Friends pay tribute to 'one of a kind' camper who died in extreme 42C heat after his 4WD got bogged in Alice Springs over the weekend

A barista has been remembered as 'fantastic, funny and kind' after dying of heat exhaustion during a solo camping trip in central Australia.   

Yun-Seob Shin, 37, was found dead with his car bogged on a four-wheel drive track in Finke Gorge National Park, 140km west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory on Sunday.

Mr Shin's vehicle got stuck before he succumbed to extreme heat in Boggy Hole, where temperatures reached 42.9C on Saturday. 

Barista Yun-Seob Shin , 37, was found dead with his car bogged down on a four-wheel drive track near Boggy Hole in Finke Gorge National Park, 140 kilometres west of Alice Springs, on Sunday

Mr Shin worked as a barista and all-rounder at Page 27 café in Alice Springs and told his colleagues he would be camping on Thursday and Friday. 

Café manager Kelly Edwards said Mr Shin was an outdoorsman who loved nature.  

'He usually goes camping every week. He loved nature and goes out for a night and ends up coming back to work the next day,' Ms Edwards told Daily Mail Australia.

'He had sent an itinerary to the head chef. Everyone warned him about those conditions out there but he was determined. 

'He loved the adventure and nothing would have stopped him.' 

But when Mr Shin never arrived for his shift on Saturday, Ms Edwards and her staff 'started questioning where he was'.  

'We reported it to the police straight away and they were so quick. They began searching with helicopters on Saturday and again on Sunday morning,' she said. 

Mr Shin worked as a barista and all-rounder at Page 27 café in Alice Springs and told his colleagues that he would be camping on Thursday and Friday - but he did not arrive to work on Sunday, sparking a desperate search

Mr Shin's vehicle became stuck before he succumbed to extreme heat in Boggy Hole , where temperatures reached 42.9C on Saturday

Ms Edwards said café staff were holding out hope that Mr Shin would be discovered alive but were devastated to learn he was found too late on Sunday. 

'It's been pretty hard few days, we only found out on Sunday night. We were all waiting with hope so to find out that news was pretty traumatic,' Ms Edwards said. 

'Everyone is shattered. It's going to have a massive impact without him here. He was such a unique guy that lit up the café. 

'He was always playing his music playlists, expressing himself through music and he loved his job. He was very experienced.

'He worked in Melbourne at a café for seven years, he knew what he was doing and it was just totally different with him here.'   

Mr Shin was born in South Korea and moved to Melbourne seven years ago before relocating to Alice Springs two months ago, where he lived at the local Youth Hostels Association and worked at Page 27 café before his untimely death. 

Mr Shin is pictured on the right in the front row with colleagues and friends at a lawn bowl club in Alice Springs. Manager Kelly Edwards said the close-knit community is 'devastated' by the loss

Page 27 café is now closed until Wednesday as colleagues mourn Mr Shin's death. 

'Everyone who got to know him in this short period of time is devastated. It's a tight-knit group and community and he was living at the YHA, so all the people there feel the exact same way,' Ms Edwards said.

'It's so rare to come across someone like him. The first day he came into our café, we could see this guy was fantastic, funny, kind and always having a joke.'

'I can't believe what's happened to someone like him.'

Mr Shin is survived by his brother, mother and father, who all live in South Korea.

His close friends are organising his funeral in Melbourne and are in touch with his family in Korea - but they may not make it due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

'His (Mr Shin's) mum is pretty elderly so two weeks of quarantine in Melbourne and Korea, when she returns, is too much for her,' Mrs Edwards said. 

'His uncle may come down but nothing has been confirmed yet.'  

Page 27 café in Alice Springs will be closed until Wednesday as colleagues mourn Mr Shin's death. Ms Edwards says the café will not be the same without him