On our trip up north last month we drove out to
Halligan Bay on Lake Eyre and saw this on the track about halfway out:
and wondered how someone could die so close to civilisation. The story doesn’t seem to be posted anywhere on here so we googled the name and it is certainly a tragic tale:
Caroline Grossmueller
On the 7th of December 1998 tourists Karl Goeschka and Caroline Grossmueller (from Vienna, Austria) left
William Creek Hotel to travel 65 km East to Lake Eyre. Before leaving the hotel the couple signed their name in a register letting the boy behind the counter know about their whereabouts in case they would not be back within a few days so he could raise the alarm. After arriving at the banks of the lake that evening they bogged their Britz troopy campervan manoeuvring in loose sand at the
camp site. Karl did let the tires down a bit and dug some of the sand away with a plate but was unable to get it free.
They were stuck at the
bush camping site, had a full 65 litre
water tank in the vehicle and enough food to survive for weeks. They were bogged next to a shelter with large
water tank containing over 300 litres of water. Karl and Caroline were confident that the hotel boy would raise the alarm and that someone would come to their rescue. But after 2 days of waiting at the banks of the dry lake, there was no sign of help. They became worried that somehow they were forgotten. As it happened, the boy had left the hotel the following day after his father returned. He had written the whereabouts of the couple in a new book because he couldn’t find the existing one. When the father returned he only checked the old book, not finding any indication that anyone was still out at the lake. Caroline and Karl decided that she could not wait any longer. They took a tent, various small articles, and 17 litres of water between them. As an experienced walker and medical student Caroline estimated they could do about 4-5 km an hour in the night, making it possible to do the 65km in less than 12-14 hours, just enough time before the heat of the day would become unbearable. However the temperature was over 40º each day (shade temperature) and did not drop much below 35º at night. They only walked 5 hours before needing to rest for another 5 having already drunk half their water. After another hours walking Caroline left Karl who felt he couldn’t continue, taking his boots because her shoes had started to melt and most of their remaining water and heading on alone about 4:00am on the 10th. Karl stayed in the tent during the day and returned to the lake that evening. Caroline only covered half the distance to
William Creek and was found dead five days later by two German tourists. Caroline had died next to the road, half way between Lake Eyre and the Hotel. She managed to walk about 30 km before collapsing. She still carried almost 2 litres of water on her and had walked past cattle troughs and dams containing water (and was only 700m from another one when she died). During the inquiry of her death, Dr. James attributed her death to "heat exhaustion and exposure". The coroners findings can be found
here. Karl was rescued that same day.
The attending
police officer later reported that the troopys tyres still had 34 lbs per sq inch of pressure. He dropped the tyre pressure down to 24, spent 10 minutes removing sand from under the vehicle and "then drove the vehicle out of the bog with minimal difficulty"
The couple were carrying a desert pass pack with all the right instructions: Stay with the vehicle, Stay in the shade, Conserve water, Prepare signals - eg fire, mirrors, and ground markings. They were carrying no recovery gear – not even a shovel and the vehicle was not in an impossible situation as evidenced by the relative ease of the attending
police officer in shifting the vehicle. The pair were clearly ignorant of the effect of the high temperatures on the body even though Grosmueller was a medical student.
All in all a very sad story.
Regards
Pete