Family cheats death after ten–day ordeal in Bush
The family found themselves with little food, no mobile phone reception and temperatures that rose to 38C after dad Steven van Lonkhuyzen took a wrong turn during a road trip and his four-wheel-drive vehicle became bogged down in mud.
Stranded without any mobile reception, Mr van Lonkhuyzen rationed food he had packed for a four-day camping trip and put plastic containers out to capture rain. They were rescued after farmer Tom Wagner searched for them on his motorbike and found them after several hours in the Expedition National Park, north west of Brisbane.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“They were pretty hungry by the time I got to them and pretty happy to see me,” Mr Wagner said. He said the younger boy, Timothy, kept asking him if he had any eggs, while the older one, Ethan, appeared dehydrated. He said the father had given the limited food he had to his sons, who had had little to eat for a week.
CONNECT WITH THE SCOTSMAN
• Subscribe to our daily newsletter (requires registration) and get the latest news, sport and business headlines delivered to your inbox every morning
“Luckily it rained,” added Mr Wagner. “Otherwise they would have perished. I realised where they had been and thought they could be in the park next to us. It’s 100,000 acres of really rough country, it’s massive and easy to get lost in.
“I thought, if it was my own kids, just how frightening that would be. I had to go and find them, I just hoped I would find them alive.”
Acting superintendent Mick Bianchi of Queensland Police said Mr van Lonkhuyzen planned to drive from his home in Brisbane to Cairns using an inland route, but “quite simply, he took a wrong turn”.
Mr Bianchi said the boys’ mother had raised the alarm when the trio didn’t arrive at a friend’s home in Cairns. He added that the family had limited provisions but luckily it was stormy at times and they were able to collect rainwater in a plastic container.
He said: “Steven told me they had some water with them in the car but that they were lucky there was lots of rain while they were stuck out there. He put a plastic container out and he thinks he caught about 40 litres of water.”
By the time they heard the welcoming sound of a motorbike on Sunday afternoon, the trio were down to their last slices of bread. Local grazier Mr Wagner had received police reports describing the vehicle and recalled having seen it some days earlier. He jumped on his motorbike and found them about 3:30pm on Sunday.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“I would like to thank Mr Wagner who managed to find them off his own bat,” said Mr Bianchi. “It’s pretty indicative of the way country people pitch in and help each other.”
He said the boys were still at the Taroom hospital, while their father and national park rangers worked to extract his trapped vehicle. Mr van Lonkhuyzen had tried to attract attention by laying out high-visibility items and lighting fires and Mr Bianchi said he made the right choice by staying with his vehicle.
“They were very trying conditions and it would have tested the family’s relationship,” he said. He added that Mr van Lonkhuyzen had attempted to establish routines with his children and keep them occupied – there was little or no cellphone reception in the park and the trio hadn’t been able to contact anybody.
The national park is not usually visited at this time of year because of the extreme weather conditions, Mr Bianchi said.
SCOTSMAN TABLET AND IPHONE APPS