By mid morning the following day we were exploring the “Lost City” in Limmen National Park. Towering pillars of rock 1.4 billion years in the making was an impressive geological backdrop to a 2 hour walk.
We stopped to chat to another couple (heading in the opposite direction) from the Sunshine Coast, and Ethan unbeknownst to us continued on. He had become engrossed in trying to spot rock possum scat and I don’t even think he was aware that Steve and I were no longer walking along behind him. Our conversation went for longer than anticipated (unbelievable I hear you say, that Leanne would be chatting for long periods of time!), and when Steve and I headed off again Ethan was no where to be seen.
We kept hoping that he had stuck to the track and that we would catch up to him – but after 45 minutes we still hadn’t found him. Then……. We hear 3 long blows on a whistle – faintly in the distance – then a gap, and 3 more long blows on a whistle. IT must be Ethan!!!!!
At the beginning of the trip, Steve had given Ethan a pealess marine quality whistle to wear around his neck at all times, and he had been taught that if he was to get lost then he was to stay in one place and blow three times on the whistle as loud as he could, then rest and blow again. Hooray – he had remembered and was doing exactly that. Steve started whistling back to him so he knew we were coming, and eventually we found him – not far off the track. He was very teary and shaken, but it was a lesson well learned about staying with Mum and Dad (boring!!). But he also got lots of positive reinforcement for following the ‘rules’ for if he got lost.
