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Supplied / Stuff
Ellen Platsoot, left, and Jesse Moss want their stolen Toyota Hiace back so they can continue their journey across the country.
A couple traveling through New Zealand were “gutted” upon returning from a homeless man in the remote Hopkins Valley, near Lake Ōhau, to find their van and worldly possessions stolen and nothing more than their abandoned bicycles.
Australian Jesse Moss and his Kiwi girlfriend Ellen Platsoot parked their red Toyota Hiace at the end of Lake Ōhau Rd on Wednesday morning and set off on the night drifter toward Huxley Hut. They returned at 3 p.m. Thursday and found that the van had been stolen.
Moss said they were happy to find that whoever took the truck had left their bikes for them, allowing them to head to a nearby farm to report the theft and get help. A Ute, which had been reported stolen in Auckland, was parked where the van had been, he said.
Moss said he was “beyond wrecking” the truck and that all of his belongings had been stolen.
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“My whole life was in that van … wallet, passport, clothes, laptop.”
He said the van, with a registration of ZD4374, was taken sometime between 10.45 a.m. on Wednesday and 3 p.m. Thursday. There is only one road going in and out of the area and Moss hopes someone saw the truck.
A friend of Wanaka’s had traveled to pick them up and that’s where they stay in hopes of recovering the truck and their personal belongings.
Moss said he is concerned that if the truck is not found he will have to return to Australia.
Supplied
Jesse Moss and Ellen Platsoot in the stolen Toyota Hiace at the end of Lake Ōhau Rd.
Moss bought the truck in Auckland when it arrived in New Zealand about 13 months ago.
He met Platsoot 10 months ago while working at Cardrona Skifield and they had been planning the trip across the country for quite some time.
They finished their jobs at the end of winter and left Wanaka in mid-October and stayed at Catlins, Fiordland, Aoraki / Mt Cook and Ōhau.
Supplied
Jesse Moss in happier times in the stolen Toyota Hiace truck.
He said that he had traveled the world for seven years, including through South America and Eastern Europe, and nothing had ever been stolen from him.
Despite the theft, he said he did not change his positive opinion about the kiwis or the country.
Moss said there have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of the truck since it was reported stolen. He urged anyone with information about the truck, or its whereabouts, to report it.
