Cheltenham woman Lillian Ip survived on wine, lollies while stranded in bushland

A Cheltenham woman who survived five days stranded in dense bushland near Bright with nothing but a bottle of wine and lollies has spoken of her harrowing ordeal.

Missing woman Lillian Ip waves at the police rescue helicopter. Picture: Victoria Police

A woman who survived five days stuck in deep bushland with nothing but a bottle of wine and a juice box says she thought she would die and never see her family again.

Cheltenham woman Lillian Ip, 48, was travelling around the Alpine region on holiday when she got lost and her car got bogged in Mitta Mitta bushland on April 30.

Without phone reception and unable to walk in search of help, Lillian was forced to camp out of her car stuck at the dead-end of Yankee Point Track.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Herald Sun, Ms Ip said she was having “the best adventure” through the High Country when she became stuck.

On what was supposed to be an afternoon trip to Lake Dartmouth, Ms Ip travelled deep into bushland, over an hour’s drive from Mitta Mitta.

But as she neared her destination she quickly realised the hill was too steep and attempted to pull a U-Turn but one of her front wheels became bogged.

“I tried lots of ways to get it unstuck… I tried to dig a hole,” she said.

Ms Ip said she quickly launched into “survival mode” when she realised her small two wheel drive was not going to budge.

“I tried to walk down (the hill) but it was too far. I was worried I would end up getting lost,” she said.

Lillian Ip was on holiday in Bright before she was reported missing to police. Picture: Victoria Police

Ms Ip was forced to camp out at her car when it became bogged. Picture: Victoria Police

Ms Ip’s family reported her missing on Sunday when she failed to make her daily call.

Unable to walk the gruelling 60 kilometres to town due to health concerns, she made the potentially lifesaving decision to remain with the car and take shelter.

Luckily, Ms Ip had brought two blankets with her and had a full tank of petrol.

“By 5 o’clock it was dark and foggy, it was freezing,” she said.

“I thought, how on earth am I going to get out of here? I had no reception… I tried calling about 50 times.”

Ms Ip, who is allergic to alcohol, said she had become so thirsty by day three that she was forced to drink from the wine she had bought as a gift for her mother.

“The only other thing I had was a juice box,” she said.

“I didn’t know when they were going to find me… I thought I was going to die there.”

Ms Ip’s loved ones first noticed something was awry when she failed to make her daily call last Sunday, immediately alerting police.

The police Air Wing conducted a search that extended over Mitta Mitta, Wodonga, Albury and Bright but failed to find any sign of her.

By day four, Ms Ip made the heartbreaking decision to write a letter to her family, fearing she wouldn’t survive.

“If you don’t find by this time I could be dead by frozen cold. I love you all. Don’t cry for me,” she wrote.

“I thought I was going to die there,” she told the Herald Sun.

But on Friday afternoon, Ms Ip began to hear helicopters above her.

“I just kept thinking, ‘come on, I’m here.”

It was then that officers spotted her car from the air and directed emergency services to her location.

Ms Ip, who was “so relieved” when emergency services arrived, said there were two things she immediately asked for.

“I needed water and a cigarette,” she said.

Wodonga police station sergeant Martin Torpey said Ms Ip had “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 taken to hospital for observation and was treated for dehydration before returning to her home in Cheltenham where she has lived for 25 years.

“I love travelling by myself, I love the freedom of it… but I’m banned now, my mum says,” she said, sitting in her living room with her mother by her side.

“I certainly made a wrong decision that day.”