No pictures with this one, we figured we should let this chap keep some of his dignity on the day, so none were taken. Myself and a friend were running a 48 hour survival course for some city folks. Basic stuff, shelter building, fire making, water, signals, navigation, etc. We'd picked a nice spot near a dry river gully that ran down to a river about 600 meters down the way. Most of the folks were seasonal ski bunnies or bushwalkers, but there was this one bloke who showed up completely in camo gear and with a croc-dundee style bowie knife strapped to his hip. He didnt like to listen too well, but he was getting on with his job, not doing too badly for someone who seemed to have learned everything he knew of the outdoors from rambo movies. We decided that it might pay to give him a simple but important task to fulfill to get him over his all knowingness, so we sent him for water. Simple instructions, follow the gully down, about 600 meters you'll find a river, then follow it back. We gave him a map and compass just in case, and we'd already taught the group basic navigation. Off he went, and when he wasnt back in half an hour we were worried. An hour passed before we decided we needed to go look for him. We found him 2 hours later, hopelessly lost about 1.5 km from the camp.
So, the good bit. He'd set off for water, confident in his ability to survive anything easily! Seems the silly bugger saw a rabbit, and decided his best bet would be to throw his knife at it in order to secure food for the group, which would explain why we found the tip of it on his spoor as he charged out of the gully after the bunny. He apparantly made a second attempt at the thing after chasing it around for about 5 minutes, and lost his knife completely, though we did find it on the way back. When we found him, he was utterly lost, covered in mud and soaked to the bone (swam across the river because he thought he crossed it somewhere, cant figure out how you THINK you cross a river), sitting on a rock trying to knap a knife out of granite.
Always pays to keep an eye on these ones.
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