Woman found in bush

Press, 15 August 1980, Page 4

Woman found in bush

PA Napier A French woman; Clare Gardent,. aged 21, who had been missing in rough bush; country west of Tarawera on the Napier-Taupo highway since Tuesday, was found by searchers at 4.15 p.m. yesterdav. Miss Gardent was reported missing after she failed to meet a Hastings opossum tranper, Mr R. Baikie. The pair separated at 8 a.m. on Tuesday to check opossum lines near the Oruakahi Stream, north-west of Tarawera. They had intended to meet south of the Tarawera Tavern. Senior-Sergeant M. L. Cull, of Napier, said last evening that one of the search parties had made “voice contact” with Miss Gardent at 4 p.m.; about the same time the police were inquiring about a hitchhiker who had been picked up by a logging truck driver and fitted a' description of Miss Gardent. ' “Miss Gardent was in good health and able to walk,” said Senior-Sergeant Cull. “As it was a five-hour walk to the highway, she was flown out by a helicopter which had been on standby at Tarawera.”