Now, police are trying to piece together just what happened — and why — after a Marokopa family returned home yesterday after going missing almost three weeks ago.
Thomas Phillips and his three children, Jayda Jin, Maverick and Ember, had not been seen since September 11.
His ute was found on the coast, facing out to sea.
Police and emergency services, along with hundreds of volunteers, spent days searching for the family in the area of Kiritehere and Marokopa in coastal Waikato.
Mr Phillips and his children returned to their family farm about 8am yesterday.
Police had received a tip on Wednesday and resumed the search, but found nothing.
Waikato west area commander Inspector Will Loughrin said yesterday the wider family had "experienced 17 days of hell".
"To happen this way is fantastic for the family."
Insp Loughrin confirmed Mr Phillips and his children were well and receiving appropriate support.
He had been told the children were "happy" and "playing like children do".
Family members were still processing what happened and trying to support one another, Insp Loughrin said.
"We always held out hope that we’d be able to bring the family home alive."
Mr Phillips’ mother, Julia, said they were "just relieved and really thrilled" the four had returned home.
She said her daughter, Rozzi, was due to speak on behalf of family today.
Rozzi Pethybridge told Newshub her brother "just walked in the door".
"This is the best-case scenario.
"I talked to him for about two minutes and there were lots of tears.
"I want to be respectful of Tom’s wishes so I can’t say too much at the moment, but Tom was in a helpless place.
"He chose a safe place to clear his head."
A member of the public contacted police after seeing a man and three children on a bike early on Wednesday morning.
Police deployed a plane and drones to the area but the family were not found straight away.
All huts and bush areas were searched but to no avail.
After these extensive searches, Mr Phillips and the three children turned up at the farm.
It was too soon to know how Mr Phillips and the three children survived so long in the bush, Insp Loughrin said.
"They were using a tent. They were in dense bush area."
It was still unknown exactly how the four got around the remote, forested areas, or if anybody assisted Mr Phillips.
The community, police and iwi searched for the family extensively.
"If you’ve been out there, that’s dense bush area, a significant amount of area we had to cover," Insp Loughrin said.
Police searched an area 15km south of where the ute was found.
Waitomo Mayor John Robertson said most people believed Mr Phillips had "gone to the bush".
"After three weeks, all the sort of emotions you go through of all those initial days of hope.
"We knew he was a good bushman ... Most thought he’d gone to the bush.
"And then, you know, the search changed over the days. And now — wow."
Mr Robertson, whose district encompasses Marokopa, knew the area where Mr Phillips’ ute had been found.
It would be difficult to find someone there, he said.
"I guess he could live with a tent ... "That’s another mystery on this. Three weeks is a lot of time for kids to be with him and survive all that."
Did Mr Phillips go into the bush to clear his head, the mayor was asked.
"Look, I don’t want to get into any stories about what might have been going on in his personal life, and I don’t know.
"There are various stories around but I wouldn’t repeat them."
