# What a relief



## SteveNT (Oct 11, 2011)

I got into work this morning and someone said "have you heard about the sheila missing out near Cobourg?" Turned out it was my missus (works at a fishing camp on a very remote island). I couldnt believe it.

She went for a walk at 1pm yesterday and didnt come back. I **** myself. 40o temperatures, crocs, king browns, you imagine the worst. 

The cops headed out with helicopters and I arranged for some of the best aboriginal trackers out that way to head across to the Island (I work with them). I've been at home freaking out all morning but they just found her, dehydrated but fine. What a relief.I just had the pleasure of talking to her.

I've let everyone know the good news and I've just pulled the top off a beer.

She will have a story to tell after 24 hours in the bush in that part of the world. She thought she was a goner and I know too well the heat up here can kill you in a few hours if you become disorientated, let alone the megafauna.

SO HAPPY SHE MADE IT!!!!


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## Beard (Oct 11, 2011)

Christ mate. Glad she's ok. What an adventure hey!!!


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## Mo Deville (Oct 11, 2011)

Im glad she's ok mate!


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (Oct 11, 2011)

oh wow!! so glad to hear she is safe and sound!


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## saratoga (Oct 11, 2011)

great news she's ok and look forward to the whole story.


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## SteveNT (Oct 11, 2011)

She had a camera with her so hopefully there'll be pics. Maybe with a bit of journalistic license she can do a book ha ha.

I cant describe the pain I felt not knowing what was happening to her. She did the right thing and stayed put once she realised she was bushed. Must have been listening to me after all!


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## waruikazi (Oct 11, 2011)

Good news mate. Now give her an uppercut for getting lost in the first place!


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## Serpentess (Oct 11, 2011)

Golly, I'm glad she was found. Would have been an awful 24 hours for the both of you.


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## SteveNT (Oct 11, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> Good news mate. Now give her an uppercut for getting lost in the first place!



Worst thing is she's found a way to get free helicopter rides!

Hugs and kisses first, then uppercut!


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## Ambush (Oct 11, 2011)

SteveNT said:


> Worst thing is she's found a way to get free helicopter rides!
> 
> Hugs and kisses first, then uppercut!


 Had to LOL at that one. 
Glad to hear she is fine and well. Make sure you tuck her in Bed tonight.


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## J-A-X (Oct 11, 2011)

Gotta love a happy ending


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## snakeynewbie (Oct 11, 2011)

Wow, glad to hear she's OK, I managed to get lost for about 5 hours once and that was scary enough(managed to find the back of someones bush property and walked up and found a house). It's amazing the things that go through your mind when you realise it's all gone badly.


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## SteveNT (Oct 11, 2011)

Bear Grills eat **** and die. Hopefully Darlyn will tell you her own story. She was so close to cactus today but did what she had to and made it. A tourist would have expired a few hours in. Soooo impressed.


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## Darlyn (Oct 11, 2011)

Hi guys. After nearly dying of dehydration today. I'm very happy to be alive. I had actually laid down to die in the shade
when the helicopter came overhead. They had been over a few times but hadn't seen me. I had lit a fire so they could follow the smoke. I took my pink knickers off and waved them on a stick after falling over 3 times trying to put wood on the fire. I was certainly a goner after drinking nothing but my own urine for 20 hours. Good to be alive : )
Hooray for the police rescue and the special ops blokes. I owe my life to them.


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (Oct 11, 2011)

So glad you are ok! Thank god for pink nickers hey . Big hugs, go have a nice cold rum (maybe thats not the right advice after being dehydrated, but only thinking of your sanity. I bet you and steve will sleep well tonight. xxxx


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## J-A-X (Oct 11, 2011)

There's a lesson to be learnt here ladies . . if you're ever going bush, wear bright colour undies. 

I'm so glad you kept a cool head, we could have had a very different thread! Take it easy for a few days and let your body get over the shock give your man a hug, he obviously cares for you deeply


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## SperO (Oct 11, 2011)

good to hear you made it back safe and sound. What a story  Note to self: screw clean underwear when going out bush bring the flouro!


