12:00a.m. 22nd August 2008

| By Amy Remeikis

Hayden Adcock is in a critical condition after spending 11 days lost in a Laos jungle. Photo: Contributed

A Sunshine Coast man who spent 11 days lost in a Laos jungle was found after building his name out of rocks to guide searchers to where he was heading.

Hayden Adcock, 40, who remains in a critical condition in a Bangkok hospital, was travelling through Vietnam on his way to Thailand and decided to visit a famous waterfall during a stay in the Hinboun district.

The experienced bushwalker set out on July 31 for the Tadsanam waterfall but failed to return.

The Australian embassy was not notified he was missing until August 8. On August 10, the embassy and the Red Cross arranged for a helicopter search but were able to find Mr Adcock.

From his Sunshine Coast home, Hayden’s father Stan said the past few weeks had been among the worst in his life.

“Hayden has been working in Vietnam, in Hanoi,” he said.

“He works for the taxation department in Brisbane and he took a 12-month leave of absence to take a six-month contract teaching English there.

“He’s just finished that and he was just starting his planned travels. He was heading through Laos and that is where he came to grief.

“From what we know he went to visit a waterfall, which was only an hour hike from where he was staying, and discovered there were two waterfalls so he went on to see the second one.

“Then there was a sudden downpour of tropical rain and he was in a jungle area where there are very few tracks and the dreadful downpour just washed away all signs of the tracks that were there and he became lost.

“The people where he had his lodgings did organise a search party, but they went to the wrong waterfall and were not aware he had gone on to the second one.

“Eventually they sent up a helicopter and discovered him and sent the ground crews there.

“Hayden apparently had been able to leave a message by building his name out of rocks to identify himself and his direction of travel.

“He saved his own life in a way, because the ground crews were able to find him quicker because of that message. The helicopter was only able to give a general area.

“When they found him, he was lying on his back and had been unable to move for three days. He laid there like that in the pouring rain, attacked by flies and mosquitoes, attacked by nasty bugs. He was scratched from head to toe.

“They put a phone to his ear and I was able to talk to him.

“I asked him how he was going and he started to tell me he had gone for a one-hour walk and it took three hours and then they stopped him from talking. He was delirious and not making a lot of sense.”

Mr Adcock was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in Bangkok, where his mum Lynne Sturrock and a Hong Kong-based cousin are at his side.

He remains in the intensive-care unit and has undergone several surgeries to repair internal damage suffered during his ordeal.

He needs constant care, but his family is hopeful he will make a full recovery and suffer no long-term effects.

Stan Adcock said his son was a consummate traveller who would not take unnecessary risks and was simply caught out by the weather.

“He’s a bachelor and he had the wanderlust. He has lived and worked in England for a couple of years, worked in most states of Australia, he’s travelled through Europe, he’s been to Africa as well, America … and last year he took five months off and went and bummed around South America.

“He loves bushwalking and he has the travel bug.

“Hayden is lucky in a way. He is a non-smoker and he doesn’t take drugs or anything like that.

“He’s a surfer and walks regularly, so whilst he is not a super athlete he is fairly fit and we are hoping that his good living will help him pull through this.

“It has been pretty grim, but we are very hopeful.”