If you are an international student in Queensland or perhaps Darwin, you would not believe for a moment that Australia is the driest continent in the world. In the North and North-East recent rainfall caused heavy flooding. But living in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth will make you understand the great value of water. Many Asian international students, used to tropical monsoon, are amazed by the dry heat. In the midst of summer, temperatures can soar to over 46 degrees in the cities. In recent years, even the green coastal areas in the South and East suffered from a lack of rain, drying up water reservoirs at a scary pace. Melbourne reservoirs are less than 30 % full, coming from over 80% at the end of the last century.

 

Photo: Memorial of Caroline, taken by myself in the middle of winter (pleasant 25 degrees C.)

 

Most of the outback is desert, with soaring temperatures in summer reaching over 50°C. Walking outside in those conditions is like `stepping into hell`: especially if a hot Northern wind blows in your face like a 3000 watt blow hairdryer. Your laundry dries in minutes and at the end of the day, plants have shrunk into miserable creatures. The dry heat can be extremely dangerous if you are exposed for a longer period of time without protection as the following tragic story illustrates.

 

On the 11^th of December 1998 tourists Karl Goeschka and Caroline Grossmueller (from Vienna, Austria) left William Creek Hotel (the single building in town) to travel 60 km East to Lake Eyre (South Australia), a usually dry salt lake. Lake Eyre only fills up with water every so many years when floods from Queensland travel hundreds of kilometres inland to this lowest part of Australia. As is common in the outback, before leaving the hotel the couple signed their name in the register letting the boy behind the counter know about their whereabouts. In case they would not be back within a few days he should raise the alarm. After arriving at the banks of the lake, unfortunately their campervan got somehow stuck in the sand and Karl twisted his ankle while trying to free the vehicle.

 

They stayed at a bush camping where a large water tank provided hundreds of litres of water and the couple had enough food to survive for weeks. Karl and Caroline were confident that the hotel boy would raise the alarm and that someone would come to their rescue. But after days of waiting at the banks of the dry lake, there was no sign of help. Caroline Grossmueller, aged 28 years, a trained mountain walker, became worried that somehow they were forgotten en rightly so. As it happened, the boy had left the hotel the following day after his father returned. By mistake he had written the whereabouts of the Austrian tourists in the old register book and his father only checked the new book not finding any names in it. Caroline decided that she could not wait any longer. Leaving injured Karl behind, she took seven litres of water in two containers and headed off in the middle of the night. As an experienced walker she estimated she could do about 4-5 km an hour in the cool night, making it possible to do the 60km in less than 12-14 hours, just enough time before the heat of the day would become unbearable. However she clearly underestimated the roughness of the terrain and maybe also the weight of the water containers. She only covered half the distance and was found one day later by two German tourists. Caroline had perished at the site of the road, half way between Lake Eyre and the Hotel. She managed to walk about 30 km before collapsing. She did not die from a lack of available water as she still carried almost 2 litres of water on her. During the inquiry of her death, Dr. James attributed her death to "heat exhaustion and exposure". The coroner `Finding of Inquest` can be found here.  Karl was rescued that same day.

 

The story holds two valuable lessons for students who plan exploring the fantastic outback of Australia. First: you must never leave your vehicle, as it provides protection to the heat and a car can be found easier from the sky by search planes than people. Second: Learn about the technique of four wheel driving. It appeared that the couple’s 4WD was in "axle-twist", meaning that the front and rear axles were at an angle to each other. Since the differentials were not locked, this meant that power was not being applied to the wheels that were in contact with the sand, and so no traction could be obtained preventing the wheels to turn. If they had known more about 4WD technique (locking the differential is a simple turn of a button), this tragedy would probably never had happened!

 

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