KEY POINTS:
They were three mates from South Africa who came to New Zealand in search of a better life.
Now two are dead and one in hospital, after the trio took a portable barbecue indoors to keep themselves warm.
Derek Hamilton and Martin Janse Van Rensburg died last Saturday at a motorcamp about 20km south of Raglan from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
Their friend Jayson Basson survived after falling from his bed and breathing air through a crack under the door.
Mr Hamilton, a sports fanatic who played representative cricket and soccer, saw no future in his homeland, which his cousin Roy Hamilton said was plagued by daily "sickening crime and violence" .
Roy Hamilton, who lives in London, said his cousin was a "true gentleman".
"He was extremely polite and very well mannered at all times. He was horrified beyond belief when he saw fit young men not giving up their seats for elderly women on the London Tube," he said.
Derek Hamilton's older sister, Carol Cannon, told the Weekend Herald from her home in Durban, South Africa, things had been "pretty tough" since she received the news.
"It hasn't been easy but that's life. You have these things dealt to you ... There's no dress rehearsal," said Ms Cannon.
"But we've got wonderful memories of him. He was a big chap, my brother, like a big teddy bear. He was a very good chap."
While she did not know Mr Basson or his brother-in-law Mr Janse Van Rensburg, she said her brother had met Mr Basson's parents while living in Northern Natal.
Mr Basson's sister, Lucy, married Mr Janse Van Rensburg.
Derek Hamilton moved to New Zealand a year ago and worked in procurement for an Auckland concrete company. His wife Yvonne and daughters followed him in January.
While he apparently didn't like New Zealand's road rule of giving way to the right, he did enjoy the "very relaxed way of life".
Said Ms Cannon: "The feeling I got was he was nowhere near as stressed as what he was here ... He said the pace was much slower and less stressful."
Little is known about Mr Janse Van Rensburg, who is understood to have arrived in New Zealand earlier this year.
But his neighbours in Dannemora, East Auckland, said he and his wife had still been waiting for their container of goods to arrive from the republic and their dogs were still in quarantine.
Meanwhile, Mr Basson, who has spent the week recovering in North Shore Hospital, is said to be improving.
