These days, people are advised not to hitch hike or pick up hitch
hikers. It could be either party gets hurt, robbed and even killed.
I shook my head when I saw a young girl with a sign. I felt like stopping the car and give her some money to catch a bus.
Today, I met my old flatmate and we recalled our times in Canada. One
of the stupid things I did was agreeing with my Singapore guy friend to
hitch a ride to Toronto. We spent a whole day in freezing winter, and
not one person stopped for us. Other friends scolded us, no body would
give a ride to a couple.
Recently, the police reported that idiots shot at traffic cameras by the motorway. I wrote about street kids standing on the bridge and dropping rocks upon coming traffic. My book was based on many scenarios. Kids with BB guns.
In the books, there were uncontrollable street kids and gangs.
Six teenagers arrested after brutal attack
FAIRFAX NZ
Six young teenagers have been arrested following an attack
and robbery of a woman leaving the Papakura train station on December 15
Six teenagers, some aged as young as 13, have been arrested after they attacked and robbed a young woman in Papakura.
Tian Wang, 23, was attacked near the Papakura Train Station on December 15 after she got off a train at 11pm.
She
had been on her way home from work at a restaurant in Newmarket when
she was attacked by the group of teens who had been on same train.
When
she failed to arrive home, her worried father drove to the station
looking for her. He found her lying in the station carpark, beaten so
badly he could barely recognise her.
They stole her cellphone and stripped her shoes from her.
National MP Dr Jian Yang who has been visiting Wang, said the attack was incredibly vicious.
"They attacked mainly her face. I looked at photos from the day and she's very bruised and swollen," he said.
A police spokeswoman said six teenagers aged from 13 to 16 had now been arrested in relation to the attack and robbery.
"They've all been charged with aggravated robbery and have been remanded in youth custody facilities," she said.
Yang
said the six young teenagers most likely attacked the woman because she
was alone, there was nobody around and she was an easy target.
As he understood it, Wang had a bag on her back, and the attackers came up behind her and pulled on it.
She fell backwards and they surrounded her, attacking her face and stole her belongings, he said.
"It's quite a traumatic attack from a number or people so you can imagine the physcological effects," he said.
"After a major attack like this the girl would still feel concerned and scared, that's why she still needs people around her."
Yang
said the main concern is the extent of her eye injuries, which will
need surgery. She suffered broken bones and now one eye was sitting
lower than the other side he said.
When he visited her in hospital, she covered her face and didn't want to be seen, he said.
The six youths will appear in the Papakura Youth Court on January 8.
Paua, New Zealand's large, edible sea snail, are often found in shallow waters on rocky shores. photo / Kristin Edge
Fancy foraging for fish like your forefathers? Look no further than the fruitful Kiwi foreshore this summer.
Scientists
from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa)
have prepared some handy hints for seafood lovers.
But budding hunter-gatherers are being advised to keep to the recreational limits and to watch their catch size.
Paua,
New Zealand's large, edible sea snail, are often found in shallow
waters on rocky shores. Different regions have different catch
restrictions.
Cockles and pipi are both free and plentiful, says Niwa.
Pipi are found often packed together in dense patches in fast-flowing water in estuaries.
They
can be eaten raw from the shell, put on an open fire or barbecue until
their shells open, or made into fritters. The daily limit is 150 a
person - and take only bigger ones.
Cockles are a shallow-burrowing shellfish. They can be eaten raw, but must be taken from unpolluted sites.
The
daily bag limit is 150 cockles per person per day, apart from in
Auckland and the Coromandel where the limit is 50 per person per day.
Finally
kahawai, the second most caught recreational fish behind snapper, can
be found in most coastal waters, harbours and estuaries. The
recreational limit is 20 fish.
Lara Schreyer, 18, Lena Kalbitzer, 19, Sophia Metz, 18 and Lea Uebelhoer, 18. Photo / Michael Craig
A group of young German backpackers lost precious possessions when
their car was stolen while they were at a beach north of Auckland.
Two
lost their passports, credit cards, international driver licences and
camping equipment while they were enjoying the Goat Island marine
reserve near Leigh.
One also lost a bracelet from her
grandmother, her graduation jumper that had been signed by her
high-school friends, and her camera containing the pictures she has
taken in New Zealand. A car belonging to the German tourists was stolen from the Goat Island Reserve. Photo / Supplied The crime has shattered the four women's first impressions of New Zealand and has left them feeling disoriented.
"We heard so many good things about New Zealand," says Sophia Metz, 18, of Munich.
"We
heard the people are so nice and gentle. That's what we got to know
when we came here first, but now we don't want to leave the country with
that bad memory. All the good memories are overshadowed now by the
theft."
She and her friends, Lea Uebelhoer, 18, Lara Schreyer,
18, and Lena Kalbitzer, 19, have been in New Zealand for just over a
month and plan to stay at least six months.
They are picking strawberries at a berry farm in Riverhead, where they are also staying.
"We went to the beach in the car of Lena and Lara," Ms Metz says.
"We stayed at the beach for five hours [until 5pm yesterday]. We came back to the car and it wasn't there any more."
It
was parked in a legal parking space, she says, and they checked with a
Department of Conservation officer who told them it therefore would not
have been towed.
The women are appealing for people to contact
them if they see the green car, a 1998 Mitsubishi Libero stationwagon,
registration BNR572.
The car cost $3200 and was not insured against theft. They have reported the theft to the police.
Ms
Schreyer says: "We would like to raise awareness for all the other
backpackers not to leave their personal belongings and important stuff
in the car."
Ms Metz says they did not hear back from the police.
"It makes us feel hopeless. Usually that's the people who would be able to help out."
However, a police spokeswoman said: "We did offer them victim support at the time. They said they didn't feel they needed it."
She
says the car's details and other information about the incident were
broadcast among police in the Auckland region at the time the incident
was reported.
"That's as much as we can do when a car has been stolen when there is not any other identifying information at the scene."
Sightings of the car can be reported to l.kalbitzer@gmx.de
