KEY POINTS:
The Dutch honeymoon couple who were kidnapped at gunpoint in the Bay of Islands have been inundated with offers of support from around the country.
Two masked men burst into the couple's campervan about 10pm on Friday at Haruru Falls near Paihia, just as the couple were getting
ready for bed.
The woman was sexually assaulted in an ordeal that stretched over several hours as the couple were driven around and forced to withdraw cash from ATM machines.
They were finally dumped in their campervan at the tiny settlement of Towai, 15km south of Kawakawa, around 3am on Saturday.
Detective Inspector Mike Pannett, heading the investigation, said the couple were being cared for by Victim Support and police staff.
He said they had received a lot of public support and messages from "the length and breadth of New Zealand".
"There were 50 messages of support this morning alone - offers of help and assistance."
The forensic inquiry was continuing, and would take some time yet, Mr Pannett said. This included examining the couple's van.
Police were working through numerous calls from the public with information.
"We're speaking to a number of people at the moment in respect of sightings of the van in a number of areas on State Highway 1 in the Bay of Islands through to the Kawakawa area," he told National Radio.
There were other campervans in the area of the attack, but police had heard very little from them.
Mr Pannett said the offenders were described as of solid build, between 20 and 40 years of age, with a good local knowledge of the Bay of Islands area.
At the end of their ordeal, the couple knocked on the door of a house where they were taken in.
Far North-based Labour MP Dover Samuels said the attack was "not a good look for tourism in Northland".
"It's an isolated incident because the Bay of Islands and the Far North are basically safe and these low-lifes don't reflect the hospitality of people in the north.
"Someone knows about this locally," Mr Samuels said.
"This [attack] is not about outside people coming in. They [the offenders] are clearly someone who knows the landscape."
He had spoken to the Dutch ambassador in Wellington, Henrica Terbrach, saying the Far North community was extremely supportive of the young couple and their family.
"I told her New Zealanders do care and assured her these types of incident were rare in the area."
Robyn Bolton, general manager of regional tourism agency Destination Northland, said the European market was a core tourism market for Northland.
"There is a level of concern about the impact [of the attack] and there may be an initial reaction, but we're hopeful people will still come and understand that this is not a normal occurrence."
The agency tried hard to encourage visitors to use and enjoy proper camping facilities in the north.
As an industry, she said, talks had been going on with police for some time about improving the petty crime situation in the area but progress had been slow.
Kevin Small, at the Haruru Falls Motor Inn and Caravan Park, said the car park in which the victims had been accosted was above the falls on Haruru Rd.
A walkway led from the park to the falls and was an area frequented by tourists and visitors in daytime hours.
But Mr Small was unsure whether the car park was used regularly by people staying overnight.
Police are advising people camping either in a tent or campervan in the Bay of Islands to use designated camping grounds and to report any suspicious behaviour to police.
Witnesses sought
Police want anyone who visited the Haruru Falls car park on Friday or who saw the white Toyota campervanin the Haruru Falls, Paihia, Kawakawa or wider Bay of Islands areas that night to call them on (09) 405 2966.
