Man rescued by surfers after treading water for 27 hours

An Australian surfer who helped rescue a South African man after he was lost in Indonesian waters for 27 hours has told of the moment he and eight mates spotted the man, still alive, bobbing in the ocean.

When Perth lawyer Colin Chenu and his mates saw ''a red head and a white arm waving'' - 19 kilometres from the Mentawai Islands, off the west coast of Sumatra - they threw a lifebuoy into the water and jumped over the side of their Sydney-owned charter boat and swam to the stricken man, who was dehydrated and suffering a gash from a seagull attack. He had also been circled by a shark and stung by jellyfish.

Embracing his rescuers, the South African man, whose wife had been told he was dead, said: ''I love you Aussies, I'm never going to bag you guys ever again.''

Mr Chenu, 49, said: ''It was a feeling of sheer elation, when we dragged him onto the boat, we were all pumping the air, screaming.

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''He was a pretty tough bugger - a surfer and mountain biker, and he told us he had been treading water the whole time in rough seas,'' Mr Chenu told Fairfax Media from Tua Paget. ''He said he'd been seasick the night before and vomited so much he blacked out and fell overboard from his boat, the Nagalout. He said he woke up in the water and saw his boat sailing into the distance.''

Mr Chenu, a father of four, was on a surfing holiday with eight mates off the Mentawai Islands. They were on their way back to Australia when one of their Indonesian crew heard from the harbourmaster at Tua Paget that a man had been lost at sea. The boat's skipper, Tony Eltherington, sprung into action and began a search and rescue effort for the missing man, Brett Archibald.

''Eltherington got the co-ordinates of where the man supposedly fell overboard and insisted we mount a search,'' said Mr Chenu. ''We headed out in terrible weather in a small 25-foot boat and spent about four hours looking, but we were forced to turn back before dark. It was blowing 20 knots, there were so many peaks and troughs and we thought, 'This poor bastard is out in this?'''

The next day, the wind abated and visibility was much better.

''About 4am the next day - 24 hours after Archibald had gone overboard - the skipper wanted to give it one last try and told us we'd be at the spot by daybreak,'' Mr Chenu said. ''The one saving grace was that the water is warm. If this had happened in Australian waters, he would never have survived.''

The men were taking turns with the binoculars when, at 7.15am, one of the Indonesian crew yelled out: ''There he is!'''

Suffering a bloody nose and shrivelled fingers, Mr Archibald collapsed into the arms of his rescuers and then found the strength to climb onto the deck of the Barrenjoey amid cheers from the Australians.

Heaping praise on the surfers who didn't give up, he was examined by a specialist neurologist among the Aussie surfing group, and was fed and rehydrated.

Mr Archibald then called his distraught wife in Cape Town, who was being consoled by friends and family after the South African embassy had advised her that her husband had been lost at sea.

The Perth mates were on the surfing trip to celebrate Simon Carlin's 50th birthday - and they found Mr Archibald on the day of the birthday.

Source : http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-tells-of-miracle-rescue-at-sea-20130420-2i72z.html

Checking up on a mate after 72 years

Over scones, sausage rolls and a couple of cold ones, two Diggers who enlisted together in 1941 finally catch up.

by Tim Barlass

Seventy-two years is a long time to spend wondering how your mate is. For some it is more than a lifetime and then it is too late.

But not so for Harry ''Hal'' Wolters and Cecil ''Buff'' Creswick.

The former schoolmates from Penrith High travelled together to the Sydney Showground to enlist on March 3, 1941, during World War II.

A fear of Japanese invasion was mounting and the bombing of Darwin was 11 months away.

Told to go and get written consent because they were under 21, they went to the Captain Cook Hotel, spent two shillings and sixpence on a beer and forged each other's parents' signatures. On April 1, they travelled again to Sydney and became separated.

After so many years, they each came to assume that the other had not made it home from war.
But on the Easter weekend Mr Wolters, now 90, took action to find out what had happened to Mr Creswick, also 90. He placed a small advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald's RSVP column.

But why now?

Mr Wolters has suffered a series of serious illnesses. The list would make a sizeable contribution to a medical dictionary.

''The Department of Veterans' Affairs has been, excuse me, bloody wonderful,'' he said. ''I just wanted to know if he [Mr Creswick] was still going.''

Mr Wolters had thought about his old friend often over the intervening years. ''We parted in 1941 and we haven't been in contact since,'' he said, adding: ''My wife Dorothy said: 'What are you worried about? You've only got five minutes to live?'''

Last week he was working, as he often does, in his shed when the phone rang.

''The voice said, 'It's Buff Creswick here.' I said, 'Holy, bloody hell.' I was just about dumbstruck.''
On Friday, Mr Creswick left Blacktown and boarded a plane to travel to his old schoolmate's property in Kempsey, north of Port Macquarie. The two nonagenarians embraced, complimented each other on being alive and then, briefly, Mr Wolters was overwhelmed.
Then began the formidable task of catching up.

Mrs Wolters had baked scones and sausage rolls and there were a few cold beers in the fridge.

