Disoriented by heavy cloud and with weather conditions closing in, one wrong turn was all it took to send Graham Garnett deep within the Kahurangi National Park for almost three weeks.
Police have released the full details of the 66-year-old’s ordeal in the Kahurangi National Park – rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kahurangi-national-park-missing-tramper-discovered-alive-in-hut/K6LTQVU5CFHTDHWYJQU2RWRQ3I/">which ended yesterday when he was chanced upon by contractors.
“His family did not know if they would see him again,” said Sergeant Jonny Evans.
“However, incredibly, he was found alive – and his loved ones want to ensure his ordeal reminds others to take safety precautions before heading into the bush.
“He’s extremely lucky to be alive.”
A major search operation began after Garnett did not return from his tramping trip in the Baton Valley as planned on December 30.
After nearly three weeks there was no sign of Garnett despite exhaustive scouring of the national park by Land Search and Rescue, specialist teams, New Zealand Defence Force and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre along with many volunteers and supporters.
“Graham had been on the move much of the time, and had sustained injuries along the way,” Evans said this afternoon.
“He had tried to get himself out numerous ways, by following streams and ridges and finally finding the Karamea River, which he recognised, and which led him back to Venus Hut.”
Evans said during the search the hut – and others – had been checked.
Garnett arrived there only a day or so before the contractors discovered him.
He was found about 2.30pm yesterday by a Heliventures NZ pilot and a West Coast Regional Council staffer.
The pair were installing signs at Venus Hut for the Department of Conservation (DoC) ahead of a predator control operation.
Evans said Garnett remains in hospital, surrounded by his loved ones.
“His family have requested privacy as he continues to heal,” he said.
The family issued a statement via police saying they had “been overwhelmed by the support” given to them.
“We want to acknowledge the time and effort put in by the NZ Police and Land Search and Rescue, including searchers on the ground, in the rivers and in the air,” they said.
“We are also deeply thankful to those who joined two private searches.
“Your professionalism, compassion and expertise were exemplary.
“To those who helped us in the field by providing radios, freeze-dried meals and specialist searching skills and equipment, we are truly grateful.
“We also thank friends and family who gave love and support in many different ways.
“Last but not least we are in awe of Graham, his incredible self-reliance, resilience and perseverance.
“Words cannot express how overjoyed we are to have him back and we acknowledge the Kahurangi National Park as a place of rugged beauty.”
Garnett’s family and police also wanted to remind anyone heading out into the bush or back country to go prepared to increase their chance of survival, should the unthinkable happen.
“New Zealand has spectacular back country areas and a great outdoors culture,” Evans said.
“However, being stranded in the bush for days or weeks on end can be incredibly harsh and, in many cases, isn’t survivable.
“We want anyone heading out to take the appropriate precautions and come home safely.”
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Garnett’s story of survival is matched by only a few in New Zealand’s rugged national parks and forests.
In 2016, Czech tramper Pavlina Pizova watched her partner die, then found herself trapped in a remote hut on the South Island’s Routeburn Track for nearly a month.
Pizova later described how she could see avalanches outside the warden’s hut at Lake Mackenzie, and knew she was stuck.
Pizova’s partner Ondrej Petr had died after the pair fell from the track when they got lost. Petr got stuck and died about July 27.
After watching her partner slip and die, Pizova spent two freezing nights in the open before stumbling across a warden’s hut, next to the Lake Mackenzie hut along the Routeburn Track.
She used ashes to make an ‘H’ help sign in the snow, and fashioned snow shoes with sticks during the ordeal.
She smashed her way inside the locked hut. For the next four weeks she existed on meagre supplies of food, firewood and gas left behind by DoC workers.
She frantically tried to operate the hut radio but could not understand the English instructions.
Police say extreme and severe conditions, including heavy snow and the risk of avalanche, along with her minor injuries – frostbite and possible hypothermia – prevented Pizova from walking to safety.
No other trampers passed through the area; the track was officially closed for winter.
The alarm was finally raised by the Czech consulate after messages were noticed on social media from concerned friends and family back home.
In 2017, Shelley Crooks managed to survive after being lost in rugged West Coast bush for six weeks.
In Crooks’ only interview about her amazing survival ordeal, the 36-year-old revealed to the Weekend Herald that she kept herself alive by eating bugs and plants for almost a month.
She described being injured and unable to walk after a tramping trip gone horribly wrong, and being without food, shelter, medical supplies, phone or radio communication when she became lost in dense bush.
Her situation was as desperate as it gets and getting bleaker by the hour.
But through sheer determination, she battled on until a stroke of luck saw another tramper cross her path – a figure a disoriented Crooks mistook for an angel.
With only tinned beans among a meagre batch of supplies – intended for only four days – Crooks managed to ration what little food she had over two weeks.