Australian police searching for a 17-year-old boy who disappeared six days earlier found him Thursday in good health, authorities said.

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Australian police searching rugged bushland for a 17-year-old boy who disappeared six days earlier found him Thursday in good health, authorities said.

A helicopter crew searching around the town of Cowwarr found William, whose surname has not been made public, lying near a creek bed, Victoria Police said in a statement.

Officers winched down and retrieved the teen, bringing him aboard the helicopter, which returned to the command post where he was reunited with his mother, Elizabeth Barkley.

Video of the reunion was posted to the Facebook account of Victoria Police, showing the helicopter landing in a grassy field. Then officers are seen escorting a woman, who is in tears, to the aircraft, where she and William embrace.

William has since been taken to a hospital for monitoring, Victoria Police said.

"Amazingly, William is in good spirits and for the most part, in good health," it said.

William was dropped off by his mother near Stoney Creek Road and T2 Track, between the towns of Cowwarr and Walhalla, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on Friday to go camping with a friend.

He was last seen about 4 p.m. when he walked a short distance from the campsite to the drop-off location to retrieve further camping equipment.

An extensive search followed.

According to Victoria Police, the police Air Wing crew spotted a tackle box in bushland about 1.2 miles east of Stoney Creek. When the searchers zeroed in on the tackle box, they found William lying by a creek, bringing the six-day search to an end.

The boy was shirtless, sunburned and asleep on rocks by the creek when found. The helicopter awoke him. The boy waved, smiled and then pumped his fist, Australia's ABC News reported.

Police said he had walked through the woods until two days ago when he fell down an embankment, after which he just waited to be found.

Other than exhaustion and sunburn, he's fine, Acting Inspector Jason Benbow said.

"He's talking to us. He's happy. He's smiling. He's giving us an account of what's happening and he's hugging his mother and having a donut and water," he said.