Testimonials

Completing the Advanced Survival Course was a powerful life-experience. It was both physically demanding and emotionally challenging at stages, but that’s the point: to find exactly where your inner-wells of strength are located should you need to draw upon them in an emergency. In addition, the other participants, the very knowledge instructions, the awesome natural beauty and the in-situ survival insights made every day a special one. I have no doubt I could now execute a credible desert survival plan to save myself or others – for me that’s quite an achievement.

Your new edition of ‘Outback Survival’  arrived safely today. Thanks so much, and thank you too for the dedication.
I have just finished reading the Outback Driving chapter and thought that it was a very welcome addition to what is the best book on Outback Survival ever published in Australia. I enjoyed thinking again about your no-nonsense approach, but seriousness when it was required. I hope it sells well and that those who buy it, not only read it but act on the wisdom contained therein.

To all involved in the running of Bob Cooper’s Wilderness Survival Course last weekend, May I say Thankyou.

I was initially a little apprehensive at spending the money for just two days but can now say that it was worth every penny and that I’d do it again without any hesitation.

It is a well organised, well structured and smoothly run course covering a mind boggling spectrum of subjects to do with the very serious and very necessary art of survival in the Australian wilderness. The course instructors were wonderfully affable and knowledgable, the setting was beautiful and isolated enough so that one didn’t feel that they were merely safely playing pretend, and the activities pursued were perfect for building the necessary confidence one would need in any survival situation.

Survival is as much a head space as it is life and death problem solving and Bob’s course opens the door wide on this state of consciousness. Indeed the survival skills we learnt were really just about living in a more conscious and integrative fashion with one’s environment. It is for this reason that I would recommend this course to anyone, even those who can’t ever foresee themselves in a survival situation (although in the current global climate this may be a little naive) because the lessons learnt are applicable in a myriad of ways to normal every day life. One is forced to learn about oneself and confront one’s limitations thereby gaining a better blueprint for more constructive interactions with others and one’s surrounds, even if that environment is a safe, homey one, or out on the street…

And Bob is of course the star of the show. I consider him to be an Australian national treasure. If your introduction to survivalism has thus far been Bear Grylls, you’ve been missing out.

Indeed I did hear Bear’s name mentioned once or twice by course participants but it was in hushed, self aware tones because they realised just how much of an overproduced, candy assed version of the real deal he is when they had an authentic example before them. And boy is Bob the real deal. Here is a man you would unreservedly trust with your life. He makes Bear look like an inexperienced young pup. What’s more, he appears to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of thousands of years of native tribal bushcraft from more than one continent and carries a quiet, reverential respect for their superior, sustainable ways. Bob has a wonderfully dry sense of humour and a quiet and unassuming way of seeing to the heart of things but the gravity of his subject is never far from your mind. In short he is an authentic wise man with the forgotten codes of integrity and honour running deep in his blood… And if he ever reads this he’ll scoff… Because he’s humble too and lip service isn’t part of getting things done.

So thanks again guys. I had a wonderful time and look forward to studying at the feet of the master again sometime soon.

I’d like to thank to you, Ann and Rob very much for last weekend’s course.

Despite being apprehensive beforehand because of my age and level of fitness, the clear instruction and depth of knowledge from all three of you certainly built confidence quickly.

Having started my working life as a professional navigator I was impressed by the simplicity and infallibility of the shadow stick method for finding true north, which I’d read about in your book, but not seen demonstrated before.

If life has taught me anything, it’s that you never know what it’s going to throw you next unexpectedly. Whilst on holidays a few years back we were packing up from a family picnic in the Grampians with my ex-wife’s sister and our various children when an unexpected situation arose.  An elderly couple and their daughter walked out of the bush into the car park around 4 pm, about 5 minutes before we were going to leave.  They were lost and asked for help because the father was a type 1 diabetic and they’d left his insulin in their car, which they couldn’t find or walk back to.  Fortunately, because I’m never usually without one, we had a map of the area and were able to identify where they’d left the car from the description of how they’d driven there.  As the total number of adults well exceeded the available number of car seats, we had to split the group up temporarily and leave some behind while my wife & I went off with the daughter in one car to find theirs.  We managed to sort the situation out for them with only a couple of hours delay to ourselves and an adventure for the kids to talk about at school.  However, had they arrived at the car park a few minutes later after we’d left their situation would have been very different.

I’m a great believer in the “6 Ps” – “proper preparation prevents piss poor performance” – and feel better prepared to venture into the bush than I was before.

Thanks Bob. Pulled up great – looking forward to more survival adventures and learning more skills! I realised it was quite an achievement after I started talking to my friends about what we did and they were all amazed and very proud so that felt good. Our clients all thought I was crazy for choosing to go on a trip where I had to sleep on the ground but they said they’d feel safe in my ‘expert’ hands if we ever got in trouble!