[FlyingDutchman]

Went to Muriwai Beach (also known as the Gannet Colony or something) yesterday with my family and my dad's cousin, who lives in Wellington. Had a great time until we came back to our car. The lock on the passenger door was forced and they opened the trunk from the inside. So they took my dad's cousin's purse with house and car keys and cell phone and my bag with Nintendo DS (new kind of Gameboy), Gameboy Advance SP, all my Nintendo DS games and all my GBA games... Altogether worth about 1850 bucks... So yeah, that's quite [insert swear word here]...
We went to the police the same day and we reported the theft. They were very nice and felt very sorry for us. Today my dad called the insurance and they are going to send us a form tomorrow to write down all the missing things.
Anyway, we're not going to leave any valuable stuff in the car again. This is kind of the first negative thing that I've seen here in NZ, although this happens in every country. Anyway, I want to warn everyone for this, especially when you're giong to Muriwai Beach, it happens a lot out there.

[AliJax]

Sorry to hear you recent bad news.

It does pay to remove all items from the field of view of ANYBODY from the outside of your vehicle.

[FlyingDutchman]

Well, we put it in the trunk, and we have a sedan car, so you can't see whats in the trunk. So probably the thief was already there when we put our stuff in there.

[jess]

Sorry about your stuff being stolen. As a gamer I especially feel bad about your GBA/Nintendo loss. :wah I hope insurance covers it all for you.

Jessica

[Junnifer USA]

We had been in NZ about 3 weeks... just bought our new car, TOyota Avalon, used. Were on the second floor parking of THE PALMS mall, on a sunny day in full daylight... when we returned the car window had been bashed in... OMG glass everywhere! And theft included radar detctor... don't leave anything of value visable...even in well traveled 'safe' places.
From the news and stories...I think theft is a significant problem here.

Anyhow... we still love it here!
Jennifer Milligan

[ErwinT]

:eek Aww... that's really a pity! Luckily you didn't name anything which cannot be replaced like personal photos or video tapes, but it %$#@s anyway to be robbed of anyting you enjoyed thoroughly. :wah

All the best, I hope the insurance will not give you a hard time and pay everything promptly.

Theft sems to be indeed quite a problem in NZ... when we were parking in a remote parking space near the kauri forest there was a small pick-up truck with a guy inside who asked money for watching over the car. I think if you don't pay him there's quite a chance your car is bashed or broken into when you return... by his buddies. :eek

Oh well.. the scenery is nice. ;)

[Milliemoo]

So sorry to hear that :(

Milliemoo :nice1

[Moorf]

What a bummer Nick :(

The Palms :eek

We're pretty safe from car theft as our "in car" alarm scares everyone off - i.e the dog :P

[Stu]

Happens everywhere really, especially places where folks are away from their cars for a long time, especially especially if they are more remote area where the cars are left.
Fishing the upper rivers around lake taupo is well known as being a free lolly-scramble for the local rissoles who feel they have scavenging rights.

Suppose this happens everywhere I guess, but it IS a damned shame.

Stu.

[FlyingDutchman]

Thanks for all the support guys, very appreciated :yes.

That's quite a lot of thefts here, not that it will put me off about New Zealand, because there are too many good things about NZ :nice1.

[Rammer]

Unbelevable! I saw some guy in a Welly CBD bar, left his laptop PC on a table, totaly unattended while he went for a leek. Came back, sat down, looked as tho it never even crossed his mind it might get nicked!!!!

Wierd i guess! - not the person

Ian

[ErwinT]

Unbelevable! I saw some guy in a Welly CBD bar, left his laptop PC on a table, totaly unattended while he went for a leek. Came back, sat down, looked as tho it never even crossed his mind it might get nicked!!!!

The way it *should* be, though... no locks, no weapons... oh well... dream on... :angel

[Rammer]

Dam Right... I would never dream of nikin someone elses stuff! If I did i could have *easy* picked up the lappie 'n' legged it, but for what?

Nah Im a good guy :nice1

Ian

[Hannah-NL]

............. Dat is BALEN FD! :no
Moderator: that's ^ not a bad word, just a dutch word that expresses how sad it is that they nicked his things, and his families things and such... I know it happens all over the planet, on the other hand things don't get nicked (yet?) if you have it in view of every one... the laptop story?
Will keep this in mind, as oldest always keeps bugging us about toys like that and we sorta agreed he could have one when we got to NZ.....