Life and Death Experiences

[spuderico]

I remember as a young fella walking along the beach front in Weipa towards the boat ramp only to see a full grown man hopping around on one leg ;D On closer inspection it would become apparent that he had a catfish dorsal spine stuck up through the sole of his steel capped boot and into the ball of his foot :'( He had stood on the critter to remove the hook. As I approached he asked if I had a pair of plias in my pocket :-? When that was settled >:( :-/ he had me sitting on the ground opposite him trying to pull the spine with me teeth :'( To no avail of course. Just then another kid arrived on his pushy. With that the victim up and knocked the kid off his bike and took off at break neck speed peddling the cog with one leg :o Wow what an experience that was!
P.S. He called out as he took off "you can get ya bike at the hospital". [smiley=furious.gif]

[MulletMan]

I forgot our wedding anniversary last year .............. that was as close to death as I wanna get!

[onerabbit]

Ever had a big spine embedded in the arch of your foot?

I've had one in both feet, at different times, certainly makes you jump around.
He can be forgiven , I think, that sort of pain can make you do funny things.
In pain , I pulled a huge cattie spine, fish attached, out of my foot because I didnt want to turn up with the fish attached to my foot, nearly passed out after doing it. Ended up with "bits" hanging out & had to go to hospital anyway.
Did release the fish alive.

Muzz

[seatime]

Which one? slicing the roof of the car open going under the back of a flatbed truck or; sailing on a 32' yacht on a very dark and windy night lost, hearing a roaring noise, taking a spotlight for'd and seeing very clearly the cliffs of Cape Upstart above you.
A bit of a miscalculation with set n drift, we were reefed in and doing 7kts and cleared the rocks by 100m after the emergency course change of 70 degrees. Haven't done much sailing since. cheers Steve.

[el_carpo]

I would advise against removing large items lodged deeply in your foot. A few years ago, there was a story about a guy who dropped a big catfish on his foot. The spike went through his foot and into the floor of his boat. He removed the spike and found that his artery had been burst. A fountain of blood came gushing out and he nearly "bought it." Another story had a huge piece of glass going through a small girl's foot. Again, the object was removed and the artery let loose a fountain of blood. She lived too but it was close.

Scarey stuff. I would suggest leaving it in until you get to the hospital. The object will wedge in the wound and help block the flow of blood.

[aussiefool]

when I was just 16 I jioned the navy and one night while returning to base from the movies we came across a car accendent, jumped out to check on the people in the 2 cars and the first door we opened the bloke dropped out cought and snorted and was dead in our arms :'(
The neme of the movie...... the exorsis

[rando]

A mate & I paddled my older brothers two man kayak across a flooded "Shaw Park" in Brisbane about 6 weeks before the "Big One" in 1974. We got swept into the main channel of a raging Kedron Brook. The kayak filled with water when we went over the first foot bridge in Kalinga Park and we ended up in the water clinging to an upturned kayak.
Fearing my brothers wrath if his "yak "was damaged I tried to lift it over over the top rail of the second footbridge just as we hit, but the lip for the (absent) skirt caught the railing, the current swung the yak sideways and swept it against the centre post of the bridge where it bent in half with a sickening crack and trapped me between the now smashed canoe and the post.

I was litterally bandaged to the post with the canoe wrapped around me and the post both. The water was going over my head and I knew I was going to die.
I cant explain what happened next, perhaps an act of god, but after some minutes of being crushed by the water pressure and about to runout of the breath I was holding, the pressure suddenly disappeared for a couple of seconds, and i was able to slip down the post and out from under the crushed canoe. At the same time my buddy who had been sucked under the bridge suddenly popped to the surface on the upstream side of the bridge.
We were able to scamble onto the flooded bridge and went along the railing hand over hand till we could get our feet down on the walkway.

