Five weeks in a shack

By Tania Martin
A MONBULK man is lucky to be alive after he survived for five weeks without any food and only a bit of tank water.
Noel Eyles, 65, went missing from his home in Monbulk on Wednesday, 22 November sometime before 4pm and was found last week sleeping in a shack four kilometres from his home.
Noel was found on New Year’s Day, Monday, 1 January in an old bush shack.
Senior Constable David Creek of Monbulk police said Mr Eyles who was suffering from depression said he had gone for a walk because he wanted to be alone.
Shack owners Tom and Pamela Hoyne of Mooroolbark were shocked to discover Mr Eyles sleeping in one of the beds when they went to check on the house last Monday.
“We got the shock of our lives when we found this man sleeping in one of the beds,” Tom said.
The Hoynes then tried to wake Mr Eyles but he just continued to sleep and only managed to rouse him after several attempts.
“We wished him Happy New Year but he told us it can’t be New Year’s already because Christmas hasn’t been,” Tom said.
“It was then we found out he had been there for five weeks.”
Mr Hoyne said he was amazed that Mr Eyles survived for that long on the small amount of tank water that was in the shack because there was no food in the house.
He said Mr Eyles had spent the first night in the bush after going missing before finding the shack open and curling up to go to sleep.
“His body must have just shut down and he just slept not knowing where he was,” Mr Hoyne said. Mr Hoyne said Mr Eyles appeared dazed when they found him and after checking his wallet for identification discovered that he lived only a short distance from the shack and drove him home.
Mr Hoyne said he was glad they found Mr Eyles when they did because he might not have survived much longer in the shack with only a bit of water.
Mr Eyles is currently recovering in hospital and his partner declined to comment on his disappearance.