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����Dunedin��man who had been missing for almost two weeks has turned up safe and sound after pulling himself out of the bush yesterday afternoon.��

Jon Ellison had been missing for 13 days before leaving the bush near Bethunes Gully and was spotted by a passerby about 4.30pm.��

His stepfather, Murray Cumming, said the news was met with Ellison’s son jumping up and down in excitement.��

“Thirteen days he was missing for — quite a saga he’s going to have to tell.”��

A member of the public spotted Ellison as he crawled out of the bush. He went over to Ellison, sat him down, gave him an apple and called the police.��

Jon Ellison was missing for two weeks in the bush. Photo / Supplied��

Cumming said Ellison had fallen off the track while returning in the dark from the Mt Cargill-Bethunes Gully track.��

Due to the fall and an injury, he was unable to climb back to the track so he worked his way down Lindsay Creek.��

“He had several severe falls as he tried to follow it out.”��

Cumming said the upper reaches of Lindsay Creek were very difficult country.��

“When searching the creek area last Thursday, we would have finished his search downstream of Jon’s location.��

“When police rang us, all they could say was ‘Got him. He has survived’.”��

Ellison was transported to Dunedin Hospital and was recuperating from injuries, malnutrition and hypothermia.��

“His voice is gone and we think he might have fallen over five waterfalls or banks and gotten caught in the holes.��

“Very hypothermic and very malnourished, but got himself out.”��

Cumming said he was a hunter himself and often read these kinds of bushland survival stories but never expected one to hit so close to home.��

“It’s just awesome, it’s in the realm of unbelievable results.”��

For the past two weeks, LandSAR, police, friends and family had been conducting a wide-scale search of North Dunedin, which included Mt Cargill, North East Valley, Waitati and Upper Junction areas of Dunedin.��

He was last seen in Dalmore on March 12 and his car had been discovered near Chingford Park on Monday last week.��

A police spokesman said they “would like to thank everyone who provided information and offered their help throughout the search”.��