A heroic North Carolina mother and her daughter were rescued by a helicopter crew after getting lost on a hike and spending four frigid nights in the New Zealand wilderness.
Carolyn Lloyd, 45, and her daughter, Rachel, 22, of Charlotte, N.C., were miraculously spotted in the Tararua Forest with the assistance of a “HELP” sign they constructed out of brush, rocks and logs, the New Zealand Herald reported.
“They were physically and mentally very tired so it's fair to say they were pretty pleased to see us," Jason Diedrichs, the helicopter pilot who spotted the two women waving their arms near their homemade sign, told the New Zealand Herald.
“They were a little bit worse for wear, they’d been in there for four nights out in the open with very little food so they were definitely feeling the effects of that.”
The pair had spent over four arduous days in the exotic park after setting out on what was supposed to be a one-day hike in the New Zealand bush on Tuesday.
Rachel Lloyd is a graduate of North Carolina State University, but was living in New Zealand to attend Massey University.
Her mother was visiting at the time and the two avid hikers decided to trek while together in the island country.
The pair strayed from the path after misreading the signs on their way out — and never made it out by nightfall, according to what Carolyn’s husband told a New Zealand reporter.
Temperatures in the area dipped as low as 40 degrees at night before wind chill made it feel even colder.
"My wife was frightened to death. She stayed awake all night and held my daughter to keep her warm,” Barry Lloyd told the New Zealand Herald.
“The next day when the sun came up they got up and tried to find their way out but it just kept getting worse."
Carolyn Lloyd valiantly carried her weak daughter on her back as days went by without food.
"My daughter was getting weaker. She doesn't have a lot of extra meat on her bones and she couldn't walk so my wife told me she was carrying her on her back, trying to walk back up the mountains,” Barry Lloyd said.
"She had a backpack with her so she was carrying that on her front and my daughter on her back."
Meanwhile, authorities were alerted to the pair’s whereabouts when they discovered their rental car parked near the entrance to the park two days after they failed to check into their hotel, WSOC TV reported.
Helicopter crews scanned the area and eventually spotted the two women, who were treated for dehydration and exhaustion but are otherwise healthy.
New Zealand authorities hailed the two women for their survival instincts.
"They've done all the right things. They've stayed together, they've conserved their heat, they've conserved their resources so they gave themselves the best chance possible," Sergeant Anthony Harmer told the New Zealand Herald.
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