Paddling by day, drifting at night when he slept in a protective cocoon, McAuley, 39, crossed 1500 kilometres of ocean. On Friday, February 9, he was within 30 nautical miles or 54 kilometres of the South Island of New Zealand, close enough to take photos of high mountains. Some time the next day, he expected to make landfall and achieve a long-held ambition to become the first man to take a kayak across the Tasman Sea. At 7.15pm, the New Zealand Coastguard picked up an almost indecipherable distress signal from a vessel that identified itself as Kayak 1. There were two clear words: "help" and "sinking". Then silence.

The following evening, his upturned seven-metre kayak was seen from the air. It was recovered but McAuley's body has never been found, and it is believed he drowned in 15-degree water when the kayak capsized while he was asleep. The grieving is not over. Today, his wife and three-year- old son, Finlay, his parents and brother and sister will hold a memorial service at the Macquarie Lighthouse at Vaucluse, Sydney. McAuley twice won Australian Geographic adventurer awards. Last year, he paddled 850 kilometres to the Antarctic rim. He paddled across Bass Strait three times and the Gulf of Carpentaria once. He climbed in the Himalayas, Patagonia, Europe and New Zealand.

"I've had thousands of emails from all over the world expressing the awe and inspiration Andrew inspired," Mrs McAuley said yesterday. "I think I want Andrew to continue to be an inspiration." In Gosford, the kayak's designer, Paul Hewitson, said video footage and photographs from the kayak had helped them to understand what happened.

He would not disclose what he had learned, saying it would be revealed in a documentary. At their home at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, Mrs McAuley said: "As far as I am concerned, Andrew did achieve his goal. I feel very strongly that he should be recognised as having achieved that goal. He was well in sight of land." Mrs McAuley treasures their eight years of marriage. "Andrew taught me to be an adventurer. We did such amazing things together. He took me mountaineering in New Zealand and we did a climb and sea-kayaking in Patagonia. I did trekking in Pakistan while he went climbing. It has been a wild, high ride."

She said the attempt on the Tasman had been a long time in the planning. "I have always had the utmost faith in his ability and his wisdom … He has shown wisdom and foresight in doing things that prevented accidents." Mrs McAuley has not thought too much about the future, but is excited by signs of Finlay's adventurous spirit. She said: "I want to encourage Finlay to have his dad's strength, courage and integrity and just to have his dad's incredible belief that anything is possible."

With THE PRESS