thank you... they should send them the bill.
Posted on 07/15/2009 3:27:08 PM PDT by naturalman1975
HAVING accepted that his son was dead, Richard Cass went to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to have a small "closure ceremony". He carved his boy's name, lit a candle and planted a red rose for England.
With hope lost and his heart broken, he then prepared to return to Britain to tell Jamie Neale's mother he was sorry but he had not been able to find their boy and bring him home.
"I'd prepared myself," Mr Cass said yesterday. "I thought, he's got lost in the dark, fallen off a cliff.
"I'll be honest, I'd lost faith."
Mr Neale, 19, who was on a backpacking holiday around Australia, had been missing in the Blue Mountains for 12 days in the middle of winter.
While he was an experienced hiker, he had not taken a mobile telephone with him, and refused to spend $55 to rent a personal navigation system.
It was not clear whether he had enough food or any maps. He was not wearing proper clothing. He had left a Katoomba youth hostel on July 3, planning to see a rock formation known as the Ruined Castle, and he got lost.
A team of 60 people from the NSW State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service, the Volunteer Rescue Association, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, police and big-hearted volunteers exhausted themselves looking for him.
They abseiled down rock faces and climbed up mountains. They hacked their way through rugged terrain and searched dark caves. They were winched out of river rafts by police helicopters.
Mr Cass, who flew out from England to help in the search, recalls seeing the rescuers in their sweaty yellow jackets, shaking their rough hands and urging them on, saying: "Please keep looking, because he's worth it."
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Great story.
I am so glad the lost son has been reunited with his father, it sounds like the hiker made some poor decisions along the way.
If he does sell his story, I hope he pays back the rescue team.
Wonderful!
Excerpt:
He was at Sydney airport yesterday preparing to board his flight back to Britain when he got a message from police saying there was good news. His son had stumbled into a campsite. He was alive, and on his way to hospital.
“I gave a great shout: ‘My boy’s been found, my boy’s been found,”’ he said. Other passengers at the airport looked on, bemused.
Mr Cass was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Katoomba where Jamie was lying, gaunt, weak, dehydrated, confused - but alive.
It was a moment so joyous Mr Cass could not recall exactly what he had said to his son.
MADE MY DAY!
Thanks for posting!!!!!!!
Wikepedia:
Abseiling
(From the German: abseilen, “to rope down”)
“rappelling” in American English
“Although Jamie did not speak to reporters yesterday - his story could be worth about $15,000 to a local magazine and more to the London papers, although it’s not clear it’s for sale...”
He can hand that over to the searchers.
His father has already said, any money he gets will go to the search teams or the hospital.
His father has already said any money made from interviews etc will be donated to the rescue services or the hospital.
thank you... they should send them the bill.
Thank you, that is good to know....
I cannot imagine the emotions this poor father has been through....the sorrow thinking your son is lost and the joy that he has been found.....what a blessing !!!!
What he said to reporters was pretty clear. "When I've seen the mistake after mistake he's made - I can't say I'd kill him, because it would just spoil the point of him being back," Mr Cass said. "I'm going to kick his arse - the millions that have been spent on this search, the man-hours and woman-hours that have gone into it, all because he goes out on a walk without his mobile phone.
"The only teenager in the world who goes on a 10-mile hike and leaves his mobile phone behind."
This missing “boy” was 19 years old?
Yes.
And, yes, at 19, he’s legally an adult. But his behaviour in this case, I think justifies questioning his actual maturity.
(Also, in Australia, at least, it’s not that uncommon for 18-21 year old males to still be referred to as boys at times).
Stupid is a stupid does. He still wants to continue the adventure...
“...18-21 year old males (are) be referred to as boys...”
-
What?
Do you call an alligator a lizard?
(:-)
No, although I’d probably call it a croc (as I wouldn’t expect to see an alligator here and would assume it was a crocodile).
Seriously - just because they get the vote at 18, along with most other adult rights, most Australians don’t really consider people that age to be true adults yet.
Most under 21s are still living at home with their parents. Most are still in study. Most still act like kids.
Anybody who goes on a ten mile hike and is lost for twelve days has very poor orientation skills.
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