BUSHSAFE Survival Skills Courses
"Keeping Australians safe in the bush"
BUSHSAFE Survival Skills Courses
"Keeping Australians safe in the bush"
Who are our courses for?
Designed by, delivered by and made for adventurous women
OUR COURSES ARE FOR WOMEN WHO:
- want to spend more time outdoors, but don't know where to start
- or already do a little bushwalking, and want to feel safer and more confident in the bush
- don't enjoy the macho or military 'feel' of most survival courses
- want to learn in an all-female, safe, supportive and judgement-free environment
- are maybe a little afraid of nature, but still want to experience adventure
- want to try hands-on activities
- can't afford (and don't want) a heavy back-pack full of expensive 'survival gadgets' (and don't really understand what those items are for either)
- and want no-nonsense explanations and facts about survival skills and bush safety
Our courses are based on Australian and International Search and Rescue Analysis, the psychology of lost person behaviour, and real-life, hands-on practical survival skills and tools.
To keep the experience as hands-on as possible, we only have a limited number of places available on each course, and they fill quickly.
We run courses in and around Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. We also travel to the South and Central Coast, and western NSW.
What You'll Learn
Here's what you'll gain from taking our courses:
- Greater self-confidence in the bush
- Understand the list of critical items you'll never leave home again without (you already have most of these items, but you probably don’t take them with you now)
- Learn how most people get lost, common scenarios and how to avoid them
- Learn what it is as a woman, that will be on your side in a survival situation
- The psychology of getting lost: what you’ll likely do as a result, and what you can do to gain control (hint: it’s not panic you'll have to manage)
- What to do when you’re lost, how it is you'll know. How to prioritise and plan your approach
- The critical actions you’ll need to take, to maximise your rescue chances in the next 72 hours
- How to make your own small survival tool-kit, out of low-cost everyday-items
- Hands-on experience with critical survival items such as rescue mirrors, fire-starters, and water collection and water purification
- Why you don’t need the strength or the knowledge to start a fire with sticks– yes, you’ll get to try a bow and hand drill (and other fire 'gadgets'), you’ll also learn why you those skills and items are unnecessary, AND what more practical tool to use instead....
How to think about survival
We've all seen those survivor-type reality TV shows, including where Bear Grylls drinks his own urine (there are much better and safer things to do with your urine by the way - join a course and we'll teach you!). If you're a fan of the History Channel's fabulous "Alone" series, you'll see the real art of survival, in absolute hostile landscapes like the Arctic.
But survival can be grouped into six type of activities, each with very different skills and requirements:
1. Preparedness actions
2. Surviving
3. Rescue
4. Wilderness Living skills, and
5. Bushcraft skills
6. Military skills
1. Preparedness
Prepping falls into this category. As do sensible bushwalkers and hikers who know the critical pre-trip actions to take, and the critical items to always take with them. On Every Walk. The Scout's motto of 'be prepared' comes under this category. Trivial events begin to shape an incident, long before the incident happens. After all, the best survival situation, is the one that never happens in the first place.
2. Surviving
These are the critical skills you'll need once you are in a survival situation - whether you're lost, injured, have misplaced your gear, or have been in an aircraft, boating or vehicle accident. Or perhaps there's been a cyclone or an earthquake. There are numerous reasons why you might find yourself in this situation, but here you are. How do you prioritise and what is it you need to do to stay alive? These skills include sourcing water, fire and shelter. But these are not just physical skills - the psychology of survival is even more important than the actual physical skills. These skills also include sourcing water, fire building and making shelter.
3. Rescue
Staying alive and then maximising your rescue opportunities, are two very different sets of actions. Knowing what items to use, how to go about using them, understanding when and how rescuers might be deployed, how characteristics such as your gender, age, intentions and 39 other individual characteristics will influence how search parties look for you, are critical in maximising your rescue chances. Also understanding how to re-oreint and therefore self-rescue if you're lost, is an equally crucial skill.
4. Wilderness Living skills
These are the living skills of indigenous peoples who subsisted on their lands for centuries. Skills such as foraging, traditional herbal and plant medicines, fire-making from hand drills, basket weaving, knapping to make primitive tools and weapons (spears, knives and stone blades), pottery, tanning hides, hand fishing and trap making. These skills take much practice, and require specialist knowledge of the environment, flora and fauna in every location. Primitive skills in hand-drill fire making aren't much use however, if the right plant timber to construct the hand-drill isn't available in your geographic location.
5. Bushcraft
These are primitive skills that have been refined over time, using tools and greater wilderness knowledge. They also include comfort items rather than critical living items, and can include knife handling, knot-tying, woodwork, fire-craft, tracking and snaring, advanced shelter construction and cordage skills.
6. Military
Military-centric survival also covers skills such as Evasion, Resistance and Escape, and are known by the military acronym of SERE. Whilst it includes basic wilderness survival and rescue skills, it also includes resistance to interrogation, communication and military codes of conduct. Some SERE skills (such as concealed fire making) are in opposition to maximising your rescue. Others are not just for the military - evasion techniques have also been used successfully by civilians in kidnap and hijack scenarios, escaping high-risk travel locations, or escaping dangerous personal situations.
Survival skills are also geography and environment dependent - urban, rural, survival at sea, wilderness survival in tropical/polar/temperate and arid climates can all differ. Whilst some skills are generic, each of these environments also has a unique set of risks and challenges and responses, which may not be suitable in other environments.
We teach preparedness, survival and rescue skills for the wilderness and hope that in starting your survival skills journey, you'll develop the same love, appreciation and respect for nature as we have.
