Doc's husband gets emergency first aid lesson

Heather and Richard Burling in Auckland City Hospital after being airlifted there following their Great Barrier Island ordeal. Photo / Supplied

Team NZ skipper Peter Burling's GP mum teaches her partner how to fix her broken ankle after bad fall.

With her bone sticking out of her skin and her ankle at a precarious 60-degree angle, doctor Heather Burling managed to coach her husband Richard through improvising a makeshift splint from manuka branches and Kathmandu leggings.

The couple, parents of Team New Zealand captain and Olympic sailor Peter Burling, were two hours into a tramp on the remote Mt Hobson, the highest point on Great Barrier Island, on Tuesday morning when Dr Burling slipped on the wet track.

"She maybe slipped about six inches, but it just broke and one bone went right through and the other one had the two ligaments blown off," said Mr Burling.

Dr Burling, a GP, knew her foot was not in a good state - so quickly guided her husband through some first aid.

"Richard is the kind of guy who isn't really medical. He faints in dentists' waiting rooms and things.

"I looked and thought that my foot shouldn't be there but I couldn't reach my own foot so I couldn't do it myself. It was so munted, but it twisted back easily. It was like jelly - it was pretty nauseating stuff."

She believes the quick realignment saved her a lot of pain and long-term nerve damage.

"I must have had so much adrenalin that it wasn't too sore, but if Richard hadn't put it back it would have been too swollen to put back and I would have been in a lot more pain than I was."

Mr Burling, a retired teacher, said he was lucky he had to walk only 100m to get cellphone reception to call for help. Because of their remote location, they were winched off the island by the Auckland Westpac rescue helicopter and taken to Auckland City Hospital.

"The helicopter guys were so fantastic, they really went above and beyond what we expected." Unstable terrain meant that although the helicopter could land, it was too unsafe to load Dr Burling from the ground, so a winch and harness was used.

The crew flew over Mt Hobson's summit so the couple could see where they had hoped to walk.

And a crew member brought Dr Burling's phone to her in hospital after she left it in the craft.

Dr Burling had one operation on Tuesday to realign her ankle and is in Tauranga Hospital waiting for another operation.

Her foot is enmeshed in "scaffolding" to hold it in place - and she faces a long recovery period of up to 18 months.