A 14-year-old boy missing for ten days has just been found at Marlborough Boys College.
Alex Peterson left his Blenheim home last Monday morning.
He has run away from home a number of times before, but never for this long - and that had left police seriously concerned.
A skinny teenager with a shaved head and bare feet should be easy to spot in a small town like Blenheim, but Alex Peterson wasn't seen in almost two weeks.
"It's very sad. It's stressful and concerning," his father had said.
Running away isn't out of character though; his father Stanley Hunt says Alex has taken off almost 10 times before, but never for such a long time.
"That's what concerns me more - he didn't just run away; he left home with nothing - with no clothes," he said.
Mr Hunt says his son is normally happy, chatty and outgoing, but three months ago that changed. He became shut off and withdrawn and shaved his head.
He suspects that was because he was bullied at school for being Australian.
"Calling him a white aboriginal, saying Australians suck at sport," his father explained of the abuse he received.
Classmate Jack Hill says some students picked on Alex and tried to rile him up. He said they "frustrated him and caused him to lose it".
His father has been out every night looking for his boy, putting posters up all over town, staking out supermarkets and even driving to Nelson to see if Alex made it that far.
Alex moved to Blenheim from Australia in February after Stanley won a custody battle against mother Erika.
She told Newshub she believes Alex is trying to get home to her, and that running away is completely out of character for her son.
Newshub.
