Three German tourists are about to be reunited with their stolen belongings after a courier company offered to transport their backpacks to Kaikoura free of charge.
Paula Sima, 25, Patricia Furtner, 26, and Thalia Doering, 27, lost everything but their boots and sleeping bags when thieves smashed into their car in broad daylight at Waitangi on September 3. They cut their North Island trip short and returned to their base in Kaikoura so they could earn some more money and replace their stolen gear.
The following Saturday, however, a Bay of Islands woman found one of their bags dumped in bush at Haruru Falls, and on Monday a Kerikeri man searching the back roads around Waitangi found almost all the rest dumped down a steep bank off Haruru Falls Rd.
The Kerikeri man, who would not be named, enlisted two backpackers to help him retrieve the women's belongings and delivered them to Kerikeri police station.