Ben Roberts, who blacked out and shattered his ankle in the fall, was one of two patients aboard a Royal Flying Doctors Service flight diverted to Rottnest Island to wait for thick fog to pass before he could be taken to a Perth hospital. 

Mr Roberts spoke to the Bunbury Mail from Fiona Stanley Hospital where he landed a full 24 hours after he fell down the gorge. 

He was enjoying a holiday with his sister in Broome when he decided to travel on his own to Windjana Gorge National Park to explore the natural attraction. 

“I was climbing a rockface and felt pretty safe until I grabbed a rock about the size of a computer and it came loose,” Mr Roberts said. 

“I slid down facing forward and then my foot caught a ledge, which caused me to do a backflip and hit my head. 

“I blacked out for a moment from shock, I couldn’t feel any pain for about a minute and then it hit me – I knew my ankle was badly broken because my foot was floppy.”

Mr Roberts said he had studied meditation which helped to take his mind off the pain while he dragged himself into a clearing and yelled “cooee” for help. 

Thankfully it was busy holiday season and about 15 minutes later he was discovered by tourists. 

Four men carried him about three kilometres through soft sand and blistering heat to the ranger’s station. 

It was a three-hour wait with just two Panadeine Forte to mask the excruciating pain of a broken tibia and fibula before the ambulance arrived. 

After reaching Derby Hospital plans were made for a Royal Flying Doctor Service flight to Port Hedland and then Perth, but heavy early morning fog on Sunday meant that the flight had to be diverted to Rottnest Island. 

After seven hours at the island, Mr Roberts finally arrived in Perth to have a metal frame built on his broken leg which is “essentially as bad as it can get.”

Mr Roberts had planned to return to university studying environmental engineering and psychology and run the Uluru Marathon this month but instead he faces months of rehabilitation. 

“It was a pretty bad decision to go into the gorge on my own,” Mr Roberts said. 

 “But it has given me a new lease on life, I plan to study harder and change my life plan.

“I’m so grateful to everyone involved in helping me get to safety.”

Source: Bunbury Mail