Rescue part of Amy's life

Amy Cullen's love of the bush has spurred her involvement in search and rescue and she's been a member of the Hamilton SAR Group for a little over a year.

Amy has been a tramper on and off all of her life but has been more serious about it in the last seven or eight years.

She's worked with Colin at Hamilton's central city Trek 'n' Travel shop for three years and is right at home amongst the tramping gear there.

The Hamilton SAR group has around 40 members and the next initial selection process coming up has about six people wanting to join. Amy says there are a few requirements before acceptance into Hamilton SAR - you must prove you have good navigation skills and the ability to survive in the bush.

"Then you go on probation and you have to do a certain number of courses and attend a number of trainings and call outs before you can be considered to be part of the first response team," she says.

Members of the Hamilton SAR group attend monthly meetings and an evening tracking training once a month. There are also exercises as part of their work, where they will go out into the bush for weekend training events.

Amy says she really enjoys being in the bush and it's nice to know if she ever lost her bearings SAR is set up to help people.

"I want to be able to contribute to helping people."

"It must be horrific to be sitting in the middle of the bush, freezing cold and alone at night - I want people to enjoy their bush experience. If I can help by finding them, I hope it turns their outdoor encounter into a better experience," she says.

Amy assisted for one day in the recent search for Ronnie Fong in the Hunua Ranges.

The Auckland Land SAR group co-coordinated the search, and called the Hamilton SAR group on the Monday of the search to see if they had volunteers who could help.

When a search starts, SAR members are sent a pager message to which they respond whether they are available or not to take part.

Not all of the volunteers' time is spent in the bush.

Amy says the group does a lot of urban searches as well; sometimes looking for people with Alzheimer's or dementia who have wandered off but not aware they are lost. Sometimes they are involved in looking for missing children.

She says a lot of searches are in the weekends because that's the time people are out and about in the bush.

"Or, quite often it will be a Monday morning because someone was meant to be back on Sunday night," she says.

The members are normally on call as volunteers for the police seven days a week, 24 hours a day as a callout can be activated at any time.

Amy tramps with her partner and friends She loves to be in the bush but off the beaten track.

More on the Hamilton SAR Group at www.hsar.org.nz.