The engagement and wedding rings offered to Nico Lustig and his intended fiancee, Janina Hinnear.
The engagement and wedding rings offered to Nico Lustig and his intended fiancee, Janina Hinnear.
The generosity of locals has overturned German tourists Nico Lustig and Janina Hinnear's view of New Zealand.
All the couple's possessions were stolen last week at Ahipara, while they went for a walk along the beach. The brazen thief even stole the ring that Lustig was planning to propose to Hinnear with.
But within hours of the story breaking, the couple were able to experience the warmth and kindness of New Zealanders, with offers of rings, accommodation and funds. Lustig said the couple were deeply moved by the response.
"We are overwhelmed from the hospitality that reaches us," he said.
The pair will leave the country with fond memories.
"Our negative experience is not the thing that we will associate to New Zealand. We will remember all this great support, the warm and selfless people, and the willingness to share," Lustig said.
He said it was never the pair's intention to ask for anything, they just hoped to have more people looking out for their stolen items.
The fact the stolen property included the ring for proposal struck a particular chord, prompting a very generous response from Taupō woman Carrie Johnston.
She contacted the Northland Age to offer Lustig an engagement ring and matching wedding band ("assuming she says yes, of course") that she had had sitting in a drawer for 18 years.
"I'm sure none of my boys would mind if I gifted the rings to Nico, if he'd like them," Johnston said.
"I live in Taupō, so if they plan to travel south they could collect them on the way through, and maybe even check out our wonderful town and all it has to offer at the same time. I only have a small apartment (three teenage boys take up a lot of room), but they would be welcome to stay for a couple of days as long as they don't mind the couch in the living room," she added.
DM Jewellery, based near Waitomo, saw the story and also offered the couple an engagement ring, while Ōamaru woman Barbara Hayes contacted the
Age
to offer them a bed if they were going that way.
The engagement and wedding rings offered to Nico Lustig and his intended fiancee, Janina Hinnear.
"We have enjoyed great hospitality in Germany, and had quite a few German gappers, friends of friends, stay with us. Tourists are easy game for the lowlifes of our country," she said.
And New Zealander Nicole Jenison, living in the US, made contact to say she would love to contribute to a fund, if one was set up, so the pair could continue their trip around New Zealand.
Lustig said in the last couple of days, the pair had bought some new items and had continued their journey around the country.
