Chips, creek water and Take Me Home, Country Roads: how an Australian teenager survived six nights in the bush

William, 17, says ‘nights were pretty cold’ and he ‘honestly didn’t think’ he’d survive

A teenage boy who survived almost a week lost in dense Australian bushland sang John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads as he held out hope of rescue on long nights alone in the wilderness.

William, whose surname has been withheld, was dropped off by his mother for the weekend to camp with his friend in Victoria’s east last Friday.