Norricih Rachman, an Indonesian tourist who went missing in Melbourne on Tuesday, February 10, had quite a story to tell during her time in Australia. In the four days that she went missing, she made it safely to the Australian capital city of Canberra amid so much confusion.
According to Ernawati, a staff member in the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) in Canberra, Norricih panicked when she was separated from her Tupperware tour group in Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. She did not seek help from locals or authorities as she had a very limited grasp of English. She was also warned by her friends in Indonesia not to trust strangers (including the police) in Australia.
“When she got separated from her group, she searched around the market but she didn’t find anyone else from the group. The only information that she had on her was a text message blast on her phone containing the address of the KBRI in Canberra,” Ernawati said, as quoted by Detik today.
Not knowing the address of her hotel or other contacts in the group, she decided to embark to the KBRI in Canberra. She wasn’t aware that the two cities are more than 600 km apart.
“In her own words, she initially predicted that Melbourne – Canberra is like Jakarta – Tangerang,” Ernawati said.
Norricih went to the train station in Melbourne. As there was no direct train trip to Canberra from Melbourne, she decided to make a transit in Sydney.
Norricih remained in Sydney for two days while she waited for a train going to Canberra. She barely ate and slept in a park near the train station.
Her train to Canberra finally departed on Saturday.
“She got on the train to Canberra on Saturday. At the train station [in Canberra], Norricih was confused as to how to get to KBRI because there were no directions. After walking around, she went back to the station and asked for ‘Embassy Indonesia’ to a staff member. She then hailed a taxi,” Ernawati said.
The taxi finally took Norricih to KBRI in Canberra, where she could finally experience a little slice of home. She stayed the night in KBRI before being flown back to Melbourne to regroup with the Tupperware tour group and fly back to Jakarta.
All in all, it was a rather confusing but epic journey, one that had people worried and speculating all sorts of sinister plots behind Norricih’s “disappearance”.
