Location: Brisbane Water National Park, New South Wales
Event: Yowie Sighting
Date: 1990
Time: Night
Hi Dean, I am the same man who wrote the story about the Tip fire Yowie and how he bashed the fire out with his bare hands, that particular event was witnessed by many of my friends at the time in the same cadet outfit as me , however the below event was only experienced by me and Andrew.
Well I am forty now , and I am hoping to return to NSW next year for a holiday and I am going to find that hairy bastard that scared the living daylights out me more than once, and see if he is still lurking about.
The story I haven’t told is the Rocky Ponds Yowie sighting in 1990, just up from the Hawksbury River. My good friend Andrew and I were camping at the rocky ponds camp site with a number of our mates, now as I have previously stated, we were all cadets at the time and we loved military games, hiking orienteering and soaking up as much information that we could about bush craft, survival and self-sustainment for extended periods of time in the bush. The beauty of the Brisbane Water National Park is that the place in the summer and winter offers an abundance of water food and shelter during all seasons.
Andrew and I decided to make a Yabbie snare out of some scrim and some beef cuts and hoped to trap a few big blue claw after dark for dinner. That night after setting our trap in the little stream about 35 -40 metres away from the main camp sight. We set up the trap prior to nightfall and placed down the meat just below the surface of the water in order for the big yabbies to come out in the cover of darkness out of sight of potential predators. The trap was set and the beef was laid and we just had to wait for the sun to go down before we went back to get our bounty of delicious fresh Yabbies.
Now I should point out that the terrain around the campsite was thick and you needed a Machete to cut your path to and from the river and you could not see your hand in front of your face in the absence of the torch light unless you were directly on the cut path. Now LED technology did not exist in those days, so the best torch of the day was the good old dolphin torch of which we had one each.
After dark we decided to go check the trap, Andrew led the way with me right behind him, after about 25 metres along the small path Andrew stopped dead, frozen in place, he literally just stopped in his tracks and I bumped into him in shock.
I wondered why he had suddenly broken conversation, stopped dead, and was frozen in place with the beam of his dolphin affixed to two red reflective eyes staring back at him. Well needless to say I knew all too well what was caught in the beam of his spotlight, I feared to gaze directly into the creatures eyes for I knew full well that I also would have been completely paralysed with fear, and be unable to move as well as being completely impervious to fight or flight reaction.
I eventually after what seemed a life time in 10 milliseconds bravely snuck a slight glimpse of a hairy creature from the mid torso up and seen the large light grey / brown beast in the flesh. I only looked at him for a few seconds, but it was enough time to fill me in total dread, and I felt my bottom lip quiver and twist uncontrollably in absolute fear. I felt completely helpless in fear, however knew I had to gather the morale courage, and overcome my anxiety and fear in order to get out of there.
I turned back toward the campsite toward the direction that we were camped and decided to hastily head back to whether we got there OR NOT. I did for the first time ever see my life flash before my eyes and I did feel as though we were without question doomed to suffer what fate this creature dealt. However Flight was the only option open to me Andrew on the other hand was frozen in place and could not break his beam of light of the creature as his glance was affixed to the creature in total disbelief and fear. I grabbed the sewn epaulet that was fixed onto his shoulder, I grasped it as tightly as I could and I dragged him, I dragged him, backwards towards the camp, I felt him stooping clumsily behind me as he was still facing the river he was walking backwards in a daze of fear and was unable to turn away from the beast and his beam did not break free from the beast, so I gripped his shirt harder and said lets go mate, he finally snapped from his frozen fear at the sound of laughter from our other friends just a few short metres ahead.
We eventually after what seemed like hours arrived back at the campsite at rocky ponds with our friends and told them of our encounter, however needless to say we did not sleep that night, we kept the camp fire burning bright until sunrise, and we all fled at the very first sign of sunrise, with no regard ever to return. Since then I have not returned Rocky Ponds and I warn all others to stay well away, and urge them to camp in other places.
The Brisbane Water National Park keeps it secrets in very dark places and I will tell anyone that the region around the valleys thereDillons Farm, little Rockys, still fills me with fear and dread even 20 odd years after the experiences and encounters I have faced in that part of the world.
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