Click photo to enlarge
four-wheel-drive vehicle tows a campervan and transports
stranded tourists from the Department of Conservation
Trotters Gorge campsite yesterday, after rising fords left
the party of 10 stranded for three nights. Photo by Peter
McIntosh.
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.
