I HAVE no idea how the police and rescue services feel about the "lost" hiker Timo Aason, the man who went into the ranges last week and didn't come back to collect his car, sparking a police and search and rescue alert. Relief, perhaps, that they're not slow-walking a bodyin a large plastic bag out of the Rimutaka Ranges. When you weigh things up, a story that does not conclude with a dead body is a good day.
But tempered with that has to be exasperation. I'm sure there are plenty of places you can leave a car with no one particularly caring. You could probably park your sedan, with a dismembered body in the boot, somewhere like the long-term carparking at Auckland airport or outside the toilets in Featherston without causing much of a murmur. But out in rural areas farmers do notice when something like a car has been around for more than a couple of days. Farmers, I imagine, tend to be a bit wary of things that shouldn't be there, considering their vulnerability to theft. But it is also laudable a farmer has the sort of public concern to inform police when things don't seem right. As police often say, there's nothing wrong with a good faith phone call. If things turn out okay, no harm, no foul.
This was certainly a justified alert considering the last time a car was left by itself on Western Lake Rd, police were fishing the dead driver out of Lake Wairarapa.
In previous articles the Times-Age has made a big fuss about personal locator beacons and the marvels of technology that enable rescuers to find hikers that have gotten into trouble. What we tend to forget is how do we find hikers that have made it to the other side and are now chilling out with mates, in surburbia, over a cuppa.
In those instances it is the old-fashioned methods that still hold true. Tell someone where you are going. Then tell someone when you've made it to your destination. Hell, leave a note in your car, like people do with hut logbooks, to indicate your intentions.
It's not unreasonable to leave your car at a location, and come back to it later. But here in Wairarapa, we do pay attention to what's going on near our bush reserves and walks. We really, really hate it when people don't have a positive experience with our bush walks. So do us a favour, and check in.
