Trista Foley, 3, rests in a hospital bed after a night in the chilly West Australian bush. Photo / Reuters
PERTH - Two toddlers have been found scratched, dirty and covered in twigs but otherwise unharmed after more than a day lost in wet and chilly West Australian bushland.
Dakota, a two-and-a-half year old boy, and his girlfriend Trista, three, were found still in their pyjamas near Yallingup,
south of Perth, about 12.15pm (WST) yesterday.
Police say the children were found by a local woman about 200 metres from the ocean and two kilometres from where they went missing on Sunday morning on a farming property between Margaret River and Yallingup.
The woman says the children popped out from behind a bush.
"A little redhead came out from behind a bush and a little blonde one was next to it you can't get any better than that," she told ABC radio.
Police Sergeant Graham Clifford said the two children had been reunited with their parents scratched, dirty and covered in twigs, leaves and seeds.
"They were in very good condition," Sgt Clifford said.
"They were dirty of face and clothing, a bit scruffy, and they looked like they wondered what all the fuss was about."
Dakota, from Perth, had been holidaying with his mother and father while Trista, from Victoria, was staying with her single mother at the property when they went missing.
Grave fears were held for their safety after a search was called off amid wet weather, dwindling light and eleven degree overnight temperatures.
Three hundred police, emergency services members and volunteers set off again at first light yesterday, their only clues to the children's possible whereabouts being small footprints in a firebreak and a toy truck.
Sgt Clifford said the children were being sent to Busselton Hospital for a check-up.
He said a cheer went up when rescuers realised the children were found.
"Young kids like that missing in poor weather is always a concern," he said.
- AAP
