Outback attack on Britons 'exceptional'

Motorists in the Australian outback face a lonely drive

British couple Peter Falconio and Joanne Lee were ambushed while travelling a path well worn by British backpackers driving through the remote Northern Territory.

Their story was a terrible but exceptional one, according to one travel expert.

The remote highway in Australia's Northern Territory were a British couple were attacked by a gunman is a route well-known to Jennifer Cox, spokeswoman for the Lonely Planet travel guides.

She said it was a fantastic drive with attracted visitors lured by the rugged landscapes and wildlife, with the chance to see kangaroos in the distance.

This is something which any parent with children, who are off on a round-the-world trip, will hear with hearts in their mouths

Jennifer Cox

"This is an extraordinary story firstly that it happened and then that she [Joanne] was able to survive and of course, to get help.

"This is something which any parent with children, who are off on a round-the-world trip, will hear with hearts in their mouths.

And as for Joanne surviving in these conditions, she said this was indeed exceptional.

"It is an extremely difficult terrain.

"You are either faced with baking red dust or dirt, very much desert conditions, or you get these scrubby trees, scrubby bush."

The highway is popular with backpackers

"Often there are no villages for hundreds of miles around.

"It would have been a desperate situation for Joanne."

And nightfall would have made the situation bleaker as there would have been insects to contend with including spiders, snakes and scorpions.

She insisted that such attacks were the exception not the rule and the only other case she could recall was when backpackers were kidnapped in Queensland in 1992.

Be prepared

Instead she said that a motorist driving on the remote outback road should be prepared for a journey in often difficult driving conditions off-road and in hot temperatures.

The British couple had set off in November on their trip of a lifetime

"It is the kind of place where if you are going to do that drive you have to be prepared," she said.

This would help avoid the difficulties of breaking down in a remote place in temperatures that could reach 38C even in winter.

Ms Cox said it was an area where only one car might pass by a day or where there might only be one place a day to fill up with petrol and get water.

But she reiterated that such incidences were rare.

"At Lonely Planet all we can say is that this is not the norm," she said.