Snowbound visitors to Mt Kaputar National Park cabins have praised the professionalism of their National Parks and Wildlife Service and Narrabri VRA rescuers who carved their way through blocked roads to bring them safely back to Narrabri on Friday.
The evacuation of the stranded visitors was a collaborative effort involving local agencies.
One of heaviest snowfalls in many years fell on Thursday and dumped knee-deep snow across the top reaches of the park, with massive debris of tree trunks and branches blocking the road to Dawsons Spring and the summit.
Six visitors were trapped in their cabins before the road was cleared.
Two electricians working on the Mt Dowe broadcasting tower, Blake Brooks and Jesse Packer, walked a kilometre and took refuge in the cabins after the access road was blocked following Thursday’s heavy snow.
Paul Rees and Lyn Graham, Brisbane, and Dave and Kim Gotterson, Noosa were in one of the groups at the cabins with Tamworth’s Neville and Sharon Ritchie (nee Breckinridge, formerly of Narrabri) in another.
“It was fun, but we were pretty pleased to hear the chainsaws as the NPWS and VRA worked their way through the fallen trees along the road to get to us,” admitted the group.
“The scariest part was the sound of tree branches – and whole trees – crashing down under the weight of snow all night.
“We could hear large chunks of ice falling from the Mt Dowe mast.”
A tree branch which was sheared off by the snow almost hit one cabin.
“We were worried about a tree falling across the cabin,” said one of the visitors, Lyn Graham.
The Kaputar visitors were brought down from the mountain by the combined efforts of VRA and NPWS service men and women.
“We can’t speak too highly of what they did,” the group said.
“They were fantastic.
“The chainsawing and clearance work was dangerous, with large branches hung up in the trees, huge trunks across the road, but they knew exactly what they were doing and did it very professionally.”
The stranded Kaputar people were evacuated on Friday, forced to leave their cars at Dawson’s Spring.
NPWS personnel took Paul Rees and Dave Gotterson back up to Dawsons Spring on Sunday to retrieve their vehicles.
NPWS Team Leader, Rangers, Barwon Area, Peter Berney, said the snow fall during the day on Thursday, 45 to 50cm, was the heaviest since a snow event in 2015.
Mr Berney said the evacuation of the people from the cabins was a collaborative effort involving VRA, NPWS and SES.
“We are not set up for heavy snow situations, so we rely on the agencies working together, sharing resources to achieve the good outcome.”
‘Thanks to our rescuers.’
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Neville and Sharon Ritchie. Sharon (nee Breckinridge) is a former Narrabri resident, 1972-77.
