Wade Ambrose strikes a ferro-rod with his knife in an effort to make enough sparks to light a fire, just one of many essential skills the 61-year-old will master on a Bushcraft Survival Australia course.
Libby Hogan has more.
After isolation Aussie dads learn survival skills
(EDITOR'S PLEASE NOTE - RESENDS TO REMOVE REFERENCE TO 'MIDDLE AGE MEN', WHICH IS NOT ACCURATE) As lockdowns continue to be rolled back across Australia a handful of men and women from Sydney have flocked to the bush.
They're spending days in the wild hoping to pick up a new set of skills -- how to survive in the middle of the often brutal Australian scrubland.
Father George Hamza hopes to pique his children's interest with his new knowledge of nature: "I'd like to teach my children something.
I know my grandparents and my parents used this sort of skills.
Its started to get lost and they're (my children) heading down the iPhone and tablet and electronics and gaming and indoors.
I want to bring them outdoors and let them become comfortable with being here and doing and living in the outdoors." Bushcraft Survival Australia runs the course where the group learn how to start fires find edible plants and catch water.
Instructor Gordon Dedman says recent events have sparked an interest in the outdoors.
"A lot of people come to learn self discipline.
How to organise themselves and organise themselves in a natural environment and then because they can relax and if you're relax and armed with knowledge up here, the more knowledge you have the less you have to carry and it actually gives you a sense of confidence and then you can make better informed decisions." But apart from the basic skills like learning how to tie a knot, it's also a chance to connect with the wilderness and wisdom from indigenous culture.
"I've been caught up with that supermarket mayhem.
I didn't realise how entrenched I was in that.
And coming out here and spending a few days here and removing myself from that, I'm feeling like I'm detoxing a little from that sphere of the world." [says George Hamza.]