A homemade kayak abandoned during a Gold Coast man's attempt to paddle solo and unassisted from Australia to New Zealand has washed up close to its destination almost 18 months later.

Stuart Cleary last saw his kayak Tasman Odyssey on December 7, 2014, when he was forced to abort his mission almost 24 hours after taking on water following a series of equipment failures.

This morning he was contacted by New Zealand man Nathan Marshall, who stumbled across the vessel during a run on Murawai Beach, on the North Island, about 50 kilometres from Mr Cleary's original destination.

It was damaged, covered in barnacles, and missing equipment, but otherwise still in one piece.

Mr Marshall posted a picture on Facebook, fearing someone may be lost at sea, before Mr Cleary was alerted to the discovery.

Mr Cleary in his kayak during a sea trial off the Gold Coast in late 2014. ( Supplied: Stuart Cleary )

"It's just absolutely unbelievable it made it all the way," the 54-year-old told ABC News.

"I thought it was impossible it would ever been seen again."

Mr Cleary built the kayak with no previous experience over a year in a friend's garage.

It cost him an estimated $25,000 to build, and weighed about 120 kilograms on its own.

"It's gone all the way from 110km off Coffs Harbour to near Auckland on its own," he said.

In 2014 Stuart Cleary was attempting to become the first person to paddle from Australia to New Zealand solo and unassisted. ( Supplied: Stuart Cleary )

"Murawai Beach is a surf beach, renowned for having really big surf. Not only has it handled the Tasman Sea for almost 18 months, it's also come through some pretty massive surf.

"One thing I'm just absolutely chuffed about is that it's been able to handle all that without any major structural damage."

Mr Cleary gave up hope of ever seeing the kayak again in early 2015.

"I'd thought it'd washed up within three months on the east coast of Australia," he said.

"I hung on to the eight-wheel trolley I used to carry it around on ... for about six months, then after that I thought there's absolutely no chance of seeing it again."

Second Tasman Sea crossing potentially on the cards

While Mr Cleary originally said he would never again attempt the trip, he has had a change of heart in the past few weeks.

"It's just funny we've only just been talking about it," he said.

"I didn't want to make another kayak, but a few months ago I told my wife I had these ideas for a new kayak and I was actually thinking about starting to build another kayak next year."

The man who found the kayak will hold on to it at his property so Mr Clearly can fly over and inspect it.

"The chance of it being to turn it back into something that we could use again are very slim … it's got special foam underneath the fibreglass and if water got in there the whole thing will be waterlogged," Mr Cleary said.