The family of a helicopter pilot killed in a devastating fire say they have been overwhelmed with kindness from Northlanders and around the world.
Kerikeri pilot John "Prickles" de Ridder and Department of Conservation (DoC) ranger William Macrae of Awanui were on a fire reconnaissance flight on November 30, 2011 when their helicopter crashed into the sea off the Karikari Peninsula.
Six months on from the tragedy, Prickles' wife, Carol de Ridder, said the family wanted to thank the people of Northland for their overwhelming help and support.
Daughter Helen de Ridder, who lives in Whanganui, said the family had received "amazing messages from all over New Zealand and the world".
Cards and emails had come from as far away as South Africa and Canada, the UK and Afghanistan. She had been contacted by people she had never met but who had known her father.
Carol said the family had been shown great support by all those involved in the search on the night of the fire, such as fire brigades, rural fire, the Fire Service, DoC and Coastguard. Love and support had come from many others, including Prickles' colleagues at Salt Air, her bosses and workmates at Countdown, her friends in the Kerikeri Patchworkers and Quilters Club and the bridge community in which Prickles had a formidable reputation as a player.
"I didn't really realise how many people dad had touched ... there weren't many people who didn't know who Prickles was," Helen said.
Carol said the pain was no less now than after the accident, but it helped to know people were thinking of her: "People are still ringing up to support me. It's just amazing ... They'll ring up to make sure I'm fine, to see if there's anything they can do."
The de Ridder and Macrae families were presented with the proceeds of a mayoral fund appeal last month, as well as posthumous Citizen's Awards from the Far North District Council.
The de Ridders' share of the fund will help pay for a family get-together in August in Haast, where Carol and Prickles' son Logan lives with his partner Mirielle Maxwell and their young daughters, Tahlia and Willow. Helen will take her partner Peter McIntyre and their children Lily and Reef.
It will be the first time Carol has seen her newest grandchild and the first time all four grandchildren have been together.
The fund will also help Logan travel to Northland in November, when the family is planning to mark the first anniversary of Prickles' death.
Carol said Prickles was a humble man who would have refused the Citizen's Award if he was still alive.
"He'd say, 'I haven't done anything to deserve this'. He just loved to fly, and helping people whenever he could."