27 hours on banana sandwiches
Trapped on the highway between slips in a storm, Aurora Oncken and her friends had only banana sandwiches to eat.
The Australian tourists were among the 117-odd motorists trapped on State Highway 6 near Fox Glacier, between slips north towards Franz Josef and south to Fox Glacier.
They had left Franz Josef Glacier about 10am on Thursday, having been told it was better to head out than stay put as the storm came in. About 1km from Fox Glacier Village, a tree came down over powerlines ahead of them.
A truck in front stopped them. They turned back, only to come across another slip on the road.
‘‘A few hours came and went,’’ she said. About 50 other cars soon turned up.
‘‘When we were told it would be overnight it was pretty bleak. We just settled in.’’
Oncken and her two travelling companions survived on banana sandwiches for a day and a half – food they had bought in Hokitika the previous day.
Others trapped had little to no food, and were ‘‘understandably’’ upset by Friday morning, she said.
Oncken said there seemed to be poor communication with authorities in the ‘‘outside world’’.
A helicopter arrived about 10am on Friday – she thought to bring supplies – but had only a two-litre bottle of water and some chocolate.
‘‘It was just obvious they didn’t know the numbers.’’
Westland Civil Defence public information officer Michele Poole said council chief executive Simon Bastion advised the helicopter that flew in was there solely to do a medical evacuation, not to deliver supplies.
Civil Defence had information those trapped had enough food between them and, as long as they all co-operated, no-one would go hungry.
Authorities were confident they would get out on Friday, which eventuated.
Although it may have looked like Civil Defence had woefully inadequate supplies to do the ‘‘loaves and fishes act’’ with the water and chocolates, the weather ruled out a supplies drop, she said.