RELATED CONTENT: US woman winched from Deua forest
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American visitor Alyce Tidball, who was found by searchers after two days lost in the Deua River Valley, has heaped praise on her rescuers.
“I am very sorry to have caused this and I am just so grateful to the emergency services; what they do is critical,” she said.
“They are cheerful, fit super-nice and helpful; I didn’t realise so many of them are volunteers; that is such a noble thing.”
Ms Tidball, who is 65 and a US State Department employee, became lost after going for a walk from the home of friend Ian Gamble on Saturday afternoon, and spent two nights in the valley dressed in a t-shirt and shorts.
She took her mobile phone with her, but just to tell the time, so after she rang Mr Gamble to tell him she was lost late on Saturday evening, the phone’s battery went flat.
“I was trying to get back up the mountain a little bit at a time, and I slid down it on my butt.
“I was really thirsty and a gentle rain started to fall so I opened my mouth but only got one drop on my lip.
“I fell asleep and when I woke up it was dawn.”
One group of individuals had found her.
She heard Batemans Bay police officer Donna-Maree Clarke reply “Alyce!”
“The leeches were feasting on me,” she said.
Mr Gamble was out searching for her and she heard him calling out coo-eee!
“I called out ‘whoo hoo’ back to him, but he couldn’t hear me,” she said.
Soon the Westpac Helicopter, police, SES, RFS and nearby residents were looking for her.
“I saw the helicopter but the crew couldn’t see me because of the trees,” she said.
She had to spend Sunday night in a gully, where it was much colder than the night before.
The next day she was calling for help and heard Batemans Bay police officer Donna-Maree Clarke reply “Alyce!”
“I was just elated,” she said.
Later she was winched up by the Westpac Helicopter and taken to an ambulance, then to Moruya Hospital for check-ups.
“I had flown in helicopters in Afghanistan, but never been winched up into one,” she said.