I dont know what was scarier almost drowning or having to tell big brother I had smashed his kayak ;D
rando

[sunny]

Where do I start? :-/

Getting stuck in a wreck while scuba diving (twice)
Having a bolt of lightning strike the ground about 5m from me.
Recovering my wife’s stolen car and hiding behind a very flimsy car door while bullets whipped around.
Sliding backwards down an iced up road and stopping just shy of the fifty meter drop.

On the other side of the coin I was first on the scene at a hit and run accident and felt the victim’s last few heartbeats while trying to resuscitate her. We never managed to revive her and the paramedics declared her dead as soon as they saw her.

I think I don’t catch fish because I’ve already used up all my luck. Just in case you’re wondering most of these where when I was young and stupid.

[spuderico]

Wow! would love to hear the story about the stolen car recovery sometime :-[

[dorado]

In 1980 I nearly drowned in the Brissy River near Colleges Crossing. Got sucked under water by an undertow and panicked. Took 4 people to rescue me and they too nearly came to grief doing so.

Later In 1981 I got bitten by a Redback Spider and spent a few days in hosp and a few months later had a semi burnt out house collapse on top of me whilst I was trying to demolish it.

Then in 1982 I was riding my Yammie XJ550RH in Bulimba and got T-Boned by a speeding car. Spent next 10 mths in PA Hospital trying to save my left leg which unfortunately was unsuccessful.

In 1987 I got shot at by terrorists whilst on an overland trip in India, A few days later the speeding tour bus in which I was a passenger in ran off the road after collided head on with a truck, on a bridge, on a blind corner, carrening out of control & smashing through a guard rail and into a ravine. One person was critically hurt but I was uninjured.

In 1988 whilst departing Nadi airport in Fiji during a severe thunderstorm our Boeing 737 got slammed by a violent wind sheer just after we got airborne. The plane went into a crazy spiraling dive and I said my prayers and goodbyes cuz I really thought that was the end but the pilot was able to recover and we somehow made it.

In 1990 on another overland trip, this time in the wilds of East Africa, our tour vehicle broke down in no-man's land and we got set upon by no less than 11 hungry lions and were trapped by them, in the confines of an open top truck, for over 14 hours til help arrived.

In 2001 very nearly came to grief trying to cross the 1770 bar in bad weather. Got slammed on the starb bow by a huge wave and took a big greenie over the back but somehow managed to ride the same wave back in to safety!

[bungie]

Dorado,

That black figure behind you with the scythe is after you mate ::)

[charleville]

When I was twenty years old in January 1971, I was washed 2 miles down the flooded Calliope River.

Long story of which I shall save you the details ;) but after getting knocked off the upstream side of the bridge which had raging thigh high water above it and being sucked under the bridge, hitting some pylons on the way through and then finally making it to the surface gasping for air and seeing the bridge very quickly disappear away from me, I heard some stupid woman yell out at me "keep your head above water".

What the @#^$% did she think I was going to do?!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Came very close to dying on that occasion and got out of it when the river widened and slowed a couple of miles downstream and I was able to dog-paddle my way to a few overhanging leaves which held me enough so that I could pull myself into a tree in absolute exhaustion. However, the sense of euphoria that I had after that experience was the greatest high that I have ever had from any source. Funny thing was that I could dive into that sense of euphoria any time that I wanted to for the next ten years simply by willing it. After that I could no longer synthesize that feeling and I deeply regret losing that sensation. :'( A truly unbelievable high.

It made me feel absolutely invincible for ten years. :) :) :)

The only physical injuries were the cuts on the top of my feet from being dragged along the river bank by my eventual rescuers. Very fine men, they were. :) All very proud immigrants working in Gladstone. I remember that because they gibbered to me the whole way back to keep me awake but I remember having three separate pounding headaches in different parts of my head and was wishing that they would shut up.

