Elderly woman vanishes after trip to Sydney wildflower gardens

An air and ground search is underway for an 84-year-old woman missing in bushland on Sydney’s upper north shore.

It’s believed Gaida Coote drove to the Ku-Ring-Gai Wildflower Garden at St Ives on Wednesday morning but failed to return.

Her car was found in the car park yesterday afternoon, but Mrs Coote was nowhere to be seen.

An initial search of the area last night failed to turn up any trace of Mrs Coote and search teams were stood down at 8pm due to deteriorating weather conditions.

The search, involving police and sniffer dogs, PolAir and SES volunteers resumed this morning and is being coordinated from a command post within the Wildflower Gardens.

Mrs Coote is described as Caucasian in appearance with a thin build and short wavy grey hair. It is not known what she was wearing on the day she went missing.

Anyone who may have seen her the morning of Wednesday 3 December, is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 immediately.