Lost bush walker emerges from 18-hour ordeal 'craving a chicken parma'

Ballarat's Jack Baulch, 20, contacted his mother at 7.15pm on Wednesday night and told her he had reached the top of the mountain.

She did not hear from him after that and raised the alarm with police at 2am.

Mr Baulch was found by a family about noon on Thursday after an extensive search by SES volunteers, police search and rescue and the police airwing unit.

The group alerted police via mobile phone and walked Mr Baulch to safety.

He hadn't consumed any water, was hungry and extremely tired, but did not have any major injuries.

"I would just like to thank everyone involved," Mrs Baulch said.

"The co-ordination from the first call at 2am and the constant contact giving me updates was amazing.

"I knew before first light there would be a helicopter in the air looking for him.

"The support we had was phenomenal."

Mrs Baulch said she was extremely grateful to everyone who took part in the search, including about 40 friends and family members.

She is also extremely grateful to the family who found Mr Baulch.

They had seen a post about Mr Baulch on social media and asked him: "are you Jack?"

Mrs Baulch said her son, who has autism, told her he had slept for about 50 minutes during his ordeal.

"He said he slept for 50 minutes leaning against a rock," she said.

"He used his beach towel as a mattress."

Mrs Baulch said her son was covered in scratches but was otherwise unharmed.

"He had no shoes on because he had been walking in the creek," she said.

The family who found him gave him water and a pair of shoes for the walk back to Halls Gap.

"They gave him a pair of shoes - one of the older sons had a pair that fitted," Mrs Baulch said.

She said she would be forever grateful to the group for their kindness.

Mrs Baulch said her son was incredibly hungry after his ordeal.

"He told the police he wanted to go to the pub and have a parma," she laughed.

Mrs Baulch said she would be having a number of conversations with her son in the coming weeks about what he should do if he ever finds himself in a similar situation.

She said she believed he would return to his love of bush walking in the coming weeks.