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## SteveNT (Oct 11, 2011)

Leggage (well some footage in there)











Her lips are all swollen from green ant bites, she picked them off her legs and ate ****loads of them for the moisture they contain. 

What a Gal!


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (Oct 11, 2011)

ouch, that looks very sore.


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## pythonmum (Oct 11, 2011)

Wow - WAY too close of a call. Good thing Darlyn is a smart woman with some bush skills. Now you had better buy her lots of colorful lingerie, Steve. After all, it is a life saver! Of course, she may prefer a tube of cortisone cream and some ice packs for those sore legs....


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## Darlyn (Oct 11, 2011)

Sore is way better than dead, can't believe I'm still alive : )


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## mmafan555 (Oct 11, 2011)

SteveNT said:


> Leggage (well some footage in there)
> 
> 
> View attachment 221559
> ...



Damn...thats from the ant bites?


Very very impressive story of survival and glad everything turned out okay...She got lost on the Cobourg Pennisula? Was it in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park?


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## DeadCricket (Oct 12, 2011)

Seriously impressed with how you kept your cool and followed all the survival guidelines. I've never managed to eat an ant, but out of curiosity, do they taste like they smell? 

Gee my curiosity is borderline inappropriate at times, haha


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## waruikazi (Oct 12, 2011)

I can't beleive it's not all over our local news!

I really need to know, Darlyn or Steve, how did it happen?


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## SteveNT (Oct 12, 2011)

Lynne went for a short walk on Endyalgout Island and was taking photos in a paperbark swamp when something hit her on the head (doesnt know what). When she came to she was groggy and confused. She had drunk all her water. This was monday afternoon. She knew she was west of the camp and navigated east using the setting sun between lying down in the shade and rehydrating the only way possible. There is no surface fresh water on the island.

She overshot the camp and spent the night trapped on two sides by mangroves. She lit a fire but it wasnt seen. The searchers followed her tracks west and continued their search there when she was in the opposite direction. She ate green ants all night and got badly bitten in the process. 

Next morning she was spent and the chopper went over the top twice without seeing her (bush coloured clothing). She realised her fluro pink panties might work and attached them to a stick. Then curled up to die.

Eventually the chopper returned but she was falling down trying to get wood onto her signal fire but they spotted the bright pink and 5 minutes later she was rescued.

Severely dehydrated and face swollen from green ant bites. But she made it, 26 hours in 39o heat without water. I am so proud of her toughness and so happy she made it. I would be lost without her. She's a legend.

The media are chasing her but she doesn't want to talk to them. She is still pretty wobbly.



mmafan555 said:


> Damn...thats from the ant bites?
> 
> No the damage was from stumbling through the scrub. The green ants got into the blood and she picked them off and ate them. Later she ripped their nests out of trees to get more.
> 
> ...



South of Gurig. Endyalgout Island.


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## Smithers (Oct 12, 2011)

Holy snappers what an ordeal, glad your back home safely.


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## Wild~Touch (Oct 12, 2011)

This just proves girls can do anything 

Best wishes Darlyn and Steve thanks for sharing this amazing tale


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## SteveNT (Oct 12, 2011)

DeadCricket said:


> Seriously impressed with how you kept your cool and followed all the survival guidelines. I've never managed to eat an ant, but out of curiosity, do they taste like they smell?
> 
> Gee my curiosity is borderline inappropriate at times, haha



Green ants are full of citric acid and vitamin C and they taste quite tangy. Aboriginal people up here boil up the nest to treat a flu and crush the ants and inhale to clear blocked sinus. You can also get them to bite the edges of a wound and twist off the body. The head remains as a suture for a few hours.


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## DeadCricket (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks 

No wonder she survived with access to all this knowledge!

I doubt she is ever going to roll her eyes at another interesting fact you find out like this one


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## Chris1 (Oct 12, 2011)

holy crap wonderwoman, what a saga!

thats an amazing story, very happy you made it out alive and in one piece!!


