KEY POINTS:
Police investigating the disappearance of a New Zealand tourist say a man spotted around Australia is the "spitting image" of Jamie Herdman - but it's not him.
The man sparked several calls to police from people who thought he was the former Whakatane man who went missing in
the Australian outback nearly two years ago. Mr Herdman was last seen hitchhiking in Daly Waters, in the Northern Territory, about 600km south of Darwin, in November 2006.
His Kombi van - containing his mobile phone, clothes, toothbrush, cash, food and beer - was found behind a roadhouse.
Mr Herdman's father Steve, who is retracing his son's steps in Australia, told the Herald the other man, who has been seen over the past few months in Yass in New South Wales and most recently at a market in Canberra, spoke to police this week to confirm he was not Jamie.
"He's the one everyone's been thinking `He's Jamie'.
"They managed to get information from him as to where he's been in the last few months and he's been identified in a couple of cases.
"The police say he definitely is the spitting image of Jamie."
Steve and his partner Debbie Morton were living in England on a working holiday when his son, then 26, went missing.
They flew to Australia to help with searches but despite several sightings, no trace was found and the pair returned to England. They are now back in Australia for a more extensive hunt.
The couple spent about three months in and around Darwin where the detective heading the investigation, Kerry Harris, is based.
It is not known where Mr Herdman was heading to when he disappeared but he had talked of visiting Darwin.
Steve and Debbie have studied Eftpos transactions and visited places Mr Herdman stopped at to fill up his petrol tank or buy food. They have spoken to various people and put up several missing person posters up to no avail.
They couple also appeared on Channel 9's Missing Person's Unit show, the headquarters of which is in Darwin.
Steve said there were things that just "don't quite add up" from the Daly Waters area, such as people at the roadhouse not remembering seeing him on the night he disappeared despite him using his Eftpos card twice in the building.
"It just seems odd that in a small country area _ this is the only building within 100 miles of the next roadhouse _ you'd think people living in those sort of areas would remember everyone that came and went."
He said it was also weird that it took three days for staff to report Mr Herdman's unlocked van to police.
"He's just disappeared from the face of the earth on that night."
Mr Herdman had spent the 18 months before his disappearance living with his brother and working for a furniture removal company at Broome in Western Australia.
After searches in Darwin, Steve and Debbie spent a week in Broome speaking with friends and colleagues.
They discovered Mr Herdman had told his boss that something from his past had caught up with him and he had to leave in a hurry, but they have been unable to find out what that was.
"In the back of my mind I know that if he was able to he would definitely contact a family member," Steve said.
"That's where I struggle the most I guess, knowing that maybe something terrible has happened to him.
"When these sightings are reported you still get your hopes up ... it's a bit of a rollercoaster the whole thing."
The couple are now in Perth staying with Steve's other son before heading to Melbourne to appear on a breakfast television show for Australia's National Missing Persons Week, which starts on tomorrow.
The couple plan to head back to New Zealand afterwards but are not sure how long they will stay.
"You can't really make too many plans because we don't know what's going to be happening. If something comes up in Darwin I can always shoot back."
