Petero Godquin (left) and Duncan Sheffield. Picture / Maori Television
Petero Godquin (left) and Duncan Sheffield. Picture / Maori Television
New Zealanders Petero Godquin and Duncan Sheffield, whose lives were possibly saved by their visiting real estate agent in Paris, have spoken further about their lucky interruption.
The pair were meant to be celebrating near the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant on Friday night.
The restaurant was the scene of one of the deadly shootings that left 129 people dead in the French capital on Saturday morning (NZ time).
"We were supposed to be at the shooting site when it happened for a celebration dinner," Mr Godquin told the Herald .
"It is literally down the road from where we live, but our real estate agent popped over with champagne and that delayed our evening... Saved us basically."
Mr Godquin, who said they moved to Paris in January 2013, bought a new flat about six months earlier but never got round to signing the papers until Friday.
"On Friday morning I signed for a new flat I bought around the corner from where we live."
Mr Godquin said he called the restaurant, Le bistro des oies - next door to Le Petit Cambodge - to secure a table but didn't get an answer.
"So we thought they were just busy with dinner service. As we were getting ready to leave, the agent popped around at home with a couple bottles of champagne."
After a couple of drinks the pair made their way to the restaurant when they noticed panicked people and police.
"We didn't know what was happening... We thought it was just an isolated thing. As we were sent away by police from the restaurant where we planned to go, we made our way to another one a bit further away in the opposite direction. Then we stopped outside a bar, as we saw people gather around a TV. We realised it was a terrorist attack. We got sent away from there and then we heard the gunshots from the rue de la Fontaine au roi site and rushed home, telling everyone we met on the way to do the same and not stay out."
However, the drama still hasn't stopped for the pair.
Mr Godquin said Mr Sheffield was today locked inside a shop after the recent false alarm.
"Even if it was a false alarm, he literally ran for his life."
The pair have now vowed to stay inside for the rest of the day.
Kiwis in Paris wary after attacks
Other Kiwis in Paris have spoken about their uneasiness moving about the city a day after the terror attacks.
There are now 307 New Zealanders registered as being in France, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. There are no reported fatalities or Kiwis injured.
Wellington man Patrick Whatman, who lives near the Bataclan in Paris, had been at a pub watching the France vs Germany game when he was alerted to the terror attacks by his partner.
"Today, my partner and I want to go Christmas shopping," he said.
"The malls are open, which in itself seems extraordinary, but that's just the attitude here - to change one's plans would be to admit defeat. Making the day's schedule is one big logic exercise - we should avoid the Metro, because that's an obvious target.
"We shouldn't go to Les Halles - the mall in the centre of Paris - because there were reports of attacks there last night. We will head for a mall well outside the central city, because somehow that seems safer.
"But should we even leave the house at all? These attacks might not be finished, and there could be copycats and co-conspirators awaiting their turn. But then, what makes tomorrow safer than today? Maybe we should leave it three days, just to be safe? We want to lean on some clear-cut logic for reassurance, but last night just wasn't logical. These terrorists aren't following the script."
"We didn't know what would be open tonight so we're at someone's place. It's nice to be with people."
Flowers and candles placed outside Le Carillon bar. Photo / Getty
Herald freelancer Helen Barlow regularly visited France for the past 25 years before moving to Paris - near two of the attack sites - in February this year.
She was out visiting Kiwi friend Sandra Reid - New Zealand Film Festival programmer - out in the suburbs when the pair started getting messages from frantic friends concerned of their whereabouts.
"All our friends were contacting us like mad on emails and texts and saying 'don't come' and 'stay out there the night' and I couldn't go back in anyway because the metro was down but it came back by lunch time today [Saturday France time] and it is all up and running. I just went for a walk now, I'm constantly walking so I know every inch of this area and it's really very empty out there tonight. For a Saturday night, yeah, it's amazing."
Ms Barlow lives in Rue Amelot, one of the hippest areas in Paris, which appeared to be where ISIS targeted many of the six attacks.
"They touched the more younger, the trendy areas rather than the fashion areas."
The weather happened to be warm the night of the attack, meaning even more people had gathered outside restaurants and bars.
"The weird thing is that the weather was really warm so when they went to these cafes, everybody was outdoors. Tonight it's freezing and people wouldn't have been outdoors. If the weather had been different, perhaps not as many people would have been killed... Tonight I have been walking around and hardly anyone is outside."
She also believed the attack would have huge implications on the French economy as although it was an extraordinarily quiet Saturday night, there were already employers telling staff not to bother going in to work next week.
"At the moment I don't feel like it's going to happen again right now, but it's like what [French President Francois] Hollande said, 'we're at war'. It makes you feel a bit uneasy about life here I suppose. I'm not going to leave here because of it but there will probably be greater unease again."
