A CAMERA lost on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on New Year’s Eve was reunited with its owner this week, after images from the camera were posted on Facebook and picked up by other media as part of a campaign to locate the owner.
Part of the solution to the puzzle were images on the camera that featured Annie Thompson enjoying her first dive with Cairns-based Great Barrier Reef tour operator Passions of Paradise. Rob Rekiel, who found the camera, saw the company name in the images and sent it to them.
Other images of Annie, an American studying in Melbourne, included various locations in tropical North Queensland. She said in a media release from Passions of Paradise:
The pictures were of my first dive and it was a big deal for me, especially seeing Nemo which was my favourite part.
When Passions received the camera they posted images to their Facebook page. Tourism Australia and other media helped in the campaign to reunite Annie with her camera, including Sunrise and Travel Wire Asia (I posted this blog two weeks ago).
From the Passions of Paradise media release:
Passions of Paradise spokesman Adam O’Malley said Sydney resident Rob Rekiel found the camera and recognised the Passions of Paradise catamaran among the images so posted it 2400km north to the company in Cairns in the hope they could locate the owner.
“We launched a search on Facebook which was picked up by the media and Annie responded after the story was aired on Sunrise. I was in Sydney on holidays this week and was able to give Annie the camera back after Sunrise located her and Rob, getting us all together on Bondi Beach where the camera was lost,” he said.
This image was then taken on the same camera to record the moment:
Annie Thompson (left) with Rob Rekiel (centre), the Good Samaritan who found it and Adam O’Malley from Passions of Paradise.
Apparently cameras and jewellery often go missing on dive trips. Passions of Paradise Chief Executive Officer Scotty Garden said this:
Jewellery is another common item that goes missing while people are out on the Great Barrier Reef.
One of our divers found a valuable white gold wedding band set with diamonds a few years ago and six months later we received an email from its owner in North America who was surprised we had found it and were able to return it.
Sunrise also posted a video about the happy ending to the story here.
