KEY POINTS:
The family of missing trans-Tasman kayaker Andrew McAuley are beginning to give up hope of seeing him alive.
Family spokeswoman Jen Peedom, who is with McAuley's wife Vicki near Milford Sound, said hopes he was still alive were fading.
"Everyone is holding up well. We had a rough night, with Vicki and the family really starting to fear the worst," Ms Peedom said.
"I think beyond today, it is over four days, so I think today might be it to be honest."
New Zealand authorities have been searching for the adventurer since a garbled distress call on Friday.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force plane spotted the Sydney man's upturned kayak near Milford Sound on Saturday afternoon.
At a two-hour meeting this morning it was decided to resume the search, but to end it if McAuley had not been found by dark.
It was revealed that the move to continue the search today came amid pressure from Australian officials.
A spokesman for Australia's High Commission said the consul-general had contacted New Zealand ministers to urge the search be continued and said "they very willingly agreed that the search would continue for today".
Julia Lang from Maritime New Zealand said the decision to resume the search today did not come because of pressure from Australia.
"We understand there has been a fair bit in the media today about Australian pressure, but it was purely an operational matter," she said.
Suspend
Annie Lattey from Rescue Coordination Centre NZ earlier said: "If Andrew is not found in the course of today, it is our intention to suspend the search," she said.
Ms Peedom said NZ rescuers were doing "a really amazing job".
She said the family had examined the kayak yesterday but they still did not have a definite answer as to what happened to Mr McAuley.
"I think we are still a very long way from understanding exactly what happened, particularly that close to the shore after going through such heavy waves and ridiculous weather to something that was relatively calm," Ms Peedom said.
"What it appears, in broad strokes, he was definitely hit by a wave while he didn't have the bubble on, that's capsized him and he's been separated from the boat."
Mr McAuley's friend Ben Deacon said no decision had been made as to whether his family would mount their own search if rescue crews abandoned theirs.
"We haven't discussed that yet," he told the Nine Network.
"The Kiwis have been very generous in the resources they've put behind the rescue. We don't have the money to privately charter an Orion aircraft."
Message
Mr McAuley's last message had been to tell his land crew he would see them "Sunday 9am sharp!!"
That deadline came and went yesterday as a desperate search intensified after his kayak, locator beacon and GPS tracking system were found about 80km west of Milford Sound on Saturday.
With only about 120km of his epic 1600km journey to go, the 39-year-old had every reason for optimism. He had battled rough seas and equipment failure since leaving Fortescue Bay, Tasmania, on January 11 but was in calmer waters closer to shore.
His family and friends were relieved to get the confident message, but a posting on his website said: "He's not renowned for his punctuality, but here's hoping."
Waiting for McAuley at Milford Sound were his wife, Vicki, 3-year-old son Finlay, father Peter, kayak designer and builder Paul Hewitson and Ms Peedom, who was filming a documentary on the crossing.
Their anticipation turned to disbelief on Saturday night when the kayak was found, but they still held out hope that he had somehow managed to survive.
Ms Peedom said Mrs McAuley was distraught after learning her husband's kayak had been found and was in shock.
As the hours passed yesterday and the search by two rescue helicopters and a fixed-wing plane yielded nothing, the reality of the situation began to sink in.
Ms Lattey at the National Rescue Co-ordination Centre said yesterday that even though the search had continued throughout the day, the "chances are not good" of finding McAuley alive.
Ms Lattey said rescuers had initially thought McAuley had a full-body immersion suit but the family had said this was not so.
A person could survive an extra 10 or 11 hours in the water wearing an immersion suit in conditions like those in Fiordland, she said.
McAuley had been in the water then for about 48 hours.
However, the family were hopeful that he might have his lifejacket on because that was missing from the kayak.
Ms Peedom said they were "concerned and distressed, particularly given after 1500km this happened in the last 80km. They remain hopeful he might ... just come back".
"I think that the kind of man Andrew is, to have come this far is an extraordinary feat and if anyone is going to survive a couple of nights in the water, we hope it would be him."
'Baffled'
She said the family were "baffled" as to what might have happened.
"The seas that he's gone through have just been extreme ... It's very, very hard for [the family] to understand why this has happened [now]."
There was some encouragement for the McAuley family, though, from former Navy diver Robert Hewitt, who was found floating 300m northeast of Mana Island near Wellington last February - more than 72 hours after going missing during a dive in the same area.
He told TV3 news last night: "Andrew will be thinking about family and he'll be thinking about the will to survive. As time went on and my train of thought got weaker and weaker and I really had to fight against myself to actually survive and come out the other side."
His brother, the former All Black Norm Hewitt, said: "There'll be a lot of tears but I'm sure they'll be really focused on what they need to achieve and that really is to find this young man and bring him home."
Meanwhile, there is still doubt that a distorted distress call, which the rescue centre received at 7.19pm on Friday, actually came from McAuley.
Southern Lakes Helicopters operations manager Lloyd Matheson said the message came from "Kayak One", McAuley's callsign.
The message said his boat was "sinking" and he needed help.
The call was not a mayday and McAuley did not set off his locator beacon, Mr Matheson said.
However, McAuley's brother Michael said earlier that the voice on the message did not sound like his brother.
"We don't think it's Andrew. They have had a good listen to the recording and my father's told me it doesn't sound like Andrew," he told Radio New Zealand on Saturday.
The search began on Friday night with the helicopter, piloted by Richard Hayes and equipped with night vision equipment, searching at McAuley's last-known position, calculated by the rescue centre based on the speed he was making and his intended course.
Two fishing boats also joined in the search early on Saturday.
About 8pm on Saturday an RNZAF Orion sighted something "suspicious" in the water and the helicopter was deployed.
It was McAuley's modified Mirage kayak, but there was no sign of the paddler himself, Ms Lattey said.
The helicopter could not winch up the kayak because of the choppy seas, so Constable Finn Murphy of Te Anau was dropped on to a cruise liner in the area, the Clipper Odyssey, and an inflatable dinghy was launched to recover the kayak.
Mr Murphy said yesterday that the kayak was in good condition, with no obvious signs of damage.
McAuley was named the Australia Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2005.
This was his second attempt at becoming the first person to travel from Australia to New Zealand by kayak. In December, he turned back to Tasmania just 80km into his journey because he was too cold to continue.
The Kayak
* 6.4m sea kayak.
* Fitted with bubble cover hatch which sealed cockpit while McAuley slept.
* Solar panel to power instruments, desalination gear for fresh water.
- STAFF REPORTERS, OTAGO DAILY TIMES, NZPA, AAP
