Stranded by floods and lost, a German backpacker survived for about
two weeks in Australia's inhospitable Outback on a diet of insects,
police said .
Daniel Dudzisz, 26, went missing in February south-west of
Longreach in remote Queensland as he reportedly tried to walk solo
more than halfway across Australia.
Police said a motorist picked up the bedraggled tourist on Thursday
near Cooper Creek outside the town of Windorah.
Dudzisz -- who is diabetic and insulin-dependent -- told police he
waded through floodwaters and ate flies to survive his ordeal in
the vast and wild Outback.
"If you hadn't heard it with your own ears -- and my officers have
-- you certainly wouldn't believe it," Inspector Mark Henderson
told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"He joked about never going hungry in the Australian Outback
because of the amount of flies you can eat for their protein
apparently."
Dudzisz told police he was determined to continue his journey to
Australia's Northern Territory and was last seen heading beyond the
remote town of Mt Isa to cross the state border.
The German has been walking through New South Wales and Queensland
states for several months and Henderson said local farmers had kept
police informed of his whereabouts, often calling after meeting him
on their properties.
"It's a very remote and isolated area with lots of hazards,"
Henderson told AFP, with one of them the deadly inland taipan snake
which was currently "out in force" due to flooding.
"It's not great territory" for walking at night, as Dudzisz does,
added Henderson, saying there were also fierce wild boars in the
area.
Henderson said police became worried when Dudzisz set off from
Windorah on February 17 heading to Jundah, about 90 kilometres (50
miles) away, in the path of floodwaters, and was not seen
again.
After a local motorbike search they launched an aerial sweep on
February 24, but more localised flooding saw operations suspended.
- 'We thought he had perished' -
The inspector said the German walker later recounted he had lost
his way and became stranded between two flooded areas of the Barcoo
River, spending about 10 days on an "island" which formed in the
massive stretch of water.
"He had very limited food. He told us he's eaten flies and he's
probably right," Henderson said, adding that the supplies of baked
beans and cereal he had when he left Windorah had been quickly
exhausted.
"We certainly thought he had perished; we certainly had grave
concerns for him. Medical experts had told us he wouldn't have
survived that long without food."
Dudzisz spurned medical treatment when he returned to Windorah.
"He certainly was hungry, but other than that he was in reasonable
spirits," Henderson said.
The Brisbane Times reported that he planned to walk 4,000
kilometres (2,400 miles) from New South Wales to Uluru -- Ayer's
Rock -- in the heart of Australia.
But Henderson said he had been convinced to now travel on the
roads, rather than along the rivers and other shortcuts.
In a February 6 interview with the southwest Queensland weekly
Warrego Watchman, Dudzisz admitted his marathon hike was "quite
hardcore".
But he said he could handle it after being homeless for two
years.
"What I enjoy about the walking most is just how much closer nature
feels... And all the little unexpected encounters and adventures
that tend to accumulate along such a journey."
He related a story of a night-time fight with an aggressive
kangaroo and also being shot at by a farmer who mistook him for a
kangaroo.
Dudzisz also met with opal miner Andrew Plax while passing through
the Queensland mining town of Yowah.
Plax told Fairfax Media the German was the most intriguing
traveller he had met in years and that he had no doubt he would be
found alive when he was missing.
"I'm not worried about him yet," Plax said at the time. "He lives
on the smell of an oily rag food-wise.
"Water's not a problem at the moment, and he drinks from cow
troughs and puddles."