Seven NewsNot only does Bear Grylls make awesome TV shows but he also now saves lives too.
Mother and son, Michelle Pittman and nine-year-old Dylan, were lost for an astonishing 10 days in the Australian bush.
Setting out for a trek in the Mount Royal National Park on Monday October 2, the two became lost and resorted to using survival tactics inspired by the infamous outdoors expert.
Discovery ChannelLocal police found the pair in New South Wales’ park on Thursday, dehydrated but otherwise – remarkably – completely healthy, except for plenty of insect bites.
A large scale rescue mission started after their family reported them missing to the police the following Friday.
Hunter Valley Acting Superintendent Rob Post told News.com.au:
It’s amazing they’ve actually survived for so long.
Even more amazing is nine-year-old Dylan has come out with insect bites but quite fit and able – he looks like he could do the whole thing again.
Michelle is quite weak and is in hospital recovering.
It’s quite amazing the way they’ve managed to gather water, they made reference to Bear Grylls.
She mentioned they had watched the shows and got some tips out of that which assisted them.
They licked the moisture off plants to help keep hydrated. There were dried up creek beds where they sourced water by digging.
They bounced off each other, she was getting weaker but the fact she was there made him stronger.
Seven NewsThe two got lost after they mistook dried up creeks for walking tracks.
Police were only able to locate Pittman’s car when they found a note in her home listing walks she intended on doing with her son.
The four day search of the park covered 17,000 acres.
Seven NewsSuperintendent Post continued:
We’d located their tracks on a creek bed and we were tracking them.
Just prior to us finding them they crawled out onto the road and were picked up by a passing police unit.
Superintendent Post also added Pittman was so dehydrated she was unable to speak.
Discovery ChannelWhile she’s not expected to get out of hospital for another couple of days, Dylan joked with the emergency services about going to school the next day.
Ambulance Inspector Andrew Steenson described the pair as being in ‘remarkably good physical condition’ considering what they went through.
This was due to ‘some quiet ingenious survival tactics’ they learned from watching Grylls’ television shows.
Planet PhotosPost added:
The search terrain was really quite hostile in some areas.
There are some steep slopes and thick scrub and it drops off by about 500 metres in some parts of the search area.
The body does some strange things when put into stressful situations.
Maybe we should all focus more when Bear is on the telly as it may save your life one day!