As they chatted on the verandah, it emerged that they had almost got involved in the same branch of the war effort. Mr Creswick in the 2nd Infantry Battalion was sent to Syria and Beirut but was among the troops brought back to defend Australia. He was then sent to the Kokoda Trail fighting the Japanese in conditions he described as ''horrific''. ''We started out with a strength of 697 fighting men and finished up left with 87. I was one of the lucky ones,'' he said.
But what finally took him away from the fighting was that he became severely ill with malaria.
He was regarded as a useful experiment subject to help in the fight against the disease at the Medical Research Unit based in Cairns.

Mr Wolters ended up at the same place, although probably at a different time. He was also enlisted as a guinea pig but one they wanted to deliberately infect with the disease.
They are planning the next reunion. There's more to discuss.

Source -http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/checking-up-on-a-mate-after-72-years-20130406-2hdn3.html

Ruby Rose cancels tour dates after announcing 'losing battle with depression'

AUSSIE DJ, model and television presenter Ruby Rose has cancelled tour dates after announcing she is ''losing my battle with depression''. 

The 27-year-old took to Twitter to apologise to fans for cancelling her gigs this month after ''feeling down'' and depressed.

''It is with great sadness that despite everything I have tried in the short time I was given I am still losing my battle with depression,'' she said.

''As for cancelled dates this month I'm sorry. Very. But these things need attention sometimes. I urge u all to do the same if feeling down x.''

Support from fans offering encouragement flooded her Twitter wall.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle posted his support.

''I stand with you in your battle with depression @RubyRose1. Anything: just you ask! Your friend Robert,'' he said.

Channel 9's The Voice finalist Sarah De Bono said: ''Hope your okay girl, chin up! This crazy world has its ups and downs. I got your back if you ever need to talk, holla x.''

Rose was quick to confirm she was tackling the issue head on.

''No no! Im not giving up. You know that aint me! Im just addressing it and putting it before anything else right now,'' she tweeted.

''It is because of this that I will be making it my priority to take some time off work to make me the woman who once inspired so many.''

High-profile Catholic priest Bob Maguire backed the model, stating she had shown support for him in the past.

“My respectful support 4 Ruby Rose on her pilgrimage...she was there 4 me during Big Day Out 3 years ago..all in this together,” he tweeted.

Rose later tweeted: “God! Thank you so much for all these beautiful tweets. Another reminder of what is important. I wasn't expecting that all.”

Rose has previously admitted being the victim of schoolyard bullying at University High, Parkville, in Melbourne's north.

"I absolutely hated school. There were five girls and one boy who picked on me badly. They followed me all the time after school, just yelling abuse at me. I would get so petrified I'd just run home - I never retaliated," she said in 2009.

"I never cried in front of them. I think that made it worse. They were determined to break me. Sometimes they would just come up and punch me in the head, but there was a lot of intimidation."

It is understood Rose's mother only learned of the abuse when her daughter ended up in hospital after a girl bashed her with a metal chair at a cafe across the road from her school.

Rose said while five girls and one boy were suspended from the school for three weeks over the attack, she had been left battling depression.

"I was scarily depressed," she said.

"But I got help. I was lucky, had counselling and was on anti-depressants for a time.

"I guess there's always one or two in every school that get picked on. I was a sporty kid, played footy with the boys, liked Ninja Turtles. I was just a kid.

"I never knew why. I guess I was just a bit different."

Rose's management could not to be contacted but she was scheduled to play at gigs across Australia including an upcoming show at Melbourne's Love Machine on April 20.

Anyone experiencing personal problems can call Lifeline on 131 114.

Source - http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/ruby-rose-cancels-tour-dates-after-announcing-losing-battle-with-depression/story-fn907478-1226609999166

'Awesome' students hailed for woman's lake rescue

A group of young students has been hailed for their bravery after they saved a woman who crashed her car into a lake in Sydney yesterday.

The TAFE students swam into the lake at Olympic Park, in the city's west, to pull the woman from her sinking vehicle.

Cooper Judd, one of the students, says they were on a bus returning from an excursion to the Royal Easter Show when they noticed the woman hunched over the steering wheel of her car as it ploughed towards the lake.

"We looked back and we saw her coming down these stairs. We were telling the bus driver to stop," he said.

"All of us just ran down. Tom and Luke ran into the water and got her window down.

"Then me and Blake came in after and me and Blake pulled her out of the car and got her back up here."

Tom Walmslui was one of the students who reached the woman first.

"A few of the boys saw the lady hunched over the steering wheel. We got the bus driver to turn around and me and Luke jumped out the emergency exit and just jumped straight in and swam out to her," he said.

"All her windows were up, so I had to push her windows down. She wasn't ready to come out, she kept saying that her daughter and husband were still in the car, but there was no-one else."

The woman was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Her husband, David Milkovic, says the young men deserve bravery awards.

"I'd just like to thank the boys from the bottom of my heart. Without them who knows what could have happened, my wife could have died," he said.

"They deserve bravery awards. They're awesome, awesome fellas."

Source - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-19/27awesome27-students-hailed-for-rescuing-woman-from-lake/4582428