Bravery awards for golden Whanganui locals for river rescue

Bridge to Nowhere owners Mandy Jackson and Joe Adam. Photo / Simon Waters

Navigating the Whanganui River in the middle of the night with blinding fog and a critical patient on board his jet boat, Joe Adam didn't think they were going to make it in time.

The Bridge to Nowhere lodge owner and his partner Mandy Jackson were last night awarded a NZ Search and Rescue Gold Award for their efforts that May 6, 2017, night. St John paramedic Steve Orr Steve also received a Gold Award.

Adam and Jackson had taken their boat out to rescue a man from a campsite in a remote area of Whanganui National Park.

"I've lived on the river most of my life and I have been up that river every day, but in the blind fog and the dark, like when you can't see two feet in front of you, the whole scene changes," Adam said.

"It becomes very scary because you can't see what's in front of you. Even though you know the river, it's very intense. I didn't think we were going to get him out, to be honest."

The group were called out to transport the patient when the rescue helicopter was unable to take off in the heavy mist. Adam, Jackson, and paramedic Steve Orr needed to get the patient to a hospital urgently, but the conditions were against them.

"We basically had to go 30km down the river blind in a jet boat," Adam said.

The pair do a lot of rescues on the river - they've saved about 87 people over the past two months. They say it is just part of their job.

When they arrived on the scene to transport the patient, he was unconscious and "virtually dead".

Steve Orr, St John paramedic. Photo / Simon Waters

"By the time the chopper arrived they couldn't feel a heartbeat, it was that weak."

Orr ran out of portable oxygen to give the patient on the boat ride to the ambulance, and had to hand-ventilate the man for at least two hours to keep him alive.

Adam said what would normally be a 20 minute trip took them an hour and a half.

"When we came out of the fog and see the ambulance sitting in front of us on the wharf, yeah, it was a real relief."

Adam said he and Jackson were "honoured" to be receiving a NZ Search and Rescue Gold Award for Operational Activity for their actions that night.

"A lot of people do a lot of things in New Zealand . . . I feel really humbled for what's happening and honoured for receiving this."

He and Jackson were the "guardians" on the river.

"It's our job."