A pair of Swiss tourists have been rescued after being stranded for three days on a remote 4WD track in Western Australia.
Gerald and Lotti Augsburger, who are in their 60s, became bogged on the Karunjie Track – an unmaintained stock route in the Kimberley – while taking a day trip from Kununurra. They decided to abandoon their hired Toyota Prado and walk for help.
They apparently tried to follow the Pentecost River and Mr Augsburger lost his shoes in the water while his wife’s thongs were destroyed by the rocky track. They were forced to tie clothes around their bare feet to protect them from the hot ground, and the couple collected river water to drink.
A massive search was already under way by the time another tourist couple came across the Augsburgers staggering long the Gibb River Road.
They had walked about 75km in 40C heat. The West Australian newspaper reports that, hungry, thirsty, sunburnt and covered in insect bites, the Augsburgers were extremely happy and relieved to be found.
Insp. Jack Lee said the couple were lucky to have survived.
“They probably had no concept of how far they had to walk,” he told the West. “They weren’t prepared for this sort of thing. They’re very, very lucky to survive out there.”
Police think they may have had a tourist map but it appeared they had little food and water and had no emergency positioning beacon.
Insp. Lee said travellers heading into remote areas should tell someone of their plans and stay with their vehicle if they got into trouble.
“It’s easy to be critical in hindsight – we’re just glad we got them back,” he said.
Sadly this is not an isolated incident as many Australian and overseas tourist take traveling in our rugged outback country to lightly and are ill-prepard and ill-informed. Luckily this time the outcome was great for all concerned and they will have a story to tell when they return home.
Makes you wonder probably had a low command of english bet you brits arnt to happy about recovering there vehicle boy will that cost them even tho its a 4×4 still not allowed to take them of the bitumen its in the contract and hire agreement It costs nothing to tell the local cops where byou are going and when you will be back and an eperb isnt that expensive
Part of the problem is that Europeans generally have no concept of distances in this country, and this problem is exacerbated by the fact that maps for Australia are of necessity to a different scale than maps in Europe. One of my overseas family visitors was miffed that we refused to take him for a drive from Adelaide to Cooper Pedy (doesn’t look far on the map). In the end the matter was settled by taking him for a chartered flight to open his eyes. Glad for these latest unfortunates that all ended well.