The official search has been suspended for a Waihi man who has been missing with his dog in Coromandel Bush for 10 days, but his family is appealing to the public to keep looking.
Jordan van Deurson headed off on a day hike in the Wentworth valley area on Sunday 29 October.
He was with his little terrier Bargo.
The alarm was not raised for three days, after the 29-year-old's car was spotted still in the carpark the following Wednesday, by then the weather had turned incredibly bad with the tail of Cyclone Lola lashing the area.
An air and land search has not turned up any clues. Jordan's uncle, Mario Kerkhof, said his family was holding up as well as one could hope for in the circumstances - but unfortunately police had called off their search.
"They had the chopper in today [Wednesday] zapping up and down the Tairua River, just over the hill from where they have been searching, but they've actually called the search off. It's a bit of a bummer because we really want to get him home."
Kerkhof said Jordan would hike a few different tracks in Waihi - and has been up the Wentworth Valley at least once.
"He's hiking every day with his mate, his little dog, his best friend, he knows a bit about the bush but not enough to be out there this long. I doubt he would've taken much with him if he was going for a quick hike, he would've just taken the basics, he probably wouldn't even have taken any water knowing Jordan, he does rough it a bit. I think he had tramping boots and might have had a jersey."
Kerkhof said Jordan had told his Mum he was going to stay in Hamilton with his cousin after his hike, so it was not until the police told them the 29-year-old's car was still out in the valley that the penny dropped he was missing.
He said while the weather was okay on the Sunday Jordan set out, there was heavy rain in the area on Monday and Tuesday - and the bush would be the last place you would want to be.
"The track isn't too bad, but if you veer off it gets rough pretty quickly, there are a lot of mining tunnels there. Everything is quite steep and slippery if you come off the track you can easily slide into the guts of it and get yourself in trouble."
Police say SAR coordinators are currently completing a full review of their actions and search areas to ensure there is nothing they may have missed in the initial search. They believe there is a possibility Jordan and his dog have separated and are asking members of the public to report any Jack Russell type dogs wandering alone in the area.
