Lost German survives on flies in Aussie Outback

FRIDAY, MARCH 07, 2014

SYDNEY - Stranded by floods and lost, a German backpacker survived for about two weeks in Australia's inhospitable Outback on a diet of insects, police said Friday.

Daniel Dudzisz, 26, went missing in February south-west of Longreach in remote Queensland as he reportedly tried to walk solo more than halfway across Australia.
Police said a motorist picked up the bedraggled tourist on Thursday near Cooper Creek outside the town of Windorah.
Dudzisz -- who is diabetic and insulin-dependent -- told police he waded through floodwaters and ate flies to survive his ordeal in the vast and wild Outback.
"If you hadn't heard it with your own ears -- and my officers have -- you certainly wouldn't believe it," Inspector Mark Henderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"He joked about never going hungry in the Australian Outback because of the amount of flies you can eat for their protein apparently."
Dudzisz told police he was determined to continue his journey to Australia's Northern Territory and was last seen heading beyond the remote town of Mt Isa to cross the state border.
The German has been walking through New South Wales and Queensland states for several months and Henderson said local farmers had kept police informed of his whereabouts, often calling after meeting him on their properties.
"It's a very remote and isolated area with lots of hazards," Henderson told AFP, with one of them the deadly inland taipan snake which was currently "out in force" due to flooding.
"It's not great territory" for walking at night, as Dudzisz does, added Henderson, saying there were also fierce wild boars in the area.
AFP