KEY POINTS:
The grieving family of a hunter lost in the rugged South Island high country accept his body may never be found, but say he is at rest where he belongs.
Ashburton man Corey Foster, 24, was last seen 10 days ago when he went into the Avoca Valley,
near Lake Coleridge in central Canterbury, to hunt. Despite extensive searching, no trace of him has been found.
The search by police, the Defence Force and numerous volunteers was hampered by bitterly cold weather. It was finally suspended on Sunday.
"If we were supposed to find him, we would have found him. But we can't find him. He's up there where he belongs. Where he's happy," said Corey's mother, Joy Foster.
The Foster family and Corey's fiancee, Rachel Pawsey, who raised the alarm when he did not show up as planned, are still coming to terms with their loss, but were full of praise yesterday for the search effort.
"The search just came to the point where we were totally satisfied there just can't be any more done. It was done so thoroughly," said Corey's father, Ross Foster.
Mrs Foster said her son was a lover of the outdoors.
He went hunting, fishing or diving at any opportunity, she said.
"When he went over to Australia and came home after 12 months for a holiday, the first thing he did was roll on the grass. Over in Aussie, in Melbourne, it's pretty coarse old stuff over there.
"He couldn't wait to get home and get the gun out and [shoot] rabbits or hares.
"He zoomed about in his wee boat. It's like he had been locked up in a cage for 12 months."
Corey was now up in "exceptional country" with the chamois, paradise ducks and wild horses, in sight of Lake Coleridge where he loved to fish, she said. He had chosen to go into the rugged country and take the path he did.
"If he was in the main street in Ashburton and got hit by a car, and died, well, I don't like to say the words you would say.
"You can say a lot of words, but really not a word to describe him. You had to know him," Mrs Foster said.
A memorial service has yet to be organised.