Five minute read: Thaïs Turner's beloved compass loses the plot midway through a walk, leaving her directionless.
"Providing faithful direction and sometimes assisting with training and leadership duties for its owner, the Compass survived extremes of weather and terrain, extremes of physical movement, countless walks and outdoor activities (including more than 30 rogaines) and disputes about its accuracy by team members, during more than 15 years of companionship. Exemplary service most would say.
While it must be admitted that the faithful service was perhaps less than once a month, rather than every day, the places in Australia (as well as the rest of the world) where the Compass had travelled, were also extensive. When not providing its owner with directions in life, it lived in a small calico pouch inside a pocket of a daypack and was taken everywhere the pack went, visiting local and foreign lands. This pocket was a comfortable base camp for the Compass.
Abandon nostalgia now and fast forward to the day at the end of June, when the Compass was called into active service once more, while its owner participated on an inter-agency, remote area land search and rescue training weekend in the Megalong Valley, not so very far from its home grid reference in the lower Blue Mountains, NSW.
Not long into the practice bush search near Dunphy’s camping area at Green Gully, and heeding another magnetic attraction greater than any known before, the Compass gave one final direction and bearing for its owner, then headed south and dipped towards the horizon in a final farewell, looking to explore greater gridlines and contours far, far away.
It was back at GR 4336 5805, some 120’ 30” after its demise, that its owner came to understand the reason for the sudden desire of the previously trusty Compass to continually bear south and not want to level with her.
Now we all know from our high school geography lessons about the human desire to tame and convert the world into grids, bearings, angles, deflections, convergences, latitudes, longitudes, eastings, northings, and all things involved in navigation and map speak, to make sense of our locations. We also know from our science classes about magnetic fields and the ability of a compass to assist in our geographical endeavours when calibrated correctly.
The Compass’ owner suddenly remembered that she had been wearing a shirt that day, with pocket flaps held together with small magnets (a recent fad by some outdoors clothing manufacturers). Having been located in that shirt pocket for some time in the previous few hours, the Compass had been unable to resist the magnetic attraction found therein, and so bid farewell to its owner to follow the stronger calling to head south and the distant horizon.
Its owner was sorry to see the Compass go in this direction, and fortunately has another to take the place of this favoured companion. She has also resolved to never again wear shirts or trousers with pocket flaps held together with magnets, as she doesn’t want her new Compass to lose its sense of direction in life."