Uh -oh!
For the first time EVER. I got busted.
This happened a while ago at a location I hadn't visited before. I won't mention the location or the date in case someone comes looking for me (healthy paranoia).
I'll start at the beginning of the day, I woke up early to go rock climbing out in Werribee Gorge with some friends, up at 7AM isn't something I usually do and as a result, I only got 5-6 hours of good sleep.
I spent the day trekking about, climbing and having a blast, after heading back home, after nearly 9 hours of climbing (and driving) I was fairly tired... I got a call from 2 of my friends saying that we should go exploring.
Me, thinking that was a good idea (and wanting to check out some places I'd previously seen (both on-line and while driving around) agreed. I swung by and picked up the crew.
We arrived on site and loosened some previously cut wires in the fence. This was to be the beginning of several mistakes...
As the three of us hopped through the hole in the fence, we darted towards the nearest building, eager to get inside, and eager to get as far away from the cars on the nearby road as possible.
We headed straight for what looked like an easily accessible but covered building.
As soon as we made it there (about 50 meters from the fence line where we had gotten in) I noticed a window had been smashed and looked big enough to squeeze into... Unfortunately it still had broken glass surrounding it and so I decided to check the door...
Going up-to the door, i noticed that although the lock had clearly been trashed, a shiny new deadbolt had been fixed onto the door and put in-between the bricks (as opposed to the crappy wooden door frame)... Interesting i thought. That's fairly new...
Just as I was pondering the existence of a shiny new high security lock, my mate hissed at me "look out!!! Security!"
It took a few precious seconds to react. And that cost us. My mates friend hit the deck with the reaction time of a fighter pilot and hid behind some junk. Myself and my mate both froze and crouched low, knowing we were exposed as hell and had no-where to move. All we could do was hope that the huge floodlights on the 4WD weren't directly on us.
Myself and my mate both started discussing exit strategies. I was carrying a large camera case as well as a backpack and there was no way I could be running around with that gear. The third member of our party was also unlikely to be as quick on their feet as we were (since both of us are regular runners). Finally, we all would have had to bail quickly from a car less than 5 meters away from us and get through a hole in the fence (a definite bottle-neck).
We were fucked, and we knew it. But we chanced it anyway. We got up, "casually walking" towards the fence, right in-front of the car. It was at that point, I realised that there were two cars.... Shit.
The car revved towards us and someone started yelling at us "stop! What are you doing? You have to stop now!" To which I replied "Oh its okay, we were just leaving! We'd just like to leave thanks!" (funny stuff, even at the time...)
My mate, who was nearest to the fence (and who I had given my camera gear to), suddenly made a break for the fence line, resulting in some urgent yelling from the security guards. I realised they were yelling about getting the dog...
Oh fuck. I know when I'm beat. I sure as hell can't outrun a dog. My mate, maybe, but not me and his friend. One of us would definitely get bit. So we stopped as the security guard came out with the dog.
Heart sinking, I knew this was game over. Not much I could do now except try and talk my way out of it.
The guards came up-to us and demanded our ID's. Oh fuck. I've left them in my car. And if we go back to my car, they'll find a trunk load full of gear. That will surely look bad... Shit.
Us: "We don't have them"
Guards: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "Photographing urban decay/ruins"
Guards: "Can we see your camera?"
Me: "Uhh...... No...."
Guards: "Why not?"
Me: "The friend that ran off? He's got my camera bag"
Guards: "Do you have anything to prove that?"
Me: :( "No"
Damn.
By this point (as a result of us attempting to flee), they had already called the police and they were on their way. Fuck. Nothing we can do now.
We were resigned to the fact we were caught, so we started talking to the guards, trying to get on their good sides, to be fair to them, they actually seemed like quite nice people. Just doing their jobs. Talking about how much they make a month (between 2-5K) :S
We got onto the topic of why they were there. And then we found out. Their sole reason for existance wasn't anything to do with explorers. Or even vandals (although they wern't keen on graffers etc). They were there to stop copper cutters.
Fucking copper cutters.
Let me just say this now. If I ever meet a copper cutter, i'll make sure they die in an electric chair (irony see (a not so uncommon death for copper cutters is electrocution as a result of still live wiring) ). These fucks go around to places like this and rip the wiring straight out of the walls. They do this so that they can haul it back to their cars and sell it as scrap metal.
I was so angry. This place had been explored several times before by other people (pictures on the net showed this). This 'feature' was new. As a result of the cutters, security had been hired to catch them. Unknown to us, we'd been busted as a result. Not Cool.
So the cops showed up. At this point, my mate was still AWOL. I'd been trying to get him on the phone and have him come back to the yard to 'prove' my 'photography' skillz (trust me when i say having a DSLR and a stack of lenses sure helps your case).
Eventually, after a few kilometres of running, he slowed down, stashed anything of suspicion he was carrying and made his way back, amusingly, choosing to jump the fence right in front of the cops while everyone was watching. Ah lol.
They took down our details, didn't run them, and amazingly, left.
*RELIEF*
No charges, no record, nothing. Just a note in a diary.
We were fucking lucky. If this ever happens again. I'll be amazed.
So what did we learn here?
Mistake 1) We didn't scout the perimeter, in fact, i didn't even bother checking the sheer size of the compound out on Google Earth.
Mistake 2) I was tired. And as a result, not alert to sounds and to the obvious warning signs that there was security present.
Mistake 3) No pre-arranged cover story.
Mistake 4) No ID (although it turned out to be okay)
Solution 1) If i had, i would have realised the palce was huge. That the place had patrols, and even a guard posted at the entrance.
Solution 2) Clearly i needed to sleep more and not go exploring that night. Its fun. But getting busted cause you're tired isn't. I should have seen the 50+ cameras in the facility when i walked out. I should have realised what a new blot and high security lock meant. I should have seen the 24-hour patrol signs on the fences. I should have realise that the patched up fence meant someone was maintaining the perimeter .
Solution 3) We should have arranged what we would say and do if we got busted. What the escape routes (you ALWAYS need more than one) were and how we could get about quickly. It CERTAINLY helps to have a 'pro' camera with you when exploring!
Solution 4) While we didn't need it, luckily, this time, we should have had it. It could have caused us more issues than it was worth. We lucked out.
This entire night, while unlucky, turned out to be extremely lucky. We got busted yes. But we got let off. Lets hope it never comes to that again.
Some final words?Fuck copper cutters.
All explorers know the risks of the activities they participate in. If you can't accept them, you don't participate. Simple. So to the folks that were with me for the 2011-bust-up. Thanks for not loosing it and more importantly, thanks for still being keen enough to go exploring somewhere else immediately afterwards ^_^
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