Before the Ride

We had been planning months for this trip to coincide with my partner’s 50th birthday. We packed up lunch, snacks, water, and our personal locator beacon (PLB).

The plan was to ride the Coach Road from Maytown to Laura and return. We set off mid morning. The day was warming up quick.

The Coach Road is old and not maintained; mostly used by 4×4 drivers and dirt bike riders. We were just about at the top of the first big hill of the track when my partner had come off her bike.

Getting Injured and Using PLB

She was climbing over some rough ground and got out of sorts. She had got a case of whiskey throttle and looped the bike out, landing badly on her left leg.

Recognizing immediately that Kerry had broken her leg, her son and I started to plan her evacuation. Within 15 minutes of the accident occurring, another group of riders had arrived at the site.

A couple of the riders helped with providing first aid to Kerry. Another rider had a sat phone and was calling emergency services. Emergency services were having difficulty locating us.

Search and Rescue Aids in Recovery

We then set off the Personal Locator Beacon providing the emergency services with an immediate and accurate location of us. Within an hour of setting off the PLB the rescue helicopter was on site.

The PLB was not set off immediately as we were in a very remote location with no mobile phone coverage and one rescue chopper for the region. This caused some concern with the unknown of whether we had an hour or 10 hours before rescue services could help.

Once communication through the sat phone had occurred the PLB was set off.

The PLB was an integral part in the speedy rescue of my partner. If I’m on an adventure, my personal locator beacon is with me!