By
CPL Simone Liebelt
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LACW
Philippa Rostan rock climbs during JOICAUST-TAF’s
adventure training.
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Photo
by CPL Craig Eager
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PTI
Corporals Darren Pay and James Campbell
abseiled from a bridge in Katherine over
croc-infested waters to re-paint flood
level markers.
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TWO
PTIs from RAAF Base Tindal took the plunge for their community
recently, when they abseiled down a bridge over croc-infested
waters to paint new flood level markers.
Corporals Darren Pay and James Campbell, from No. 322 Combat Support
Squadron, were tasked with the adventurous job after the local
council requested assistance from the base.
No one else was either qualified or game enough to descend the
23m wall to paint over the faded numbers.
CPL Pay said while it was an unusual request, the restoration
project provided a good opportunity to use their abseiling skills,
which didn’t get much of a workout up north.
“Unfortunately, we don’t get much of a chance to abseil
here in Katherine because most of the areas around here are national
park, and so all of the sites that would be ideal for abseiling
are protected,” he said.
“The nearest sites are over an hour away, so while this was
not a normal job, it gave us the chance to practise all our safety
skills and procedures.”
A week beforehand, CPLs Pay and Campbell checked out the site,
where they discovered that a seat attached to their harness was
required to allow adequate blood flow to their feet.
From expert advice, they made an adequate seat harness and then
tested different methods by hanging off one of the beams in the
base gym.
On the day, they set up anchor points, got harnessed up and practised
juggling their buckets and paintbrushes before taking the leap
over the bridge’s edge.
With two helpers – one to guard the anchorage and ropes and
another to man a boat in the river below – they began their
first task, to take off all the old paint with sugar soap and
a wire brush.
After abseiling to the waiting boat below, they were ferried to
the shore where they made their trek back up the bridge for their
second descent – to start painting.
CPL Pay said while it had not been physically demanding, the job
was both challenging and tedious.
“The hardest part, as well as the seat harness [and] all
the buckets and brushes we had to carry, was getting over
the side of the bridge because of the lip on it,” he said.
“After we abseiled down, we then had to make sure we didn’t
abseil too far so we couldn’t reach the numbers we were painting,
and had to be careful not to drop anything into the river to upset
the crocs.
“The worst part was actually the heat, because it was about
34C, so we just had to sweat like pigs. There was good teamwork
all the way, especially once I found out that [CPL Campbell] couldn’t
paint.”
After dangling for hours within arms reach of each other, the
two PTIs started looking for ways to keep amused to avoid going
stir-crazy.
“We chucked out a few songs there and got a few honks from
buses going past on the Stuart Highway bridge behind us, so it
was something different and we had a good time.
“We were a bit sore by the time we finished, but were just
glad we had the seat harness, otherwise it probably would have
taken us all day, and that wouldn’t have been fun.”