I would not wish a similar experience on anyone because of the risks but that sense of euphoria afterwards was unbelievably intoxicating. :) I suspect that the experience also made many elements of life that many people worry about seem very trivial to me ever after. :)

[spuderico]

This is a life experience that will be with me till the end of my days and it has been given a name by our clever head doctors...Survivors guilt! I was driving to coloundra one weekday back in about '85 when I ran out of petrol and had to leave the car on the side of the road just south of Old Moby Vics servo.

I was walking along when suddenly two kids came from the bush and were walking in front of me about 20yrds. We were walking on the shoulder of the highway. I was about to ask them if they knew of a place I could get some help when I spotted the servo up front around the bend. Just then a car screamed past me and hit the dirt and collected the kid nearest the bitumen :o. He sumersaulted in the air and took out the front windscreen.

To cut a long traumatic story short, he died later. It took me years to get over the fact that that car missed me by cm to take out that kid and if I had called out second earlier the car might have missed them. Addit: He was pissed and did a runner only to be caught and summonsed to appear in court later. The tragic thing was that he was caught DD again before he was to appear!! I was the prosecutions key witness 8-)and I will never forget that mans face :(

To this day I cannot bare to see pedestrians walking along the road :-/

[dorado]

LoL@Bungie! ;D

Oh and I forgot to mention, in 1997 one morning I had to start work real super early. The missus at the time and all 4 kids were fast asleep still. I got up at 5am, hopped on 1 leg to the shower & came out 20 mins later. Hopped back to bedroom and started getting dressed when I smelled smoke. Turned around to see a filthy big brown/yellow cloud of smoke come billowing into the bedroom. I scream to the missus to wake up and that the house was on fire. She leapt out of bed, awoke the kids and got them to safety outside, albeit choking on the smoke. Without a further thought I raced into the kitchen only in my underwear (still hopping on 1 leg, forgot all about strapping the other one on!) to be confronted by flames everywhere, on the ceiling, the walls, the curtains and the stove. I hop to the laundry floor, pick up a towel and hold it under a running tap watching the flames all around me and hearing the fire blazing and crackling away and trying to hold my breath so as not to inhale any smoke and then when it's soaked I hop back to the stove and I throw it over the stove to quell what appeared to be the source of the fire. Unbeknownst to moi, it was a completely melted polythylene bread board and in doing so I get splattered all over my chest and arms by burning melted plastic. I scream for my life and at the same time my hair has caught fire and I'm suddenly thinking..wtf am I doing here? I then wished I had washed my hair so it'd been wet and then remember all about the fire extinguisher in the cupboard. I hop over to the cupboard and grab it, pull the pin and got to work putting out the flames and completely put it out within another 2 - 3 minutes. At that stage I hear sirens and the fire brigade arrives and 2 firies wearing breathing apparatus come racing into what's left of the kitchen and see me standing there on one leg, half nakid and all black and burned, and with a fire ext in my hands. They stand there and look me up and down and just shake their heads sideways in total disbelief and one of them thinks that one of my legs has been burned right off. He grabs me as I drop to the floor exhausted. I try to explain about being an amputee but they think I'm in shock and that I am delerious. I then get ushered off to hospital for some minor burns to my chest and arms and some smoke inhalation ;D

[finga64]

Rode a power pole down in about '85 and been fryed once ( the last was in 1997 and still unable to work) :'(

[bugman]

Ran with the Bulls in Pamplona in 98 - twice!

Long story that I usually tell over a few beers but it boils down to being alone and corned by 700kg of snorting bovine. Just me and him for about 30sec. I could feel his breathe and could touch his nose. He lowered his had and stared at me but never charged. Don't know why till this day.

Another bloke died two days later in the same position. Wasn't my time to go.

Bugman

[rando]

Bugman
Been there , seen that,
YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE INSANE ;D ;D
rando

[Hoges]

:-[
Oops!

