A Japanese tourist who disappeared while on a cycling trip in South Australia's far west in 2015 did not meet with foul play, a Coroners Court inquest has found.
Katsushi Ohata, 51, was holidaying in Australia when he travelled to the town of Ceduna and purchased a mountain bike.
He told the store owner he was planning to ride the bike across the Nullarbor and checked out of a Ceduna caravan park on March 11, 2015.
The findings from Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel said 10 days later, a camper found Mr Ohata's belongings "at a clifftop overlooking the Southern Ocean, approximately 50 kilometres west of Nullarbor."
Among the belongings was several thousand dollars in cash, and three bank cards which had all been cut up into pieces.
There were also bike tracks found in the sand which ended at the cliff's edge.
His death has been deemed a suicide.
Despite an extensive air and land search, Mr Ohata and the bike were never found.
Mr Schapel said he considered whether Mr Ohata had met with foul play, or had deliberately staged his own disappearance, but said such possibilities were "fanciful".
He said very little was known about Mr Ohata.
"This is due in part to the fact that the family of (Mr) Ohata in Japan did not wish to participate in the SAPOL investigation, despite the efforts of various Australian authorities and agencies," Mr Schapel said.
"What little successful communication there was with Mr Ohata's family did not give rise to any indication that he had returned to Japan."
