Passport of missing Dunedin woman Alice Tocher found in Brisbane

Alice Tocher's handbag, containing her passport and driver's licence, has been found in Brisbane.

The passport of a missing Dunedin woman has been found in Brisbane. Mother-of-three Alice Tocher, 31, went missing after dropping her daughter off in St Kilda on Thursday.

Her Melbourne-domiciled father Peter Tocher, speaking to the Otago Daily Times last night, said Air New Zealand confirmed his daughter booked a ticket to Brisbane from Christchurch on Friday.

He believed she bought a "random ticket'' for the cheapest flight to Australia, either Brisbane and Sydney.

"Melbourne is a bit more expensive and she's thought 'I just have to get away' and she's landed in Brisbane and doesn't know what to do.''

Brisbane police believed she was still in Brisbane and would be "in a very distressed state'', Mr Tocher said.

Security guards had found her handbag near a museum in Brisbane yesterday afternoon with her passport and driver's licence inside.

"We just hope she has some cash in her pocket and that she hasn't been abducted and the handbag has been thrown away and the cash taken out of it.

"She is in a country now of 24 million people, where at least in New Zealand it was 4 million people and it was a bit smaller, we are beside ourselves.''

This is our beautiful daughter Alice Tocher who is missing. Last seen in St Kilda, Dunedin. Please keep a look out for...

Posted by Jennine Tocher on Friday, 25 November 2016

He was considering flying to Brisbane to join the search.

"It's a bit like look ing for a needle in a haystack. We don't know what to do, that's the problem.''

Brisbane police was reviewing CCTV footage and the results were expected soon.

The only people she knew in Australia was her parents in Melbourne, he said.