:-[

[lucylass]

My one claim to fame this was not written by me but i was there

sorry i will put over 2 posts

My wife Lucy,
John our trusty deckhand and myself, were cruising the Mighty Hawkesbury in search of adventure flying the Flag for the Base. We were between Bar Point and Sunny Corner when we noticed the most amazing vivid aqua line in the now fast approaching front coming from the south. I have seen the
sky turn some amazing colours but never have I seen this absolutely rich bright green in the sky before, and it wasn’t huge, it was like a deep line or a crevasse in the clouds.
As pretty as it was, I figured it probably meant hail. Now you need to realise that up to this moment the day had been a sweltering 35°C+ day, you could have fried eggs on the road.
We put clears down so we wouldn’t get too wet when it hit and proceeded to head for
Sunny Corner with the possibility of stopping in on land and watch this front go through
safely.
Then the proverbial hit the fan. Half way across the wind started, it was strong but not
too strong so we picked up speed to get there as quickly as possible. I started to realise what might be coming and as we flew past some fishing runabouts we shouted some good advice (go for cover now).
SO NEAR!
We managed to get within 60 metres of the wharf and then we lost sight of
everything. The storm hit us from the east. We were travelling south, not a good idea. I
turned our boat up into the wind ASAP; there was no way we were going to make the wharf without rolling.

The clears kept us dry so far but with them down, the wind simply wanted to push
us over. Well we were heading into the wind (cyclone) and doing OK, we couldn’t see 10
feet and we had just come past an anchored houseboat. My fear at this time was where
was the houseboat as we didn’t want to slam into it.

We had our G.P.S. on so we could tell which direction we were going, but that was
it. We were taking water on, but that never bothered our boat before, she has been half full inside more than once in nasty storm towing other stricken vessels and did it well. We simply open the scuppers and it drains out.

All of a sudden the wind came from behind instantly – not any sort of gradual change but one second it’s coming from the east then from west. We turned 180° into the wind, even with the clears down she did it OK.

We were now heading west into the wind and still no sight of the anchored houseboat,
where could it be? We could probably be described as wet, shaken and a little nervous at this point in time. Lucy was in the process of taking the scuppers out and the dang wind changed 180° instantly again (bugger!)
Around we came up into the wind. The water hadn’t had a chance to drain out yet, it
was about 12 inches deep but she still managed to come about and head into the
wind. We couldn’t get any idea of how fast the wind was – we only knew it was strong
and we couldn’t get the covers down because of the pressure beating down on them.
Via our G.P.S. we were heading for Graces Shores (still no sign of the anchored
houseboat), it seemed to be a good idea if we got in the lee of Graces Shores – the wind
might not be as strong, so that was the plan. Suddenly the boat seemed to slow down
as though we had a bellyfull of water and as you know, if you haven’t got enough forward momentum the wind can do what it wants with you, and it did.
We went side on to the wind – not good.

The wind and the now raging water rolled our mighty boat upside down.
All went dark brown. I saw out of the corner of my eye just before we went over Lucy was at the stern and already heading for the exit.
However John and I were at the helm which meant we had the problem of finding
our way out from a ¾ covered-in boat upside

[lucylass]

2nd part

down in the water, definitely not good. I do a fair bit of scuba diving around wrecks, but
this is not the sort of wreck I prefer, but I think this experience helped, as panic wasn’t a
problem.

My first thought was John now as I was worried he could get caught up in the clears
trying to find his way out. I felt around and found him.

I grabbed the back of his shorts and proceeded to pull my way out of the upturned hull – thank GOD we didn’t have life jackets on, I don’t think we would have been able to swim out. I was trying to pull John out with me, but he struggled and broke free.
I came to the surface and took a breath then went back for John. Now you couldn’t
see anything – it was dark with no visibility at all. I felt around the upturned boat for as long as I could but he wasn’t to be found. I have been on search and rescues before
and know that if you get a mouth full of water at the wrong time you simply sink and
nobody finds you for at least three days. I was a little anxious when I came to the surface
this time – I thought I had lost my mate, absolutely not good.

