Tourists want travel photos back after campervan theft

William Sheldon and Isabel Boanas-Evans, whose bags were stolen from their van at the i-Site in Whangarei.

Two English tourists robbed of their personal belongings soon after arriving in Whangarei have pleaded for the return of their photos.

William Sheldon and friend Isabel Boanas-Evans lost two bags that contained their passports, a wallet, two Kindles, five memory cards and a camera after their campervan was broken into at the Tarewa Rd information centre carpark about 2pm on Wednesday.

The camera contained about 3000 photos the duo took on their five-month holiday to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and so far in New Zealand.

They've been in New Zealand for nearly five weeks and the only warning to them in that time was from a man in Auckland who advised them to be careful.

A window in the campervan was forced open and their belongings stolen during the 15 minutes they were inside the i-Site.

"We got back in the campervan and didn't even realise our bags were gone because there were no signs of forced entry so we drove up to Kiwi North and couldn't find the bags," Mr Sheldon said.

Earlier last week, another campervan they hired broke down between Coromandel and Auckland and since then, they decided to put their personal items in the bags.

Their emergency travel documents were due to be ready before both flew out to Australia on Monday. Other lost items were insured.

Both tourists, who are friends from London, had initially planned to visit Cape Reinga but the thieving incident has put them off from going that far.

Instead, they intend to spend a couple of days in the Bay of Islands before returning to Auckland.

Anyone with information on the theft can contact Whangarei police on (09) 4304500 or email Mr Sheldon on willsheldon@hotmail.co.uk or Ms Boanas-Evans on iboanasevans@gmail.com.