CLEO SMITH - HER NEW LIFE

THE LITTLE GIRL’S FAMILY LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND FOR A FRESH START

- Naomi Toy

As doting parents Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon watched their precious daughter Cleo dance around their lounge room after her 18-day kidnapping ordeal, they know their world will never be the same.

Even though their bubbly 4-year-old is safe in their arms again, they know that the little girl that was snatched from her tent as she lay sleeping has gone forever, changed by the unimaginable ordeal. “She’s still different, and she always will be, but that’s just our life now,’’ Ellie told 60 Minutes.

“We’ve got a long way to go and so does she. She’s probably going to have to be dealing with this for the rest of her life.’’

Now, after banking a reported $2 million deal for the tell-all interview, Ellie has revealed they are hitting the road in search of a brand new life. She says they plan to leave their home town of Carnarvon in Western Australia and drive around the country in a caravan until they find somewhere they can call home. “We are going to move,” the mum-of-two revealed in the exclusive interview.

“We are going to get a caravan and we are going to tour WA as much as we can. We want to do all of Australia until we find somewhere to have a fresh start.