Jan Speechley and her daughter Nikii Smith hope the Narooma aged care resident was picked up on the Princes Highway by a passing motorist, was taken somewhere and will be found.

“We are disappointed,” Mrs Speechley said.

“They seemed so confident that they were going to find Ray in the bush. 

“I got a shock when I went down there and saw all the people, cars and other resources. How wonderful are they giving up their time? It wasn’t easy and would have been so hard out there.”

“I believe he is still out there,” said his wife of 58 years.

“I really feel it in here that he is still alive.”

Inspector Greg Flood said police could not rule out the possibilities that Mr Speechley had become lost in bushland or that he had been picked up on the highway. He thanked all the volunteers from the SES, VRA, RFS and wilderness bushwalkers and also the Moruya-based Westpac rescue chopper which conducted the search in very difficult terrain on the weekend. 

Volunteer searchers had come from Dubbo, while the police dog squad and mounted officers were from Sydney, and police motorbike riders from Nowra.

The VRA volunteers were from the Narooma and Bega squads, and the SES volunteers were from Shellharbour, Ulladulla and the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley.

Police would now take advice from experts whether to go back into the bushland to search the more remote and inaccessible areas, Inspector Flood said.

Police would also begin preparing a report for the coroner.

Ms Smith has been following up several leads on social media, including a possible sighting at Goulburn on Sunday.

She raced up there and worked with local police, but it turned not to be her father. “Someone out there is looking after him,” she said.