The contents of a camera have been reunited with the owner, four years after he was attacked by birds in Iceland and dropped it.
German tourist Dorle Queisner searched high and low for the owner after finding it in 2015.
She first believed it was owned by a Kiwi and contacted the Herald, searched the white pages, wrote letters and watched the video diaries intently for any clue of the owner.
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Queisner was overjoyed when she discovered the camera belonged to Melbourne man John Miko.
"It was just exciting and like I finally made it.
"I almost gave up [looking for the owner] but I thought no I don't want to give up, I want to try to find him."
Miko was equally enthralled when he got Queisner's email. He had been viciously attacked by Arctic tern birds, who are famous for their aggressive behaviour, and dropped the camera. He spent an hour dodging the birds trying to find his camera but gave up with a bleeding hand, exhausted from the attack.
"It was literally in the middle of nowhere.
"Every time I went back in there I got attacked. The birds were bombarding me."
Birds can be seen circling Miko and squawking in the last video on his camera. One seemed to swoop on Miko and he can be heard saying "he attacked me".
Miko had been travelling Iceland in 2013 when he visited the Skaftafell glacier in capital city Reykjavik.
The camera lay in the pebbles near the glacier for two years until Queisner spotted it.
She watched all the videos with an eagle eye. She believed the man was Kiwi or Australian because he was speaking English and he said it took more than 40 hours of travel to get to Iceland.
Based on the dates on the memory card which stated 2012 she found the hostel he would have stayed at and asked for the name of a Kiwi or Australian who was there during that time. The hostel gave her the name of Kiwi man - James Wiig.
But that was the "first and fatal mistake" for Queisner as the camera had been set up incorrectly and the dates were actually a year behind.
She contacted the Herald about her search for Wiig in 2016.
When that yielded no results she posted a letter to all 12 Wiigs listed in the White Pages. One of them knew James Wiig, but when he contacted Queisner it was only to say the camera wasn't his.
"I thought 'shoot what am I going to do now?'," Queisner told the Herald.
The 45-year-old osteopath went back to square one and re-watched all the videos. In one sequence she spotted a phone display which alerted her to the date of the memory card being incorrect. She then noted the sticker of a car rental company on the windshield and the licence plate number on a key ring.
She emailed the rental company who could give her the year that vehicle was rented out. She then went back to the hostel but they declined to give her the name due to privacy reasons.
"Then I travelled to Iceland this year again," Queisner said.
"I thought if I stayed at the hostel he stayed in and tell them the story in person they might be more helpful.
"I told the girl the whole story and of course she was so curious she looked it up on the computer."
The hostel emailed Miko and gave him Queisner's email. He responded promptly that he had lost the camera when he was attacked by birds.
"He was really happy to get it back."
Queisner, who lives in Hannover, has sent Miko his videos over the internet and will mail his memory card to him. The camera was broken and she had thrown it away.
Miko called watching his old travel diaries "surreal". He was thinking of a way he could reward Queisner for her detective work and would one day like to meet her.
"It couldn't believe I was actually watching these videos. I thought I'd never see them again
"I'm really grateful for what she's done."
Queisner said if she can ever afford it she'll meet up with him in Australia.
If she found another camera Queisner said she would "definitely" go on the hunt again for the owner. She's learnt a few lessons along the way and the first photo she took on her new camera was of her address.
