To bring home tragic Daniel
Jessica Hay has also paid tribute to her adventurous uncle.
The 23-year-old said: “It has been a massive shock. Dan had been travelling for 10 years, but Australia had always been his dream. He was living his dream.
“He was just the life and soul wherever he went. He was loved by so many people all over the world.”
Dan went travelling at the age of 21 and never looked back. However, Jessica said he had always been proud to call Durham his home. “Dan was the eternal traveller who lived his life to the full,” she said.
“He achieved so many goals in his short life, eventually working in his dream job as a dive instructor at Whitsunday Island on the Apollo Scooner exploring the Great Barrier Reef every day in Queensland Australia, sharing his love and passion for the ocean.
“Dan would think nothing of packing up and moving countries to find his next adventure and he made amazing lifelong friends wherever he went. What his friends may not have known is that he missed his home and family so much and would often get upset in his weekly calls to his mam, telling her he needed a hug.” Daniel’s mum Elaine Smith lives in Durham with her husband Geoff. He has two sisters, Katherine Clark, and Jessica’s mum Wendy. Jessica says the family had been told that it could cost up to £10,000 to fly Daniel’s body back to the UK. And as his insurance policy did not cover nondiving accidents, they set up a page on the JustGiving website in a bid to raise the funds they need.