Leaving your car at road ends

I'd suggest talk to the local DOC office and check if there's a current problem or recommendations about where to park -- it can go in waves as it's often a very small number of people causing the problem. I've had I think one break in at Pureora.

get local knowledge of how much risk there is for a given road end, it varies massively from place to place. some places you're pretty guaranteed getting broken into, other places, you'd be pretty unlucky to have anything happen. open up your glove box, if you have a liftback or stationwagon, uncover the back so people can see theres nothing of value, put a sign on the dashboard saying no valuables in the car... but that can be of limited use in risky places. to generalise the closer you are to major towns the more likely the problem but thats only a generalisation and there are exceptions if its a long difficult drive in to where you left your car your chances of having problems diminish. talk to DOC in the area you are looking at they usually have a reasonable idea of the risks.. it can be a good sign if other cars are parked there, if you're the only car at a road end or carpark and you dont have much local knowledge, then you might want to think twice about parking there, although being a tramping destination its remoteness, and or the weather could simply be the reason its vacant.

I used to leave the doors unlocked and nothing in the vehicle. But they still broke the window at Akatrawa Saddle and tried to remove the already-not-working radio from the dash. Can't win.

There's another thread about this and contains some good info: http://tramper.nz/?box=Topic&view=topic&deletemessage=0&permissiontopost=true&id=7051&versionid=0&objectid=0&offset=1 I also have concerns about leaving a car parked but like waynowski says, it depends on the location. We've been known to park in a safer place and the driver bikes to the trailhead. I've rung the local police to check on numbers of break-ins at certain trailheads and they've always been very helpful. DOC may not have access to those stats as they don't process the paperwork. There tends to be a greater number of older cars parked at trailheads, which presumably is a deterrent…

@JETNZ ah sorry mate. I'm normally pretty good with checking for previous threads :( Unfortunately I'll be tacking most my tramps in with work trips so will have suits/ipads/phones in the car :( Will continue on other thread.... http://tramper.nz/?box=Topic&view=topic&deletemessage=0&permissiontopost=true&id=7051&versionid=0&objectid=0&offset=1

No worries… often a new thread can rejuvenate a discussion and encourage new ideas and variations on a subject so keep posting on this one since it is your thread :-)

As for leaving valuables in the car, I'd go as far as to find a local (reputable) hotel or business where you can leave your gear (sometimes for a fee). Rather that than worrying if it will still be in the car on your return. There is nothing worse than stressing over that when you're out on the trails.

Yea that's a great idea about finding a business. I travel all around NZ so will usually have a hotel/motel I've stayed at before so hopefully saying that I'm a customer will make it free ;) My vehicle is a modern sedan so can't show there's nothing in the boot. Thinking about leaving a note saying no valuables and open glove box etc as others have suggested. Pretty sad that this is the most concerning and annoying part of tramping (aside from cold, rain, snow, ice, frost, hypothermia, falls, rocks, getting lost, wind, dehydration, starvation). Sigh....

"But they still broke the window at Akatrawa Saddle." That is probably the worst place to leave a car other than Kmart Mall. I wouldnt leave a car there in daylight let alone overnight. Ever looked over the edge? Its always been a prime site for abandoning stolen cars as has Odlins road so anyone looking at stealing from cars there already expects it to be stolen. All the usual things like make it plain theres nothing worth stealing and having the cheapest car at the road end all help but no promises anywhere.