Lillian Ip’s heartbreaking letter to family after spending five days stranded in Mitta Mitta bush
Woman who miraculously survived five days in the bush after drinking wine and eating lollipops reveals she wrote a suicide note to her family: ‘I thought I was going to die’
- Lillian Ip, 48, was lost in the bushland of Mitta Mitta
- Stranded for 5 days, wrote a letter to family
A woman who had spent five terrifying days in the bush with only a bottle of wine and a bag of lollipops had written a suicide note to her family before she was found.
Lillian Ip, 48, became trapped in deep bushland in Mitta Mitta, northeastern Victoria, on April 30 after taking a wrong turn on an afternoon drive to Lake Dartmouth.
She had been attempting to make a U-turn when she realized the hilly highlands she was traveling on might be too steep when one of her front wheels seized up.
Unable to loosen her tires, Mrs Ip became stranded in her car and spent the next five days in the bush before being found by an air police search team.
On her fourth lost day in the bush, Mrs Ip feared she wouldn’t make it and made the heartbreaking decision to write her family a final farewell letter.
Lillian Ip, 48, (pictured) was stranded in deep bushland for five days with only a bottle of wine and lollipops
“If by then you don’t think I could be dead from the freezing cold,” she wrote in the letter, Ms Ip told the Announce sun.
‘I love you all. Don’t cry for me.’
Ms Ip’s car was spotted the next day after a massive rescue with crews searching the Mitta Mitta, Wodonga, Bright and Albury areas.
“I thought I was going to die there,” she said.
A police vehicle was guided to where she was with aerial images showing Mrs. Ip in a large plaid coat standing on a dirt road while waving frantically at a police helicopter.
Despite being allergic to alcohol, Mrs. Ip had to finish the bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother on the third day when she became too thirsty.
Along with the wine she had a juice box and some lollipops.
Ms. Ip decided to camp next to her car rather than walk the 60km back to town due to health concerns and fears that she might get lost.
“I thought, how on earth am I going to get out of here? I had no reception… I tried calling about 50 times,” she said.
Luckily she had two blankets with her and after being taken to hospital for dehydration, Ms Ip is now safely back at her home in Cheltenham.
Ms Ip was on holiday alone at the time, but says her family has now banned her from going out alone.
The 48-year-old (pictured) was spotted by a search and rescue crew from the air a day after she wrote a heartbreaking final letter to her family