A Southland high school principal has expressed ''absolute confidence'' in the leader of a tramping party after a pupil went missing in the Greenstone and Caples Valleys north of Queenstown this week.
The 18-year-old pupil of St Peter's College, in Gore, was found safe and well by Land Search and Rescue volunteers in the lower Greenstone Valley on Tuesday evening.
Senior Constable Julian Cahill, of Queenstown police, said the girl became separated from a group of eight year 12 and 13 pupils on Monday morning, and failed to turn up for a scheduled lunch stop after an apparent ''communication breakdown''.
St Peter's College principal Kate Nicholson said a debriefing would be held so parents could be ''sure about exactly what happened so that any doubt about blame can be put aside''.
The male staff member leading the party was highly experienced, and she had ''absolute confidence'' in his decision-making.
''I have no doubt he did everything by the book and absolutely made sure all of the other students were safe at all times.''
Sen Const Cahill said the pupils, who were on the tramp as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award qualification, were accompanied by three adults and three younger children.
The girl failed to arrive at a scheduled lunch stop at the Upper Caples Hut, having apparently missed a bottle left on the track by the leading group to point the way.
After searching for the girl further along the track, the group reported her missing on Monday evening.
After a fruitless helicopter search on Tuesday morning, a ground-based search was launched later that day.
The girl had thought the party was meeting for lunch at the McKellar Hut, and after arriving there to find it empty, walked on to the Howden Hut, he said.
She later backtracked part of the way to the McKellar Hut, finally spending the night ''in scrub'' in her sleeping bag.
