Two children are "lucky to be alive" after spending the night outdoors in horrendous weather, sheltering under a log, the rescue helicopter pilot who picked them up says.
The pair, both from Dunedin, were found yesterday morning after about 50 people, rescue dogs and a helicopter searched through the night.
The search was sparked when police received a report about 5.15pm on Saturday that an 8-year-old boy and a girl aged 11 had not come back after a bush walk from the camping ground at North Mavora Lakes.
"They’re very, very lucky to be alive.
"The weather was horrendous overnight—it was snowing, blowing, thunder, lightning and heavy rain."
After sheltering through the night under a log, the children set off again in the morning, he said.
The ground team heard them yelling, and found them in a clearing about 1.5km from the camping ground shortly before 10am.
They were flown to Te Anau for a precautionary medical checkup.
The situation had not been looking good, and the great outcome was down to the well-resourced search, Mr Mullally said.
"It was a great team effort by everybody, and the Invercargill police have done a wonderful job of getting the ball rolling very quickly and getting a lot of people there."
Even when only intending to go for a five-minute walk, he advised people to always take a backpack and a source of light with them.
If things went wrong, any light would be a huge help to rescuers flying overhead with night vision goggles.
The children did have a parent’s cellphone with them, but the battery had gone flat.
"If they had a light source, we would have picked them up straight away."
They had done the right thing by sticking together, he said.
The father of one of the children said he felt thankful and pleased they had been found safe.
Dunedin’s Brent McLean, the father of Charlie McLean (8), said he wanted to thank everyone who had helped.
Queenstown Sergeant Terry Wood, who was was part of the rescue team, said the two children were in the campsite with their families and were playing in the bush with three other children when they became separated from the group.
"They became disoriented in the bush. Not far from where they were, but enough to be disorientated."
About 5pm they tried to return to where they believed the campsite was, but were unable to find it.
"When darkness has fallen, their travels become quite tricky. They found themselves a tree that was suitable for lying under."
They were located quite close to the road, cold and with a couple of cuts but in "amazing spirits".
The family were ecstatic when told the children had been located, and it was fantastic when they were reunited, he said.
He commended the children for their bravery and for doing the right things when able to.
Sgt Wood took the opportunity to urge children in such situations to pay attention to where their families were based or their home was, to let their parents know where they would be, and not to stray too far.
