The Rape of Josephine

At the end of our walk, Peter and I drive in his van back up to the Mount Robert car park where I left Josephine. It is already dark and initially everything looks fine, but as go to unlock her, I realise the driver's door is already unlocked. I know I locked her when I left her, because I went back a second time to be sure, as is my habit. Peter shines the headlights of his van on Josephine and as we open the other unlocked doors we can see that the bed platform is pulled up and the mattress awry, exposing her private underparts, poor girl. Everything that I did not take on the walk was stowed away here out of sight and pretty much everything has been taken: my small rucksack with my laptop and modem, English phone, all my electrical leads and chargers, spare credit cards; plus two other bags containing toiletries, clothes, sandals, and other travel stuff such as my mosquito net. They have even taken the plastic box from the back containing food and what upsets me most, the paper bag from the visitor centre with the story book and finger puppets for Megan and Elliot. Most of this stuff won't be of any value to them and they will probably just throw it away. Fortunately I have my most important credit and cash card with me, plus my passport and a USB stick with a copy of my main computer file on it, although it is about a month out-of-daten and doesn't have my travel photos on it.

We sit in Peter's van and think what to do first. I am so glad not to have arrived here in this dark carpark on my own and have all this to deal with. First I phone the police in Nelson and a vey nice relaxed young man tells me that I can bring the van to the police station tomorrow and report the theft. He says that 3 or 4 other vehicles have also been targetted in this car park over this weekend.
We drive both vehicles back to the campsite and while Peter quietly gets on cooking dinner and miraculously finds a bottle of wine, I make phone calls to various card companies. The customer service I receive varies from a foreign call centre, whose operative is very difficult to understand, to a nice-sounding English man whose first question to me, when I explain what has happened is, 'Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?'
Then I leave a message for Rory - Josephine's rightful owner to let him know what has happened. There is nothing more I can do tonight.

In the commotion we missed the opportunity to visit Sandy last night for the offered showers, so feeling a little cheaky we give her a ring in the morning. She sounds delighted to hear from us and when we arrive she is pulling freshly-made date scones out of the oven. We sit around the table with her and Ray and drink coffee, eat scones and tell them the sorry tale. They are horrified and offer all the comfort they can. Then Sandy takes me to show her the bathroom and when I tell her I don't actually even have any shower gel or shampoo, she opens her cornucopia of bathing and beauty products and tells me to help myself. After a lovely hot shower, smelling rather better and even with rarely blow-dried hair, I feel loads better, in spite of having to put on the same old stinky clothes back on. Once Peter is similarly fragrant we say our goodbyes and Sandy packs us up with a pack of scones for later. We feel very blessed to have crossed paths with such a fantastic woman.

Peter and I drive in convoy to Nelson, which is about 1 and a half hours away and we go straight to the police station. A nice friendly police officer takes the details and he confirms that several vans were similarly broken into in the same car park. That evening I start to compile the list of everything that was stolen and I get a phone call to say that the police have recovered some stolen property and would I go back to the police station the following day, to see if any of it is mine. I try not to get my hopes up. A different young police officer takes us into a back office where there are about 6 black bin bags and other loose property strewn between the desks. We go through it all - boots, clothes, tools, food, backpacks, phone and headphones. The only thing that could possibly be mine is one very sad and lonely knitted grey mouse finger puppet; but I can't honestly say whether this is one of the 6 animals I eventually chose for Megan and Elliot.
I spend the next few days in and around Nelson sorting out the things I need to do. I now have no internet access, so visiting the public library to use their machines and wi-fi is a good option. I buy a new phone and a new lap top, with the advice from my friend Tony back home. I read the small print for my travel insurance and read that they will only pay out for the lost laptop if it was taken directly from my person, or from a safety deposit box and that items taken from a vehicle parked overnight are not covered. I'll claim anyway and hope that they pay for somethings.

I return Josephine to Rory, who is also saddened that my adventure with her ended this way. Peter and I part company and I am very grateful to him for his friendship and support.He has become a very dear friend and it has all be so much easier to deal with, with his help and I am sure we will meet again back home.

The upside of it all is that I treat myself to a new and very expensive swimsuit to take to Fiji and when I come to pack, everything fits very easily into my rucksack!

I am almost at the end of my 5 months in New Zealand. I came here to do lots of tramping and I feel pleased with what I have achieved. I feel fitter, stronger, healthier and slimmer than I was at the start. I have seen awe-inspiring sights; met amazing people and had great experiences and this last bad one is not going to change any of that.