Windows smashed in, holes in the hood, tires detached from the wheels, glass everywhere…after a month and change in New Zealand, I was the unfortunate victim of grand theft auto.
Backtrack: My adventures on the Coromandel were done and I drove back to Auckland, excited to pick up a travel companion and continue to explore New Zealand. My friend Danny, from all the way back to our pre-school days got some time off from the Marines and was flying in to get a taste of this awesome place. Unfortunately this part of the journey didn’t start off great for us. Mistakenly sitting at the wrong terminal waiting for him, without any means of communicating without international phone service was just a minor glitch compared to what happened next...On February 11th at 2:00 as we slept in the familiar and friendly flat in the Auckland suburb of One Tree Hill, my car was being stolen. Danny and I woke up and planned on going for a run up the hill to the farm park of One Tree Hill. We walked up the driveway to the street to get my shoes out of the car, but my shoes weren’t there. Neither was my car. A neighbor across the street said she heard the horn going off early that morning around two o’clock, looked out the window and saw the hazards flashing as it drove off. I called the police immediately, then the insurance (thankfully I had purchased fire and theft coverage). The car was found later that afternoon abandoned on a beach south of Auckland, extremely damaged with most of my stuff missing. Included in the missing items was their weapon of choice to vandalize my car, my ice axe. Although they stole most of my stuff (jackets, climbing shoes, tent, camping gear, etc.) that I estimated for the insurance company to be worth almost $5,000, they did kindly decide to leave a very nice camera lens unscratched and they didn’t find my passport I had hidden in a small compartment. For that I was very thankful. A crazy event and kink in our plans, but we tried to make the best of it and keep on going to get the most of our time together while still trying to deal with the pressing issues. After all, there were hobbit holes to find, volcanoes to be scaled, and friends to make.
It helped having been reading Matt Chandler’s book The Explicit Gospel, and recently coming to the part where he emphasis the fact that everything we have is not ours and never was. It’s all God's and to hold on to it too tightly is pointless. We aren’t taking it anywhere, and in this case, it just disappeared sooner rather than later.
Much more to come…