Surviving the Pilbara: Lessons from a 9-day Survival Course by Jeff Dean

In 2018 I embarked on a big adventure. A nine-day survival course in Western Australia’s Pilbara Region.??Seven strangers from around Australia with no food or water (unless we found it) just the clothes on our back, a small bag, survival kit each and a topographical map.??Sleeping in the dirt each night, we trekked roughly 80kms through rugged terrain full of spinifex towards a rescue point. It was one of the most challenging yet amazing experiences I‘ve had.

But why would I subject myself to that you ask?

I’ve always had an adventurous streak.??Growing up, the weekend meant family-time and we spent it bushwalking, climbing trees (me), beach exploring and fishing.??As I got older it was spearfishing, camping and 4x4 adventures; in recent years it’s been eating up the horizon on a motorcycle.?

Throughout my life, I have always daydreamed about being stranded on a tropical island and how I would survive.??I’m sure it’s a common thought among people, but for me, it was recurring. Learning about survival and bushcraft is a passion of mine. So when an opportunity came up for me to learn survival skills with Bob Cooper I jumped at the chance.

I first met Bob in 2011 while FIFO in Mining in Western Australia where he trained me and others in snake catching and relocation. With a no-nonsense style and a dry sense of humour, Bob is a legend when it comes to outback survival having spent most of his life dedicated to learning and teaching survival in Australia and overseas. He has learnt from Indigenous Australians and spent time with the Kalahari Bushmen.??

Each year Bob and his team run basic survival courses near Perth and once a year an Advanced nine-day survival course in the Pilbara for a small group, which I decided to participate in.?

PREPARATION

We were not unleashed into the wild unprepared.??To accomplish a seven-day trek in remote country where the only water and food you have is what you find takes incredible preparation; not the least of which is mental. While this was a controlled survival situation it was as close to real as you would ever want it to be.??

People die in Australia each year after becoming stranded in remote areas. Often leaving vehicles to attempt a walk to safety only to succumb to dehydration or heat stroke sometimes within days in extreme temperatures. Lack of knowledge, lack of preparedness and poor decision making (through panic or dehydration) are often contributing factors. Fear and panic are normal emotional responses when faced with a survival (or other threatening) situation and the lack of rational thought and decision making can be deadly.

“Knowledge dispels fear” was one of Bob’s quotes that stuck in my head. We learnt about the psychology of fear and normal human responses to survival situations and how to plan and bring rational decision making into stressful scenarios.

For this adventure, it was a pre-requisite to do a weekend basic survival course beforehand in Perth.??This covered fire making, shelter building, navigation, water collection/purification and some local flora and fauna useful for survival.??A great course in itself and I highly recommend it.??On the Pilbara course, we spent the first two of the nine days further learning and honing our skills before a seven-day trek.

While I still had some nerves and plenty of excitement, I felt a sense of confidence throughout this training.

THE OUTSET

The start of the trip saw us fly from Perth to Newman WA, the heart of Iron Ore Country. Seven strangers from around Australia plus two survival guides and Bob Cooper himself.

Around 2010 I spent three years in mining and loved the Pilbara country. It is rugged and unforgiving as it is beautiful.??However, when you work on a mine site you can’t just walk out into the wilderness for safety and other reasons. This trip was going to be something special, trekking through areas few people ever get to see.

The course participants were of varied backgrounds. We had a firefighter, a state emergency service volunteer, a retired police officer, an old and weathered bushman, a chef, a chemical spill response team member and myself the leadership consultant.

We landed in Newman, met the team and exchanged a few minutes of pleasantries then piled into two four-wheel drives and drove another three and a half hours into the Chichester Ranges.

THE BUSH CAMP

The first two days of the nine were a relative luxury.??A bush camp with a chuck wagon had us well fed.??We slept in individual tents, and I learnt the next morning how loud my snoring was and had to relocate my tent further away for the next night; something to which I felt my share of shame at the time.

We spent the two days learning and practising navigation and survival skills. This included stone knapping tools, signal fires and cooking techniques.?

A highlight was using the southern cross and some pointer stars to find due south at night.??A couple of sticks on the ground to create N S E W and we could consistently get within 2 or 3 degrees of a compass bearing.??

Bob and his team imparted local knowledge during those two days that would aid us on our trek.

THE TREK

The ‘scenario’ was that we had been in a chopper crash in a remote area. We had a topographical map and compass between us.??We all had the clothes we were wearing, an empty 2L water bottle, a jacket, a knife, a small backpack, and a basic survival kit.??No food, no water.??Toilet paper you ask? Yes, a small amount. But you soon learn that when you are not eating much you also don’t need much TP.??

With one final breakfast finished we were dropped at our starting location.??The two survival guides were with us for the first two days of the trek.??Their job was to help us with navigation, continue to teach us along the way and point out local food sources. After the two days, they left us with a satellite phone and a radio to make twice-daily welfare checks.??We were now on our own for the next five days, armed only with what we had learnt and each other.

