Missing man found in NZ after 47 days off the grid following flight to Gisborne

Paul Stanley Blake has been found in New Zealand after being missing for 47 days.

Sister Amanda Blake told the Herald late this afternoon that he had been reunited with family.

A police spokesperson confirmed they had been contacted and told he had been found but said the "file was still open until police confirmed he was safe and well".

Blake left Australia, where he had previously worked as a painter in Queensland, to come to New Zealand on February 28 before flying to Gisborne the next day.

Until today, his family had not heard from Blake since he arrived.

Last week, family members travelled from Australia to New Zealand to start a search for Blake.

His older brother Rob Blake and brother-in-law Jamie Costa started searching amid the rough weather on Tuesday.

The pair scaled rough terrain hiking along the train tracks from Mahia up to Gisborne, and had also been travelling around the area by car and on quadbikes looking for Blake.

Earlier today Rob told the Herald about the gruelling search, saying it had been "really draining" but said that he was not giving up until his brother was home.

During the start of the search "the weather was so terrible" but they had pressed on.

A shepherd told the pair he had seen Blake at a railway tunnel on Friday, at a spot not far from the family's search.

"We were less than 2km away in a different tunnel," Rob said.

They had been kicking themselves when they realised how close they had been, he said.

He had said all he wanted was for his brother to come home.