I was walking Alfie in the Waitakere Ranges yesterday and an incident made me wonder. I often walk and cycle alone so always carry a phone, emergency contact numbers on a card, and my drivers license as ID. Rather grim perhaps, but that last one identifies me as an organ donor…
As I approached the end of a track a guy running towards me just beat me to the Kauri Dieback foot scrub station. After he was done and on his way I was scrubbing and spraying my shoes when I heard a sharp cry of pain from behind.
About a hundred metres up the track a woman, also running, had rolled her ankle and fallen. The guy had seen it happen, as she was approaching him, and was helping her by the time I got there. In addition to the, soon swollen, ankle she had a bad cut, about 30mm long, on her knee and had grazed & sprained, or worse, her outstretched hand in the fall.
What I found bizarre was neither of them had a phone. Luckily she was conscious and able to give me her husbands number so I could call him. Even more fortunate we were at a point of the Beveridge Track where it has road access (the yellow circle on the map) so he could collect her. They lived reasonably close by but it was about half an hour before he arrived and she was on the way to a medical centre.
It could have been so much worse as parts of this track are steep, with high drop-offs, and are too narrow for vehicle access other than bike or quadbike. Although it was daylight and a reasonably well used track I was amazed two people running alone, especially a woman after the recent tragic events, didn't have a phone on them.
