Whangarei couple Gillian and Murray Archer spent months trying to track down a trio who helped rescue them when they became stuck on a steep, muddy track in the Coromandel.
Now, for the first time since May, the One Tree Point couple have been reunited with the three good samaritans - Chao Qin, his wife Mi Li and their friend Ling Wu - who saved their lives.
While holidaying in the Coromandel in May, Mr and Mrs Archer had embarked on a 10km hike in the Kauaeranga Valley which was recommended to them by a Department of Conservation worker. About three quarters of the way down the couple knew they were in trouble.
"We weren't expecting [the track] to be easy but we weren't expecting it to be degraded to the extent that it was. Murray was getting very tired because it was very hard. You had to keep dropping down to your feet so I can crouch but Murray had to keep turning around and going down backwards," Mrs Archer said.
The couple were sitting on the side of the track when the trio, who were from Auckland, found them. Mr Qin said he knew he had to help.