I came to the surface and immediately scanned the water and saw Lucy treading
water 15 metres away and started screaming “John!”
He answered me. He was hanging onto the bowline and looking good. Lucy was drifting away from the boat so I swam over and escorted her back (after taking her shoes
off for her).
Evidently John was trying to get out the other side but something had hold of him,
but he managed to break free. This had nothing to do with the approval of his life
insurance two days earlier. We hung onto the upturned hull for the next 20 minutes or so until the storm abated. Whilst John and I were sheltering behind the leg of the motor so the hail might miss our wet heads, I noticed the newly fitted cavitation tunnel that had been fitted had snapped off the cavitation plate. No wonder we lost power and steerage. The tunnel would have acted like a parachute; you could even see where the prop had chewed out when it hit it.
The storm left as quickly as it came. We were aproximately 100 metres off the west
corner of Graces Shores, so close yet so far.
A runabout came to our rescue and picked us up and took us ashore. Thank GOD we had survived.
The following week we heard of the devastation the storm or mini cyclone as it
was described had caused. Pine trees a metre across snapped like a twig, literally dozens of trees down within a two kilometre radius. Fishermans Point Camp reported $6,000 worth of clean up.
The runabout that picked us up said their boat stood up vertical at one stage, then luckily fell the right way. Numerous river folk who have been here all their life said they have never seen a storm like it.

[sunny]

Dorado mate, I used to think I had a number of lucky scrapes, but you take the biscuit :o :o :o

Your stories did remind me of another one.

Back when I was at uni in South Africa, a few of us decided to go and hike an uninhabited corner of the world called the Baviaanskloof. We got off the beaten track and spent the day walking a dry stream bed surrounded by thick bush. All day long we could hear the screams of Chacma baboons. These are very big hairy creatures that have large fangs and stand taller than me on their hind legs (but that’s a story for another day).

Being a bit nervy after the full day’s walk, I decided to set up the two man tent. After a quiet evening by the fire, we were dog tired from the days walk and retired to sleep. At some stage during the night, I woke up in the pitch darkness to hear something outside the tent. Something large padded slowly around the tent and stopped every now and then to sniff the tent or huff quietly. For the next few hours I lay frozen to my mattress having visions of large baboon claws and fangs ripping the thin canvas of the tent wall. Eventually against all the odds I fell asleep again.

The next morning when I got up, the tent was circled not by baboon prints as I expected, but the large catlike prints of a leopard.

I have since learned that the leopard’s favourite food is a baboon and can now hear the quiet cough they make while hunting without any doubt.

[2rods]

Hey Dorado... mate you are cursed I think ;D ;D ;D

Remind me never to go anywhere remotely dangerous with ya ;D ;D

[Hoges]

Dorado,

That black figure behind you with the scythe is after you mate ::)

:o

Dorado, seems like he is trying bloody hard to catch you!

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

[Bass43]

Geez Dorado, you're the unluckiest bugger in the world.. remind me NOT to call you if I'm looking for a deckie.. :o
John

[coxy]

I was driving home from a gig a couple of years back at about 2am on a Friday night. As I crested a hill I was suddenly confronted by a car & boat sitting on the left edge of the highway with a bloke changing a flat tyre on his trailer. With a concrete wall there was no area to move his car off the highway.

The driver was sitting on the road in the middle of the night. His wife was standing in front of the boat waving her arms for oncoming traffic to change lanes (in the middle of the night with cars travelling 100km plus).

It was pitch black, it scared the *%# out of me, I swerved & missed them. Unfortunately the truck behind didn't & I can still see it now. & the poor truckie.
It's amazing how many people accidents like this can affect.

[bidkev]

Dorado..........I th8ink it's about time you became a hermit ;D

Been near to copping it a few times but one occasion lives on with me. I was serving in Aden and was a bit of a one man show back then. We were only allowed out in groups of 2 minimum but I buggered off on my own to visit a certain market place. I got into an argument with a taxi driver who wouldn't give me my change due. I'd haggled a price and he agreed and then reverted to his original price after transporting me.

