Enterprising locals rescue tourists

Ten tourists trapped for three nights by rising floodwater were yesterday rescued by enterprising locals who towed their five vehicles to safety.

The tourists - from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Columbia, Czech Republic, Germany and the United States - arrived at the Depatment of Conservation-run Trotters Gorge campsite on Friday, hoping to stay a night before exploring the nearby Moeraki boulders and surrounding districts.

But persistent rain from Friday made two usually quiet Trotters Creek fords impassable, forcing the five pairs of travellers to wait for help.

Their predicament was first discovered by Trotters Gorge resident and would-be-rescuer, Steve Kelly, who was also caught out when his Mitsubishi stationwagon was swept away when he tried to cross one of the fords at 2am on Saturday.

"I had to climb out the window to safety," he said.

"[I'm] just glad I made it, but my car's a write-off."

Later that day, Mr Kelly, aware campers might be stuck, checked the area and discovered the group of four women and six men.

"We were happy to see him," said a Belgian tourist.

Rigging a pulley system, Mr Kelly was able to winch supplies of drinking water, milk, bread and some much-appreciated chocolate biscuits to the campers, who were running low on supplies.

One of the campers called emergency services on Sunday, after climbing for an hour to get a signal on his mobile phone: "They told us to wait for rescue. But we hear nothing."

With the rain easing yesterday and an Australian couple needing to get to Christchurch to catch a flight to Perth, Mr Kelly enlisted the help of his friend, Chris Hazlewood, of Hampden.

"I thought if no-one is going to help them, bugger it, I will," Mr Hazlewood, who earlier towed Mr Kelly's car from the creek, said.

Mr Hazle-wood on Sunday had ignored a "road closed" sign to cross the fords in his Toyota Land Cruiser, but the campers were reluctant to leave because of the rising water.

But yesterday, they wanted to leave.

Towing a 6m trailer, Mr Hazlewood again crossed the flooded fords to take the campers and their hired vehicles back to safety.

The rescue of the two cars and three campervans began at 2pm yesterday, and about 4pm the last campervan was towed to safety.

Several of the party expressed concerns there were no warning signs near the entrance to the camping ground, and that calls to emergency services went unanswered.

Senior Constable Darrin Low, of Hampden, said the group was advised to stay where they were and "they would be as safe as houses".

Police were attending a call-out yesterday and were unable to rescue the tourists, but had checked the fords, he said.

The tourists, who were reluctant to give their names for fear of the rental car companies charging them for leaving sealed roads, expressed their gratitude to their rescuers.

"Do you do Europe as well?" asked one of the men, before the impromptu campers headed off to the nearest pub to celebrate their rescue.