US Solidiers Robbed in Kaikoura

Yes that's right - Kaikoura, not Kandahar.

Kaikoura is a popular seaside town in New Zealand, and setting-off point for whale watching trips. But Kaikoura has been having a rough time of it recently what with visitors getting beaten up on the streets and seals being clubbed to death.

Now we hear that two American soldiers, Eli and Tonia Gerhard, lost a large amount of property when their rental car was robbed.

Following the theft police used a search warrant to enter a local address and “recovered a “substantial amount” of property” according to the Kaikoura Star.

The couple had decided to take a holiday in New Zealand, away from the crime and strife of war ravaged Afghanistan where they'd both been posted. What a bad choice New Zealand turned out to be for them.

From the Marlborough Express:

They had hoped to leave behind the air of crime and mistrust of Afghanistan and enjoy what should have been a relaxing holiday in a country which is generally considered a safe haven.
“This sort of thing does nothing for tourism.”
Constable Dean Schroder of Kaikoura agrees.
“This is a senseless targeting of tourists in Kaikoura. It does nothing for our image. The damage this sort of crime does to our region far outweighs the value of the property stolen.”…
…Items stolen included a small laptop, a Toshiba notebook, a fisheye lens for their Canon camera, a video camera and a couple of hard drives with all their holiday photos as well as all Mr Gerhard’s footage of Afghanistan – he has a helmet mounted camera with which he has recorded many of his missions.
“There is some pretty explicit s**t in there – almost three hours of mission videos,” he says. “But I doubt they will even look at it to realise – they will probably just delete everything.” read the full report here

According to another report a

“man aged 19 and a woman aged 23 are due to appear in the Kaikoura District Court on January 21 in relation to the theft.
Police were called to the Presbyterian Church on Deal St over the weekend after windows in the church were found broken. Mr Schroder believed the breakages were as a result of stone throwing and occurred on Thursday or Friday night last week. An amount of steel was stolen from the railway yard on Edmund Ave on Thursday night.
A pallet full of plates, often used to weight craypots down, and some cut-up railway iron was stolen.” read the full report here

The message here, as always is when in New Zealand never leave anything unattended in your car or camper van that you don’t want to lose.

Just how much of the couple’s property has been recovered isn’t clear but we hope they manage get it all back. Next time they have a much needed furlough  we also hope they chose somewhere more secure to vacation than New Zealand, where it seems a great many tourists are falling victim to crime recently.

Other stories you may be interested in:-
Suffolk couple put emigration plans on hold after experiencing NZ’s crime:

“Today’s Herald is reporting on British couple Dean and Tabitha Forbes who lost most of their possessions whilst on a pre-emigration trip to Auckland, New Zealand…”

British Migrants Robbed:

“”An English family who came to New Zealand to make a fresh start were left with only the clothes on their backs when their motel was burgled two days after they arrived.
Dawn and Conrad Tutin and their children Stephanie, 14, and Kiel, 12, arrived from Nottingham a week ago to begin a new life in Auckland, where Mr Tutin will work for Fisher & Paykel…””

More British tourists robbed, no gold for New Plymouth:

“Earlier today we wrote about honeymooning couple Simon and Sabine Greenslade whose campervan was robbed of outside of Auckland Zoo, losing most of their holiday and honeymooning photographs amongst other possessions.
We’ve also heard about another young British couple, Jake Graham and Jess Kelly,whose campervan was also broken into and who lost almost everything they owned in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon…”

Other stories you may find interesting
Honeymoon couple lose precious photos, no ‘gold medal’ in Auckland

US rowing team member  robbed, world rowing championships 2010 in Queenstown

Czech Tourist, Jan Fakotor, Stabbed In Motueka
English tourist mugged in Gisborne
Chilean tourist punched, robbed in Nelson
A group of students that were beaten and robbed whilst on a treasure hunt at the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, Northland
A series of random, unprovoked attacks in Queenstown
Previous robbery of British tourists at Kerosene Creek
Tourists robbed at Kerosene Creek
Three French tourists beaten and robbed in their campervan in Mangamuka, Northland - police have yet to resolve this crime

A family of Swiss tourists that were assaulted and racially abused in Kaitaia, Northland
Anke Kuballa and Marc Busch from Germany who were robbed in Whangarei, Northland
A family of five robbed at the roadside whilst camping in their van at Oturere Stream, 25km south of Turangi
Two German tourists attacked in Paihia, Northland
Two American tourists were robbed at Shipwreck Bay in Northland whilst sandboarding

