Nauseous and unused to driving a manual car, Irena Kamenica thought she had put her husband's BMW into reverse gear. Instead, she was in first. It was a mistake which almost cost her her life.
Kamenica, 36, was rescued on Friday afternoon, almost 17 hours after ploughing 60metres down a cliff on the Rimutaka Hill road north of Wellington.
She was taken to Masterton Hospital but was discharged within an hour with just a sprained ankle.
Speaking exclusively to the Herald on Sunday at the couple's Masterton home yesterday, her husband Zarko Kamenica said: "She quite often gets car sick. She was feeling sicker and sicker and thought she was going to vomit, so she drove off the road and parked the car.
"When she felt better, she had tried to back out but put the car into first. So when she put her foot on the accelerator, she went forward and over the cliff." She was able to call for help only after inching her way to the back of the car to find her cellphone when it got light.
He said his wife had learned to drive only when the pair came to New Zealand 10 years ago, and she had only ever driven an automatic.
He had not been worried about her being missing, as she had planned to stay in Wellington until Saturday.
"Even if I had been [worried], I don't know if I could have got hold of her. She doesn't like cellphones - the radiation - so she keeps it turned off."
He praised police, fire and ambulance staff who turned out to help search for his wife - but slammed the state of the hill road.
"Something really needs to be done about it."
Irena Kamenica was at home but sedated and sleeping yesterday.
The couple's daughter Ana was being looked after by a family friend.
