Newspaper Article – Dream comes true for family

Dream comes true for family

JULIA LANG

Ali and David Syme of Patoka borrowed a friend’s tent to take their three children camping on South Island’s West Coast before Christmas.

But their dreams of owning their own “flash tent” and other goodies came true when they drove off with $10,000 worth of camping gear after winning a national Fuji Image Plaza competition.

The lucky couple say the win hadn’t sunk in when they collected the 30 items of camping equipment from Hastings Fuji camera store Elmar yesterday.

“We were looking at big flash tents while camping and I thought having one of them would be a dream come true,” said Mr Syme.

“We had been looking at buying a smaller tent and another sleeping bag but that’s because they are quite expensive,” he said.

But the family’s dream did come true just two months later.

Their lucky ticket, the Syme’s first big win ever, was drawn from about 160,000 entries from people who had spent $25 or more at the 44 Fuji Image stores nationwide.

“The funny thing was that I had left the shop (Elmar’s) and hadn’t filled in the form,” said Mrs Syme reminiscing on her purchase before Christmas.

“They (staff) ran after us and told me to fill in an entry form for the draw and I remembered thinking it would be great to win, but it would never happen to us,” she said.

But on Tuesday morning the family got a telephone call to say they had won the competition. Mr Syme said when he arrived home from work he was bombarded by the whole family “running up and down screaming”.

“I wondered what was going on,” he laughed.

Elmar Fuji Image Plaza owner Cyril Hill said he was just as delighted as the family when he heard their Hastings shop had sold the winning ticket.

“It’s great the prize has gone to a family who obviously loves camping,” he said.

The Classic Kiwi Camping Combo boasts a family tent, dome tent, tent accessories, airbeds, sleeping bags, deck chairs, lounge chairs, cookers, back packs and more.

HB TODAY PICTURE: RICHARD ROBINSON

Photo caption – ALI AND DAVID SYME and their children loaded up with their prize – $10,000 worth of camping equipment, which they won in a national Fuji competition.