Faye Emery and chihuahua Bubbles loving Taupō a year on from crash

ONE YEAR ON: Faye Emery and beloved chihuahua Bubbles. Hundreds of people searched for Bubbles in 2019 when she went missing after a car accident. Photo/Rachel Canning

Something to celebrate.

"There was the beginning when I got smashed up and Bubbles was lost. And this is the end, a year on from Bubbles being found and I've moved to Taupō."

On January 18, 2019, Faye Emery and her chihuahua Bubbles and three of her great-grandchildren were travelling from Auckland to Tūrangi when disaster struck and they were involved in a serious car accident on Wairākei Drive, near the cafe Kefi at the Hub.

A Swiss tourist crossed into the oncoming lane while executing a right hand turn into Huka Falls Rd. Faye was critically injured and one of the children received a head injury. Bubbles ran away and was lost for 17 days.

Now Faye, 69, wants to acknowledge everyone involved with the search for Bubbles and the first responders at the scene who assisted her and the three children.

A year on from the day an announcement went over the Pak'nSave Taupō tannoy that Bubbles had been found, Faye says Pak'nSave are hosting a barbecue this Saturday in the supermarket foyer. In hospital for three months, Faye didn't get to meet any of the hundreds of people involved with the search for Bubbles and would like to hear their stories first hand.

"It would be nice if they could come up to me and say "I was in the hunt, my name is X. I want to shake their hand," says Faye.

Local man Ken Moody told her that people in Australia and the United States were contacting him, and wanting to catch a plane over to help find the missing chihuahua.

"It was so beautiful. Lots of people followed the story from day one. People were out searching till 4am."

On February 4, 2019, 17 days after the accident, Taupō business owner Maria Yeoman spotted the little white dog coming out of a hole in the bank a few metres from Wairākei Drive. Faye waited until her daughter was in Taupō and one month ago they went to thank Maria, turning down a reward.

"I said to her, 'You don't know me but I am going to give you the biggest hug'. After the hug, I said, 'You know what that was for? No? Remember Bubbles?' And then we had an even bigger hug."

Still on crutches and not yet able to walk to the dairy, Faye says it's been a very rough year recovering. Having moved to Tūrangi 18 months before the accident, Faye was so overwhelmed with the Taupō community support she moved to Taupō last year.

"I love it here because of the kind, beautiful people."

A new lounge suite for Christmas that extends out for sleeping has resulted in frequent visits from friends.

"My Auckland friends come down on the bus and stay for a few days or a week. It's like a hotel!"

This time last year Faye's great-grandchildren were in hospital. This year they were at school for the start of the new school year. Faye says one of them had headaches for a few months after the accident, but otherwise they all made a full recovery.

"They were a bit scared to come back to Taupō at first. They didn't want to be in another car accident."

A great lover of chihuahuas, Faye says that Bubbles really seems to understand what Faye is saying to her and is a wonderful pet. Bubbles is always adorned in a cute outfit and Faye's friend Sue Bang, also a chihuahua owner, has made Bubbles an orange dress to wear to the barbecue on Saturday.

"I have two chihuahua dogs, and I got them fixed two weeks before we met Bubbles. They would have made beautiful babies!" says Sue.

Sue says it's amazing Bubbles survived by herself for 17 days without ready access to food or water and also marvels that Bubbles didn't get run over.

* Faye Emery extends a barbecue invitation to all the people who responded to the car accident, helped with the search for Bubbles, or extended kindness to her, her family and Bubbles. Please make yourself known to Faye at the Pak'nSave foyer on Saturday at 2pm. Otherwise Faye can be contacted at fayesrabbit@gmail.com, Ph 027 346 5175.