A morning walk on the Kiama Coastal Walk turned into an emergency call to the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) on Friday, after a dog fell 20 metres down a cliff.
Seven NSW SES Kiama Unit volunteers responded to the call for assistance about 9.30am on September 12, 2025, after 18-month-old golden retriever, Willa, wandered off the walking track and fell down a cliff.
Kiama Unit Commander Chris Warren said his team set up a hauling system 300 metres from the dog and abseiled down a safer part of the cliff safe.
"Our team then walked around a rock edge while racing the impending high tide to retrieve Willa and safely place her in the mule stretcher," Chief Inspector Warren said.
"Once we had the dog at the bottom of the cliff, we winched her up and reunited her with her owner who was on the scene."
Chief Inspector Warren said it was fulfilling to be able to reunite Willa and her owner, who is local to region.
"It is always great to have a positive outcome," he said.
"We train for these types of scenarios, whether it be a pet or a person, and we have a concept of operations plan for the coastal track because of the access limitations.
"Because of our pre-planning for the area, we know where all of the tracks and access points are and we are very thankful to the local property owners who let us through their gates in times of an emergency, like today."
The rescue took a total of three hours, and NSW SES volunteers had to use a four-wheel drive to get through a muddy track to access the site.