Anyway, he called me "feelthy Eenglish" and threw a punch. I'd been on the Becks beer and unfortunately, back in those days, I just didn't know (or care) when a bloke had had enough. I think I would've killed the poor bugger if the mob hadn't got to me.

I was "rescued" by the Arab Police who took me to a "police station" which was built onto the wall of a volcanic crater which was in a place which strangely enough, was called "the crater district" ;D

I could hardly walk and and the way I was being handled led me to believe that these weren't the normal smiley types that we sometimes had to work hand-in-glove with. I was thrown into a cell which was simply bars coming out of the cliff face of the crater with a hole presumably drilled into the floor to be used as a toilet. It had water running down the walls which were covered in a slimy moss and the place stunk to high heaven. (the image of the place is very vivid). The "throw" was followed up with a well placed boot to the cocyx which dropped me to my knees.

I was then " inteviewed" by a couple of arab police who were shouting and pushing me, they started arguing with each other and then a white officer came in (I believe that some British police were attched as "advisors". He never spoke to me directly but got into a heated argument (in Arabic) with the other two, and I could see as his demeanour changed that he appeared a tad too scared for my liking. He hurried out and almost instantly, one of the police stuck the boot in and hit me with a baton as I went down. The other cop was shaking and dragged him off me and they both stormed out. Tthank God for the Beck's beer anaesthetic ;D

I knew then that something was drastically wrong, as we worked with these guys every so often and they weree usually cheery chappies who shared a fag with us and a nod at the beautiful Somali women that worked as domestics throughout Aden.

About half an hour passed which had me thinking as to what was going on as these guys seemed to really have it in for me. I clung to the hope that the British officer would have me out of there in no time.

Just as I started to nod off I heard angry arguing outside but thought, "thank God, I can hear English speaking folk". My two antagonists appeared and roughly bundled me through the door into the arms of 4 British Military Police who took me outside to where the Land rover was standing with a couple of Pigs with gunners on the alert. I thought that it was strange that these MP's needed an armoured escort.

On the way back to the Red Sea Hotel (our billets), they called me all the names under the sun and just kept reiterating what a lucky bastard I was.

The following day I was placed on CO's orders and busted to the ranks from corporal. The CO lectured me on how I had absolutely no idea what was going on out there and how I had put others at risk.........I should never have been alone and should have always had someone watching my back. In retrospect, I'm ashamed at that, but my only defence is that I was just coming up to 19 at the time, preferred to do my own thing, and trusted myself above others.............aren't we all bullet-proof at that age? ::)

Anyway, this is what kicked off a short while later. I think I owe my life to that British Police Officer.

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/mutiny.html

I am not young enough to know everything

[wetaline]

Yeah Dorado,

Two questions:

1.) Did you change your name to "Lucky"?
and
2.) Did they let you keep the leg for crab bait?

The latter point interests me (but I won't go into that now).

[Hoges]

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/mutiny.html

I am not young enough to know everything

Thanks for the link mate!


May they rest in peace

[blaze]

lot of years ago
Up at arthers lake with brother inlaw and mate. Middle of the night woke up for a pee(as ya do) and while trying to get out of sleeping bag, put hand on floor and it was wet and sticky, find torch. It was blood and was all coming out of my mates mouth, he was very unconsious at this point but still had pulse and shallow breathing. Ever tried to load a 6'6" guy into the back of a cortina. while brother inlaw held his tounge outa his mouth we made a hasty trip to cressy (dragged the copper outa bed in got a pistol poke in my face, he was no help at all to us but thats another story). So on to longford to the hospital, after much banging on doors we finnally got some help. About an 80km trip from memory .To shorten a long story my mate was out for at least 7hrs we know of, lost a heap of blood and spent 8 days in intensive care at launceston hospital. cause was a ruptured stomock ulcer.
Had to be the quickest trip I ever had down that mountain
cheers
blaze

[spuderico]

Thanks for sharin guys. Very insightful and reflective experiences. Just cant beat being alive!!

