Form 8 \ Reading Comprehension \ Semester II

Lost in Australia

When eighteen-year-old British student Sam Woodhead left college, he dreamed of joining the army – but he seceded to have a gap year and go travelling first. Sam was already a keen long-distance runner and was very fit and healthy, but thought backpacking in Australia was great training for his future.

In December 2012, Sam arrived in Central Queensland and found a job on a cattle farm. The farm was in the middle of the countryside, and Sam was enjoying his life there. One Tuesday morning, only eight days after his arrival, he decided to go for a run. But Sam made mistakes. He took heavy backpack but only one bottle of water. He also didn’t have a route, and he didn’t know the landscape. After only two hours, he finished his water and realized he was lost. The temperature was close to 40ºC and he was soon exhausted. After four or five hours, he decided to stop and spend the night in the outback.

The next morning, Sam didn’t report for work. His employers checked his room. His backpack and running shoes were gone, but his mobile and wallet were there. they called the rescue services and then they called Sam’s family in England. The rescue services sent helicopters to the area to try to find Sam, but there were a lot of trees and plants in the area so it was difficult for the pilots to see a person on the ground. 

Meanwhile, Sam was trying to find his way back. He made an SOS emergency signal on the ground from all the clothes in his backpack, including a pair of colourful shorts. Then, on Friday morning, Sam heard two helicopters flying over him. He shouted and waved his arms, but of course they didn’t see him, and they couldn’t hear him because their engines were too noisy. Then, in the afternoon, a third helicopter flew right over the SOS signal. At first, the pilot didn’t see anything, but the wind from the helicopter’s engine picked up Sam’s shorts, and the pilot suddenly spotted them. He searched the area again, and at last he found the missing student only four or five kilometres from the cattle farm. Sam went to a hospital in the nearby town, Longreach, to recover. He was lucky to be alive!