Yeah, he was lucky, it was a bit of luck they even found the cave he went into and this was only because they were smart enough to pull in cavers who knew the area and knew Geoff to narrow down the search.
Court wise, I think some decided there was going to be an example made...
I was wondering where the "compensation" was going to go.... it seems it goes to National Parks and Wildlife and the NSW Police (see below), this kind of stinks because there were a lot more groups than that responded to the rescue. Three? of groups of VRA (Volunteer Rescue Assoc), NSW Cave Rescue (which provided expertise without which Geoff would probably not be alive) Paramedics, a couple of caving clubs, Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue and more that I don't know about and lots of individual cavers.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24174616-5001021,00.htmlWhat you guys probably don't know is according to an email ozcavers got from Geoff, he tried on many occasions he tried to publicly thank all of those involved in his rescue, Geoff also knew a large number of the guys in cave rescue and other cavers who came to help, I've no doubt he would have tried to thank everyone, indeed he sent an email to ozcavers email list in an effort to thank everyone. It seems the media edited out his efforts to thank everyone
I guess the media wanted to paint Geoff and cavers as foolhardy risk takers that chew up government resources in their rescue without care for the consequences, because this is what the public want to hear. Everyone, Geoff included says he did the wrong thing but the media could at least try to portray the fact that he's sorry for the hassle, time, money and damage to the cave his rescue caused...
Posted: Aug 13, 2008 4:21 am