Gavin Grimmer
9 July 2013
Here we are halfway through 2013 already, and I just note I haven’t updated this subject since March 2010!!!
Gosh, time flies!
The dog I obtained with the intention of training up to sniff out old engine oil, turned into a bit of a disaster as I got a “Beagle”. She’s a great dog, but as anyone that has a Beagle will testify.... they have a mind of their own! I came to the conclusion that if I did train her up and took her into Jacobs River, then that would be the last I’d see of her. If she got away from you, you would never see her again.
I could then see the whole trip being wasted by spending all your time looking for her! You would have to keep her on a lead, and a dog on a lead in that dense bush would be another disaster as you would spend all your time untangling the lead from the thick undergrowth.
Hence we have done another two searches in the area without any dog or further technology apart from carrying more GPS units between us.
All the searching we are able to do is what I call “Stumble-upon Searching” as that is all you are able to do.... hope to stumble over it. In the bush there, you could walk right past it and never see it, but at least we give it our best ‘shot’.
In 2012, we did the searching in two “relays” as it was impossible to organise a time to suit everyone.
In the first trip in, there were six of us: Clive and Michelle Jenkins, Peter Small, Mike Small, Les Oshea, and myself, and the second: Alec Doig, Brad Saxton, and Geoff Coombe.
When the first team were flown out, the second team were flown in, utilising the helicopter time to the minimum. The Google Earth image below shows the GPS tracks we recorded for both the 2012 expedition and the 2013. Yellow is the 2012 first parties tracks, and blue was the second party.
I must point out that not everyone had GPS’s, so there was actually a lot more ground covered than this, but at least you can get the general areas. Red was the 2013 and the same applied... the area between the blue and the red on that side of the river was covered by some of the party that didn’t have a GPS. The area on the other side of the river between the yellow and the red were not covered as it was just too dangerous and hard going, and the same goes for the area inside the yellow ‘loop’ heading up that way. Our original intention was to spread out in that area, but when we got in there, we found it was just too difficult and dangerous, so we all stuck together (4 of us).
Top Image looking East, Bottom Image looking West (Jacobs River)
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