Trampers rescued from rising waters say they will return to complete track

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Father and son Stuart and Max Burgess were rescued from Dusky Track after being trapped by rising waters.

Marooned by rising waters and no sign of help, a father and son built a platform together above flood waters and prepared for a long, cold night.

At 11am on Monday, Stuart Burgess and his 17-year-old son Max set off from the head of Lake Hauroko on their 84 kilometre tramp on the Dusky Sound track.

About 5pm the pair found themselves in trouble.

They had just crossed a tributary to the Hauroko Burn when it swelled, creating a small island which they then became stuck on.

The water was about chest deep and the current was too strong to cross confidently, Stuart said.

The water had risen about half a metre in 30 minutes, he said.

The pair made the decision to stay put and activate a personal locator beacon.

It was about 8pm when a helicopter arrived overhead but the wind was too strong to lower a winch down to them.

The chopper then left leaving the pair to themselves.

'We thought that was the last we would see of them for the day so we built a little platform between two trees about a metre above the ground,' Stuart said.

They got in their sleeping bags and then wrapped themselves in survival blankets to keep the rain off and stay warm.

'We got ready to park up for the night.'

Little did they know the helicopter had returned and dropped off a team of LandSAR volunteers nearby, who were working their way towards the pair.

It was about 11pm when the pair heard voices and whistles and knew rescuers had arrived.

They used ropes to get the pair off the island and then the group made their way to Halfway Hut.

The Fiordland Search and rescue team was 'absolutely awesome' and the pair knew they were in safe hands, Stuart said.

The team seemed to even enjoy themselves in the miserable conditions, he said.

The pair, who were from Auckland, had checked in at the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre in Te Anau the day before their tramp to see what conditions were like on the track.

Stuart said a Department of Conservation ranger at the visitor centre told them of the incoming rough weather and said it should blow over in a couple of days.

The ranger told them to exercise caution on the track as it was prone to flooding, Burgess said.

The plan was to make it to one of the huts and hunker down and wait for the weather to pass.

They intended to complete the tramp in seven days, but had taken enough food for ten.

Despite the ordeal, the pair had not been put off tramping.

In fact they had talked of giving the Dusky Track another crack next summer.

However, they would time their trip next time for a better window of weather, Stuart said.

Fiordland Search and Rescue secretary Stewart Burnby said the pair had done the right thing by staying put and activating the beacon.

Burnby, who was part of the responding LandSAR group, said it took them over an hour to get from where they were dropped by the helicopter to where the pair was stranded.

The team had to divert of the track up into the hills because of the water.

Most of the crossings they would have needed to make would have been dicey without the use of ropes, Burnby said.

While the pair were experienced trampers, they were not prepared to spend the night out and were relying on getting to the huts, he said.

Something as simple as a tarp to keep the rain off their heads would have been a good idea, Burnby said.

The pair were not injured, he said.

On Monday, a second rescue operation was carried out in Fiordland after three trampers were also stranded by bad weather.

Two search and rescue volunteers spent a chilly night with three overseas trampers stuck in the Ailsa Mountain Range, near the Routeburn Track.

The three women, who are understood to be UK and Australian nationals aged in their late 20s, were caught out when the weather deteriorated.

The trio had alerted authorities via mountain radio about 10pm on Monday when they were stranded 1600m high in the Emily Pass area.

A helicopter was sent but could not reach the walking party because of low cloud and strong winds.

Police said the women were not equipped for an overnight stay.

A helicopter dropped a LandSAR team of two people nearby. The pair walked the cold trio to a sheltered area and stayed with them overnight and provided warm clothing to women.

The weather improved on Tuesday morning allowing a helicopter to lift all five from the range and they were flown to Queenstown about 7am.

Otago Lakes Central area commander Inspector Olaf Jensen said the women didn't take a formed track.

'It's not a formed track but it's the road that people use.'

The trampers were uninjured and did not require medical treatment.