The morning started off great. The weather was beautiful, and we had a tasty and filling breakfast in a little cafe before going to the Thrillseekers shop to await our lift to the jetboating centre. We were about 10 minutes early and spent most of that time chatting to the lady behind the counter, who was really friendly and was offering all sorts of advice about buying houses in New Zealand. It wasn't long before the bus arrived to pick us up and we got chatting to the driver, Ben, who was also really friendly and turned out to be our jet boat driver as well. A five minute drive took us to the centre and we walked with the other passengers down a steep road to the riverside.
Having donned our life jackets, we all took our seats in the boat. Skry and I were in the back row, and beside me was an English lady called Rose and her partner Ross. There weren't any seatbelts, but we were shown how to brace our legs in the footwells and hold onto the handrail in front of us, because the ride was going to be quite lively and we'd be swooping in and out from the rocks. Ben laughingly said something about how he'd only been doing this for three days (not true) and he'd try not to hit anything - I bet those words came back to haunt him. The boat revved up and we were off, skimming along the surface of the water and dodging around obstacles. It seemed impossible for us to miss some of the rocks and cliff walls, but yet we did, although I did feel one bump underneath that really felt like we'd hit a rock. The ride for the first 10 minutes or so was just as lively as we'd been promised, and we all got a shower when the boat did a 180 degree turn in pretty much the length of itself, but then Ben slowed the engine and nosed in to a rock ledge. I thought he was going to tell us something about the area, but he came down to the back of the boat and leaned in behind us to look at the inner workings of the engine. He said that the bilge pump was taking in water instead of pumping it out, but there was nothing to worry about and we'd just go back to the dock and get it sorted out. We headed back the way we came, taking a direct route rather than doing the fancy manoeuvers from earlier.
Before we had reached the dock, something went terribly wrong. Because we were at the back, I couldn't really see what was happening, but all of a sudden we were bumping over rocks, and that is not something that a jet boat is designed to do. We hit something big and the boat bounced crazily, throwing us to one side, and then we hit another big rock and were thrown to the other side before coming to a slamming halt. It was virtually impossible to keep hold of the handrail or stop ourselves from being flung into our neighbours. When I was capable of thought again, my first thought was, "I've broken my arm", because my left elbow was in agony, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't that serious and I had just bruised the bone. I turned to Skry as soon as I was able to see how he was, and he seemed relatively unhurt too apart from a scrape down his right side. Turning to my right, I immediately saw that Rose was in a bad way. She was obviously in extreme pain, and said she couldn't breathe. She was clutching her left arm and moaning with what little breath she had. Ben made his way back to our row, checking on everyone else as he came, but it was obvious that Rose was in the most immediate trouble. After calling for the emergency services, there really wasn't much that any of us could do but wait, stranded in the middle of a river with sheer cliff edges between us and the road. Rose was struggling to stay conscious, and Ross was doing his best to keep her talking, so I held her head up and talked to her too. We were afraid to move her or let her lie down, so we held her upright and kept shouting at her to open her eyes if she closed them. She could barely speak except to say that she wanted to go to sleep, and her breathing was really laboured. I honestly thought she was going to die on us there and then.
Some of the other passengers were in a bad way too. An Australian lady in front of me had hurt her back very badly and was in too much pain to even sit down - she was trying to pace about, but of course there was no room to do that - and a man in front of her had also hurt his back quite badly. A little boy had slammed his face against the handrail, so he was in some pain and his teeth were almost knocked out, and other passengers had hurt themselves to varying degrees. Back pain was what seemed to affect most people. Of the 12 people on board, there were only three of us that didn't seem to have really hurt ourselves at all - me, Skry, and the mother of the little boy. It seemed to take forever for the emergency services to arrive, although it probably wasn't more than half an hour before boatloads of St.John Ambulance staff and other rescue services started to turn up. As well as the boats, it wasn't too much longer before an emergency helicopter arrived, and then another. Luckily, there was a sort of shingle beach nearby where they could land, and the river was shallow enough for the rescuers to wade over to us. Rose was given oxygen and morphine, and eventually she and the other woman and man were rolled onto blankets, lifted onto stretchers, and carried across to the helicopters. The whole rescue operation took a long time, because of the difficulty of accessing the boat in the first place, and then working with spinal injuries and stretchers in such cramped conditions, but I have to give all credit to the staff of Thrillseekers and all the rescue people for being calm and efficient and looking after everybody as best they could.
Eventually we were allowed to leave the boat, and Skry and I were the first two people to wade across to the beach. The river was thigh-deep in places but wasn't very swift where we were crossing, so the biggest risk to me was that my plastic Croc shoes kept trying to float away off my feet. We made it to dry land and were followed by the other walking wounded, who were all assessed by the St. John Ambulance guys. Skry had realised by this stage that his right shoulder was starting to get sore and he had wrenched it somehow, so he was given a bright green wrist tag and marked as needing further assessment. By the time all the stretchers had been loaded onto the helicopters and everyone assessed, there was a jet boat available to take those of us who didn't need immediate hospital treatment back to the dock. I have to admit that I wasn't terribly keen to get back onto one of those things, but the driver was very considerate of what we had just been through, and the pain that people were in, so the short trip back was quite sedate. We were met by a jeep and ferried back to the activity centre, where a more thorough assessment of the injured was done, and all sorts of forms filled out. New Zealand isn't a litigious country, and I think the main reason for that is that accidents are covered by a sort of national insurance called ACC. This compensates people in the case of accident, and pays something like 80% of their wage if they can't work, so it was important that all the injured people had a form filled out to say what happened.
The Thrillseekers staff were all obviously shocked by what had happened - I believe it's the first time a jet boat has ever crashed like that, and certainly it was the first time for them - but they were great, fetching us hot and cold drinks, passing around cold wet clothes to cool us down after several hours in the sun, and repeatedly asking if we were okay. The lady from the Hanmer Springs shop had arrived, and she was visibly relieved to see me and Skry sitting there in one piece. She said that she had been so worried about "the lovely Irish couple" and she couldn't remember if we had booked for jetboating or rafting, so she was delighted to see that we were alright. With five people in total taken by helicopter to hospital, she wasn't sure if we were among those or not.
After further assessment on Skry's shoulder, it was decided that he should go to see a doctor, so the two of us and Ross (who was suffering back and knee pain) were ferried by ambulance to the surgery in Hanmer. The doctor arrived a few minutes after us, and took care of the two guys, and those who weren't being dealt with chatted with the two ambulance crew. They told us that Rose would most likely be fine once she got to hospital, so that was a relief. Skry got painkillers and a referral to a clinic in Christchurch to get an x-ray, so we had to return to the campsite, pack up our tent, and drive two hours back to Christchurch. I could really have done without that - my elbow was painful and getting stiffer by the minute, and we were both quite drained after the whole experience - but there was no choice in the matter. We couldn't continue on our holiday anyway, and naturally Skry wanted the x-ray as soon as possible, so I didn't have a chance to relax at all or get some proper food - I ate some pasta straight from the saucepan - but had to keep concentrating for another few hours.
We eventually got to the clinic and were met there by Phil and Lou, got the x-ray done - apparently no bones broken, but he will need further treatment - and got back to the flat in Cashel Street. We were too late to catch the 6pm news, but apparently two stations covered it and there was some video footage from the TV chopper crew which showed me in it. Only a month in New Zealand and already I'm on the news! But it was a long day, and after a quick meal I was more than ready to draw the curtains on the whole experience.
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