Trampers ‘eternally grateful’
Rescued tramper Jessica O’Connor says she “never lost hope” despite being lost for 19 days in rugged bush and running out of food.
O’Connor and Dion Reynolds, both aged 23, were rescued in Kahurangi National Park on Wednesday after not being seen since May 8. They were saved when a search helicopter spotted smoke from a fire they had lit in dense bush northwest of Nelson.
Now, O’Connor has spoken out to say she’s “eternally grateful” for the rescuers who saved their lives.
“I am eternally grateful for the emergency response that led to us being found,” she wrote on a Givealittle page set up by her brother Dominic to fundraise for LandSar.
“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the efforts of the Police, LandSar, Fire Service, Defence Force, all the volunteers, friends and family, donors and the power of positive energy.”
The pair spent 13 days without food, and suffered severe bad weather, but O’Connor said she “never lost hope”.
Reynolds earlier revealed he had only realised the pair were lost and walking in a loop after recognising one of his own footprints in the mud.
“I told Jess we need to stop now because that’s my footprint. We were very lost at that point,” he told RNZ.
They only had two days’ worth of food left when he sprained his ankle traversing a steep gully — and then O’Connor hurt her back while fetching water.
The “saving grace” was a stream of water two minutes away from the gully.
“That’s what kept us alive.”