KEY POINTS:
Police are still trying to solve the mystery of Rotorua's "Mary Celeste picnic".
"We're no further ahead today than we were two days ago," Detective Sergeant John Wilson told NZPA today.
The fully laid-out picnic, complete with blanket and food, was found abandoned on the beach of a Rotorua lake last week.
Police received a call on Friday morning from someone who had found the picnic near the carpark between Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Rotokakahi (Green Lake).
There they found a red blanket laid out, a wicker basket, two small bottles of Coke, a packet of chips, a relish container, chicken caesar salad, three apples, two bags of sweets, a barbecue lighter and a copy of the Weekend Herald dated September 13.
Mr Wilson likened the mystery to the world's most famous "ghost" ship the Mary Celeste.
The Mary Celeste was a brigantine discovered in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and under sail in 1872. The fate of the crew has been a subject much speculation since.
Since the find a police search and rescue team had searched the tracks around the lake and made inquiries at the camp ground on the opposite side of the lake but could not find the owners of the picnic.
Mr Wilson said today police were considering what further action to take.
"We're tossing up at the moment what we're going to do, whether we'll go back and re-search the area," he said.
"It's just bizarre."
Mr Wilson said police were more likely to search the area than fingerprint the items.
"Our scenes of crime officers have got enough to do.
"They're the sort of items that are not particularly good to get fingerprints off anyway," he said. "And if it's a legitimate picnic then the chances are we won't have the fingerprints of the people."
Mr Wilson said he was considering having the lake searched.
"It's not a very big lake. I'm going to have a meeting with some of my colleagues from search and rescue a bit later on and we'll mull it over."
Yesterday the Daily Post published a photograph of the picnic items in an effort to identify their owner.
- NZPA
