If you’re fussy, you die: My three nights surviving in the bush (with an expert)

“In a survival situation, fussy people die,” says Gordon Dedman, passing around a bowl of wriggling mealworms.

Not good news for someone who still cuts the crusts off his sandwiches. It takes all my willpower to put the live larvae in my mouth, which, of course, is precisely the point. Because in a true survival situation – if you were injured or lost in the bush – eating worms might mean the difference between life and death.

Dedman is the founder of Bushcraft Survival Australia, an organisation that teaches people how to survive and thrive in the bush. A former member of the 1st Commando Regiment, he’s a qualified combat survival instructor and the bushcraft consultant on the survival reality TV show Alone Australia.

There are 18 of us on this three-night fundamentals course, which is being run from an expedition-style field camp on a rural property near Camden, an hour’s drive south of the Sydney CBD. Lessons are conducted in an outdoor classroom underneath a military parachute and for the duration of the course we will eat, sleep andgo to the toilet outside.

“You’re going to be challenged,” says Dedman during the introduction. “They’ll be early starts and late nights. At times, you’ll be uncomfortable, but it’ll pass.”

We’re a diverse bunch from all over the country. There’s a father and his 16-year-old son from Cairns, an engineer from Wollongong, a fashion photographer from Sydney and a panel beater from Melbourne. Unusually, there’s only three women (normally it’s about a third) but everyone has one thing in common – a shared passion for being in nature.

Over the next three days we learn how to do that safely. We’re taught survival priorities and psychology, how to dress properly and what equipment to take. Each of us is given a Swedish Morakniv knife and shown proper cutting technique. We make tent pegs and erect emergency shelters by stringing survival blankets between trees. There are practical sessions on knots, celestial navigation, water purifying and fire making. Lessons start at 8am and sometimes don’t finish until 11pm.

It’s full-on, but fascinating. Finally mastering a Siberian hitch knot after numerous failed attempts is immensely satisfying. As is using a ferro rod (fire-starting tool) and calculating where north is using a shadow stick (not one from your make-up bag).

There’s a lot of information to digest but some of it is genuinely revelatory. Who knew you could extract drinking water from a tree by wrapping a clear plastic bag around a branch? Or that you can make a fire using a magnifying glass and kangaroo poo? Or that in a survival situation, you should drink water in gulps rather than sips to ensure it reaches your vital organs?

Along the way, a lovely camaraderie builds within the group. People share tips during mealtimes (worms aside, the food is plentiful and delicious) and offer help if someone is struggling. Every skill is practised and refined in preparation for two timed tests on the final day.

The first is an individual assessment where we each have to erect an emergency shelter, light a fire, boil a litre of water and find north using a shadow stick in less than 30 minutes. The second is a 15-minute group test where we need to manufacture a range of signals that can be seen by a rescue aircraft.

None of these tasks is difficult but introduce a time constraint and it’s amazing how quickly you start to panic and make silly mistakes. My first rushed attempt to make a fire fails miserably and it’s only because Dedman corrects my set-up that the second one succeeds.

All in all, it’s been one of the most illuminating courses I’ve attended. Both for the new skills I’ve acquired (if you need a taut tarp hitch, I’m your man), but also because of what I’ve learned about myself.

“This course is about paying attention and waking up,” explains Dedman. “In the bush, knowledge and skills trumps equipment every time.”

THE DETAILS

Stay
Run on a rural property near Camden, NSW, the three-night Fundamental Module 1 Bushcraft Survival Course includes all food and beverages, insurance and a Morakniv bushcraft knife.

Cost
$1150 per adult, $575 per child (min age 12).

More
bushcraftsurvivalaustralia.com.au

The writer was a guest of Bushcraft Survival Australia.