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## Nighthawk (Oct 12, 2011)

Darlyn said:


> Hi guys. After nearly dying of dehydration today. I'm very happy to be alive. I had actually laid down to die in the shade
> when the helicopter came overhead. They had been over a few times but hadn't seen me. I had lit a fire so they could follow the smoke. I took my pink knickers off and waved them on a stick after falling over 3 times trying to put wood on the fire. I was certainly a goner after drinking nothing but my own urine for 20 hours. Good to be alive : )
> Hooray for the police rescue and the special ops blokes. I owe my life to them.



There's the title to your book right there: "How my knickers saved my life"



SteveNT said:


> Green ants are full of citric acid and vitamin C and they taste quite tangy. Aboriginal people up here boil up the nest to treat a flu and crush the ants and inhale to clear blocked sinus. You can also get them to bite the edges of a wound and twist off the body. The head remains as a suture for a few hours.



Good info there, I'll log that away. Glad to hear everything turned out okay in the end, it just goes to show what a strong woman can do.
Darlyn, well done! I want to be like you when I grow up


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## Bel03 (Oct 12, 2011)

Wow! I am impressed! Yes, i am one of those girls that watches Bear & others drinking their own urine & eating bugs etc & thinks 'EEEWWW, i would rather die'.......BUT ive never been in your situation either, & im sure we could all do things we wouldnt imagine if in such a serious situation! I will be honest, when you posted Darlyn, that u just layed down to die........i actually got teary! I am SO glad u were found, thank god for 'pink bits' hey!  I hope u are starting to feel better, good to be inside again i bet!


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## Darlyn (Oct 12, 2011)

Bel711 said:


> Wow! I am impressed! Yes, i am one of those girls that watches Bear & others drinking their own urine & eating bugs etc & thinks 'EEEWWW, i would rather die'.......BUT ive never been in your situation either, & im sure we could all do things we wouldnt imagine if in such a serious situation! I will be honest, when you posted Darlyn, that u just layed down to die........i actually got teary! I am SO glad u were found, thank god for 'pink bits' hey!  I hope u are starting to feel better, good to be inside again i bet!




Bear Grylls drinks his piss for the camera, I certainly wouldn't do that. Doing it to stay alive is an entirely differnt matter and you can almost convince yourself that it tastes like black tea, (almost) certainly looks like black tea when you're dehydrated.


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## Beard (Oct 12, 2011)

It just shows how easily things can and do go wrong. 

With a bit of common sense, knowledge and luck Darlyn walked away a little worse for wear but she walked away, which is the best possible result. 

Good on ya mate.


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## Darlyn (Oct 12, 2011)

My rescuers


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## J-A-X (Oct 12, 2011)

"worth their weight in gold" as they say. I'm betting they were the best sight you've seen in awhile


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## Darlyn (Oct 12, 2011)

Too bloody true. I also was very impressed with their water supply, it was much better than mine : )


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## mmafan555 (Oct 12, 2011)

Do you have any idea what struck you on the head? Maybe some type of falling debris or a coconut or something?


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## Darlyn (Oct 12, 2011)

mmfan I may have walked into a branch, I'm blind in one eye. so that could be what happened
but I really don't know. There were no coconuts there otherwise I would have had sufficient liquid to keep me alive.


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## SteveNT (Oct 12, 2011)

Just so you understand Darlyn is no clown in a world she doesn't understand. She has a better understanding of country here than many locals. (Dawinites)
Some pics she took the day before...









This whole process has been a demonstration of how very competent people can become unstuck. 









I think she kicked *** in what she did and did it better than a lot of rough tough blokes I know if their resources were taken away. ONYA Lynne.
My world is a much better place with you in it!



mmafan555 said:


> Do you have any idea what struck you on the head? Maybe some type of falling debris or a coconut or something?



The northern Oz coast is the only part of the tropics without coconuts. That's because we have the world's biggest termites (Mastotermes) and no beached coconut goes uneaten.


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## Beard (Oct 13, 2011)

That's because we have the world's biggest termites (Mastotermes) and no beached coconut goes uneaten.[/QUOTE]



Thats not a nice thing to say about Irish backpackers


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## mmafan555 (Oct 13, 2011)

SteveNT said:


> The northern Oz coast is the only part of the tropics without coconuts. That's because we have the world's biggest termites (Mastotermes) and no beached coconut goes uneaten.



