Police are hunting two men who robbed a Chinese tourist, leaving her "shaken" and stripped of her belongings, at a Haumoana camping spot yesterday.
Detective Sergeant John McCarthy said the 31-year-old Chinese woman was sleeping in her car, parked overnight in Clive Grange Domain, when she woke about 4.20am to a torch light shining through her car windows.
The woman thought the people standing outside were police, so she opened the car door. She was confronted by two men demanding her car keys.
"The woman pleaded with the men not to take her car. They then left with a quantity of cash, an Apple Notebook and two cellphones - one a white iPhone 5 and the second a Chinese brand phone," Mr McCarthy said.
A police spokeswoman said the woman was not breaking the law by sleeping in her car at the domain as it is a public camping area. Situated beside the mouth of the Tukituki River, it is popular among tourists. Grange Rd resident Sonia Horne, who has lived near the picturesque domain for 15 years, said she wasn't aware of any similar incidents taking place in the area. "That's a bit of a worry because my kids play down there. I'm not sure I'll let them play there now."