Great-grandma survives 54 hours lost in bush

File photo / Northern Advocate

After 54 hours in the open, missing 90-year-old June Wickman was found alive by her grandsons yesterday, amazing rescuers.

The great-grandmother was found lying in a dried-up creek bed.

"I'm here," she called, as a search party combed the area near the Heritage Park in Manu.

Grandson Colin Wickman said he was with his cousin when they made the discovery about 3.15pm.

"She heard us talking and she yelled out. We went over and she recognised us both and tried to get up. We had to tell her to relax," he said.

Other family members were just as relieved to find she was safe and well.

"Unbelievable," was how son Dean Wickman described his mother's steely resolve.

"She's spent two nights days and nearly three days out there in the sun and she's fine."

Earlier in the day he had vowed to keep searching until they got a "result".

"We are concentrating on that Barge Park area because that's where she told people she was going. We have to cover every inch of that bush."

Mrs Wickman was last seen about 9.30am on Tuesday when she told neighbours she was heading to the Bird Recovery Centre in Maunu - where she used to volunteer - from her home in Puriri Park Rd.

She never made it.

Her disappearance sparked a major search and rescue operation with family members, neighbours and members of Northland's Land Search and Rescue teams scouring property, bush, waterways and farmland around Maunu late Tuesday and Wednesday, but there was no sign.

Police and volunteers had gone door-to-door in the area around her home and in the wider Maunu area appealing for sightings.

Mrs Wickman's grandson Shane Wickman told NZPA that when the official search was called off yesterday, the family thought they were looking for her body.

"It had been over 48 hours and she's 90 years old, so..."

But about 25 family members and three search and rescue workers - on their own accord - continued looking, covering again a bushed area near the Whangerei Museum where Mrs Wickman was known to take walks

Just as all hope was fading, Shane Wickman saw his grandmother's head amid bulrushes in a swamp, where she was sitting up to her waist in mud.

It appeared she had hurt her back and was a bit sunburnt and dehydrated but in an amazingly good state of health. She had even managed to hang on to her purse.

"She never complained once or said it was uncomfortable, she was just extremely apologetic that she'd put people out and was horrified to find there was a search out for her."

Shane Wickham said his grandmother was "a pretty tough cookie" with a good sense of humour, which wasn't blunted by her ordeal.

She was put on a stretcher and placed on the back of a Native Bird Recovery Centre vehicle and taken to a waiting ambulance.

"As we were carrying her out with a stretcher she said that we were all hired to be her pallbearers, but just not today.

"She's pretty tough all right. I think her actions probably speak for themselves; to be alive for that amount of time, I don't think I could survive that amount of time out there."

As an advanced paramedic carried out an assessment and asked questions, Mrs Wickman was quick to respond with her birth date and other information.

She even joked: "After this my family will never trust me to be left alone again."

Mrs Wickman, who suffers from mild Alzheimer's disease, was taken to Whangarei Hospital to be checked.

Police Search and Rescue co-ordinator Spence Penney was delighted and amazed to find Mrs Wickman alive.

"I'm rapt for the family. It's a blessing to have your parents, that's for sure."

After a few sleepless nights Dean Wickman anticipated the family would be enjoying a few drinks and relaxing last night.

Mrs Wickman has lived at her Maunu home since 1967. She is visited twice a day by a home support worker.

The family were grateful for the support from police and volunteers.

Sergeant Neil Pennington was part of the search teams scouring the Maunu area.

He said during Wednesday's search two skulls and some bones were found. Whangarei detectives were called and after looking at the bones were satisfied they were pre-European remains.

The site was blessed and local kaumatua were called and collected the bones which were taken to a cemetery.

- with NZPA