'I thank chewing gum for my survival...'

We're indebted to Lousise Saunders, the English backpacker who survived after going missing for three days on 660-metre Mount Tyson in Queensland Australia, for highlighting some invaluable survival techniques.

• After mistakenly beginning by eating nutritionally valueless bananas, the sharp 19-year old turned to sugar-free chewing gum for fuel. "I'm always going to thank chewing gum for my survival." she commented astutely.

• Louise was well equipped with a white tee-shirt, pink shorts and navy blue trainers when she set out to climb the mountain. Here at OM we never under-estimate the power of pink and suggest that you always wear at least one item of pink clothing at all times.

• Short-sighted Louise cunningly broke her glasses before setting off, thus ensuring that she would be able to focus on her immediate surroundings without being distracted by peripheral considerations like route finding. A top move.

• She left useful messages to aid her rescuers, for example a message on a tree reading 'Louise S loves Steven W for Eva' illustrated with a heart.

• Louise followed a creek down the precipitous and vegetated mountain side eventually reaching a municipal rubbish dump on the outskirts of the town of Tully. Local police described the move as 'smart', though perhaps not as smart as not getting lost in the first place...

Joking aside, we're glad that the trainee beauty therapist survived her ordeal with just a few scuffs and scratches and reportedly told her mum that 'she didn't know what all the fuss was about'. Fair play to her, now where's my chewing gum?

Full story:

• BBC news site

• Guardian newspaper

• The Sun

• The Mirror