The family of Tyronne White, missing in Nepal since Saturday's earthquake, pray he will arrive in Kathmandu on Friday as per his itinerary.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"All we're doing is just hoping that he knows he's got a date to keep and we're just hoping he is OK to get himself out of wherever he is to do that," Tyronne's cousin Marc Patek told the Mercury.
As the days following the disaster struck mount, those close to the 44-year-old, who was born and raised in Wollongong until the age of five, cling to the hope he is alive and simply caught up helping others.
"I've had my Facebook [messages] reposted all over the world now and we haven't had any luck or sightings," Mr Patek said.
"We're just at that edge now where we're not panicking, we're a pretty strong family, but now it's getting a bit worrisome for his mum and dad.
"I know Tyronne well enough that if he could get some message out to his mum and dad he would."
Adding to the concern, Mr Patek said if Tyronne followed his travel plans he could have been "in the path" of the 7.8-magnitude quake.
"He probably should have been finishing off the Langtang trail, which I believe has been hit pretty hard," he said.
On April 6, Tyronne posted on Facebook that he was about to embark on a three-week trek between Kathmandu and the Chinese border. "See you all on the other side. Salud!!" he wrote.
The family were only recently told that he was due back in Kathmandu on May 1 to meet a friend.
Mr Patek said his cousin had been travelling for the past eight years and was probably preoccupied putting others ahead of himself.
"He'd be more inclined to be trying to help a family dig rubble or look for loved ones," he said.
"We're only imagining he is in some little village he can't get out of and he is helping the locals and they're sitting tight until they're found."
Tyronne's mother Margaret lives in Shellharbour and his father Doug runs a small farm at Taree, but Mr Patek said the entire family was "extremely close".
"In the last few days we've gone from having a little joke and trying to reassure ourselves to sort of looking at each other now and sort of going 'oh, this is not good'," he said.
"Whether it takes another two weeks to find him, we won't give in to grieving ... we'll just keep positive and wait for that positive outcome," Mr Patek said.
