Australia's most remarkable tales of survival
The remarkable story of a hunter who survived six days lost in Western Australia by eating ants has been hailed as a survival miracle.
Reg Foggerdy, 62, disappeared last week and was found almost a week later, delirious and dehydrated.
As details of his ordeal were revealed, Australia discovered the hunter had managed to survive without water in Western Australia’s Goldfields region by taking what moisture he could from black ants.
While Mr Foggerdy’s story of survival is the latest to emerge, his is not the first tale of a miraculous survival in Australia’s unforgiving environment.
A desert miracle
American man Robert Bogucki’s tale has been called the Miracle in the Desert and was the subject of a documentary of the same name.
The devout Christian set out on a spiritual journey through the Great Sandy Desert in 1999. His solo trek sparked a massive man hunt involving police, emergency services, Aboriginal trackers and even help from the US.
While few thought he would live to tell the story of his perilous journey through the most unforgiving of unforgiving terrain, Mr Bogucki was found alive 42 days later.
Lost at sea
Adventurer Tony Bullimore’s name has almost become synonymous with expensive rescue efforts in Australia.
In Mr Bullimore’s case it was a 2500 kilometre yacht race in 1997 that led him to spend four days in freezing conditions in the Southern Ocean.
He was rescued when the HMAS Adelaide happened upon his upturned yacht after rescuing Frenchman Thierry Dubois who was also competing in the Vendee-Globe solo yacht race.
In telling his story, Mr Bullimore said he was preparing for death inside the hull of his upturned vessel.
Surviving the Thredbo disaster
Stuart Diver was not in a remote outback or ocean when he was thrown into one of Australia’s most infamous tales of survival against the odds.
Mr Diver survived for days buried beneath the debris after a landslide at Thredbo. The accident claimed the life of his wife but Mr Diver managed to survive in freezing conditions for 65 hours before rescuers finally heard his cries.
Seventeen other people, as well as Mr Diver’s first wife Sally, died in the 1997 tragedy.
Left for dead in the bush
While some outback survival stories read like fairy tales, Ricky Megee’s was more like a nightmare.
Mr Megee survived almost three months camped out beside an old dam, living off of lizards, frogs and insects.
He came to be stranded after stopping to help a stricken car on an outback road. As far as he can recall, he was drugged and awoke some time later having been left for dead beneath a tarp in the remote bush.
Mr Megee was eventually rescued, emaciated and dehydrated but, some how, alive. He went on to write a book entitled Left for Dead about his ordeal.
