Honest gesture saves family snaps

Honesty is one thing Liz Rikiti doesn't find much of these days but her faith in human nature has been restored.

The rare quality is still alive in the Wairarapa, the Carterton photographer says since someone found and returned her mobile phone.

She didn't even realise she'd inadvertently left it on the bonnet of her family ute at Waiohine Gorge until she returned to the vehicle on Sunday to find a note stuck in the door and her cellphone hidden in the rear tray of the truck.

Mrs Rikiti said she, her husband, Wiparangi, and their five children went to the gorge about 2pm "on the hunt for a waterfall" to photograph.

As they got out of the truck 4-year-old Brian had begun kicking up a fuss.

"I popped my cellphone, notepad and pen on the bonnet to help him with his laces ... We walked off and I didn't realise I'd left them behind," Mrs Rikiti said. Spending nearly two hours in the area taking photographs, they had returned to find a note telling them they would find the phone in a plastic bag hidden under rocks and wood in the back of the ute, she said.

"They had jammed the note in the door ... I didn't even realise I'd lost it."

She is stunned someone was honest and hadn't taken the $1000 phone.

"I thought, 'Holy heck who does this sort of thing today'? I'm so paranoid about locking things up. When I was a kid my sister and I found $10 and we took it to the police station ... you hardly every hear of people doing something like this today," she said.

If it hadn't been returned the family would have lost a kapa haka video taken of son Aperahama, 5, two days earlier and many family snaps. Now she wants to personally thank the Good Samaritan and offer whoever it is a free photography package.

"They did the right thing and I'd love so much to thank them in some way. So many people don't do the right thing."

If you are the person who rescued the phone, email Liz at lizrikitiphotography@hotmail.co.nz