Far North tourist seeks good Samaritan 'Whina' after rural rescue

Clemens Zamboni (left) is trying to track down the woman in pink (possibly named Whina), who helped him when he struck car trouble during a holiday with his mum (right), wife and 6-year-old son.

Clemens Zamboni, a New Zealander who has lived in Japan for the last 20 years, hasn't forgotten his holiday in Northland in August, or the local woman who came to his rescue when he took his Japanese wife, his 6-year-old son and his mum to see Tāne Mahuta.
And now he's trying to find her, to say thanks.

They were about 500m from Waima School when they got a flat tyre.

"Honestly, we were stuck.

"No cellphone signal, unfamiliar place and not sure what to do. The car was a rental, and at first I couldn't even get the nuts off the wheel to remove it. They were on pretty tight," Clemens said.

Then a "really kind woman" came out of a nearby house to see if they needed help.

"She helped me change the tyre — to be honest she did the hard part and I just helped her — and I wrote down her address, but when we got back to Japan we couldn't find it.

"I really want to send her something to say thanks," he added.

All he could remember was that her name was Whina, or similar, and that she appeared from a grey pre-fab house on State Highway 12.

He had searched the internet and Google Earth, and even contacted Waima School in a bid to find her address, without success.

"It has really started to nag me that such kind, unsolicited help hasn't in some way been acknowledged. We had such a good trip, and the biggest reason was the people we met. "The guys at Real Deal Tyres Kaikohe and the Bridgestone Tyre Centre were also fantastic. Whina, on top of it all, was more than special," he said.

Anyone who can help Clemens contact Whina is asked to email peter.degraaf@nzme.co.nz or call/text (021) 516-468.