Woman stranded five days in Australian bushland survives on wine and lollipops

A woman who was stranded for five days in the wilderness of southeast Australia survived on wine and lollipops, authorities said to NBC News.

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The 48-year-old woman, who was identified only as Lillian, was discovered Thursday at the end of a dirt road, state police from Victoria said, the Insider reported.

While on driving to visit with family, she took a wrong turn trying to find Dartmouth Dam, the largest and highest in Australia. She wound up on a dead-end road and got stuck in the mud when she tried to turn around. The area was so remote she had no cell phone service to call for help.

Loved ones alerted police when she was late showing for her visit in the town of Bright. Authorities launched an extensive search that lasted for days.

She had only planned a day trip so she had few supplies: just some snacks, lollipops and a bottle of wine as a gift for her mother, Wodonga Police Station Sgt. Martin Torpey said in a statement. She was about 60 miles from the nearest town, and she could not dare to walk far because of a medical condition, Torpey said.

But if she had been in top physical shape, staying put would have been the smart thing to do in that rough country.

“She showed great common sense to stay with her car and not wander off into bushland, which helped police to find her, Torpley said.

Though she did not have any water, the wine “got her through,” Torpley said. Lilian does not drink under ordinary circumstances. She got through the cold nights with an assist from her car’s heater.

A helicopter scanning the area happened upon her waving ecstatically for help.

Aerial footage posted on Twitter by Victoria Police shows the moment authorities in a helicopter spotted her car in the hilly terrain as Lillian waved up to the camera.