes i read today the dad and he are in a battle already and that the dad has left him here to go and negotiate a price for his own story...eee
families ha?>

The son said he was suprised his father came out as they had no relationship anymore....could be media beat up, time will tell

reply to post by CX


Plenty of water there - Lots of beautiful waterfalls. It's the sart of at least one river in the area called the Nepean. BUT from my experience, even in the high country, it's polluted. Many (yeah many, many, many ) years ago, when I was a teenager, I went for a holdicay and a bush walk there and I drank the beautiful sweet water, staight out of the waterfall, only to dicover about 800 metres (half a mile) down stream there was a sign saying "Do not drink - Polluted Water". I spent 3 days on the toilet. With the population increases and the tourist increases we have had in the many years since then, I doubt thet drinking that beautiful cool water will have become any cleaner, but even if it has, note some of the other posts from experienced bush walkers - you lose condition and How do you stay warm without a fire???

What I find fishy about this story is this 19 yo kid from the UK goes through the effort to learn what kinds of wild plants to eat in the Australian Blue Mountains during Winter, but fails to bring navigational aids? I call shenanigans.

Sounds to me like the kid was planning on getting lost.

Make sure you have at least a topographic map & a compass. There is no reason not have a GPS unit either. You can buy them used for like $25.00 on ebay. Learn how to use that stuff, bring a few extra sets of batteries and never get lost again!!!!

Honestly, in this day and age there is absolutely no excuse for getting lost in the woods. No excuse.


[edit on 25-7-2009 by harrytuttle]

[edit on 25-7-2009 by harrytuttle]

reply to post by Aussie Bill


I've spent a lot of time in that area myself, well 30 years ago, bushwalking and rockclimbing, the Narrowneck Peninsula area where he was reportedly found is a rockclimbers playground and I have to agree about the state of the streams (polluted) but not all of them are as not all of the plateaus they fall from are inhabited and this applies to the Narrowneck area - there's just a rough dirt track winding along the top of it. On the valley floor the bush is so thick you could be metres from an established walking track and not realise it. If you are lost and manage to get to the top of the loose scree slopes you're then looking at cliffs up to 1000'+ high. There is the system of steel ladders on Narrowneck if you manage to find it but with no idea of the area - needle in a haystack.

He has had a lot of airtime on TV and actually showed the scratches from bashing through that bush which looked very typical from my experiences there. Somehow this whole media circus reminds me of the guy who was lost in the Himalayas and managed to survive and, like him, I have no reason to doubt his story. Maybe he's now seen to be cashing in on his remarkable survival but who wouldn't with the media knocking on his door offering tempting money for exclusive rights.