"A girl needs her shoes" - Christchurch hotels return travellers' luggage

A Tiffany diamond bracelet - found wrapped in a sock - and a lady traveller's precious shoe collection are among items returned to grateful owners after being recovered from earthquake-hit Christchurch hotels.
Following the February 22 earthquake hundreds of visitors had to return home overseas and elsewhere in New Zealand leaving belongings in cordoned off hotels.

Rachael Shadbolt, Executive Officer of the New Zealand Hotel Council, said that retrieving the luggage had been a difficult and lengthy operation but in recent weeks hotel teams had been painstakingly retrieving, bagging up and dispatching luggage around the globe.

"Over 750 pieces of luggage have been retrieved from rooms in NZHC member hotels and returned to 37 countries around the world as well as to 200 addresses in New Zealand," said Ms Shadbolt.

Messages of thanks include one from an Australian lady visitor who e-mailed: "Perfect perfect perfect! I dreamt last night that my luggage arrived and today it's here (a girl needs her shoes).

Items which took quite a lot of effort to locate included thousands of dollars in US and other foreign banknotes hidden in a fake drinks can and a child's precious teddy bear.

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