Nico Lustig was keeping a secret when he and Janina Hinnear arrived in New Zealand last week. Packed away in his luggage was a $600 ring that he was planning to offer to Janina when he asked her to marry him.
Four days later, before his big proposal, it was stolen in Northland.
The couple, from Germany, had been in New Zealand for only five days when they found themselves at the police in Kaitaia to report that they had lost all but the clothes they were standing in to a thief.
They had parked their car at the campground at Te Kohanga (Shipwreck Bay), Ahipara, at around 11.30am on Monday to take a walk on the beach. When they returned at around 2pm they discovered that someone had smashed a window and taken their property.
They took two large backpacks, one red and one green, a smaller grey one and a red shoulder bag.