This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, no 3, April 2024
A Wednesday trip with a difference
Wednesday 28 February 2024
On Tuesday 27th February, an email went out along the TTC grapevine saying that Brent Harrison, former TTC member, had gone missing in the Tararua Range while on a day tramp from Poad’s Road on Monday 26th. Family, Police and Horowhenua Search and Rescue had been searching for Brent since then, with no luck. The email invited those who wanted to go to the coordination centre and join in the search.
In all, eight of us joined the search as volunteers from the Tararua Tramping Club. There were also three others who had previously worked for Brent in his outdoor gear store, Mainly Tramping, or who knew Brent through sea kayaking.
We volunteers and the SAR folk had to wait until around 4 p.m. until the police dog search was completed. It indicated two sites for more detailed search. We were then sent in with SAR personnel to one of the sites the police dog had indicated, while two family members (both experienced trampers) went to the other site, and this is where he was found.
Our search included areas of thick vegetation, and to be honest I thought we would be looking for an unconscious person, so we were all delighted when we heard the news through the SAR radios that Brent had been found and was conscious. We then waited until we got the all-clear, advice that he had been successfully evacuated by helicopter, before returning to the road end.
It was great to be involved in a search for a friend with a wonderful outcome.
- Party members
- Kobus Boshoff, Peter Gates, Franz Hubmann, Diana Munster (scribe), Megan and Bryan Rawiri, Jenna Thoms, Mike Wespel-Rose.