Asian woman, (probably Japanese) age 22, raped in her room by 2 teenagers in a home invasion in Opotiki, Northland

Three Chinese tourists attacked and robbed at Te paki, 90 Mile Beach, Northland, by two men they’d stopped to help
French tourist Anthony Cressend, beaten and robbed at campsite in Ahipara, Northland
Two Australian tourists robbed at knifepoint for their holiday money in Te Puke, SE of Tauranga.
Japanese tourist age 23 (female) kidnapped, robbed and assaulted in Rotorua by four men
French tourist (male) raped at gunpoint near Opotiki,

American peace corp twins Adam and Alex Rahmlow, 21 were robbed of all their possessions by a man they tried to help in Amberley, Christchurch.
Dutch couple raped and robbed on a campsite in Tuatapere, NW of Invercargill, whilst on their honeymoon. (Dutch govt. issued a travel warning about NZ)
Two Koreans were attacked and robbed of their possession which included a laptop computer by a man claiming to be a gang member in Blenheim.
British tourist worker sexually assaulted near Hururu Falls, Northland when she was dragged off a walking track.
Canadian tourist Jeremie Kawerninski, kidnapped, assaulted and robbed in Lower Hutt, Wellington
Dutch couple robbed and sexually attacked Haruru Falls, Northland whilst on honeymoon.
Two British women robbed and raped in their campervan at Tokomaru Bay, north of Gisborne.
Japanese tourist subjected to a prolonged and brutal sex attack in a communal area of a backpacker’s hostel in Turangi, Taupo.
Scottish woman Karen Aim brutally murdered by a youth in Taupo.
German woman Birgit Brauer murdered near New Plymouth.
Korean man Jae Hyeon Kim decapitated with a spade by white supremacist.
Japanese tourist robbed at gunpoint in Oamaru.
Irish cycle tourist Paul Mack bashed, robbed and urinated on throughout his NZ tour.
6 English and Danish tourists attacked and stabbed in Cashel Mall, Christchurch for having “foreign accents.”
Irish man Robby O’Brien beaten up in Westport.
Russian couple Denis Khotchenko and Lera Nesterova beaten and robbed in Milford, Auckland
English woman knifed and sexually assaulted in a toilet block at an A1 motor camp in Kaikoura
American campers Patrick Dykstra and Kelsey McGinley beaten and robbed at Whangarei Falls, Northland.
Australian tourist sexually assaulted on a street in broad daylight in Nelson.
Australian tourist subjected to a sex attack by Maia Crawford Rongonui whilst walking home to a backpackers in Christchurch.
Canadian tourist left with a fractured skull outside Silver Fern backpackers in Taupo.
Dutch tourist beaten and robbed at Lake Rotorua.
British man Paul Speakman and his young son beaten and robbed in a campervan at Athenree Gorge, Katikati.
Chinese woman attacked for speaking Chinese on a train approaching Petone.
Scottish visitor Stuart Martin who was left in a coma and with a boot print on his face after a street bashing in Taradale, Christchurch.

Today's posts - click here

State Of Emergency May Be Declared in Christchurch, Quake Near White Island

There have been shallow and powerful earthquakes  in Christchurch this morning that sent Boxing Day shoppers running for cover, they also caused power outages to around 40,000 premises in the central business district  Papanui, St Albans, Fendalton and other parts of the city.

The store Ballantyne's has been damaged with a lot of broken glass inside.

The council is said to be considering declaring a state of emergency.

According to the site Canterbury Quake live there has been 19 quakes so far in Christchurch this Boxing Day, starting  at 2.07am with a magnitude 4.21. The strongest was a very shallow magnitude 4.89 at 10.30am, only 3 kms from Catherdral Square, which caused most of the damage to the CBD.

For more about earthquakes in Christchurch, Canterbury and the slow pace of recovery read posts tagged #EQNZ

North Island Quake
A couple of hours before the Christchurch quakes started today the North Island was also roughly jolted by a single 5.9 magnitude quake. The quake struck just after midnight 80 kilometres north of White Island in the Bay of Plenty and was felt over large areas of the North Island.

48 Km offshore, White Island (Whakāri) is one of New Zealand's most active cone volcanoes which has been built up by continuous volcanic activity over the past 150,000 years. About 70 percent of the volcano is under the sea, making this massive volcanic structure one of the largest in New Zealand (Geonet)

Today's posts - click here