Ben Squires
Travel Trouble

Rescue crews are sick of tourists visiting this Aussie landmark

Australia might not get its due as a thrill seekers destination, and while we might not have as many options as our friends across the ditch, there’s still plenty of activities Down Under for tourists who are looking for a holiday with a bit of an adrenaline rush. But of course, this isn’t always a good thing, especially for busy rescue crews.

And there’s one landmark, that’s drawing their ire.

High in the Glass House Mountains, an hour or so away from Brisbane, two popular climbs are causing an absolute headache for rescue crews, claiming numerous lives.

Mount Beerwah and Mount Tibrogargan, sitting at 556 metres and 364 metres above sea level respectively, and while they’re not as high as other climbs the degree of difficulty more than makes it a dangerous experience.

Greg Toman, a member of Queensland Fire Emergency Service’s Remote Mountain Rescue crew, understands the risks all too well and says that this issue isn’t always getting up to the peak, but finding your way down from the mountain.

“All the rescues are tricky ones and they’re all strenuous because we have to carry our pack and all our gear. It’s even harder stretchering people down, the rescues are tricky. There’s nothing glamorous about it,” Mr Toman said

Mr Toman told News.com.au it’s becoming increasingly frustrating for rescue crews to risk life and limb for “boofheads” who haven’t done the correct amount of planning. 

“Bad things happen when people don’t do their homework,” he said.

“There’s plenty of people heading to the mountain to do silly stuff and often it’s in the middle of the night or at dark. There’s a big difference between rock climbers who read the guidebook and are completely prepared but things just accidentally go wrong for them to boofheads that head out there purely to be stupid,” he said.

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