Couple missing in Kahurangi National Park

I don't think an apology or expression of gratitude would be appreciated, at least by the general public from what I've seen. If it got in the news then it'd just become another excuse for people to rant and complain about how useless and stupid they think these kids were.

is it something about the modern world and some of the young trampers that are being churned out that some trampers can be so bad at navigation? they havent got basic skills to stop themselves from going around in circles? tramped between not being able to navigate and not even use electronics which could navigate for them.. were they man vs wild fans? just do it.... every youth group i was in had a bushcraft course and we were taught in detail how to navigate,,, i didnt specifically join the youth groups to learn bushcraft but we were al compulsorily being taught it.... use your navigation device frequently in dificult conditions, our MSC instructor told us how with all his decades of bush experience he thought he could navigate by dead reckoning without looking at his map and compass in the forest. he did a complete circle... i'm not sure what youth groups are doing in the way of bushcraft now, MSC dont have instructors anymore... it was drilled into me young, navigation isnt a game.. take it seriously. get competency. the instructors didnt think much at all for those who didnt want to learn bushcraft skills properly... they demanded you pay attention and learn... they knew it was for our benefit and our lives may depend on learning properly...

I don't know, people have always been getting into trouble in the mountains, several of the first tramping club trips in the Tararuas in the '20s resulted in deaths, my parents generation had some serious mishaps. I recall people of what would now be the senior generation of a tramping club coming down the Mangahao river and chosing to go the other way around Island Ridge, up Dick Creek and down Baber Creek on a Sunday. They were eventually found by helicopter on Monday afternoon still heading down the upper Ngapuketurua Stream wondering why they hadn't yet reached the lake... It took them a while to live that one down. https://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-40.651895,175.505562&z=14 Maybe it's that we have more forums for endless discussion of these mishaps than we used to.

Probably. Every single mishap becomes a national news story instead of a local news story. Previously something reported in the Manawatu Standard wouldn't have been seen beyond its local area, and people who read it might have a chat in the pub or in a hut and that would be the end of it. Now someone in Canterbury reads it from a reference posted in a group by someone in Hamilton after they found it through a Google news alert. They on-share it to their friends and into more groups. Suddenly everyone everywhere is ranting about how this stuff is always happening and finding others who agree with them because just last week someone was air lifted out of Rakiura and the week before that someone had a problem in the Kaimanawa, and so on, and we all talk about everything in the same places.

Ian_H you're so right. Much knowledge is hard won, and I would say very few make the mistakes made in the past. We only rant about this couple because they got lost, not because they didn't have the gear to survive the weather.

Meh. Hard to get too worked up about people getting lost. Humans have been doing that since the beginning of time. Some of our greatest discoveries were from people getting lost — or at the bare minimum to use my turn of phrase being "temporarily unsure of their exact location" just on a massive scale.

yeah, most of us have been lost at some stage, but how many of us needed rescueing because we didnt end up finding our way out of the mountains? countless trampers have been lost and been able to find their way in the end...

But what are they meant to do if they get lost and can't "find (their) way out of the mountains"? Walk around blindly until they die? As I have said before, IMHO they made some irresponsible/reckless/dumb decisions before they went in but afterward they had left most of their decisions were not overly poor. They got in over their heads and needed help. They got caught in bad weather, waited it out, tried to walk out, felt they were only getting in deeper trouble so stayed put. What else were they meant to do? Again, projecting your abilities and experiences on to other people does not really help those people. Lots of people get lost and find their way out. Some people get lost and try and walk out and die. Just because you try and walk out does not guarantee you make it our or even survive.

I think there should be a part fee. It's something that has to be considered when doing activities that involve an element of risk. If someone calls an ambulance for an emergency isn't there also a fee? (unless you're in Wellington )

The reason there is no charge for search & rescue operations is that if there was,lost parties may be reluctant to activate their beacons or call for help.The current system,while not perfect,takes the search out of the equation & it becomes a much cheaper rescue.That assumes they have a means of communication.This couple were fortunate but as reported,had good gear with them & stayed put.There`s an old saying,`if you haven`t been aground,you haven`t been around.` We all need a bit of help sometimes.