Maraetotara Falls New Zealand: rampage of vehicles being broken into belonging to tourists

e2nz.org reported that a group of seven international travelers from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Germany and France became crime victims at Maraetotara Falls whilst swimming in the water pool.

A report in the NZ Herald said:

“Frenchman Benoit Thoury said he left the swimming hole about 5pm, after a few hours in the water, to find windows of his van and a fellow backpacker’s car smashed.

The 27-year-old has been living in Hastings for three months and working on an orchard. He lost his French passport, credit cards and $200 cash, all of which had been left inside the vehicle. Read Article

He said it was his second trip to Maraetotara Falls after seeing its “beauty” earlier in the year.

“There are many families, children up there. You don’t expect that people would be smashing in windows,” said the tourist who was on his first trip to New Zealand…”

What gave him the impression that New Zealand was a safe destination for tourists, doesn’t he read the news?