Couple in travelling tragedy

A KURANDA couple who were killed in a road accident in Nepal earlier this week have been remembered as intrepid travellers who were dedicated to each other, their family, the arts and the environment.

Nepali media reported Rudi and Ann Husek (below) were two of nine passengers of a four-wheel drive travelling on the Mid Hill Highway, 2km south of Katari Municipality-14, Ghurmi, in the country’s east.

Nepali Police Deputy Superintendant Dhruba Kumar Shrestha released the identities of the Huseks earlier this week. It is understood their vehicle fell 100m in mountainous terrain.

Ann Husek was active in the Cairns arts community and had given much of her time to the Cairns Pottery Club, where she volunteered as secretary.

“She was such a lovely person,” FNQ Visual Arts Association president Lone White said.

“It is so sad to hear that this has happened.”

She remembered Mrs Husek as a passionate ceramic artist.

“She was trying to experiment with some parts of her work and had some new ideas with special forms,” Ms White said.

“We met a couple of times when they moved to Kuranda – they were very happy there, they had a lovely spot in the rainforest.”

Kuranda conservationists have a spot dedicated to Rudi Husek, who won the Helen Adams Memorial Award for his work protecting the Barron Catchment in 2015.

“We heard about the accident on Tuesday,” Envirocare Kuranda’s Cathy Ritter said.

“We were hoping somebody had made it up.”

She said Mr Husek had been instrumental in the ongoing work of Envirocare Kuranda – single handedly planting 2500 trees over eight years.

“He would come out and water, he’d put in 20 plants regularly every week or so,” Ms Ritter said.

The green thumb even had a spot called “Rudi’s site,” where wife Ann had asked the Envirocare crew to dedicate a planting for his 70th birthday.

“When he wasn’t here he was on grandfather duty or in Nepal,” Ms Ritter said.

“He made many trips to Nepal - he trekked and they both kept very fit, looking after their health.”

“It was the last thing they did together - they loved each other very much.”

Envirocare Kuranda has planned a small commemoration to the Huseks tomorrow morning.