THE mother and son who survived for 10 days in dense bushland in the Hunter Valley have told of how they used skills from watching Bear Grylls on television to survive.

Singleton Heights woman Michelle Pittman and her nine-year-old son Dylan Deane went missing while bushwalking in rugged terrain in the Mount Royal National Park north of Singleton.

Their car was finally located on Monday sparking an extensive four day search of the 6920-hectare park by police and the SES and other emergency services.

The mother and son were found yesterday around 12.30pm delirious and dehydrated with lots of insect bites – but remarkably OK.

Hunter Valley Acting Superintendent Rob Post said that he had spoken to Ms Pittman, who also uses the last name Small, this morning.

She had recounted some of their incredible survival stories and how they were confronted with snakes, leeches and other insects.

He said Ms Pittman and her son had showed a true determination to live where the pair “bounced off each other”.

“It is an amazing story they have actually survived for so long. Even more amazing is that nine-year-old Dylan has come out with insect bites but quite fit and able – he looks like he could do the whole thing again,” he said.

“Michelle is quite weak and is in hospital recovering.”

Supt Post said that Ms Pittman told him about how they used skills they had picked up from watching British adventurer Bear Grylls on television.

“It’s quite amazing the way they’ve managed to gather water, they made reference to Bear Grylls,” he said.

“She mentioned they had watched the shows and got some tips out of that which assisted them.

“They licked the moisture off plants to help keep hydrated. There were dried up creek beds where they sourced water by digging.

“They bounced off each other, she was getting weaker but the fact she was there made him stronger.”

Supt Post said that at one stage Ms Pittman told him she was so dehydrated she couldn’t speak anymore.

At another point, after a day-and-a-half of walking the pair were confronted with a snake which cut off their path.

“She relayed a story about a snake where they had the choice to try and get past it or turn back on the day-and-a-half they had just walked,” he said.

“They managed to work their way around the snake somehow.”

Supt Post said he didn’t expect Ms Pittman to get out of hospital for another couple of days, but Dylan was fine. When he was found, he even joked with emergency services about going to school the next day.

Ambulance Inspector Andrew Steenson said the pair was in “remarkably good physical condition” considering what they went through.

He said they had some scratches and bites but were fairly well hydrated “due to some quite ingenious survival tactics”.

“The search terrain was really quite hostile in some areas,” Insp Steenson said.

“There are some steep slopes and thick scrub and it drops off by about 500 metres in some parts of the search area.”

“The body does some strange things when put into stressful situations,” Insp Steenson said.