Search on for Waihi bushman

Grant Ridley is a capable bushman.

But his disappearance from the farm bordering the Waihi coastline where he was living and working for the last few months is out of character, say family and police.

A large search is under way for the 46-year-old local who has not been seen or heard from since Saturday. His car remains parked next to the paddocks. All of his possessions remain there too.

In three days he has made no contact with his parents in Thames, or accessed any bank accounts.

On Tuesday police appealed for sightings or information on Ridley.

He is 170cm tall and has brown hair styled into a mullet haircut.

Waikato police Search and Rescue Sergeant Vince Ranger said Ridley had been living and working on a large farm in the valley off Landlyst Rd – about half way between inland Waihi and Whiritoa.

On Saturday another resident on the farm noticed Ridley was missing and called the police, he said.

‘‘We are concerned as to where he is. It’s not a normal thing for him to do, just go missing like that. He is quite a confident man in the bush but he wouldn’t normally just up and go.

‘‘There has been no contact by him with anybody since Saturday that we are aware of.’’

Police were not aware that Ridley had taken any belongings with him, Ranger said. There had been no reports of Ridley making contact with anyone. In the last day a fixed wing aeroplane had scoured the coastline from Waihi beach past the Orokawa Reserve up to Whiritoa.

Ranger said the farm was surrounded by bushland and other farms, making for a significant dense and prickly search area.

His mother, Ann Ridley, said it was out of character for her son to disappear. ‘‘He’s a bushman so he might have just decided he didn’t want to be a bushman any more.’’

She last saw him on his birthday on September 24.