Queenstown woman in 20m fall tried to stop swimmer

A Lakes District Air Rescue Trust helicopter from Te Anau landed on the Shotover River bed and flew her to Southland Hospital. Photo / Flickr Creative Commons, itravelNZ

A woman is likely to spend three months in a wheelchair after plunging down a cliff near Queenstown on Saturday night while trying to stop another person going for a late-night swim.

A fellow guest at the Trelawn Place wedding, who asked not to be named, said the 45-year-old became aware a man, who had gone for a swim earlier in the day, intended to go for another dip about 10.15pm.

The venue's website boasts of an ''easy access track to our private beach on the river below''.

However, in darkness the cliff edge - estimated to be about half a metre from the track - was not obvious.

Yesterday, the Otago Daily Times reported the woman was a would-be "skinny-dipper" whose actions were slammed by Trelawn Place owner Nery Howard. However, the wedding guest told the ODT that was not the case.

After the swimmer returned to the reception without the woman, the man went down the track to look for her.

Unable to find her after 10 minutes, he realised "we were in trouble", and organised for emergency services to be called before resuming the search with an off-duty police officer, also at the wedding.

It was only then the men noticed the cliff, with an estimated 20m drop, and realised the woman had probably fallen.

Eventually the man saw the light from the woman's phone and found her ''inert'' in rosehip bushes. At that stage she had been unconscious for about 40 minutes.

"I figured the worst. I tried to get some response and then an arm moved and I realised that she was still alive."

She was flown to Southland Hospital where she had surgery for a broken pelvis.

The woman now faced a lengthy recovery, "but she's alive".

"It really is miraculous that she survived."

The man, who had not been drinking, did not believe anyone was to blame.

"She's only set off because she wanted to caution him and say it wasn't a very good idea.

"I don't believe that her actions were 'stupid' - stupid would be that she was aware there was a 20m cliff beside the path and she went off in a drunk state, regardless."