The fact the terrorists had targeted "ordinary people" - unlike the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in January - was another factor in creating the unease amongst the French, she said.
"It wasn't like ordinary people were targeted before, it was these legends, they were like national icons, the journalists from Charlie Hebdo ... but to do ordinary people is really freaky, it will make people worry personally now whereas before it was these Gods who were killed."
She said the French were very sensitive people and had been deeply affected by what had happened.
TVNZ Europe correspondent Emma Keeling arrived in Paris today on the almost-empty Eurostar.
Tauranga's Kelsey O'Dea, 21, who is living in Paris on a university exchange, was at the Stade de France stadium with a Canadian friend when the explosions sounded.
"Didn't get to sleep until just before 4am as was too worried to sleep," she said.
"Unfortunately I have an essay to write, though it's the last thing I feel like doing.
"I haven't received any word from the university saying not to come, so I assume I still have class."
A group of seven New Zealanders have come together tonight in Paris the night after a deadly terrorist attack struck.
One of the seven who spoke to NZME News Service, but did not want to be named, said the day after the attack had been relatively normal. The Metro system was working as normal and services were working.
"Everyone is just carrying on as normal, but people are wary. You can hear them saying 'look after yourself and take care'.
"There's not a lot of people out tonight, but about the same for a Monday night."
The group of Kiwis had met up at one's house tonight.
"The noise was really impressive, something didn't feel right...
"The football stadium is in a place called St Denis... it's a rough area. I, like many other people, just thought it was guys playing with fireworks or making small explosive devices," he said.
At half-time in the match he went to the bathroom and saw people pressed up against a grill, looking at numerous emergency service vehicles lined up below the stadium.
"There were young people seated behind me and I heard one of them say to their friends there's been a shooting in Paris.
"You got this feeling, I don't know what it was... but I got a few texts from people and people around me got them too, saying there's something going on in Paris."
Mr Webb talked to a security guy who told him to leave.
"He said 'to be frank I think you should leave now, because if anything is going to happen it's going to go when the crowd leaves, and you don't want to be in the mass of 50,000 people trying to leave at the same time.'
"So I grabbed my son and we got out of the stadium."
Mr Webb said it took about and hour to get back to their home in the 12th arrondissement.
"It was a Friday night, but it was like a ghost town. Everything was shut, literally everything. There was no people around... except for police cars coming past with sirens going. It was really, really bizarre."
Mr Webb said his son didn't understand what was going on while they were making their way home.
"He was really upset because I had dragged him out of the game. I was basically saying 'I'm really sorry... I didn't want to take any risks.'
"When we got home we watched a bit of TV and he kind of realised this is quite serious. He understood quite a lot about the one at Charlie Hebdo... so he was a bit shaken by this."
Mr Webb said the day after the event he was feeling tired, and thinking about his experiences in Paris.
"It's like anywhere, it changes with having kids and changes with age. Then when things like Charlie Hebdo and this one happen you start to get a bit... maybe it's time to come home or move."
Kerry Coleman, New Plymouth-based mother of Kiwi model Eden Bristowe, breathed a big sigh of relief after receiving news from her Paris-based daughter that she was safe.
Miss Bristowe - who graces the latest cover of NZ Fashion Quarterly magazine - lives in the 9th district, next to the 10th district where one of the attacks was carried out.
"Luckily she went out for dinner with friends earlier at 5.30 instead of later," Mrs Coleman said.
"She was at her apartment when it happened, and her friend rang her telling her to go straight home if she was out. She could hear the sirens and stuff but we knew she was safe because there weren't police up and down the street. She made sure she had a bag ready with her passport, wallet, charger so if she had to run she was ready. It was so scary. She was pretty composed about it though."
Her modelling agency, 62 Models, had Flight Centre looking for flights but she was unable to flee as the borders were closed, she said.
MFAT is advising against all tourist and other non-essential travel to Paris and the Ile de France area "until the security situation stabilises".
Kiwis in France were advised to keep themselves informed of potential risks to safety by monitoring media and local information sources, follow instructions from local authorities, limit movements and exercise vigilance in public places.
The 17-year-old flew to Paris two weeks ago but Mrs Coleman wasn't sure if she would now fly back or stay the intended four more weeks.
She had an early dinner as she was supposed to have a modelling shoot on the Saturday afternoon but it was cancelled after the attacks.
Family and friends with concerns about someone in Paris should try and make direct contact with them, MFAT said.
New Zealander Security Intelligence Service Minister Christopher Finlayson said the risk for New Zealanders remains "low".
• Contact MFAT on 04 439 8000 if you have ongoing concerns. Register your details on SafeTravel.govt.nz if you are in France, or planning to travel there
