"I thought it was a good idea at the time. It wasn't."
A sober friend drove them to the Mosgiel Tavern, and it was nearby on a back street where Mr Vermeulen decided to "surf" on the roof of the car as it was being driven about 50km/h.
He fell off when the vehicle went around a corner, fracturing his skull and breaking his collar bone as well as four ribs.
Mr Vermeulen was in an induced coma for about 30 hours, then spent two weeks in Dunedin Hospital and two weeks in the ISIS Centre at Wakari Hospital before being discharged on December 6.
He could only remember half an hour of the morning of November 6, as well as about 15 minutes of being inside the tavern.
"Doctors say I will never remember anything more from that day."
Mr Vermeulen hoped to return to work as a builder next month, if given the "all clear" by doctors and occupational therapists.
"They say my recovery has gone extremely well, that I should have been in a wheelchair. When I went to ISIS they expected me to be a vegetable, to do nothing."
He warned others about behaving recklessly, and had come to appreciate the importance of wearing protective head gear.
"I was lucky. I still can't sleep. I have to take sleeping pills."
He was barred from playing contact sports for about two years to protect his brain and allow it to fully recover.
It was the third time Mr Vermeulen had faced serious injury.
About five years ago, he was hit by a truck and trailer while walking in Dukes Rd, and about three years ago he fell about 8m down a cliff at Tomahawk while rock climbing.
"I had nine lives, but I don't have nine now. They're gone."
Mr Vermeulen said the driver of the vehicle on which he was standing had been charged with reckless driving causing injury, although he took "full responsibility" for the incident.
