Week of Weetbix on Shania Twain track

A helicopter has rescued a lone Adelaide hiker who survived nine days in a hut in rugged New Zealand bush country on just muesli bars and Weetbix.

A search and rescue crew picked up the woman who began a solo hike near the South Island town of Wanaka last week but soon realised she was not sufficiently well equipped or fit enough for the trek.

She made it to a hut on the trail - known as the Shania Twain track as it crosses land owned by the Canadian singer and has been largely funded by her.

But the Adelaide woman's rescuers say she was "too exhausted and too terrified" to attempt the walk back alone.

"This is a young woman (who) had never been tramping before and ended up spending nine days stuck in a hut on the track existing on Weetbix and muesli bars because she neither had the skills nor the level of fitness to get out," said Phillip Melchior, chairman of New Zealand's national search and rescue organisation LandSAR.

"It's an example of someone being woefully ill-prepared for what they're about to do."

The unnamed woman, believed to be in her 20s, had been backpacking around New Zealand for about six months when she decided to head south to hike.

The path she chose, officially called the Motatapu Track, was relatively difficult and rarely used.

Mr Melchior said after a more than a week's stay a fellow hiker offered to accompany her out of the bush.

"But by this stage she wasn't capable so he raised the alarm and we picked her up in the helicopter this morning," he said.

Mr Melchior said it was vital locals or tourists planning to hike thoroughly research the difficulty levels of the tracks, take appropriate equipment and clothing and preferably walk with at least two others.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/week-of-weetbix-on-shania-twain-track-20090120-7lf2.html

-- Edited by Tommy at 11:32, 2009-01-20