Our group of five were excited to be going on our first hike of the season at the St James track.

Day one was easy, but the second day was a longer, nine hour day. Despite the little bit of rain and trudging through boggy ground which tired us out, we arrived at the hut just before 6pm.

After the long day, my friend decided to sleep in the hut rather than setting up her tent. At around 8pm she went to grab something from her top bunk. As she jumped down from the bunk ladder, she slipped and landed with a crash on the bunkroom floor.

We expected her to get up quickly and laugh at herself. But that didn’t happen.

She stayed lying on the floor and told us her arm was really sore. We realized it was likely broken. She was groaning in obvious pain, experiencing hot and cold flashes and felt very nauseous.

At 8.20pm we made the decision to activate my ACR ResQLink400 PLB knowing there was probably only an hour’s light left in the day. We packed my friend’s bag and waited. It was a long night as we took turns providing comfort to her, stoking the hut fire and trying to get some sleep.

Just before 7am we heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter and then saw it emerge through the fog and land beside the hut.

I spoke to the helicopter pilot while the SAR duo assessed my friend. He told me that my beacon had been sending out a very strong signal. It was very reassuring to hear this.

A chopper took my friend to the nearby town. An ambulance then transported her to the hospital two hours away. She later told us that she had not only fractured a bone in her shoulder but had also dislocated it.

She would not have been able to walk out of the hut. It would have taken us two days to reach either end of the track to find help. The PLB proved invaluable.