Luke Shambrook's "sense of belonging" to Lake Eildon and the pleasure the area gives him may have helped him survive his five days lost in the bush, his parents say.
The 11-year-old autistic boy, who was missing over the Easter weekend in the cold, harsh bushland around the Victorian lake has been going there every year since before he was one.
"He has a real sense of belonging there, and I guess that gave him lots of confidence, but ultimately that place gives him lots of pleasure," his mother Rachel Shambrook said.
His dad Tim Shambrook said Luke's familiarity with the area was one thing in his favour during the exhausting ordeal.
He has been going there "ever since he was less than one-year-old, every year, so he has been up and down those hills."
Luke is recovering well with his family in Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital after being found exhausted, dehydrated and suffering hypothermia at Lake Eildon National Park on Tuesday.
He's not been able to communicate any details about his ordeal and his parents are unsure they'll ever know what he went through.
Mrs Shambrook admitted she had began to lose all hope during the ordeal and became increasingly desperate.
"We cried, we cried at night. It was that sense of maybe, and then as time went on, maybe not."
She said the family would be returning to the lake because it means so much to Luke.
"We'll go back," she said.
"Some people probably wouldn't, but we will."
She thinks Luke's survival came down to his resilience and the prayers of many.
"He doesn't panic, so he didn't spin out, out of fear and stress ... not having that fear or spinning out in terms of an emotional distress," she said.
"Sometimes we don't give our kids enough credit for their resilience, but he sure showed us."
She thinks it will take at least a week for a "very tired" Luke to recover to his old self.
He was found three kilometres from where he went missing on Good Friday, and police believe he may have walked up to 10 kilometres, in different directions, during his ordeal.
A Royal Children's Hospital spokesperson said Luke's condition remained stable but it is not yet known when he will be released.
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