Jon Ellison, 44, was last seen in Dalmore on Tuesday last week wearing brown shorts and a charcoal hoodie.
His family had been out searching North Dunedin and putting up posters appealing for information, but the search has moved to their former farmland near the Kilmog sold some years prior.
Mr Ellison’s stepfather said the searches over Thursday and yesterday had covered a fair bit of territory.
"We searched on Thursday along both sides of the main creek and side gullies in Bethunes Gully above the police search area.
"We didn’t have any luck yesterday on the east side of the gully and no luck with the team doing the Kilmog search."
As far as the stepfather knew, police were working to mobilise a larger search and rescue team this weekend.
"All the neighbours out there have been very good and have been looking out and checking their buildings, going through bush blocks and forestry blocks.
"We had a member of the public come up and he’s offered to do a run with a team of dogs right around from Bethunes Gully, through the reserve and out on to the old Mt Cargill Rd, so he’s going to do a really good circuit.
"We’re getting help from all corners of the community."
He said North East Valley had been Mr Ellison’s neighbourhood for 14 years.
"He would just go about his life like any other person.
"Jon’s a keen sportsman, went to university and was a clinical coder in the hospital for a long time. He’s lived a good life for the last 14 years and he’s a great father to his son."
Operation controller Sergeant Nathan White said police had received about half a dozen responses to their plea for information earlier this week and were combing through about a week’s worth of CCTV footage.
They had identified multiple areas around where Mr Ellison’s car was found, and about a dozen of these contained CCTV footage.
"It’s quite a big job. We’re potentially looking at a week’s worth of footage."
