The bodies of two overseas students who died when kayaking on Lake Tekapo will soon be home, allowing their families to farewell them.
Daniel Hollnsteiner, 21, of New York, and James Murphy, 20, of London, died in September 25 but there was a delay in identifying them as authorities sought information from overseas.
This took some time to arrive, leaving the pair's families waiting.
Today a spokesman for the chief coroner confirmed the identification process was finished on Tuesday and the bodies had been released to the funeral directors representing the families.
Mr Hollnsteiner and Mr Murphy were part of a group from Monash University in Melbourne visiting New Zealand during a break.