Bottle of wine saves teetotaller stranded in the Australian bush

A TEETOTAL Australian woman who became stranded in remote bushland survived for five days on a single bottle of wine, she has revealed.

Lillian Ip, 48, from Melbourne, was forced to break her abstinence after her car became stuck on a boggy track.

She was on holiday in a mountainous part of the Victoria state when she took a wrong turn in a remote area of dense bush between the Alpine and Kosciuszko national parks.

Unable to walk out of the forest owing to health problems, Ms Ip decided to stay with the vehicle. However, the only liquid she had was a bottle of wine she had bought to give to her mother as well as a handful of sweets for food.

A police helicopter finally spotted her vehicle on a dirt road called Yankee Point Track, which is about 25 miles from the town of Mitta Mitta.

Police video footage showed a relieved Ms Ip waving up at the helicopter that directed a police patrol vehicle to her. “She was only planning a short day trip so had only taken a couple of snacks and lollies with her but no water,” said Sgt Martin Torpey.

Ms Ip was suffering dehydration and was treated in hospital. South-eastern Australia has been hit by a cold snap in the past couple of days, with snow falling in Victoria and New South Wales, but she survived the freezing nights by turning on the heating in her car.

On the fourth day of her ordeal, thinking she would die, she wrote a farewell letter to her family.

Asked what her first thought on being rescued was, she told 9News Australia: “I was thinking ‘water and a cigarette’. Thank God the policewoman had a cigarette.

“I thought I was going to die there. My whole body shut down on Friday.”

Sgt Torpey said: “She used great common sense to stay with her car and not wander off into bushland, which assisted in police being able to find her. She was extremely relieved to see us, and we were just as happy to see her.”