Sometimes smart people do stupid things, like sleep with their campervan doors open. It never seemed like a stupid idea until the night our van was broken into, while we were sleeping in it. Our campervan is actually a minivan in which the backseat turns into a bed. We'd gotten into the habit of sleeping with the sliding doors open a crack when it wasn't raining out. It can get quite stuffy in the van so we appreciate a clear night when we can let in the fresh air. While we sleep we put most of our stuff on the front two seats of the vehicle because it cannot all fit underneath our "bed". We also put the blinds down which includes one that creates a shield between us and the front seats. Since the sun doesn't shine very early in NZ the purpose of these blinds is more to minimize the lights from the holiday park from keeping me awake.
The break-in occurred during our first night in Turangi, a town on the North Island just south of Lake Taupo. I woke up around 1:30AM and laid there for a handful of seconds wondering why I was awake. It's not uncommon for me to wake up at any time of the night as I am one of the worst known sleepers on the planet. I realized though that this time, I was awake because I could hear something outside on Jake's side of the van. The only possibility that crossed my mind was that it was wildlife so I leaned over Jake and popped my head outside the door to appease my curiosity. Instead of a Kiwi bird though, what met my eyes was two petite hooded people crouching down going through the front passenger side of our van. Instinctively, I screamed "WHAT THE F*$!" at the top of my lungs and fell out of the van as they sprinted away. My blood curdling scream woke Jake from his dead sleep and as we scrambled to realize what was going on, they were over a fence and gone. At this point we saw that they had already been through everything they could access from the drivers side of the van. The contents of Jake's entire suitcase were all over the ground as were the contents of my backpack. As I tripped over my noise canceling headphones, I was relieved to see that our Macbook and iPad were on the picnic table. They appeared to be saving these for when they were done being greedy going through the passenger side of our car. I didn't see their faces and wasn't even sure if the bandits were male or female. All I knew is that they both seemed small, they didn't appear to be big, burly men.
We were really lucky, really lucky. They got away with our camera, tripod and Jake's ancient iPhone (4 from 2010) but nothing else. We didn't even lose a picture as we had already imported the photos to the laptop. The camera and tripod had straps which they obviously easily put over their heads and the iPhone was there to be scooped up and put into their pocket. We woke up the managers of the holiday park and although they were very sympathetic to us, offering us a cabin to sleep in for the rest of the night, the first thing out of their mouth was "oh, not again". I'm sorry, what? Apparently break-in's have been occurring regularly within the campground. Wouldn't it have been nice if they mentioned that upon check-in and strongly encouraged us to lock our vehicles at night?! The police station is only open from 8AM - 4PM so we didn't have much of a choice agreeing that we'd call the police in the morning. I was asked if I got a good look at the thieves and when I said that all I could tell is that they were petite, this was consistent with what they've heard before. The cops and the holiday park owners suspect that it is a group of 14 to 15 year old boys working together.
Once the sun came up we met other travelers that had also been robbed that night. Their luck was much worse. The thieves had grabbed one of their large backpacks from the front seat and in it was a wallet, passport, GoPro, camera, cell phone, iPad, and hiking gear. They had just arrived the day before from Connecticut for a two week trip to NZ. Luckily as the day progressed the pack was recovered with his passport and wallet in it. The kids had taken his cash but left his license and credit cards. Having his passport would allow him to continue his NZ trip as planned and not make an unexpected trip back to Auckland to figure things out at the U.S. Embassy. I cried with relief at his fortune. I can't imagine taking precious vacation time, traveling half way around the world with excitement and have it all spoiled within 24 hours of arrival. Clearly the thieves were amateurs as I'm sure there is a market for passports and credit cards but they didn't recognize that which is Mr. Connecticut's good luck.
As time passes it gets easier, but ever since that night I've had a very hard time relaxing enough to sleep well in the campervan. For several days I could not get the image of two people so close to me out of my mind. I can't believe that they were bold enough to go through our things when we were laying right there. Lessons learned: first even if you are in the car, lock it, and second even if you think you are somewhere "safe", act as if you are not.
Our planned activity in this area was to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which we now had to do without a real camera. This was a major disappointment as we hadn't seen any scenery similar to this yet, active volcanoes. It was a clear day and thanks to the iPhone my friend Amanda gave me before we left for the trip (I smashed my iPhone screen right before left the U.S. and she came to the rescue!), we were able to capture some photos. When we got to our next destination, Taupo, I found a camera store because I wasn't going to let us go another day reflecting on our loss and sad to have no photos. Over the past few months, Jake has really gotten into photography and has been enjoying online photography classes and practicing his new craft daily. The loss of the camera was now twofold, to have the tool you need to support your passion snatched away just wasn't going to work. It wasn't going to work for me. He had not complained once but I love seeing him happy behind the lens and of course I also appreciate the beautiful way in which he is capturing our trip. There was a "camera shop" in Taupo and by that I mean a store that mostly prints photos, but also sells some accessories and a handful of cameras. I think they had three camera models and one of them was the same model camera that we had had. As we stood there looking at the steep price, which was much higher than what we had paid for it in the U.S., the gentleman came over to politely greet us. I told him our sob story and he became the Kiwi who saved the day by offering us the camera and filter at cost while also throwing in a 16GB SD memory card. We both cried in the store (Jake denies that he did though). We never expected such incredible generosity. What a guy. I wanted to hug him but given he was behind the counter at this point that would have been awkward so I gave him a two handed hand shake instead. I still can't believe how thoughtful and kind this man was.
~Jesslyn