Backpacker wrote letters of farewell

The British backpacker who survived 12 days in the Australian outback wrote goodbye letters to his family, fearing he would not be rescued. Jamie Neale told 60 Minutes: "I was thinking I might die on that mountain."

Mr Neale, 19, added: "I'm not a particularly religious person but I started thinking about God and I was praying and saying, 'Surely you can move a helicopter an inch and find me.'" He survived near-freezing conditions in the bush by using bark as a blanket.

He retraced his steps in the Blue Mountains and answered questions about whether his ordeal had been a hoax. "The people in hospital said I'm going to get a lot of this criticism and people saying it was a hoax," he said. "But I've been in the situation. I know what it's like."

He threw a party this weekend to honour the rescuers who found him.