Tramper recounts ordeal

GILES BROWN/The Press

UNFLAPPABLE: Matthew Briggs who walked to safety with a broken ankle, said he was amazed at how easy his ordeal was.

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With rations low and no help in sight, marooned tramper Matthew Briggs and his faithful companion Little Dog "eyed each other up" after almost a week in the wild.

Matthew Briggs, 33, from Middlemarch, was recovering in Grey Base Hospital, Greymouth, today.

Briggs set out on a six day tramp on Tuesday 17 March with his dog, planning to tramp to the head of the Landsborough River and over the Karangarua Saddle.

It was on the Friday 20 March that Briggs fell down a bluff near Mt Howitt, breaking his wrist and ankle, as well as severely cutting his left leg.

"There was a huge trail of blood leading from me down into the creek below me, the rocks were stained red and the creek was turning red,'' he said.

After administering First Aid to himself, Briggs realised he had either not brought his personal locator beacon with him or it had been lost in the fall.

He put Little Dog on half rations and he ate muesli bars.

He put salt on his wounds to prevent gangrene, and then waited. And waited.

He knew friends would not raise the alarm for seven days.

Mr Briggs said he could see the Horace Walker Hut glinting in the sun in the distance as he lay injured.

Finally, he decided to fashion crutches out of tent poles and spent two days hobbling on broken legs through rugged terrain and rivers to reach the hut.

"I crawled down to the hut and did 3km in two days.

Quite painful going, as you can imagine with a broken leg and wrist,'' he said.

After making it to the hut he saw the "most beautiful sight'' of a hunter walking around the building.

"I thought yes, I am going to get out of here, it's all good.''

Two hunters at the hut then tramped 13 hours to the head of the Karangarua River to raise the alarm, and Briggs and his dog were finally helicoptered to safety on Tuesday morning.

Unflappable Briggs dealt with the trial with amazing calm.

"I am amazed at how easy it was being there with the right gear in that situation. Being there with the survival gear at that moment was a nice feeling, knowing I am not going to be wet, I am not going to be cold.''

Upbeat about his survival feat, he said Little Dog had a rougher time of it.

"It went on half rations and on Friday wasn't fed. On Saturday, we shared a muesli bar. We were eyeing each other up for a while!"

Mr Briggs had surgery yesterday and was due to have more today.

Police have criticised Mr Briggs for not leaving enough information about where he was going.

He acknowledged that he should have left more detailed intentions.

He had not written down his level of experience, or where he had parked the car.

"It was complacency because I thought I had a (locator) beacon."

Nicknamed the "Mad Pom", Mr Briggs said he was still mad on the outdoors and planned to stay in New Zealand.

He also plans to shout a beer for the hunters who helped him.

- NZPA with The Press