Blast survivors wear horror on their faces as they arrive home

By CATHY ARONSON and LOUISA CLEAVE

Stewart and Melanie Nankivell wore the horror of the Bali bomb blast on their faces as they walked through the Auckland Airport arrival gates in tears.

The Auckland couple, their eyes bloodshot from crying, were one of the first New Zealanders to arrive home at 4.30pm yesterday out of at least 2000 tourists evacuated to Australia on emergency flights on Sunday.

New Zealanders eager to leave the island of Bali, known locally as the "Island of the Gods", left for Australia on extra flights put on by Garuda and Qantas.

The Nankivells had been in Bali for only two hours to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and were settling down to bed in the Dewi Sri Cottage hotel next to the Sari Bar on Saturday when the bomb blast sent their window glass flying across the room.

They spent the rest of the day helping survivors, cutting up their bedding and blankets for stretchers and bandages, and using their mini-bar water to clean wounds.

"There was blood and rubble everywhere," said Mr Nankivell. "It was like a war zone."

While the couple did all they could to help, they were also terrified there would be another attack and managed to secure one of the first flights out of Bali, at 10pm on one of five extra planes flown in by Qantas.

"Those poor, poor people," said Mrs Nankivell, in tears. "We helped as much as we could but we just had to get out of there. We were so scared."

When the full flight finally left Denpasar Airport, people on the plane began to clap.

But the horror of what had happened was still evident as people sat with IV drips, bloodied bandages and peeling, burned skin.

In Australia, they had to wait four hours until they finally left for Auckland at 10.45am.

Felicity Boucher arrived back at Auckland Airport yesterday - just over 48 hours since she had left the country for a holiday in Bali.

Emotional but relieved to be home, she said: "When I walked through [the arrival gate] it just started to hit home because I knew I was safe. As soon as the plane landed our arms were up in the air."

The 31-year-old Auckland woman left Bali on the first Qantas flight evacuating people from the region. She vowed never to return to the popular holiday spot.

"I've been there once before and I'm never going back. "

She paid nearly $1200 for her one-way ticket home and expects the final cost to be in the region of $1867. The short-lived holiday, which was supposed to last 10 days, had already cost $1600 for flights and accommodation.

Her travel insurance would not cover acts of terrorism.

Ms Boucher said she had also racked up about $800 worth of calls to her cellphone ringing worried friends and relatives in New Zealand.

She had been in Bali just two hours when two explosions went off 100m away from her hotel.

Ms Boucher went downstairs to the pool area to help the injured.

"There were about three people in the pool and a lot of burns victims around the pool. In the car park there were two or three deceased people."

She kicked down the door to one of the hotel rooms to get clean sheets and blankets, and raided the mini-bars for bottled water.

Hotel staff told them at the time they would have to pay for the water, which cost just over $1 a bottle.

"When we went to check out they said 'you owe x amount' and we said you've got to be joking. We didn't drink it. We were helping people."

She refused to pay.

The only direct flight to New Zealand on Garuda International does not leave Bali until 10.35 tonight and would not arrive in Auckland until tomorrow. Garuda's other flights arrive on Thursday and Saturday.

Although the airline flew two extra flights yesterday morning to Sydney and Perth, it had not put on extra flights to New Zealand.

But it was considering creating a further 100 seats by replacing the already full Airbus A330 with a Boeing 747.

Garuda spokeswoman Deanna Mihaljevich said some New Zealand passengers had already taken earlier flights to Australia to connect to New Zealand. It would put on an bigger plane if there was demand today.

Bali messages

New Zealand travellers in Bali, and their families in New Zealand, can post messages on our Bali Messages page.

Foreign Affairs advice to New Zealanders

* Travellers should defer travel to Bali

* NZers in Bali should keep a low profile and remain calm

* Foreign Affairs Hotline: 0800 432 111

Feature: Bali bomb blast

Pictures from the scene of the blast

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