You are driving along, reading the road map and you see many little highlighted spots of scenic interest. You pass many spots in the middle of what seems like nowhere, that have road signs alerting you to this waterfall or that walking track. You stop at one of these spots to do the well sign posted and formed track through virgin forest to the river or waterfall. You return to your car after a short stroll to find that your baggage is gone!
Yes it is happening more and more at what seems remote spots. And why wouldn’t a criminal scum target tourists who have their entire holiday possessions, often including cameras, laptops, Ipods etc etc, neatly packaged up in an easy to carry bag. It happened to me in a busy car park and I should know better. So it can and does happen often to anyone.
New Zealand Tour Maps has a page dedicated to this topic theft from tourists but for some reason it receives the least amount of visits. Perhaps when planning your holiday you don’t want to think about the negative or maybe it’s the “it wont happen to me” mentality that is alive and well in all of us.
Well, upon opening the local community newspaper I was reminded to try again and push home the warning. At the very end of the weekly police round up was another report of a string of thefts from cars. What grabbed my attention this time was the locations of these multiple thefts. Common in the North Island, it seems the criminal fraternity are either holidaying in the South Island or the South Islanders are learning from their Northern associates
These thefts involved tourists parked at the famous Copland Track and road side parking spots on State Highway 6 that travels through the Haast Pass.
In the North Island yesterday, German tourists fell victim to thieves in Napier. Thousands of dollars worth of property was stolen from two German tourists visiting Napier when there car was broken into in a carpark on State Highway 2, while the tourists slept on the beach.
Police say four bags and a suitcase were taken, containing passports, flight tickets, MP3 players, digital cameras and clothes
When residing in Wanaka I often leave my home unlocked when popping to the supermarket and rarely lock my car when in town. When in Auckland I alarm the house and car always. But when visiting walking tracks I always make sure to take every thing with me including my sons PSP. The problem is that tourists travelling from one destination to their next accommodations do not have the luxury of leaving baggage behind. This simple situation is exactly why they are targeted by thieves.
There is no easy answer to this growing problem other than to base yourself somewhere and do day trips to explore these must see spots. Local councils have begun a signage programme called ‘Lock it or Loose it’ however criminals will not let a locked car stop them from their spoils.
Tags: New Zealand by Road
It has happen to me when parked at a trail carpark. There was a bus load of tourist and many other cars coming and going. We were away from our hire car for only one hour. It was lock but they used some sort of ‘driver’ to turn the lock
Thanks for the warning. Good to read some negatives rather than the positive hype.
Good advice. We will beware
A recommended ploy, is as in London, is to leave glove box open and if a hatchback leave the cover open so the car is seen to be empty. Any smaller goods can be put under seats out of sight. A theif is not going to risk breaking into a car with the odds against anything being within.
[...] I have reported this many times in this blog and included a section specifically about this type of crime but with the busy camper van and tourist season just about to start thought it prudent to warn prospective travellers of the dangers of leaving valuables in your hire car or motor home. Please see our section on theft from tourists [...]