Lions fans hunting for lost mementos of tour

Lions fans with the signed flag they left in the back of a taxi in Auckland. Have you seen it? Photo / Supplied.

Lions fans aren't just on the losing team side, they're also losing their possessions.

One has lost her stuffed toy lion, Roary, from Eden Park after the first test between the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions on Saturday night.

Another left his Lions tour flag in the back of a taxi and now a third fan has lost his mobile phone, with precious photographs of the tour.

Justin Eastham of Cardiff has been touring New Zealand as well as taking in the Lions rugby games.

But on June 14 he stepped off a bus travelling from Dunedin to Christchurch in Oamaru where he believes his phone fell out of his pocket.

"Either my phone was picked up by a fellow traveller, or it was left at the roadside, where the InterCity coach stops, in Oamaru."

More upsetting though was the discovery that Eastham's photos on the phone, including everything he had snapped to that point, were not backed up.

"I'd taken hundreds of photos including at the RNZAF museum in Christchurch, shots from our seats at all the matches, what was left of Carisbrook (the turnstile building) and various locations in Christchurch."

He also spent time photographing the stands and pitch at Lancaster Park which is to be demolished later this year.

"In short I'm gutted, and annoyed with myself, to have lost all of those photos. I live in Cardiff, so am not able to return very easily, to retake them, at least not any time soon."

Eastham said his parents visited Christchurch prior to the 2011 earthquake. and he was looking forward to showing them photographs of the rebuild, and comparing them to their earlier photos.

He is so desperate to get the photos back Eastham he has offered a $100 reward for information leading to their recovery and/or of the phone itself.

"I'm not so bothered about the phone. The phone I can replace. It's the hundreds of photographs that I'm desperate to recover."

Roary the Lion has been missing from Eden Park since last night. Photo / Facebook.

Meanwhile Helen Wilderspin lost her stuffed toy mascot during last night's first test in Auckland.

Roary the Lion was last seen in section 320, row X, seat 27 of Eden Park during the game in which the All Blacks beat the Lions 30-15.

Wilderspin has posted on Eden Park's Facebook page asking for help to bring the 15cm tall soft toy home.

She said the toy was doing a two-month round the world trip with Lions fans.

And another Lions fan, Andy, and his buddies left a supporters flag in the back of a taxi in Auckland at 4am after drowning their sorrows following their team's loss.

"We have been touring around with the Lions v ABs and have taken a huge Royal Navy ensign for fans to sign and write messages etc as a [memento]of the tour.

"It has been signed by Lions Scott Quinnell and Lee Byrne as well as the AB legend Mils Muliaina."

The group of former military men said they had travelled from Russia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom to meet up for the tour.