Thanks...did not know that...So their are no coconuts at all over the entire north Australian coast?

By the way if you don't mind me asking...Do you work on a fishing boat in Darwin or something? Your damn lucky to live and work in such an awesome place..


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## SteveNT (Oct 14, 2011)

mmafan555 said:


> Thanks...did not know that...So their are no coconuts at all over the entire north Australian coast?
> 
> By the way if you don't mind me asking...Do you work on a fishing boat in Darwin or something? Your damn lucky to live and work in such an awesome place..



The mastotermes only extend to the east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, so upper and eastern Cape York has coconuts.

Darlyn is a cook at a charter fishing camp on an otherwise uninhabited island in SW Cobourg Peninsular and I coordinate training for 20+ Aboriginal Ranger groups across the Top End. We're both lucky to a degree but it's also a case of "dont ask, dont get"

And obviously there are hazards.


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## ianinoz (Oct 15, 2011)

Lucky.

Next time she goes walking in the bush she should have a few sticks of bright coloured chalk handy in her pocket so she can leave markers on trees and rocks and find her way back or others can find her.

Lucky it's not November or December, this might not have had a happy ending.

Is she considering a job change now ?


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## waruikazi (Oct 15, 2011)

ianinoz said:


> Lucky it's not November or December, this might not have had a happy ending.



It's worse this time of year. We get the same temps, maybe a little hotter on average, but no rain.


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## SteveNT (Oct 16, 2011)

Spot on Gordo. In a couple of months the rains will be here and she would have no trouble finding water. The "build up" is when we have max heat and humidity but little rain. 

And Darlyn will be back at work next week, once her legs have healed up a bit more. She's a Territory gal!



ianinoz said:


> Lucky.
> 
> Next time she goes walking in the bush she should have a few sticks of bright coloured chalk handy in her pocket so she can leave markers on trees and rocks and find her way back or others can find her.
> 
> ...



What next time?


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## mmafan555 (Oct 17, 2011)

Send a letter to the discovery channel and maybe she will get her own survival show


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## Jen (Oct 17, 2011)

mmafan555 said:


> Send a letter to the discovery channel and maybe she will get her own survival show



Hmm, I was thinking send a letter to the company that made the undies...might get a life time supply ;

Great to hear you are safe and recovering.


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## Wally (Oct 17, 2011)

Hey Darlyn, you've made the press down here in Vic.


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## Darlyn (Oct 17, 2011)

Ha ha Wally, got a radio interview tomorrow in Brisbane.
Word get's round, I think it's the knicker factor : )

Good idea Jen, what a shame I buy cheap Target ones, ha ha


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## Wally (Oct 17, 2011)

I'm sure your tenacious will to survive played it's part. Helluva way to become a star. Hope you're on the mend.


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## Darlyn (Oct 17, 2011)

Thanks Wally, all good. Legs are scabbing up beautifully, lips are on their 10th
peel. I'm looking very attractive at the moment: ) Very minor stuff. I'm very lucky.


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## Trench (Oct 18, 2011)

now I know why my new survival guide lists fluro pink undies as a necessary item :lol::lol:
now maybe Bear Grills will start wearing pink ladies undies,   lol
glad your ok though


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## SteveNT (Oct 18, 2011)

Trench said:


> now I know why my new survival guide lists fluro pink undies as a necessary item :lol::lol:
> now maybe Bear Grills will start wearing pink ladies undies,   lol
> glad your ok though



far as I can tell he always has.....


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## Darlyn (Oct 18, 2011)

Wally76 said:


> Hey Darlyn, you've made the press down here in Vic.



