Farmer back on his feet after accident

Farmer Pieter van Leeuwen, wife Sabina and visiting friend Marvel Jansen in the new machine they will be using on their Opoutere farm after a quad bike accident left Pieter with a broken back.

Opoutere farmer Pieter van Leeuwen has a heart full of gratefulness and words full of warning after a shocking accident that left him with a broken back a month ago.

The 60-year-old is back on his feet in miraculous speed after the quad bike he was riding tipped from its stationary position and rolled backwards, leaving him trapped underneath.

Pieter has farmed his 60ha dairy block at Opoutere since 1990 and was using his quad bike to move some of his herd from a hill at the back of the property on July 6. He engaged the brake and felt it go.

"I braced myself because I thought if I keep myself strong, I wouldn't hit my head. I rolled and my back gave way. I was lying on the ground and my legs and arms were working but I had this awful pain when I moved.

"You just know that you are in a moment that you'll have to rely on other people."

Pieter lay helpless for an hour, calling for help from a neighbour who rode past but did not hear him. He was rescued when wife Sabina became worried that he hadn't returned.

Soon the local rural fire brigade, St John Ambulance and the Auckland Rescue Helicopter were on their way and Pieter was delivered to Middlemore Hospital where he said he received the greatest of care "from the cleaner to the surgeons".

"I was treated like a king," he says. "As soon as you see the St John and rural fire brigade people you feel so good.

The rural fire brigade play an important part in our community, they know where to go and could transport the St John people over the paddocks which sped things up and I benefited. It's a well-oiled system. I feel so happy to live in New Zealand."

Just two days after surgery at Middlemore Spinal Unit, Pieter was walking short distances with a walker, a milestone that he says brought a smile of surprise to the surgeon. He was discharged to continue his recovery at home just a few days after his surgery.

While angry at himself for taking the quad bike onto an area that was too steep, he warns others of how easily the machine became dangerous when used on the wrong terrain.

"They delivered our new machine today. It's about four times the price as a quad bike and it's not as manoeuvrable but I'll be staying off quad bikes. It wasn't the right machine on the farm."