writing – Kiwis Do Fly

img_6415-1 — Gisbourne, 9 April 1998, getting ready for a trip to Tauranga with Karen and Leigh-Ann

Almost to the day, 9^th April 1998. Twenty-Seven years ago, I was driving from Gisborne to Tauranga. It was the Thursday before Easter weekend that year.

I had been living in Scotland for the previous eight years. We had decided to move back to New Zealand to raise our family. We had bought a house in Tauranga and were waiting for the settlement date and for our container load of household goods to arrive. My partner had gone back overseas to work and I was catching up with friends and family, filling in time until move-in day.

img_6429-1 — Playing at the beach, all limbs still intact

It was just starting to get dark. My dear friend Karen was in a car in front, I was following with my beautiful daughter Leigh-Ann, then only 2 years old. It was getting close to dinner time. We had stopped at the gas station in Opotiki and made the decision to go into Whakatane to McDonalds and have a break. I can’t remember that stop.

Somewhere after Taneatua, on the open road, 100km/h, a car swerved onto the middle line in front of Karen. She remembers thinking, “that was close” …. That car kept coming over the middle line and when he reached me it was a head on collision. Karen looked in her rear vision mirror and my lights had gone. I don’t remember the impact.

She turned her car around and found the carnage. I was unconscious. Karen unbuckled Leigh-Ann and put her into her car then came back to me. She thought I was dead. I can’t imagine the terror she must have felt in that moment. She leaned in on the passenger seat, I lifted my head up and looked at her. It was the weirdest feeling. I thought I had just woken from a lovely peaceful sleep and was confused why Karen was there. This lasted probably only seconds, it was almost in slow motion. Then I realised what had happened. My first thought was Leigh-Ann and I looked into the back seat where she had been buckled up in her car seat, she was gone. I will never ever forget Karen saying, “she’s ok, she’s beautiful”

I can’t remember an awful lot after that. I do remember the noise of the cutting gear and generators. There were also the blinding lights that had been set up. I remember a face very close to mine. The face had a fireman’s helmet on and it was through where the windscreen should have been. I remember a paramedic leaning on the passenger seat where Karen had leaned, talking to me. I can’t remember the conversation.

The steering wheel was close to my face so I could just lean my head forward and have a little rest on the wheel. I was holding my right elbow with my left hand, just like casually folding my arms, but I could feel the graunch and grind if I tried to move. But I felt no pain. I may have been medicated, but I can’t remember. My feet were stuck in the foot well. I was completely trapped, I couldn’t move. I got cramp in my foot but by then they were able to open up the gap to relieve the pressure on my feet.

They cut the two front pillars and peeled back the roof. My seat was wound back and a back board was slid down my back. The gap between dash and seat was widened with some sort of loud machinery and they hauled me out. Two firemen stood on the back seat and I was pulled straight up, out of the seat, onto the board and into the ambulance. Just like that I was free. The pain I felt during that manoeuvre was indescribable. Give me childbirth any day!

Off to Whakatane hospital where I was x-rayed top to bottom. I was in a bit of a mess. Too much for them so I was transferred to Tauranga hospital to get put back together.

It turns out that the driver of the other car was drunk. He sustained a few injuries, broken ribs and broken hip. He eventually went to court and was given a 12 month suspended sentence and was suspended from driving for 12 months. This was his third drink driving offense. What does it take to keep these lunatics off the road, will he kill the next one he crashes into?

My right elbow with big gaps in the bone

I sustained multiple fractures, some compound. My left pelvis was also fractured. I had deep cuts and bruises—bruises so severe, they’re hard to even describe. An imprint of the window winder was visible in the bruise pattern on my right thigh. After a few weeks a hematoma the size of a rugby ball developed in that spot. It’s hard to believe I didn’t sustain any internal injuries—just lucky, I guess. Since then, I’ve undergone several surgeries to remove various pieces of metal, including plates, screws, and wires. I have a jar full of them, tucked away in a box somewhere.

So that is the story of the accident. I got all patched up and sent on my way to live a long and healthy life. It was a five hour surgery, I was lucky to keep my arm. It was a long recovery with a month in hospital and another 5 weeks in a wheel chair. It was tricky to get mobile as I only had one limb in working order, that was my left arm. Have you ever tried to wipe your bum with you non-dominant hand? It is amazing what you can learn when you have to. Onto one crutch and then a walking stick. It took until October before I felt whole and able to go without home help etc.

img_6416-1 — you should have seen the circles, steering 1 handed

img_6417-1 — you should have seen the circles, steering 1 handed

Here I sit, 27 years later, almost to the day, just out of hospital following a triple Arthrodesis operation on my foot. That is a fusion of 3 joints in my ankle to us laymen. As a direct result of the accident, I have developed severe Post Traumatic Osteoarthritis. This has been causing more and more pain as the years go by. Fusing those joints will take away the pain. More screws and a plate – can’t wait to see the new x-ray! Apparently my foot was jammed on the brake at the time of the accident taking full impact and snapping my Talus in half. This tells us that I saw the accident happen and reacted – but I don’t remember. Isn’t it amazing how our brain can protect us from traumatic memories..

img_6360-1 — 1 April 2025, here we go again!

img_6366-1 — 1 April 2025, here we go again!

FYI my pelvis has never given me any trouble and other than plates and screws removal, my arm, though I have been left without full range of movement, has been almost fully functional from the get go. I am very lucky and thankful every day. I am especially thankful that my beautiful Leigh-Ann was not hurt.

They say 5 months recovery from this operation…. Hmmm lets try see if we can make it less! There is still an awful lot of world to see out there, people to meet and adventures to have. I won’t be idle for long!!

Thank you for reading my story.

