You Can Apparently Survive On Wine And Lollipops For 5 Days

Don't try this at home, folks, but — in case you were wondering — you really can live on just candy and wine, at least for a few days. That's one of the key takeaways from the terrifying experience that 48-year-old Lillian Ip recently lived through in Australia. 

According to 9News, Ip, from Cheltenham in Melbourne, was on her way to visit her mother when she took a wrong turn in a dense bush area near Bright, hours away from her home. When she tried to turn around, per NBC News, Ip got stuck in the mud, and due to physical limitations, she was unable to walk to the nearest town and waited for days in the hopes that she'd be rescued. By the fourth day, she had almost given up, going so far as to write a goodbye note to her family, telling them not to cry over her. But the next day, miraculously, she was rescued.

Ip hadn't expected anything more than a short trip when she originally took off, so she didn't have supplies of food or water with her. The only things she had to eat while stranded alone were some lollipops she'd brought along, a single juice box, and a bottle of wine she'd bought to give to her mother. The kicker? She doesn't drink. 

Given the lack of options, Ip realized that she would have to use all of her scant resources. She stayed close to her vehicle, making it easier to be found, and ate the lollies (as they're known in Australia), rationing the wine so that she could make it through. Some might think that escaping death by consuming a certain food might make you like it more. Perhaps, but not so in Ip's case. When reporters asked what she thought of the wine and how it tasted to her, she was simple and direct. "[Like] s***," she declared, per 9 News.

Ip was relieved and delighted when finally rescued, and thrilled to have something better to drink — and a smoke. Ip explained her joy when a policeman spotted her and helped her out, saying, via Sky News, "First thing that came to mind was water and a cigarette. Thank God (for) the policewoman, she had a cigarette."

Ip's story is not entirely unique: There are others who have managed to survive on the scant supplies they kept in their vehicle. For example, Today reported in 2019 that a man trapped in the Oregon snow kept himself going on just Taco Bell hot sauce packets. So, while Ip's harrowing experience clarified that it is, indeed, possible to live on alcohol and candy alone, it's important to realize that merely surviving is far from thriving.