42 years, 413 dead bodies: Rotorua police photographer Wayne Hendrikse retires
29 Jan, 2021 06:00 PM
9 minutes to read
More than 40 years since joining the Rotorua Police, forensic photographer Wayne Hendrikse is hanging up his camera. From fatal car crashes to arson attacks, he has seen and photographed it all. Rotorua Daily Post reporter David Beck caught up with him to hear about his illustrious career. WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.
For decades, Rotorua s Wayne Hendrikse has been a man you do not want to be photographed by.
As a forensic photographer for the Rotorua Police, if Hendrikse had you in his lens there was a good chance it was because you were dead.
Christel Yardley/Stuff
Rotorua Deputy Mayor Dave Donaldson said forest ‘counters’ recorded a 50 per cent spike in visitors once New Zealand came out of Covid lockdown. In 2019, the International Mountain Biking Association named the trail network at Whakarewarewa as among the six best in the world, awarding a gold level accreditation as “the best of the best”. More importantly in the closed borders, Covid-19 climate of today, it’s proved a boon to a tourist town that now finds itself in competition with the rest of New Zealand for the domestic visitor dollar. The value of mountain biking was spelt out in a 2018 report commissioned by Rotorua Lakes Council, from Michael Connell & Associates, which found spending by both locals and visitors of between $29.2m and $47.4m per annum.