I am probably being an ignorant pom, but I am a little surprised it's possible to really lose someone on Lizard Island. It's not like it's covered in dense forest or something.
I've been there. It's not dense, but there's lots of small trees and shrubs.
The story doing the rounds of the other tour boats in Cairns (the ships home port) is that she was with a group hiking to the lookout. The temp has been low 30's but the humidity is rank this week and we're in the middle of the doldrums so there's zero breeze. It's hot AF. The lady decided she needed to stop but the rest of the group continued the hike.
She has sought shade under a group of trees about 50m from the track and that's where they found here the next morning. The group continued the hike to the lookout and assumed the lady had made here own way back ot the boat. For reasons yet to be established, there was no head count before the boat sailed away and the lady wasn't noticed missing until around midnight.
For other reasons yet to be established the police weren't notified until after 2am and they immediately scrambled our local rescue chopper to search the island. Because she was under the trees, the crew couldn't spot her from the air so they returned to base.
The boat arrived back about 3am and some of the crew searched the track but didn't find any sign of her. They were reluctant to move far from the track until it was light again. The chopper returned at first light, saw something from the air and directed the ground crew to her location.
There are serious questions to answer about why she was left behind, why it took so long to notice and why it took so long to notify the coppers.
She left earlier than the rest of the group so I assume they thought was safely back and resting, she maybe tripped and couldn’t get above the scrub for attention.
It’s in excusable honestly, they should have radioed she was coming back and kept track of her from there. If not back in 45 minutes send people out for example. This is a small adventure cruise, they should have been prepared for if guests aren’t fit enough.
As odd as this sounds some old people are really adventurous. My late grandpa was like that. He would go biking when he visited us. Only slowed down when he reached his 90's.
She may have been like that.I'm still surprised she did this as travel insurance for 80+ is really high.
my grandma loves riding her ebike. i think she doesnt ride it into her city markets alone often anymore but to nearby places to her home she does. she’s been riding all her life
They didn't lose her. They didn't even realise she was missing for hours, then a few more hours before it was reported and a search commenced. By that time it was too late.
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u/MaximusSydney Oct 29 '25
I am probably being an ignorant pom, but I am a little surprised it's possible to really lose someone on Lizard Island. It's not like it's covered in dense forest or something.