After lockdown, Australians seek to learn survival skills in the bush
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[June 12, 2020]
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Learning
Australian bush survival skills is becoming popular as city folk turn to
nature with the easing of the coronavirus lockdown, organisers of a
course outside Sydney said.
The Bushcraft course teaches basic survival skills like foraging for
food and water, and also offers insight into traditional indigenous
cultures. The course filled up soon after the lockdown began to be eased
late last month, and there is a lot of demand, the organisers said.
"A lot of people come to learn self discipline. How to organise
themselves and organise themselves in a natural environment," said
instructor Gordon Dedman at Bushcraft Survival Australia, who is a
former army commando.
"The more knowledge you have... it actually gives you a sense of
confidence and then you can make better informed decisions."
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Course participants learn how to erect a shelter, build a fire, solar
and celestial navigation, forage for edible plants, some within a timed
environment designed to emulate the stress of a real survival situation.
"They've got a timed period to make a fire using the procedure that
we've given them because it makes it efficient. They may have to light a
fire to signal for help, to boil water to give to a person that's
suffering from hypothermia," Dedman said.
"The other thing is that the timed deliverables gives an element of
stress and in a survival situation you're going to be very, very
stressed."
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![](../images/061220pics/news_k19.jpg)
Wilderness survival instructor Gordon Dedman teaches students a
navigation lesson during a basic skills course, which has seen an
increase in demand since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
outbreak, in the Ingleside suburb of northern Sydney, Australia, May
31, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
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The interest in the course comes as Australia loosens its lockdown
laws after months of restrictions that saw runs on supermarket
staples, and many Sydney dwellers cooped up at home. Now beaches are
reopening and pubs in Sydney are allowed to accept ten patrons for
meals.
"I've been caught up with that supermarket mayhem. I didn't realise
how entrenched I was in that," course participant George Hamza said.
Hamza is one of 11 participants taking part in a three-day
intermediate course near Ku-ring-gai National Park, Ingleside, north
of Sydney.
"Coming out here and spending a few days here and removing myself
from that, I'm feeling like I'm detoxing a little from that sphere
of the world," he said.
(Reporting by Jill Gralow, Writing by Melanie Burton, Editing by
Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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