A couple missing for 10 days after setting off from their home in Esperance in Western Australia's south to go camping have been found alive and well in remote bush 200 kilometres north-west of the town.

Jeremy Sim, 41, and his wife Marama Sim, 38, left Esperance in the early hours of Tuesday, October 18, and were seen later that day at a tavern in Lake King.

But the experienced campers failed to return home last weekend, and their three daughters, aged between 10 and 18, raised the alarm.

A comprehensive air and land search by police between Esperance and Hopetoun was conducted early this week after it was revealed one of the couple's mobile phones was detected near Munglinup, east of Esperance, early on Sunday morning.

But police later called off the search after combing thousands of square kilometres without finding any trace of the couple or their four-wheel drive.

However, friends of the family started their own search yesterday and one friend found the pair late last night at Peak Charles, 200 kilometres north-west of Esperance.

Couple lit fires to try to attract attention

They were tired and hungry, having run out of food, but otherwise well and reported that their 14-year-old four-wheel-drive had broken down early in their journey after its radiator was pierced.

They said they had lit fires to try to alert search planes to their whereabouts.

They were towed back to Esperance to be reunited with their three daughters, aged between 10 and 18.

Ms Sim's mother, Te-Rangi Lim, said her grandchildren were in denial at first when the pair telephoned last night to say they were alive and were on their way back to Esperance.

"We want to thank everyone that's been involved with the search, the farmers that have been involved those that had their planes up, we want to thank them all for that, " she said.

"I'm happy to have my daughter and my son-in-law home."

K.J.