Spinifex is very sharp grass and it covers a large percentage of the Pilbara. It is beautiful and green after a wet season and straw coloured and dry the rest of the year. But it is always sharp! You avoid it where you can but often there is no way around and you start to get used to being spiked…a lot.?

THIRSTY WORK

It was August so the temperatures were in the mid to high 30’s celsius.??Water was key and without it, we wouldn’t make it far. Due to risk mitigation and planning Bob’s team had scouted and trekked the route a few weeks before and the fact it had rained in the preceding month or two there was water caught in rock pools periodically.??However, you had to search for it. Using high ground and observing terrain, looking for creek beds and where trees were green, watching bird activity you could determine where might be water that had not evaporated yet.?

There were a few permanent water holes dotted on the map which we navigated to, however most of our water came from small pools. Some of the water was ok and some smelt so bad you would not wash your hands in it. In our situation we couldn’t be picky. Out came the potassium permanganate, more commonly known as condy’s crystals. It’s a purple substance and 3 or 4 grains the size of sand could purify one litre in 30 minutes.??A higher concentration would tint the water purple and stronger again darker purple could be used as a topical antiseptic. It didn’t make warm stagnant water taste any better, much the pity.

In our small survival kit was 2 folded plastic bags, that you could use to put over a tree branch or over a foliage-filled pit to collect water from transpiration. As the temperatures plummeted at night, we also had a jacket each to sleep in. We were shown that you can carry extra water by tying the sleeves of the jacket together, so they hang around your neck. We then placed the plastic bag, tied with 4L of water, into the sleeve of the jacket. This gave each person 6L of water if the trek to the next permanent water hole was a long distance away.

We continued to search for and purify water for the remainder of the trek with great success.

RUMBLING STOMACHS

The first two days all I and the group could think about was food. I had never really experienced hunger before, for which I know I am very fortunate.??Chatter as we walked invariably turned to what someone wished they were eating right now. It eventually got annoying, and we made a pact not to speak of food. The pact worked for a while until someone mentioned food again….arrgh!??I found myself craving porridge of all things.?

Something unusual happened on day three. I woke up and I didn’t feel hungry or lethargic and I had energy. My body and those of the team were going into ketosis where the body was starting to consume fat as energy.??We started the day with renewed vigour and trekked on. By the afternoon, the effect seemed to have worn off.??I was exhausted, had a headache and could barely muster the strength to collect firewood for the cold night ahead.??However, each morning I would wake up the same, with energy and ready to go.??The human body is amazing and as long as we were keeping water intake up, we had strength to push on.

We did manage to find food a few times.??In the more permanent waterholes, we caught native perch by using the small fishing items in the survival kit. I fashioned a lure out of a rubber band and some tin foil from the kit.??We caught enough on two occasions for everyone in the group to have a fish or two each. Cooked whole in the coals, it was amazing and very gratifying to eat.??

Other food foraged were wattle seeds, local plants, and wasp larvae. I found a camel melon which is an introduced species dating back to the Afghan camel trains used by explorers. It was bland and can only be consumed in small amounts or it will cause stomach upset.?

My relationship to food had always been “what do I feel like eating?”.??I gained an appreciation for what I take for granted. My body is much more efficient than I knew and I realised I eat much more than my energy requirements.

During the seven days, I ate the equivalent of one dinner plate of food.??Needless to say, I lost five kilograms during that week and yes, I put it all back on within 3 weeks of being home.?

The purpose of the course was not to thrive and maintain weight, it was to survive and enable a self-rescue 80kms through punishing terrain to our rescue point.

TEAM ROLES

During the trek we took turns carrying out different roles within the group.

1.?????Leader:?While acting as the leader your job was to make decisions for the group including which direction to proceed.

2.?????Navigator:?Chief squiggly line interpreter and compass carrier. Does this squiggle represent that hill over there? The navigator worked in tandem with the leader to assist travel decisions.

3.?????Distance counters:?During our skill-building we had all calculated how many steps it took to walk 100m. For me, it was 125 steps.??As a distance counter your job is to tie a knot in a cord every 100m, and a knot on a different cord every kilometre.??Then when we stop, we can estimate distance travelled which aids navigation accuracy.

4.?????Foragers:?While walking a couple of people were always looking out for potential water sources or food.

5.?????Rest: For some who had just finished a different role, their job was to relax. While also trekking.

6.?????Pacesetters: Not an official role but you can only travel to the speed of the slowest in the team.

By rotating roles every 2 or 3 hours we were placed in positions key to the success of the team as a whole and often out of my comfort zone.??Not having done orienteering as a kid, making navigation decisions where I could steer the whole team off course seemed stressful. But I learnt as I went to ask for help when I need it.

