Time for a brandy after flip in wind

WRITE-OFF: The women's campervan "Brandy Thyme", which sustained irreparable damage after flipping on its side on State Highway 2.

Two Greytown women are feeling "very, very lucky" after their campervan was blown off the road in the midst of Wednesday's storm.

Raewyn Linkhorn and Jill Erikson were travelling home after a Lioness conference, when their motorhome, nicknamed "Brandy Thyme", flipped on its side on State Highway 2 outside of Carterton.

The vehicle, which landed on its passenger side, sustained irreparable damage - but the women walked away relatively unscathed.

"I got a bit of bruising and grazing - but nothing worse that if I'd been out in the garden pruning roses," said Ms Linkhorn, who was in the passenger seat.

"I've mainly got bruises on my hips and arm from when I was up against the door - they're pretty colourful. Jill wasn't hurt at all. We were just a bit shaken. We are so lucky."

After the accident, passersby stopped to assist the women, and had to kick in the front windscreen to set them free.

They were examined by paramedics from Wellington Free Ambulance, and the motorhome was towed away by firefighters who attended the scene.

"They said it's a write-off," said Ms Linkhorn. "But never mind - we're alive."

She said the accident "all happened in slow motion."

"The wind swept through and took us with it," she said. "Jill was driving, and said, 'I can't control it.' Then it tipped over, very slowly."

She and Ms Erikson wanted to thank the members of the public who freed them from the vehicle, and sat with them until the ambulance arrived. "We don't know who they were - they were just Mr and Mrs Joe Public," said Ms Linkhorn. "But we're very grateful. They looked after us so well."

She said the paramedics, firefighters, and two police constables who drove them home to Greytown were all "brilliant".