A man who went missing overnight in Rangiwahia has told police that he hunkered down for the night after feeling unwell.
The 67-year-old man from Cheltenham, who does not wish to be identified, has been cutting out a bush track for local children. He had been working on the track yesterday and then decided to trek further north into reserve towards farmland to explore other routes that the track might take.
He then started feeling unwell and couldn't see the farmland so made a decision to stay put for the night making himself a bed of ferns.
Around 9pm he heard the fire sirens and later he heard the helicopter searching for him and tried unsuccessfully to attract their attention.
At first light he managed to acquire some signals on his GPS to get his last known location on the track and made his way back to the track and out of the reserve where he was met by police.
He was checked out by St John paramedics but found not to require any medical treatment.
Search and Rescue Coordinator for Central District Police, Sergeant Bill Nicholson said: "If he had carried on feeling unwell he could have come to grief so he did the most sensible thing given his predicament.
"It does highlight how easy it can be to get into problems even in a relatively small and low level area of the bush. Even for these types of activities we would advise people to ensure that they leave a clear plan with relatives, carry a light source, and even more preferable an emergency beacon of some sort."
Media enquiries should be referred to Communications Manager Kim Perks on 06 351 2546 or 027 234 8256.