Bushwalk Australia

hi,
Can I use my Australian PLB in NewZealand? I'm going for a 2 weeks holiday there and wouldn't mind having it with me.
thanks
Pawel

Most definitely. It can be used anywhere on Earth. Make sure you update your travel file entry on the web site.

GPSGuided wrote:Most definitely. It can be used anywhere on Earth. Make sure you update your travel file entry on the web site.

on the amsa.gov.au website?
there is no travel info there.
thanks

if you set it off... aus authorities will pass over the alert to nz authorities. I think someone on the forum from aus had to set theirs off overseas and there wasnt a noticeable delay before the helicopter turned up... can't remember if it was the states or NZ they set it off. we have our share of aussies setting off beacons and getting rescued in NZ.

polas wrote:on the amsa.gov.au website?
there is no travel info there.

If you registered your PLB there, you would have an account on their site. Log in, then select your particular PLB and edit the detail. A new page will be presented with all your PLB's detail along with a Trip Details text entry box. Enter your current trip plan in that box and the emergency staff will be able to pull all that detail up when they receive your distress call. Apart from the basic trip plan, it would also be helpful to enter the size of your party etc, anything that may be of interest to an emergency response crew.

https://www.beacons.amsa.gov.au/Default ... urnUrl=%2f

I update the AMSA site with my trip intentions whenever we are outside our home state (Victoria), and confirm that my usual contact person listed on my registration has a detailed trip plan (including dates, location, etc), which always lists what types of gear we have with us. So far we have never had to use our PLB, but it has travelled around Australia and a little of NZ. Other posts on this forum indicate that Aussie PLB's work just fine in NZ, as wayno says above.

The NZ outdoor intentions form is very helpful: http://www.adventuresmart.org.nz/files/Outdoors-Intentions-Form.pdf

I would expect the PLB to work anywhere in the world. I thought that was a given?

I hope you never have to use it either but just make sure it's up to date as things have changed frequency wise.

thank you for replies.
I do know that it works across the globe but because it is coded to AU I thought I might have needed to temporary code it for NZ or something like that.
I will update info on AMSA as suggested.
cheers.

The plb signals may work anywhere in the world, but getting choppet rescue or not may be another matter. In nz it's not an issue. However in some very remote parts of this world like in Kyrgyzstans Tien Shan, army choppers on standby will only fly out to you in an emergency if you have paid a massive deposit or showed them proof that your insurance will cover their absurd fees. One US bloke activated his device due to a broken leg and no chopper ever came. A search party on foot arrived to him 3 days later.

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ninjapuppet wrote:The plb signals may work anywhere in the world, but getting choppet rescue or not may be another matter. In nz it's not an issue. However in some very remote parts of this world like in Kyrgyzstans Tien Shan, army choppers on standby will only fly out to you in an emergency if you have paid a massive deposit or showed them proof that your insurance will cover their absurd fees. One US bloke activated his device due to a broken leg and no chopper ever came. A search party on foot arrived to him 3 days later.

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that's something I was wondering about. Do we need some private insurance here in AU to cover rescue costs? I thought it was covered by tax money but maybe I'm living in a dream?

Pawel

Rescue services are free in Australia

ninjapuppet wrote:The plb signals may work anywhere in the world, but getting choppet rescue or not may be another matter. In nz it's not an issue. However in some very remote parts of this world like in Kyrgyzstans Tien Shan, army choppers on standby will only fly out to you in an emergency if you have paid a massive deposit or showed them proof that your insurance will cover their absurd fees. One US bloke activated his device due to a broken leg and no chopper ever came. A search party on foot arrived to him 3 days later.

PLBs have never come with a contract for a chopper rescue. It just provides access to the international rescue network and notifies the authorities. The mode and method of rescue is completely up to the local authority and would vary according to current infrastructure and available funding. I think it's a bit naive to expect the latest 1st world rescue methods in those remote locations and certainly it's unfair for some poor countries who could barely feed their population to put up the expenses to rescues 1st world recreational adventurers. If they could, that's great. If they can't or won't, that's life. We are spoilt here in Aust and NZ!

Strider wrote:Rescue services are free in Australia

Be careful of what is free and what is not when it comes to rescue.
My son in law had a nasty fall while rock climbing.
He was rescued of the cliff face free, but the air ambulance flight to hospital cost $10,000.
Fortunately it was covered by private health insurance.

NZ is free, BUT, it depends how the authorities are notified and who calls out the helicopter and the circumstances of the call. I dont think anyones ever been charged, but one chap was threatened with a $20k fine when the authorities got officious with him... he'd set a beacon off because he was "running late"
but in doing so he saved a lot of money by preventing a bigger SAR operation being launched to find him when he would have been overdue..... authorities backed down on that one....
just don't abuse the use of the beacon and you should be right, but there have been some really dumb people setting off beacons for trivial reasons in NZ and it doesnt impress the authorities.... one party set the beacon off because they wanted to be picked up from a road end..... if you're stranded by a flooded river for instance, that by default isnt necessarily a reason to set the beacon off if you still have enough food to wait out the flooded river and allow you to get to the nearest road end.... i know someone who recently broke his arm and ribs in the mountains, he didnt bother setting off his beacon, he could still walk out without excessive pain....