Hiker logbooks helped Hadi Nazari survive in Kosciuszko National Park
In short:
Hadi Nazari was lost in the Kosciuszko National Park for 13 days.
He told rescuers he became lost after trying to take a shortcut to Geehi Campground.
Mr Nazari used journal entries for logbooks found in a remote mountain hut to plan his route to safety.
Journal entries left in a remote Snowy Mountains hikers' hut may have been crucial in the rescue of Hadi Nazari, who spent almost two weeks lost in Kosciuszko National Park.
Further details are emerging of the journey Mr Nazari made before he was found by a group of hikers on January 8 around 300 metres from the park's Main Range circuit walk.
Steph Boxall was one of the hikers who helped rescue Mr Nazari, and said she asked him to retrace his journey while they waited for help to arrive.
Steph Boxall (bottom left) asked Mr Nazari about his 13-day experience. (Supplied: Joshua Dart)
"I got into asking some details because I was intrigued ... it's not the outcome I was expecting from that story," she said.
"I remember just wanting to talk to him about the whole thing. 'Did you see this?' 'What did you do here?' But it's obviously not the best time to interrogate him."
Ms Boxall said the details helped piece together some of Mr Nazari's movements throughout the 13 days he was missing in the most rugged terrain in NSW.
Trying to take a shortcut
Ms Boxall said the 23-year-old said he went missing after he attempted to take a shortcut to the campground after leaving the Hannels Spur Trail to take a photograph on Boxing Day.
"He said he'd spent the last two weeks [while lost] trying to think about where it went wrong," she said.
Hadi Nazari went missing on Boxing Day in a remote part of the Kosciuszko National Park. (Supplied)
The medical student told Ms Boxall the bush became dense and navigation impossible as soon as he left the track.
He also did not have a map, and his phone was already out of battery by Boxing Day.
"It's pretty intense hiking — you don't just go out there for a nice hike for the views,"Ms Boxall said.
"It's verging on rock climbing and bush bashing. People go out there for that challenge.
"It would have been quite interesting if he had a GPS tracker on, to actually see the behaviour of which way he did go."
Hadi Nazari was winched to safety after being discovered by hikers near Blue Lake in Kosciuszko National Park. (Supplied: NSW Police)
Journals lead to escape route
Police said Mr Nazari survived by eating foraged berries and two muesli bars he had found in a remote hut called the Opera House Hut.
There is little inside the hut; merely a table, two beds, a wood heater and logbooks often used by hikers to note routes they have travelled on.
The Opera House Hut was built in 1966 in the Kosciuszko National Park. (Supplied: Dave Jarvis/Kosciuszko Huts Association)
Ms Boxall said the missing hiker slept two nights in the hut and spent time reading the logbooks.
"He read messages from other hikers in there commenting on him being missing and that gave him a lot of hope. He knew people were looking for him,"she said.
"He read through notes of where people were walking to, and a lot of people were heading up Lady Northcote Creek. That put in his mind that that's a good idea to try head up that way.
"It could be the key to where he got to [to be rescued]."
Opera House Hut
National Parks and Wildlife Service project officer Megan Bowdon said the Opera House Hut gained its name because it was built at around the same time as the Sydney landmark.
"It reportedly cost more per square metre than the Opera House," she said.
"It's in a very remote and very steep part of the [park].
"It was built for the Snowy [Hydro] Scheme for the maintenance of all the aqueducts and pipelines."
The Opera House Hut offers hikers some rudimentary facilities is in a remote area of the Kosciuszko National Park. (Supplied: Dave Jarvis/Kosciuszko Huts Association)
Bushwalkers sometimes reach the remote hut through an old 2-kilometre tunnel known as Lady Northcote Tunnel.
Mr Nazari told Ms Boxall he found the entrance to the tunnel, but the police helicopter arrived just as she was asking whether he had entered the tunnel.
She was unable to confirm if Mr Nazari used the tunnel or not.
The Lady Northcote Tunnel is owned by Snowy Hydro, and bushwalkers are prohibited from using it.
The Lady Northcote Tunnel is part of the Geehi River Aqueduct in the Kosciuszko National Park. (Supplied: Snowy Hydro)
Avid hiker and assistant walk secretary of the Canberra Bushwalking Club, Garry Boxsell, led a "difficult and challenging" walk to the Opera House Hut in March 2024.
"It's all off track, there are a number of large rocks and ridges and cliff faces you need to avoid," he said.
Mr Boxsell said the logbooks in the hut contained "lots of information".
"People like to write about which way they've come in and which way they're going out," he said.
"[Mr Nazari] would have got a good idea of the area around him from that logbook … and work out where to go from there."
Decision-making while surviving
Ms Boxall said Mr Nazari told her his biggest concern was for his family.
"He talked about how ... he was trying to make big decisions on his next move, and the anxiety around the predicament he was in," she said.
"His biggest stress ... was about his family, and especially his mum, being worried that he was dead."
Mr Nazari's camera, with a recorded emotional message to his family, was found on January 5 near Geehi Creek.
"He said he had a moment of trying to work out if he leaves the card in the camera, or does he take it with him? He started having thoughts of, 'If I don't make it, do I want the card to stay with the camera instead of on me?" Ms Boxall said.
There were emotional scene when hiker Hadi Nazari was found after spending 13 days lost in Kosciuszko National Park. (ABC South East NSW: Adriane Reardon)
Yet, throughout the stressful ordeal, Ms Boxall said Mr Nazari said he enjoyed the beauty of the wilderness.
"When he was having these thoughts, he noticed some lyrebirds that were putting on their full display — trying to do their mating thing. He said he still had time to stop and admire that for a while," she said.
Police said Mr Nazari went missing with a 600mL drink bottle, a sleeping bag and tent in a backpack.
Ms Boxall said he was found with "just the clothes on his back".
"Why he didn't keep all his gear with him, I'm not too sure," she said.
"Being out in the bush and not having much energy in your body, your mind does weird things, and your behaviour does change when you're in those survival situations."
As Mr Nazari hopped into the helicopter that would fly him to Geehi Campground, Ms Boxall said he realised that his whole life had changed.
"I could sense that he knew the next few weeks of his life were going to be pretty crazy. It hit him that his life is going to be quite different for a while," she said.
Loading...