Rescued: An Outdoor Podcast for Hikers and Adventurers

Closer to Morocco than Madrid, the resort town of Nerja on Spain's southern coastline, draws visitors to its beaches, historic caves and mountainous national park that surrounds it.

In this episode, experienced hiker Jane takes us high up into the Rio Chilla, a beautiful, clear water walk-in canyon that's popular with families and tourists with a name that translates as "Screaming River". 

It's a trip that should have taken about 4 hours. But as you'll hear, took much, much more. Well-prepared and loaded with research, Jane shares her story of what she learned from a long, painful and lonely night when she found herself waking up to a dog licking her face, the threat of wild boar and what items she's added to her packing list since.

Her story highlights the value of:

• research
• telling someone where you’re going
• choosing a hike to suit the plan
• taking the right gear / being well prepared
• acting fast to put on your warm layers
• using a whistle to try and attract attention
• keeping calm and using strategies to pass time/distract from pain
• the value of satellite communications
• adding an emergency blanket to a packing list

Visit the website for transcript.

In 2020 over 3.7 million people from Australia and overseas visited the Blue Mountains - The most visited National Park in New South Wales. They're drawn to the dramatic clifftop views, deep valleys and diverse habitats that stretch over the 1 million hectares of this world Heritage sandstone plateaux, a landscape that is constantly being carved by water and reveals itself through waterfalls and canyons.

Today, I have the honour of welcoming back to the podcast Matthew U’Brien, who in the last episode shared his powerful story of life within his 17 year policing career.

Most of that was in Police Rescue in the Blue Mountains, and now his challenging journey outside, where he's advocating for better mental health outcomes for emergency services, first responders. If you haven't listened to that episode, I strongly recommend you do that first. So pop out and then return back here.

In this episode, Matt's going to take us inside Empress Canyon, the most popular of the Blue Mountains canyons, when during a regular day at work, he found himself moving from rescuer to needing rescue.

Today, he’s on a different journey, one that comes as a consequence of his years spent serving the community, often being alongside people on the worst day of their lives. This year will see him travel 2,400 km from the Lambert centre of Australia (Heart of Country), to Parliament House in Canberra (Heart of Nation), with a critical message for our Country’s leaders.

He is host of the Heart to Heart Walk Podcast, where we hear stories from current and past emergency services workers and look at the critical issue of first responder mental health.

The podcast is part of the Heart to Heart Walk project that we hear about in our episode.

You can get in touch with Matt here.

Language Warning.

The content in this episode may be confronting and difficult for some listeners; it includes issues of PTSD, depression, anxiety, suicide and trauma. Remember, if you need help, reach out by Googling ‘Mental Health Helpline’ in your area.

In Australia, you can call Lifeline 24/7 on 13 11 14 or visit BeyondBlue.org.au.

Further urgent help and information for first responders can be found at Phoenix Australia.

• Sponsor // Paddy Pallin
• Rescued Podcast main photo // Ben Cirulis and fotografija.com.au
• Nature SFX // freesound.org [Kangaroo Vindaloo and Monkey Pants]

Matt U’Brien’s story is powerful.

During his 17-year policing career (mostly within the Police Rescue Squad), he’s done literally hundreds of rescues and saved countless lives whilst risking his own.

What’s unique about Matt, is that during this time he also found himself in the critical position of needing to be rescued himself.

For this, and many more reasons, I’ve asked him to join me for a special double episode to share his experiences from both sides of the rescue coin.

We talk about what led him to join Police Rescue, his love of the bush and canyoning, and some of his insights from years of helping out people like you and me, who just love being in nature. Oh, and if you’re squeamish about your family jewels, you might want to stop listening between 19:30-21:00.

Today, he’s on a different journey, one that comes as a consequence of his years spent serving the community, often being alongside people on the worst day of their lives. This year will see him travel 2,400 km from the Lambert centre of Australia (Heart of Country), to Parliament House in Canberra (Heart of Nation), with a critical message for our Country’s leaders.

You can connect with Matt and his podcast at https://linktr.ee/h2hwalk

And the Heart 2 Heart Walk at https://www.heart2heartwalk.org/

Check out the current work of the Blue Mountains Police Rescue Squad at https://www.facebook.com/BlueMtnsPoliceRescue

To learn more about what to take on a hike and loads of helpful tips and tricks, visit my website: lotsafreshair.com where you can also download free packing lists for day and overnight hikes.

Or head over to my YouTube channel for over 100 videos on how-to’s and where-to’s.

—------------

The content in this episode may be confronting and difficult for some listeners; it includes issues of PTSD, depression, anxiety, suicide and trauma. Remember, if you need help to reach out by Googling ‘Mental Health Helpline’ in your area.

In Australia, you can call Lifeline 24/7 on 13 11 14 or visit BeyondBlue.org.au.

Further urgent help and information for first responders can be found at Phoenix Australia.

—------------

Sponsor // Paddy Pallin

Rescued Podcast main photo // Ben Cirulis and fotografija.com.au

Nature SFX // freesound.org [Kangaroo Vindaloo and Monkey Pants]

When we hear the whisper to step off the concrete, away from the built environment and into the bush, we step into a world and a place that speaks to the very heart of what it means to be alive.

These places, away from the constraints and controls that are part of our day-to-day lives, connect us to a place that is proven to be fuel for our bodies and the salve for our souls.

By walking away from the cement, we open ourselves up to the proven benefits to our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health; but in doing so, we also expose ourselves to environments, places and conditions that require a keen sense of risk and a whole bunch of skills to keep us safe and enjoying these places for many years to come.

It’s in these places, full of wildness and joy, that we can also find ourselves facing unexpected and unplanned-for situations, even leading us to the edge of life itself.

Rescued is a podcast of conversations with rescuers and those who’ve been rescued. It’s about the lessons we learn about ourselves, the places we go and why - without judgement - to help us have better adventures, manage risk and deal with the unexpected.

So whether you’re an armchair traveller or a multiday expeditioner, the Rescued Podcast exists to help us all connect with nature, the outdoors community and learn from those who’ve gone before.

I’m Caro Ryan from LotsaFreshAir.com - a hiking and bushwalking website and YouTube channel, started in 2012, to help inspire people to spend time adventuring, teach them how to go there safely and then encourage them to do so, looking after themselves, their mates and this incredible planet that we live on.

I invite you to join me and my guests, as they share about the time when things went wrong: what happened, what they learned and how we can stop these things from happening again.

I’ll be chatting with weekend adventurers and everyday nature-lovers, people just like you and me, along with a variety of people from emergency services and supporting organisations, like those involved in training, equipment, research and academia, lending a different perspective for incidents in these wild places we love to visit.

So join me on Rescued: An Outdoor Podcast for Hikers and Adventurers, wherever you get your podcasts.

The Rescued Podcast is produced on the unceded lands of the Gundungurra and Dharug people, of the Blue Mountains of NSW. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and acknowledge their enduring connection to and care for Country. 

Special thanks to our sponsors, Paddy Pallin and to Jen Brown for production support. 

This has been a LotsaFreshAir production.