As she sank further in, she began to fear for her life.
"It was just like quicksand, it was really scary."
However, she eventually made it to a boat in the middle of the estuary, where she clung on to a rope.
"Fortunately the boat was there, and that's what saved me. I wasn't actually going anywhere - I was sinking into the mud and just couldn't get anywhere."
Clinging to the rope, she called her husband from her cell phone to raise the alarm.
"I said, 'Don't you even try and come and get me, because you'll be a goner as well.'"
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter was sent to winch her out of the mud.
Ms Dolan said she was grateful for the rescue crew's help and was now back home.
"I'm alright, I'm tired. But I just feel stupid, really."
She has some advice for those who might be tempted to follow suit: "You shouldn't try crossing an estuary - it's too dangerous," she said.
"There's too much mud. You just really, literally sink - it's like quicksand."
Westpac Rescue Helicopter advanced paramedic Chris Deacon said Ms Dolan had been out for a walk on the Haigh Access Rd, a commonly used walkway.
"Being low tide, she thought she'd take a short cut across the estuary to go home, and halfway across she realised that it was too deep in mud, and she became fatigued."
She was winched out safe and well about 12.40pm, after spending around an hour trapped.
"It was fairly straight-forward. We thought she might have been badly stuck in the mud, but she lifted out pretty well," Mr Deacon said. "The winchmen did a great job."
She was "quite embarrassed about it all", he said.
"She was really nice, and really embarrassed about it. She just hadn't thought about it really."
Inspector Willie Taylor of the police northern communications centre said she had misjudged the "really deep, icky, oozy mangrove mud".
