Friends and family of the missing 19-year-old are preparing to pick up the search again, in rugged state forest, on October 6.

They haven’t seen him since he left the family home on a motorbike on June 23 and didn’t return, as expected, the following day.

Investigations in the days after Dylan’s disappearance traced him to Corrabare State Forest near Congewai, about 20km south west of Cessnock.

Searchers found the teenager’s Yamaha 250 trail bike, helmet and gloves abandoned in the forest, but there was no sign of Dylan.

That’s where the trail went cold.

For almost three months since, Dylan’s family has had to wait and wonder what happened to the young man, whose mother described him as a “homebody” who was “a whacky, funny character”.

“We try piecing the puzzle together only to assume the worst scenarios and outcome and that's very upsetting,” Ms Dickie told Fairfax Media.

“We've stopped guessing and chasing leads that led us nowhere, and instead talk of the happy memories with him. The most difficult part is not knowing exactly where and how he is.

“Dylan was a homebody, and I know he'd want to be home again with us.

“To imagine him out there in the middle of nowhere, all alone, literally makes my heart ache.”

While Ms Dickie said she and her family were grateful for the efforts of search teams in the days after Dylan was declared missing, she believed the search area should have been broader.

“The original search was carried out calculating Dylan being missing for nine days,” Ms Dickie said.

“Although I absolutely praise all involved, I have been pleading for them to go out and search further as he was actually missing for 12 days at that time so he could've travelled further.”

She said the family had pulled together and had felt strong support of the Cessnock community since Dylan went missing.

“We need to stay strong and carry on as best we can for Dylan's two younger sisters,” Ms Dickie said.

“He loved and adored them more than anything and he'd want us to be the best we can be, for them.”