Peter Mitchell thought he was heading out for just another GPS art run, this time, a tribute to Lionel Messi etched into the sands of Wilsons Promontory National Park.
But by the time he’d finished his 15-kilometre masterpiece, the only thing more shocking than the result was what the tide had done to his car.
Mitchell, 50, spent five hours jogging meticulously along a stretch of remote sand dunes near Sandy Point, about three hours southeast of Melbourne.
The result was a massive GPS art of soccer legend Lionel Messi, tracked through Strava. But the satisfaction was short-lived.
“I came around the corner and saw it, and I thought: ‘Oh no, how am I going to get out of here? How am I going to get home?’” he told news.com.au. “It’s quite remote out there and there’s not a lot around.”
What he hadn’t accounted for was the king tide, an unusually high tide that had surged up the beach, swallowing his red Toyota Yaris, which he’d parked beside another vehicle.
“I wasn’t expecting king tide and had no idea the water even came in that far, let alone three feet high,” he said. “I just parked beside another car.”
As the sun dipped and temperatures dropped, Mitchell was forced to wade through the water, grab his essentials, including diabetes medication, and make his way to the road.
“My hands were going blue because I’d been standing around in the water for so long. I thought maybe I’d be best to go for a bit of a jog to get down to the town. And then I saw this lady and asked for her help.”
The woman had actually come down to the beach to view the king tide. She ended up driving him to the nearby town of Forster.
Back in town, he tried to figure out how to salvage his car.
His friends from Melbourne even offered to rent a trailer and come pick him and the car up. But before he accepted help, Mitchell decided to take a taxi back to the beach in the morning and assess the situation.
To his surprise, the car hadn’t sunk into the sand.
“It didn’t look too bad,” he said. “I thought, there’s no way in hell. I literally closed my eyes and prayed. It started. Then I thought, this thing isn’t going to move, but it did, and I drove straight off the beach.”
He drove the water-logged Yaris 155 kilometres home. “Every time I stopped or went around a corner, all the water inside the car would slosh around. It was splishing and splashing all over the place.”
“It went from doing a really good Strava and feeling good about that to seeing the car and worrying, then being stranded and wondering if I was going to get hypothermia, to the car starting and actually working, then next thing I’m home.”
Mitchell has since shared a video of the incident to social media, where his unique GPS art had already earned him a loyal following.
To celebrate his 50th birthday, he created a map of the world by running 170 kilometres through Melbourne. The image went viral, and Mitchell has since posted his works to Instagram and TikTok, receiving millions of views.
GPS art began as a personal challenge, something of a hobby, for Mitchell, but it’s taken him in unexpected directions. “I’m new to social media. I hadn’t really used it before this. It’s incredible to see how people respond to them. It’s just nuts.”
He’s since partnered with Strava and Telstra and has projects lined up with Foot Locker and the Melbourne Marathon. “I would never have believed any of this happening in my wildest dreams.”
Still, the question remains, what’s next for the now-salty Yaris?
“My car is pretty old anyway, it’s got 240,000 kilometres on it, so I’m pretty amazed,” he said.
A friend from his running group has launched a GoFundMe to help him replace the vehicle.
“I told them, there are a million good causes out there and people have got better things to spend their money on, but they insisted and set it up. It’s nice, but I was reluctant. I’m just rolling with it.”
And if he manages to replace the car?
“A second-hand Toyota, I think,” Mitchell joked. “I mean, it’s proven to be pretty reliable and resilient.”
