KEY POINTS:
The kiwi "can do" attitude is one reason many travellers think they are invincible.
That's the verdict of Karl Dixon, travel claims manager for IAG (Insurance Australia Group) which includes brands such as State, NZI and Mike Henry Travel Insurance.
In his time, Dixon has dealt with thousands of cases in which New Zealanders overseas have needed medical help, and some have needed to be airlifted home.
Young Kiwis thought they were "bulletproof" and set off on backpacking holidays without travel insurance, he said.
But the costs of an air evacuation, or treatment in an expensive overseas hospital, could be major.
Someone injured on an outer Fiji island would need to be flown to the mainland by helicopter then by air ambulance to New Zealand, he said.
The cost would be between $70,000 and $80,000.
Recently, a New Zealander who suffered the bends while diving in Vanuatu needed to be flown home by air ambulance because of the lack of decompression facilities on the island.
And a woman in North Africa paralysed in a fall while mountain biking needed to be flown home with two doctors in attendance.
A woman with ongoing heart problems was flown from Europe to New Zealand at a cost of $340,000.
