In the morning I awoke to find that my daughter had a very high temperature and did not want to get out of bed. Oh oh, alarm bells, that is not normal! Hmm… we are meant to be walking out this morning, how am I going to get her up and moving? I can’t very well carry her plus our bags! Up until this trip, she had only taken liquid pain relief, which of course I had none of, I only had ibuprofen capsules, and from past failed experiences, she hadn’t managed to swallow yet. Luckily there was cell reception and I was able to double check the dosage. Great, she could take one capsule. Now the tricky part of how to get a sick child to take the pill …… after some important discussions and some diligent negotiations (bribes), she managed to swallow it. Oh thank goodness!

We spent a nerve racking hour, trying to come up with a plan B,C & D, but her fever thankfully came down and she was able to get up and get going. Phew. We called a friend and asked them to walk up and meet us in case we needed help getting her out. Thankfully we weren’t too far into the wilderness, we had cell phone coverage and I wasn’t on my own!

We met our “rescue” party about 50 minutes into our walk back down the track and they couldn’t even tell who was sick! Typical huh! Seeing our rescuers (who had brought their children) gave our kids the extra distraction and motivation they needed to go the rest of the way. We even managed an extra 15 minute detour to Wilkie’s Pools on the way back!

This was one heck of an adventure and although quite stressful and worrying at times had some great take home lessons. I will be carrying some liquid pamol from now on and have since invested in an personal locator beacon. These can also be hired from various outdoor shops. It won’t hold us back from future adventures but rather has made us all the more savvier for futures ones! It’s always best to be prepared!

For more track info check out Waingongoro Hut on our our adventures page.

Waingongoro Hut