KEY POINTS:
A teenager was knocked down a mountain in the central North Island by a falling boulder that cracked his skull.
Tom Yates, 16, said he felt like he was going to die after the dinner-plate sized rock knocked him a few metres down the 45 degree slope on Mt Ngauruhoe on Wednesday morning.
He was flown to Waikato Hospital after spending up to an hour bleeding on the freezing mountainside.
He said he was happy to be alive.
"I couldn't believe it," he told the Dominion Post from his hospital bed.
"I thought I was in some form of hell. I was throwing up and coughing up blood. I was in so much pain and it was so cold up there. I just felt so helpless, like I was going to die."
Tom had been walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing with family and friends.
"The stone just came hurtling down the hill. Rueben [his 14-year-old brother] - ahead on the climb - saw it, but it was too quick. It bounced beside him and went straight into my face."
He suffered a 15cm cut to his head and severe bruising to his neck and collarbone.
He was still in a lot of pain, but it could have been worse, Tom said.
"I'm really glad I'm not brain-damaged and don't have any broken bones."
The crossing, which at least two people have died attempting, is considered the best one-day trek in New Zealand.
- NZPA
