An adventurer who had a shotgun shoved into his mouth while on a 5,330km outback charity run gave the stranger a bizarre compliment to get himself out of the dangerous situation.
Richard Bowles, a Melbourne-based awarded speaker, was trekking along the Bicentennial National Trail for charity in 2012.
Mr Bowles was about three quarters of the way through his journey when he stumbled across a stranger near the Queensland and New South Wales border who threatened to blow his head off.
‘At this particular stage I hadn’t seen my team or anyone in the wilderness for almost two weeks,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Richard Bowles, a Melbourne-based awarded speaker, had a shotgun shoved into his mouth while on a 5,330-kilometre outback charity run
‘I came across this shack in the wilderness and thought ”that’s cool, there’s somebody out here, I can speak to somebody”.’
‘But then it dawned on me the fact that, the type of people that live in the wilderness are probably doomsday preparers, axe-murders, goblins, that kind of thing.’
The 41-year-old said an aggressive dog ran at him and as he attempted to fight off the wild beast, he noticed a man chopping wood with an axe.
‘He looked and he dropped that axe and obviously picked something else up and came running towards me,’ Mr Bowles said.
‘He pointed the shotgun at me and said: ”Who are you?”
The multi-record adventurer tried to explain that he was passing through the area for charity but the stranger wouldn’t accept his story.
‘He rammed that shotgun into my mouth and said: ”Who are you, what are you doing here?”,’ Mr Bowles said.
‘I said: ”I’m doing it for charity, perhaps you’d like to donate?”’
Mr Bowles (pictured) was trekking along the Bicentennial National Trail for charity in 2012
He was about three quarters of the way through his journey when he stumbled across a stranger near the Queensland and NSW border who threatened to blow his head off. Mr Bowles is pictured running in the desert
‘Well clearly not, because that’s when he said: ”I’m going to blow your f***ing brains out”.’
Unable to yell for help, Mr Bowles happened to notice an orchard tree growing behind the shack and tried to use it to his advantage.
He told the stranger: ‘Hey man, I like your fruit tree.’
The man took the gun out of Mr Bowles’ mouth and said: ‘You know what pal, I’ve been trying to grow those mandarins for a while. Would you like to try one?’
Mr Bowles said the man went on to speak about growing the fruit before he was sent on his way.
When Mr Bowles left, the man shouted: ‘Anyway, it’s not me you need to be scared of, it’s my neighbour.’
Mr Bowles, an educator who focuses on subject areas change, resilience and high-performance, puts himself in extreme experiences as a ‘giant life experiment’ to explore success in chaos
Looking back to the incident, the adventurer said he simply ‘moved on’ with his run.
‘I spent a lot of time alone [on the run]… A lot of crazy situations where I had to figure out my s**t or I’m going to die,’ he said.
‘By that point [the gun incident], I was probably more prepared for that situation.’
Mr Bowles, an educator who focuses on subject areas change, resilience and high-performance, puts himself in extreme experiences as a ‘giant life experiment’ to explore success in chaos.
While a crisis situation can not be predicted, Mr Bowles said he is often well-equipped to deal with what is thrown at him by being able to control his emotions.
‘As much as I can’t predict what’s going to happen, I can predict how I’m going to feel when I go through an adventure,’ he said.
Mr Bowles is pictured with a serious foot infection in Jerusalem
‘There are always going to be times when I’m scared, times where I doubt myself, when I’m in fear, when I lack motivation, the list goes on.
‘What I do actually, is I mentally prepare for those things.
‘If I get my emotions under control in those situations then I don’t make a rushed decision or run away… I’m able to step forward.’
Mr Bowles said once an individual is able to look after their emotions in the face of a crisis, they ‘gain the control’.
‘When you have control of your emotions, it gives you mass amounts of clarity to a situation which otherwise would be clouded by your own emotions,’ he said.
Originally from England, Mr Bowles transforms his real-life experiences and accomplishments into business success.
Originally from England, Mr Bowles transforms his real-life experiences and accomplishments into business success