A Sydney resident who dropped her phone over Echo Point eight months ago had the device returned to her on Sunday thanks to the Blue Mountains SES.
The mobile phone was one of many items found by SES volunteers at the base of Echo Point on Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, March 3.
Logistics Co-ordinator for the SES, Keith Roberts, was able to charge the phone back to working order - and eventually return it to its grateful owner.
“I was so shocked that the phone was in such good condition after falling from Echo Point and exposed on the cliff face,” said Mr Roberts.
“And then I was even more surprised that when the phone powered up, it displayed a message how it was lost with a phone number to contact, which I did.”
The Sydney women, who did not wish to be named, lost the phone when it slipped out of her hand at Echo Point almost eight months ago and went over Queen Elizabeth Lookout. She had owned the $1000 device for just a week.
The woman visited the SES Blue Mountains unit on Sunday, March 10 where she was reunited with the phone.
It wasn't the only good news story to come out of Clean Up Australia Day.
Mr Roberts was also able to read the photos on an SD card from a digital camera that was badly damaged. From the 900 images, he was able to decipher that the owner came from Queensland.
“Some of the photos showed a certain school in Queensland, so I contacted Queensland Education and I was able to track down the owner to his school," said Mr Roberts.
“Sure enough, it was a family holiday to the Blue Mountains almost five years ago when they accidentally dropped their camera over Echo Point.”
Mr Roberts tracked down the address of the owner and posted the SD card back to Queensland - another happy ending courtesy of the volunteers of the NSW SES Blue Mountains Unit.
