“There’s A Lot Of Viciousness” In Kaikoura

The darker side of the seaside town of Kaikoura is getting a lot of exposure of late. What with tourists getting hospitalised by marauding mobs, seals being clubbed to death and vacationing US soldiers getting robbed.

Now we hear that an immigrant couple, Ms Irvine-Boag 54, and her partner, Tony Neumann, 53 are moving out of the town because of two recent violent street assaults and an anonymous note telling them to “get out” of town.

They moved to the coastal community in 2008 but say they soon encountered hostility from the locals who treated them as outsiders.

Ms Irvine-Boag said their neighbour refused to speak to them, while pavement signs for her business were repeatedly moved.

“You can be there 40 or 50 years and you’re still not accepted,” she said.

“There’s a lot of viciousness.”

The final straw was a violent attack that left her partner needing stitches to his mouth and lip.

Read details of the assaults here in the Marlborough Express.

Ms Irvine-Boag said she could not understand why two “semi-retired” people in their 50s were targeted.

After what felt like a long, “very cold” winter, the couple put their house on the market and moved to Christchurch, vowing they would “never return to live in Kaikoura”.

The move was well timed, given that Kaikoura is gearing up for the New Years Eve celebrations. No doubt there will be an enhanced police presence on the streets this year. Read Fights mar holidays (1 January 2011)

But, we have a feeling this couple may be moving from frying pan to fire. Christchurch, which has an unsavory reputation as the murder capital of New Zealand, is still suffering from frequent earthquakes, some of which have been strong enough to cause further damage to buildings and send shoppers running for safety on Boxing Day.

Is nowhere safe in New Zealand these days?

Child Dies After Rotorua Hot Pool Plunge – updated

An eight year old child, visiting New Zealand with his family, died this evening (NZ time) after sustaining severe, 100% burns when he fell into a hot pool at the Kuirau thermal parkland in urban Rotorua.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the boy’s family, who are understandably devastated by his death. He was later named as eight year of Toromon Toromon.

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The burning incident, which happened on Boxing Day, has only just been reported on by the New Zealand media. It has  been the topic of discussion on the Trademe forums, with one contributor saying

“this is not the first time in Rotorua (Kuirau Park) and won’t be the last unfortunately.
Why is it that internal balustrading in our homes are by law meant to be climb-proof, yet fencing around tourist places are very much climbable.

Cave Creek’s enquiry into viewing platforms around NZ resulted in a big fixing up exercise. Let’s hope this will happen now as well.

Kids will be kids. And parents can be distracted or have given warnings.”

Another thinks that Tourism New Zealand has some responsibility in this matter

“I do feel that Tourism NZ has a responsibility towards its visitors, especially since SO many have already been burned or killed in those boilings wells.”

A discussion thread on the forum Expatexposed.com has also raised the issue about the adequacy of fencing and signage at Kuirau park, which is open freely to the public.

It is thought that the child’s family do not speak English and may have been unable to understand the signage at the public park, or realise how hot the pools are. There are many mud and hot pools and in New Zealand where bathing is permitted.

It is unclear if a supervising adult was with him in the parklands at the time of his accident.

Toromon is thought to have been rescued by an older sibling but it is unclear how he was pulled out of the pool, or back over any fence he may have climbed. At later report in the Dominion Post said that the pool was one of the smaller ones, near to Rotorua Hospital.

News of the incident has reached the international media see “Boy, 8, dies with ‘skin falling from his body’ after jumping into boiling hot thermal spring“  Daily Mail, UK which attracted readers comments, such as

- Tim, Cheshire, 30/12/2010 23:26

Again?! I remember reading of a similar incident in the same area a couple of years ago and managed to find the report on the Web: “A four-year-old boy is in Rotorua Hospital after badly burning his feet in natural hot springs ” Sept 07. (Ed. Link to this story HERE)
That fence is plainly not enough – how about regular warning signs for boiling water & mud and not to enter at all?!
Completely avoidable tragedy – and no doubt the brother is also burned that dragged the latest victim out.

- HappyHarry, Newcastle, 30/12/2010 23:32

Poor soul, rest in peace little man.
The recreation manager sounds like a fool:
He doesn’t know what happened yet is accusing the boy of scaling the fence. He should keep his mouth shut until he knows the facts, and if a child can scale a fence, then the fence, and warning signs, aren’t good enough, idiot.

- RLH, Sydney Australia, 30/12/2010 22:33

We have been there as we used to live in NZ. The local Maori people cook corn cobs in that water – it’s that hot.
Perhaps the authorities there will now put measures in place ensuring that young children are properly supervised. This is an absolute tragedy and should never have happened. My heart goes out to the family concerned.