Man gets lost in back yard..?

Nick · February 10, 2015, 03:36:55 PM

An Aussie guy called the Police after he went chasing his dog and got lost in his own garden

. Self-confessed idiot Jason was only 300 yards from his house

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26450536

QuoteAn Australian man has been rescued by police after getting lost in his own garden, while investigating what he thought was a wild dog, it's been reported.

The man, identified as "self-confessed idiot Jason", by Darwin's NT News, was eventually located 300m (330 yards) from his house. Jason says he had been watching TV and having a few beers when his dog became agitated. He thought he saw a dingo and went outside into his 8ha (20 acre) property to look for it.

But soon he was lost in the scrub, wearing only shorts, with a phone fast running out of battery. "I don't even know how it happened," Jason says. "I turned to come back and all of a sudden I was in long grass. I just thought 'Where the bloody hell am I?'"

He called the emergency operator, but was rebuffed by a dispatcher who said the situation was not an emergency. Police eventually found him uninjured - except for a few scratches and a mass of midge bites.

Jason says he's grateful to police and neighbours for rescuing him. But comments on the NT News site are less forgiving, with one person using the catch-all Australian insult "Drongo".

Plenty more daft stories from the Northern Territory here - http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/only-in-the-territory

Captain Canada · February 10, 2015, 05:07:49 PM

Wow. And he lives in Darwin

kerick · February 10, 2015, 06:17:59 PM

He owns 20 acres and it appears he's never been beyond the back door. Couch potato knuckle head.

Hman · February 11, 2015, 11:55:46 AM

Point 12 o'clock of your watch at the sun, divide the angle between that and hour hand in two. That gives you a North - South orientation line.

Northern Hemisphere point the hour hand at the sun - as before but it gives you a South-North orientation...

No excuse for not knowing where you are

PR19_Kit · February 11, 2015, 12:43:47 PM

A bitch if you only have a digital watch though...............

kitnut617 · February 11, 2015, 01:11:49 PM

Well--- embarrassing to say but it's easier than you think. A few years ago when we first moved onto our acreage something like that happened to me --- although it was at night.

Where I live is in the middle of a section of land (1 mile by 1 mile), actually we're surrounded by sections of land and the nearest town is 25 km away. One harvest time when I was talking with the local farmer who owns most of what's around me, he invited me for a ride in his combined harvester so as SWMBO was in Calgary for the weekend I thought -- 'wtf --- yeah -- ok --got nothing else to do'

So after going around and around for nearly five hours I said to the farmer ' next time we go past my place, drop me off as I have to go feed our dogs' and he did --- only by this time we were way out in the middle of the field. Problem was it was pitch black with no stars or moon as we had a lot of cloud that day, so after the farmer pointed me in the direction of my house (which because I had started the ride in the daytime hadn't got any lights on) I started walking that way --- or so I thought --- seems I got quite disorientated while I thought I was walking in a straight line (this is an empty field now which had just been harvested) and as I had no reference points to guide me I was actually walking in a slightly curved path and I missed our property by quite a lot (it's five acres big). It wasn't until I stumbled on the gravel road that passes our house on the opposite side of the house to where I had been dropped off that I suddenly realized where I was. If it hadn't been for the road I'd probably have walked way out into the next field --- or just gone round and round --

Hman · February 11, 2015, 01:52:34 PM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on February 11, 2015, 12:43:47 PM
A bitch if you only have a digital watch though...............

You can use the same method, just draw a watch face, with time on your digital watch...

Now if the moon....

eatthis · February 11, 2015, 02:44:09 PM

Quote from: Hman on February 11, 2015, 11:55:46 AM
Point 12 o'clock of your watch at the sun, divide the angle between that and hour hand in two. That gives you a North - South orientation line.

Northern Hemisphere point the hour hand at the sun - as before but it gives you a South-North orientation...

No excuse for not knowing where you are

so if its mid day and youre facing the sun then youre facing north?

PR19_Kit · February 11, 2015, 03:09:26 PM

Quote from: eatthis on February 11, 2015, 02:44:09 PM
Quote from: Hman on February 11, 2015, 11:55:46 AM
Point 12 o'clock of your watch at the sun, divide the angle between that and hour hand in two. That gives you a North - South orientation line.

Northern Hemisphere point the hour hand at the sun - as before but it gives you a South-North orientation...

No excuse for not knowing where you are

so if its mid day and youre facing the sun then youre facing north?

In the Southern Hemisphere, yes, exactly.

Old Wombat · February 11, 2015, 03:53:41 PM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on February 11, 2015, 03:09:26 PM
Quote from: eatthis on February 11, 2015, 02:44:09 PM
Quote from: Hman on February 11, 2015, 11:55:46 AM
Point 12 o'clock of your watch at the sun, divide the angle between that and hour hand in two. That gives you a North - South orientation line.

Northern Hemisphere point the hour hand at the sun - as before but it gives you a South-North orientation...

No excuse for not knowing where you are

so if its mid day and youre facing the sun then youre facing north?

In the Southern Hemisphere, yes, exactly.

As a certified Antipodean (I have my Australian Passport & Birth Certificate) I can verify that this is, indeed, correct.

Librarian · February 11, 2015, 03:56:08 PM

I've got lost in bed a few times....only doing what the wife told me to do

.

kerick · February 11, 2015, 06:09:08 PM

Actually, try walking out into a field of tall corn far enough to lose sight of the road or where ever you started from. Turn around a little and suddenly everything looks alike. Happens to kids all the time. So I take back part of what I said earlier. Still probably a couch potato.

scooter · February 11, 2015, 06:11:49 PM

Quote from: kerick on February 11, 2015, 06:09:08 PM
Actually, try walking out into a field of tall corn far enough to lose sight of the road or where ever you started from. Turn around a little and suddenly everything looks alike. Happens to kids all the time. So I take back part of what I said earlier. Still probably a couch potato.

Or the Pine Barrens of South NJ...or any pine forest for that matter. One pine tree looks like another. Only here, you've got to deal with him...

zenrat · February 12, 2015, 01:54:00 AM

The Jersey Devil?

Mythbusters did an episode about walking in a straight line if you have no visual guides. They went in a circle.

I like to test visitors from the Northern Hemisphere by asking them to point South at Midday. Invariably they get it wrong.

scooter · February 12, 2015, 02:48:25 AM

Quote from: zenrat on February 12, 2015, 01:54:00 AM
The Jersey Devil?

Mythbusters did an episode about walking in a straight line if you have no visual guides. They went in a circle.

Very good. Yep, a bit of local lore/mythology from here. I've done that, during land nav at Warren Grove Range, curving off my direction between points because there was literally nothing to get a bearing on. And no, we were not allowed to use a GPS during the exercise.