A simple wrong turn and a single bottle of wine has resulted in a Melbourne woman's picturesque high country holiday becoming a fight for survival.
Lillian Ip, 48, from southern Melbourne suburb Cheltenham, was holidaying in Bright when she went missing after making a purchase at a Mitta Mitta shop last Sunday.
The alarm was raised when she failed to make a daily call to loved ones on Sunday.
She was found on Friday about 60 kilometres from the nearest town waving to a police helicopter as it flew along a dirt road in the dense and steep Mitta Mitta bushland.
"She was only planning a short-day trip so had only taken a couple of snacks and lollies with her but no water," Victoria Police Wodonga Sergeant Martin Torpey said.
"The only liquid Lillian, who doesn't drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother, so that got her through.
"While she couldn't move her car, she was able to use the heater overnight to give her some warmth.
"After being lost in the bush for five days, she was extremely relieved and grateful to see us and we were just as happy to see her."
Police have revealed that a simple wrong turn led to Ms Ip's six-day ordeal.
She was trying to drive to Dartmouth Dam when she hit a dead-end on the Yankee Point Track and realised she had taken a wrong turn.
Her Honda Jazz became bogged in mud as she tried to turn and without mobile coverage she was unable to call for help.
Sergeant Torpey said health issues meant Ms Ip could not walk for help.
"She used great common sense to stay with her car and not wander off into bushland," he said.
After the helicopter crew saw her car, a local police van was directed to Ms Ip's location where she was safe and well.
She has since been taken to hospital for observation and treated for dehydration.
Ms Ip and her family have declined media interviews, police said.