Spud

[bidkev]

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/mutiny.html

I am not young enough to know everything

Thanks for the link mate!


May they rest in peace



You may like this one Hoges. Written and performed by the manager of an aged care facilty. These places might be a better proposition for our old folk if more carers had an attitude like his. Needs sound.


http://www.managedmusic.com/viewopen.htm

kev

How come there's only one Monopolies Commission?

[spuderico]

As a young fella I was born and bred in melbourne until the age of 9. Dad worked for Comalco and it was customary for the managers to serve time in Weipa, 3-5 years we were told. Now dad had been up to Weipa several times a year before we were transfered up that way. He used to bring back little toys and nic nacs like rubber Crocs and Boomerangs. We were drilled about the dangers of the sea and land habitat in the North and by the time we came to make the move we were well and truly versed.

After arriving and unpacking our lifes worth of collections my brother and I would scout around the town and got to know some locals. I was there 2 weeks when I found myself wading out in the sea thinking I was rescuing a mates Dads tinnie because we thought it was drifting away.

Suddenly I was gripped by what I can only describe as like being electrocuted around my left lower leg and shear panic and terror set in. I raced out of the water to be faced with long brown ropes around my flesh that were burning incredibly. I of course knew nothing about first aid and started to pour sand over them and rub them off. Only the pain prevented me being successful.

Next thing I remember waking up at the hospital with the nurse taking my pulse which I assumed was her waiting for my heart to stop!!

I then woke up at home the next day. My parents were eating lunch and I had been asleep on a makeshift bed. Very popular at school for the next few weeks. Lucky to have survived such a severe sting..

[nigelr]

Survived a motorcycle accident by pure instinct telling me to swerve around, rather than plough into, the back of a stopped car with no brake lights or indicators (also unreg and ininsured). Had literally a split second to make this decision as was doing 90 kmph on the Pacific Highway at the time! Scored a mangled right leg that by the greatest of good fortune a fantastic orthopaedic surgeon saved for me, but it would have been curtains to take the plough into the back option!
I saw life differently from that day, things like being a father to my son and daughters and a husband to my wife became the most important things in my life, tho being selfish, I often need to be reminded of this fact!
So really I have to be doubly thankfull to God for both letting me live and teaching me a very fundamental lesson............!
Tho this post isn't about fishing, IMO it is the best I've ever had the pleasure and privilage of reading! Thanks everyone for sharing!
Cheers and lottery tickets all round! :)

[bidkev]

Good on yer Nigel. You're right mate.......the things that you take for granted such as everyday family life, become so much more significant when you've had a close shave..........almost like being given a 2nd chance to appreciate them more.

kev

Education is what you get from reading the small print; experience is what you get from not reading it.

[spuderico]

Yours is an story/experience that echo's the ethos of live today as if it were your last.. as one day it will be!! Not only have you experinced a terrible accident and survived :) but you have learned so much more in your journey.

I tip my hat to you Nigel. One day the world will be full of wiser/thanful people ;) Family is what keeps it REAL ;)

[MulletMan]

I was the Skipper on an Airbus during a night flight from Papua New Guinea with a couple of hundred passengers en route to Hong Kong. Just north of Darwin, the First Officer went a deathly shade of white and said "S*it" in a trembling voice!
We were at 39,000 feet and an Olympic B747 heading up from Melbourne had somehow finished up at the same height as us when passing from left to right.
I vaguely recall seeing a blur of cabin lights and then it was gone!
At a crossing impact speed of some 1500 km/hr there would have been no pain but there was a distinct smell of faeces in the cockpit for a while!
The Co Pilot didn't speak for the next hour!!