Uoleva, Kingdom Of Tonga

I love it in the mornings when you come out onto the beach. You see evidence of the overnight activity of the beach inhabitants, the crabs! The little tiny hermit crabs with their gorgeous shells. They come in all different shapes and sizes. There are long cone shape shells and short stubby shells. They are always so beautiful. They are never broken or damaged. You see their tracks all over the beach, their big heavy shells dragging in between the row of little claws.

The red hermit crabs. I think they are the coconut crabs, as we find them in the bush as well, on top of coconuts which have fallen. They have all got the same kind of shell, a kind of a rounded shape, all about the same size. It is so funny in the mornings. They have these meetings on the beach around a coconut husk. Sometimes 6 or 8 of them and they are all just climbing on top of each other having a good old yarn. Then you come along and POP inside their shells they go, I can’t see you so you can’t see me! They are so round when their bodies are inside their shell, sometimes they roll down the slope of the sand. I wonder what that feels like for them, so very cute.

The little beige and black crabs, they are kind of mid-size. They run sideways so fast. Their little black eyes, close together sticking up like little antennae and their little legs all splayed out side ways. Scuttling down the beach into the water as soon as they see you coming. They dig holes in the sand, takes them hours. They are very meticulous bringing sand out of the hole and dumping it one arm full at a time. It is such a labour of love.

And then there are the bigger grey/green crabs, they are a lot bigger. I don’t think they would be big enough to eat but they are much bigger than these other little guys. They have beady red eyes spread quite far apart. They are so funny, they see you coming and back into the crevasses of the rock. As you move around the rock they scuttle around backwards to the other side, they think they are being hidden. Then Jenga will see them and bark and their claws stick straight out; attack mode. They just walk sideways very slowly, step by step, claws up facing their opponent. Jenga barks again, and the crab keeps walking, claws up, until he ends up back in the water to hide.

You know there are no other footprints on this beach, just us and Jenga. Nothing but that beautiful sun coming up, that golden hour. It is a bit cooler than what it will be as the day progresses. Overnight there has been a high tide so there is a new dump of sand and shells. We love beach-combing, looking at all the beautiful shells, but of course the nicest ones are all taken by the hermit crabs.

Jenga loves the morning walks, he has a fascination with the bait fish and the little black tip sharks. Poor old boy, he is getting a bit hard of seeing. He can’t always see them, but he knows there is something there. He runs along, barks, and splashes in the water, forever hopeful. He loves it, enjoying just being out there doing it. He has never caught anything yet but apparently he can.

At the end of the island there is a sand spit. At low tide it reaches, or has the potential to reach half way across the gap between us and Lifuka, the next island up. It has changed dramatically in the 3 months we have been here. Our home owners call it the magic sands. The spit used to go straight out. For a while, it went out towards the north. Now, it heads out to the east. It has completely changed sides. The colours and the patterns that come from this ever changing environment is incredible. Nature, what she can do and the power of the ocean is just beautiful.

We have managed to walk right out to that sand island. This is effectively the very end of the sand spit, which never gets covered by water. It was fascinating, it felt like we were right at the end of the world. The current is quite strong through this gap and the sand is very soft in places. As we were forging our way through the sinking sand we were taking really good notice of the tide. We knew that if we dilly dallied too much we would get stuck out there. It was so cool, we didn’t want to leave.

The colours and patterns are out of this world

There is nothing on this island that can harm us badly. Except maybe for the pigs, but I don’t think that is very likely. There are no snakes, or deadly spiders like in Australia. But oh my, the spiders are huge! The Huntsman spider is here and she is very intimidating to look at, but harmless. There are plenty of spiders in the bush and they are very proficient at building webs right across out path. When we walk, we carry a stick. We wave it in front of us to catch the webs. It is a horrible feeling when you walk right into one! Mosquitoes, yes but not that bad. There are rats and mice around, but that is to be expected and they are more annoying than anything else. And that is why we have a cat, right? The worst thing is the paper wasps, we have both been stung and it is not pleasant, but again – not going to kill us!

The marine creatures are amazing. Every time we go out on the boat we see flying fish. They fly out of the water and dance their way across the water surface right in front of us. There are always turtles around. We see them out from the seat of knowledge and also from the boat in the lagoon. It is always a thrill to see the turtles, I don’t think I could ever get tired of them. One trip, we were coming back from the China shop on the boat. A Ray jumped right out of the water in front of us. It was incredible as we both saw it and could hardly believe our eyes. It jumped out of the water with its belly to us. It seemed to have a fish in its mouth. The fish dropped as it breached the surface then splashed back down into the water. We thought it could have been a Manta Ray, we clearly saw his mouth. But they are not meat eaters, so we are not sure what kind of Ray it was, but super exciting to see. We were buzzing for ages after that encounter.

There are big bats in the trees. They fly around right at sunset and land in the coconut trees, they are so lovely to watch. I think they could be flying foxes, which is just a big fruit eating bat. They make quite a racket during the night but we are getting used to it now.

It is so untouched out here, there is time to stop watch and listen to nature. I have been surprised at the lack of flowers. We only seem to have a hibiscus type of flower and we only see them once they have fallen from the tree. Maybe it is the time of the year? It is so green though, lush greenery everywhere. The sound of the ocean is ever present, waves crashing on the reef. Sometimes when the wind is blowing the right way, we can hear the crash of the waves landing on the outer reef beyond the lagoon on the other side of the island. Occasionally we hear a boom of the under water caves as they fill and empty with ocean surges.

Long shadows from the sun coming up on the other side of the island

We are loving this life, it is pretty unique. It is very refreshing to leave all the stresses of “normal” life behind for a while. But I always ask the question – “what is normal?” I will leave you with that to ponder!

Tag: writing

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