Ha ha hilarious did a radio interview in New Zealand today, they were under the impression crocs would stalk me through the mangroves and come and eat me and that snakes line up to bite people. They thought I was very brave, LMFAO


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## guzzo (Oct 18, 2011)

Wow just read it...Steve and Darlyn you are lucky..great to hear you are ok....a freind of mine was out hunting and got knocked out cold by a falling tree branch. Woke up in the dark....said it was very scary as he had no idea what happened. Boy oh boy
Keep safe,
Rob


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## Sel (Oct 18, 2011)

Wow, what an amazing story and ending.
Musta been so scary, hope your all better soon


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## SteveNT (Oct 18, 2011)

guzzo said:


> Wow just read it...Steve and Darlyn you are lucky..great to hear you are ok....a freind of mine was out hunting and got knocked out cold by a falling tree branch. Woke up in the dark....said it was very scary as he had no idea what happened. Boy oh boy
> Keep safe,
> Rob



Cheers mate, good to see you're back. 

This whole thing was staged to get you back in the picture! 

We've been comparing suffering, her physical decline to my mental anguish. Tuesday until she was found was the worst day in my life. And I've had a few. 

Then it was bliss.


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## guzzo (Oct 19, 2011)

Staged to get me back....hahahahah...worked though! All jokes aside....I've been involved in a few searches up here that have no always had the result you guys have had.


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## SteveNT (Oct 19, 2011)

guzzo said:


> Staged to get me back....hahahahah...worked though! All jokes aside....I've been involved in a few searches up here that have no always had the result you guys have had.



I know it. She was 15 to 30 minutes from the big goodbye. She knows it too. So we'll have to enjoy life even more than we already do, doesn't seem possible! 

We'll give it a go though. Crabbing and fishing the Neaps this weekend!


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## snakeg56 (Oct 19, 2011)

Glad U are okay have to talk to the right people and get a story about it I have a German film crew coming here in November should put them onto the story it would be better than the Koala doco they are doing


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## guzzo (Oct 19, 2011)

SteveNT said:


> I know it. She was 15 to 30 minutes from the big goodbye. She knows it too. So we'll have to enjoy life even more than we already do, doesn't seem possible!
> 
> We'll give it a go though. Crabbing and fishing the Neaps this weekend!



Sounds great....I got a couple of game cameras i have in the scrub so i will be checking if i got any good pics this weekend....that is if nobody has stolen them...haha


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## longqi (Oct 20, 2011)

Great news

Tight lines

See you both back here soon I hope


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## mattyg (Oct 20, 2011)

pretty damn lucky to say the least


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## snakeg56 (Oct 20, 2011)

Just reading your ordeal again and I take my hat off to u, most men couldn't cope with what u went through, and its amazing how many fake people make docos and they are all set up like that pommy guy that got lost in the blue mountains, now that was a load of crap but this is a real aussie story of strength and if only there was more people like u who really know what it is like to be lost in a remote area, its not all fun and games , so very glad u are okay


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## SteveNT (Oct 23, 2011)

She's back at work, devising ways to get the ball & chain off and how to get under the new perimiter wire. 

Thanks everyone, it was an eyeopener for a few complacent souls up here. I'd like to quote Guzzo's signature here because it applies sweetly.

"when going through hell....keep going!"


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## Darlyn (Nov 16, 2011)

Hi guys,
Took a couple of photos of the "small island" I was lost on.
Thought you might be interested.


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## Beard (Nov 16, 2011)

Looks like pretty daunting country. Looks real easy to get yourself lost in. You've done bloody well to walk away from that.


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## nagini-baby (Nov 16, 2011)

wow... just wow. glad you are ok , just goes to show that a little knowledge can go such a long way


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## White Wolf (Nov 17, 2011)

Beautiful...but deadly. Glad your ok.


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## Darlyn (Nov 17, 2011)

It is beautiful White Wolf, back out there Saturday, can't wait.


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## SteveNT (Nov 17, 2011)

Same same! we're going for a walk........


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## Bel03 (Nov 17, 2011)

SteveNT said:


> Same same! we're going for a walk........





Dont forget the pink underwear!  Have fun guys, it really does look beautiful!


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## SteveNT (Nov 17, 2011)

I've got fluro orange, pink doesn't work for me. My plan is to steal Lynne and a boat for a day and check out these nearby islands.









Look at the coral reefs around them. MM Mmmmm!


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