Love drove lost bushwalker
A look back at significant moments in the North’s history
A TOWNSVILLE newlywed who was found after spending 50 hours lost in dense bushland at Paluma says he refused to give up hope for the sake of his family.
Benn Cox, 24, lost an incredible 9kg from his already slender 75kg frame when he became lost for two nights after wandering from one of the Paluma tracks after spotting an interesting rock formation.
Mr Cox said he was sure he would be able to find his way back to the track, but the growing darkness instead led him to stumble headlong down a steep ravine.
“The only thing that stopped me from smashing head first into a tree was these vines across my neck (suspending me),” Mr Cox said.
“I walked the whole time along the stream and over the rocks. They say it was 7km but I’m sure it would have been a lot more, what with zigzagging across avoiding the sun and trying to find the easiest path.
“During the night I started having hallucinations. I swear I saw people – I actually yelled out ‘please don’t leave’.
“I thought I saw a couple of guys with an Esky. I thought they must be campers. I actually ran into the river at six o’clock at night and got soaking wet and had to sleep in those clothes.”
Mr Cox surprised his wife with a romantic night away on Monday when he decided to go for an afternoon bushwalk while she napped.
Mr Cox started along a number of local tracks but was startled by the speedy onset of nightfall, which led him lose his way and fall down the ravine.
The devout Christian finally made his way from the Paluma township to Blue Gum Creek, where he was spotted by the Emergency Rescue chopper just before 5pm.
“I chose life. I wanted to keep going, it was like I’d be letting people down if I gave up,” Mr Cox said.
“I felt really, really low and depression hit really badly. I had loss of faith, loss of hope, I thought ‘I can’t do this’.
“Then I heard the helicopter and I thought they are looking for me, I just have to keep going no matter what.
“I started waving towards it and it picked me up, and God be praised it saved me.”
Mr Cox’s wife Michelle, 21, had to be held back by her mother and close friends as she took deep, gulping breaths waiting for the rescue chopper to land at Townsville Hospital.
But her husband quickly defused the situation by asking “where have you been?”
In a moving twist, the couple spent the lonely days singing the same hymn Beautiful Saviour to bring comfort during their dark times.
Mrs Cox said her husband was spending time with family including the nephew he almost never got to meet, three-week-old William Hurburgh.
“Bringing him home was the best feeling,” she said.
“We just got by praying that God would wrap his arms around him and let him know he wasn’t by himself.
Telstra set up special equipment to provide a mobile signal to the rescue co-ordinators.
The entire Paluma region is without a signal, making the rescue difficult.
Mr Cox said he and Michelle were incredibly grateful to anyone who offered them assistance including the police, ambulance, choppers, SES and the Paluma community including the Rainforest Inn, which fed and housed his extended family for free.
‘‘It was on that same creekline that one of the ladies that went missing was found later on Herveys Range Rd, so that was part of the reason the search had been expanded,’’ EMQ aircrew officer John Chate said.
‘‘We saw him at quite a wide section of the creek he was in and he was waving madly at the helicopter.
“We put our rescue crew officer down on to the ground and winched the two of them into the aircraft.
‘‘He had the presence of mind to follow the creek downhill, knowing they all drain towards the sea, so he had a plan in mind and he was in good spirits and hadn’t given up hope.
‘‘When you go out searching you always hope for a successful outcome but it’s not always the case.
“But when it is the case, particularly when it’s day two, it just makes you feel that you’ve done something for the community.’’