If you were in a survival situation alone, you would be responsible for all the roles. Navigation, decision making, looking for water or food, making shelter. The way it was spread between the team made it easier to learn, you could rely on others and share the load. The lessons however were deeply embedded.

THE NEED TO REST

How do you cover 80km of prickly, rocky, steep terrain in 30 to 38-degree heat? With lots of rest stops.??

We would break camp before sunup each morning to make progress in the coolest part of the day. Then there was the break schedule. What is a break schedule I hear you ask?

40 Minutes Walking????????????????10 Minute Break

40 Minutes Walking????????????????10 Minute Break

40 Minutes Walking????????????????20 Minute Break

40 Minutes Walking????????????????30 Minute Break (Then start from the beginning)

During the heat of the day, we would stop everything and find shade for a few hours. Resuming in the afternoon as it cooled before needing to find a place to bed down before dark.??

There was a simple beauty to the break schedule. Human nature often has us keep pushing hard to achieve. Trekking until you are too tired to go on can hinder survival, especially when you have a group of people with different levels of stamina. Decision making becomes poorer, it reduces the body’s ability to rest and repair. Pushing hard for hours over rocky terrain with no rest is more likely to cause injury.??There was reliability and repeatability of individual and group performance by taking our rest breaks.?

Rest breaks gave time to check your feet, deal with emerging hot spots which would otherwise turn into blisters. Check navigation, communicate with the team. Restore.

TEAM DYNAMICS

During the two days when we were accompanied by guides, they spoke of previous year’s courses. Most had successfully completed the rescue. Others broke into arguments as personalities tried to dominate. One group split into two teams as they couldn’t get along.

It made us reflect on what type of team we wanted to be.

Coming in I had been on the basic survival course for a weekend with one of the people who would be on this trip.??They were loud and opinionated, and I knew I might get annoyed spending nine days with them. In the end, I decided my annoyance would be my problem so I’d better reframe my outlook. I decided to put my first impressions aside, be curious, be generous in my listening and build a relationship for my benefit as well as the team.

When someone started to show signs of heat stress, we stopped and looked after them.??When one of the team hurt their back, we took turns carrying their gear.??We talked, shared, sang, and learnt about each other.??We discussed problems and shared tasks based on who was able. I’m proud of how we came together as a team and looked after each other.

THE FINISH LINE

On the final day, we only had 8kms left but we were exhausted and hungry and had been wearing the same clothes for 9 days. So yes, we stank.??However, when you stink long enough you stop noticing it.

The sense of accomplishment and pride started to rise as the finish line grew closer. It was palpable in the team. After a week of drinking warm often stagnant water and little food, we started to talk about what we would eat once we made it to the nearest roadhouse.??

We were greeted at the finish line with water and an apple. The best apple I have ever eaten I might add. We piled into the troop carrier and the guides did a good job not remarking on how we smelt. The final night we stayed at a cattle station that fed us and it took three rounds of the wash cycles for our clothes to stop turning the water opaque with dirt.

I have never been more exhausted or hungry than during this adventure.??There is something about pushing yourself well beyond what is comfortable or seemingly possible. It awakens a sense of achievement, a sense of pride in the team that you have been part of.

REFLECTIONS

Being able to participate in such a unique experience and indulge my passion for survival was something I am very grateful for.??Four years on I often reflect on the experience. Here are a few of my takeaways:

1.?????Stepping out of my comfort zone has been a regular element in times of accelerated personal growth.??It is easy to stagnate, being able to lean into discomfort rather than avoid it pays dividends.

2.?????Confidence: Accomplishing something that required pushing past what you thought you were capable of is massively confidence building.??Things that seemed difficult before now seem more achievable.??Also learning to step back and get on the balcony, develop a plan forward during stressful or emotional times.??Emotions and reactions happen but I’m more able to let them pass, regroup and move forward.

3.?????Risk Mitigation and a preparedness mindset.??Whether it is making sure the toolkit on my motorcycle is up to the task or packing food and an immersion heater to boil water in case I get quarantined on a minesite during covid times.??I prepare and take action to give myself the best chance of dealing with unwanted situations.

4.?????It’s all about mindset.??I have opinions and like to think my decisions are logical.??Noticing my own limiting beliefs or unhelpful points of view is not always easy.??I can be stuck in the way I have always viewed or done things, or I can create a new path by looking at the world differently. I now more often take stock of my own perceptions are they helping me or holding me back?

ABOUT JEFF

Jeff Dean is an Executive Consultant at Barclayss?. Jeff has international consulting experience on some of the world’s largest Oil and Gas Projects with results acknowledged by clients. His experience draws on a diverse background, including safety, construction, logistics, mining, security and 12 years of professional accounting in taxation, local government and industry.

Jeff’s focus is empowering and coaching people to realise their potential and partnering with clients to create outstanding leadership and cultural change.