New Zealand gave Carolyn and Rachel Lloyd a future. Now, the grateful mother and daughter want to use their futures to help ours.
The United States pair captured hearts on both sides of the Pacific when they emerged alive and largely unscathed after four nights in the bush. They had embarked on a day trek in the Tararua Forest Park near Waikanae, but got lost.
On Friday, five days after they were found by rescuers, Rachel was released from Wellington Hospital.
The 22-year-old, who is in New Zealand on a student exchange at Massey University, has returned to Palmerston North and her 47-year-old mother, who was not injured, is likely to begin her journey home to the United States today.
They remained overwhelmingly grateful to those who helped them, including Wellington Hospital, Massey University and US Embassy staff, and the search and rescue teams who plucked them from their life-threatening predicament. They were already thinking about how to "pay it forward".