Australian family travelling New Zealand share ‘miracle’ response after asking for help in Christchurch

Lauren Lee said she felt there was no chance they would be reunited with their bag. Photo / Lauren Lee

An Australian family was reunited with their suitcase in Christchurch today after an urgent social media video prompted a kind Kiwi to come to the rescue.

Stories of lost luggage and forgotten items rarely end well but one Australian family experienced the ultimate happy ending today thanks to the power of the internet.

Lauren Lee, her husband and twin sons had just finished an 11-day holiday around New Zealand when they reached Christchurch airport and realised they’d made a “travel fail”.

After packing up their things at Glenmark Reesrve Freedom Camp, 50 minutes north of Christchurch, the family had driven off but left their orange Macpac suitcase behind.

“Help me find our bag,” Lee said in a video she posted to Facebook at 12.50pm today, and shared to New Zealand Travel Tips (NZTT), a private Facebook group.

Lee explained the suitcase didn’t have their name on it but had all of the family’s clothes.

“It doesn’t have our name on it, but it does have all of our clothes,” she said.

“If it is found I have no idea how we would even get it back to Australia but I will worry about that only if by miracle it is found,” she wrote in the video caption.

The post soon received 50 comments and a ‘miracle’ according to Lee.

Dozens of Kiwis quickly commented to share advice and offers to help locate the bag, while someone from Christchurch said their neighbour worked for AirNZ and could assist with getting it back to Jessica.

Then, Kaiapoi resident Aliese Gerrard offered to “go for a wee drive” and look for it, saying the campsite was a 30-minute drive away but they didn’t mind making the effort.

Thrilled, Jessica offered further explanation on where they stayed in the camp, and where the missing bag may be.

At 1.38pm, Gerrard had good news; she found the suitcase, sharing a photo of it before offering to drive to the airport so they could take it home.

If she didn’t get there in time, another person said they could help arrange something with an airline to fly it over.

Many commented on the post, calling Gerrard an amazing human but she said the decision to lend a hand was simple: “If you can help then that’s what you do right?!,” she wrote, adding that she’d once misplaced her bag in Turkey and understood how much it meant to get help while abroad.

Jessica later commented saying Gerrard managed to drop it at Christchurch airport in time for their flight.

“We still managed to check in and get through security and are now just waiting for our flight,” she wrote.

“I said to my husband on our way over to NZ that I love being Australian but I would also love to live in NZ. The people are honestly the most incredible and kind people on the planet,” she added.

Several other members of NZTT commented, praising Gerrard’s actions and expressing gratitude for the group and the kindness of Kiwis.