Another time we were taking some Fijian UN troops from Suva to Beirut in a B707 when all the fighting was going on in the late seventies. Having blown a tyre in Abu Dabi, we were all herded into an airport waiting lounge under armed guard. I thought "stuff these little bug*ers, I'm the Captain, nobody is gunna keep me here for eight hours without an explanation.....!"

I never really knew how big a soldier can become (he was about 5'5") til he quietly sticks a machine gun at you and says "Please Captain, for your own welfare, go and sit down please".

God, that chair felt good! :o :o

[spuderico]

Hey ThePinkPanther, thanks for the trip down memory lane, yours was a career that had danger at every turn! (And Loving it).. You have brought up another passion of mine, flying. Though not a pilot of powered flight I did, however fly hangliders for a time.

I was launching on the blow at Rainbow beach some years back for my fourth souring flight. New site, new glider. I launched okay and climbed out to a hundred feet above the cliffs and proceeded to track back and fourth for a good hour.

However when it came time to put her back down it was a different story. I made that many approaches to land that I became fatigued and wanted down no matter what. I was swooping and diving in and around the cliff so much so that I was actually performing the most daring acrobatics that anybody had seen. Unfortunately I had no idea what I was doing and was literally only feet from impact at times.

Finally, after approx 10min or so I flew far enough back into the blow that I got out of the lift and was able to ground loop her in. POW..SMACK..BAM I'm down. The site safety officer came over and gave me a blasting that I never forgot. From that accident I still live under the legacy of the injuries I suffered and have so far had a laminectomy & fusion C6-C7 as a result.

I dont fly hang gliders anymore as I have juggled my priorities in life. My brother owns and flys aircraft so I get my fix that way!! :)

[grayson]

Dorado, you are invincible!!!! I reckon grim reaper has been beaten at last.

I suffered burns to 70% of my body in a backyard accident when 4 and spent 6 months in and out of hospital. Luckily 3rd degree burns were limted and made a full recovery over the years with fairly minimal noticable scarring.

Was chased and shot at by bandits in Tanzania.

A rockfall in Mali from around 60 mtrs above narrowly missed me and would certainly have resulted in death.

Incident with the local authorities in Chile got ugly and scary and had firearms pointed at my head several times amongst bouts of excited jibberish.

Very bad car crash when I was 20 in which I was a passenger but managed to walk away from with only scratches and bruises.

Several fly-rock incidents as a result of improper blasting and undetected geological faults.

Taking wife to Jimbaran for a romantic dinner last October!!!!!!!!

[adds31]

G'day all, When eight years old i managed to flip a masey ferg tractor on top of myself while pulling gum tree suckers out with a chain. Foot slipped off clutch and the back wheels just kept on going and put the tractor on me. Lucky i was a child cause the only thing that saved me were the wheel arches of the tractor. The steering wheel fell straight across my face smashing my nose and cheek with a few cuts above my eye. The old man was swinging on a crow bar trying to loosen the stumps and saw the whole thing and had to dig me out with his hands while i was pinned underneath.
Was knocked out for a few minutes coming too knowing very well what had happened and still pinned underneath. Its a close enough call for me.

Adds....

[saphire]

When I was 14 I was swimming with a friend at Burlie Beach Gold Coast. I was a good swimmer and attended training regulary. I started to tell my friend to swim out deeper with me. She was scared but she still followed me out into the deep water. Next thing we noticed that we were getting farther and farther away from the beach and started drifting towards NSW and could not swim back. We put our hands up and started to yell for help. In no time there was a life saver on one of those boards with the ropes on the side of it. He pulled my friend up onto it with him and told me to hang onto the side and towed us back into the beach. We were so embarrased. I cant remember if I even said thank you to him for saving our lives. To anyone here who does work in life saving I just want to say thank you on behalf of all the people that you save but dont say thank you at the time. Believe me Im sure they are thinking thank you after the event when they are more able to make sense of what had happened. I always donate money to SLSC when they are out seeking donations.
saphire.