It is just over two years since Celine Cremer went missing near Philosopher Falls on 17 June 2023, and the search for her whereabouts is still active despite any accurate evidence to locate her final movements.

During autumn this year, Tasmania Police recommenced a search in a region northwest of Philosopher Falls. This was based on updated phone pings obtained from a private investigator’s enquiries. It appears the investigator was also part of this search, though, even with his on-ground input, the search team was unable to locate anything conclusive.

In fact, to date, nobody has found anything incontrovertible.

Once again, this recent search appears to be covering territory that may have already been covered by myself, and I wonder for how long the arms-length ordeal will continue in this bewildering manner.

Studying the latest phone ping location map, there appears notable inconsistencies with the original phone ping locations obtained by the police in 2023. The last ping location forwarded to me from the Cremer family shows Celine being around the Magnet Dam area near Seven Mile Creek water race at 16:17, whereas the latest map data indicates Celine being upon a hill almost half a kilometre further south at 16:18.

Both phone ping location sources indicate that Celine did reach high ground west of the water race track, though at different times. This is highly confusing because if Celine was at the high point at 16:18 it would have been almost dark in that heavily covered rainforest, and she would have most likely stayed there overnight.

Furthermore, Celine would have had strong phone signal at that point and most likely would have made a distress call from there. Conversely, Celine may have descended east back down towards the water race track where there is no phone signal and spent the night there. I believe the latter to be the case.

It should be pointed out that the accuracy of these obtained phone pings comes into question as there are only two phone towers in the region, and that in order to obtain a precise ping location point, a triangulation of at least three towers is required.

Seemingly, the logic behind Celine heading off the track whilst following the overgrown water race path, was that she was aware of previously descending along the well-formed track to falls area, and hence needed to ascend higher back towards her vehicle. It was unbeknownst to her that she was heading in the opposite direction in her tribulations, and the fact that she failed to recross the river would have created much confusion.

Once upon the hill where the acclaimed phone pings are denoted, Celine would have clearly heard traffic rumbling from Corinna Road up to Whyte Hill. Had she headed southwest towards that sound she would have encountered very dense horizontal forest lower down, then horrendous scrub that would have been well beyond her capabilities to pass through, so it is unlikely she would have attempted to enter into that.

Considering there is a broad phone signal widely throughout that elevated region her phone pings would have continued to be registered. Therefore, in my view, Celine headed east off the hill to a lower altitude, which is out of signal range.

To add more confusion to the scenario, Celine’s phone alternately pinged between that denoted hill west of the water race, and another hill north of Magnet Dam until 20 June. The latter location is considered an anomaly, which I had already searched on more than one occasion as I traversed through open rainforest on a peripheral search.

Private investigator Ken Gamble believes that Celine is within one kilometre of the last know phone ping location. Whilst this is possible, I would disagree given my experiences searching for people in remote areas, both in Tasmania’s wilderness and Australia’s arid outback.

History has shown me that when someone is lost, they rarely stay still. Typically they believe they will, and must, find a way out. Regardless of their age, lost walkers have been found to travel extensive distances in their desperate and confused search for safety.

As for Celine’s disorientated scenario, I believe she spent a long winter’s night near Seven Mile Creek. According to meteorology records, it was an unseasonably warm evening for the region on 17 June. However, in a diabolical event, the following day it rained, which would have severely hampered her attempts to get back to her vehicle at the car park.

Regardless of how well she was clothed, such wet conditions during winter would have been overwhelming if she pressed onward through the closed rainforest.

Another search by Celine’s friends is planned to commence later this year. Whilst I do admire their dedication and commitment, the terrain and challenges regarding their lack of familiarity with Tasmania’s bush may be quite a daunting ordeal for them in reality.

I wish these searchers success, and that there is finally some closure for Celine’s friends and family.

Ted Mead is an experienced bushwalker and guide.

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