This is Christine Thirling's best-ever Christmas and not because she's getting diamonds or a bestseller.
"You can't have a better gift than to have your husband back," said the 45-year-old Ruakaka woman, whose husband Andreas emerged from four nights lost in the rugged Kaimanawa Ranges a month ago.
It could have been
a very sad Christmas in the Thirling household.
On a deer-hunting expedition with two friends in November, a wrong turn pitched 50-year-old Andreas - a computer consultant with German army training - into dense bush.
He's been branded brave and bright for surviving five days in freezing weather on his wits, a muesli bar and ferns, but Andreas feels a bit of a fool.
"They think I'm a hero but I think I'm just a blimming arsehole who made mistakes at the beginning and brought so many people in (to search for me)."
After his mate walked out to raise the alarm, more than 40 volunteers from the central North Island joined the search, using helicopters, dogs and kayaks.
"I feel sad I've created such trouble for people. Whenever I have the ability, I express my thankfulness," Andreas said.
Andreas lost his compass when his zip was ripped open crawling through tough bush. His Global Positioning System (GPS) batteries ran out, so he used the ones from his digital camera sparingly to get a bearing when the sun wasn't shining.
Getting lost happened so quickly, he said, and if it ever occurs again he'll stop and try not to panic. "Sit down, think and trace back. Here was my first error."
Data from the GPS showed Andreas came close to base camp.
On the first day he cut himself a ``lifesaving stick and headed towards a hut he spotted in the distance, but his damaged left eye - a chisel splinter landed in it when he was 17 - makes him veer right, so he missed it.
Over the five days, Elton John's Crocodile Rock buzzed in his head, as well as a song from a favourite Polish band.
He slept just a few hours in total.
He focused on survival: Fires weren't seen by rescuers, and he knew helicopters wouldn't be able to spot him under the bush canopy.
Hypothermia kicked in on the third day, and he felt his body start to switch off. On his last night in the bush a "voice told him `get up as soon as you see your shoes, and don't stop walking".
Apart from thinking about his wife and kids, Thomas, 26 today, and Karina, who turned 22 days after he was found, Andreas was determined to survive his bush ordeal so he could see out his goal of getting New Zealand citizenship.
The Thirling's came out from Germany 12 years ago, intending to use New Zealand as a stepping stone to Australia. But "it is too nice here," says Andreas.
Now, with the help of an octogenarian computer client from Waipu, Andreas is writing a book about the experience.
It's part thank-you, part explanation, part education, and they'll pen a few pages every week until the story has been told.
There will be photos of edible plants. Andreas said he ate the wrong ones, pepperleaf and a couple of ferns. His voice turned high - "like a eunuch" - he lost nearly 10kg over five days, and his stomach is still tender.
"My Maori friends said you could have eaten this thing, and that thing."
Meanwhile, a scrawnier Andreas reckons he isn't such a grump since his ordeal, and is more sociable.
He is easing back into hunting, his sights set on a goose for the family's traditional German Christmas meal on Monday.
Three weeks later, he's heading back to the same valley in the Kaimanawanas in search of deer and fodder for his book.
"It's such a nice spot," he said.
This is Christine Thirling's best-ever Christmas and not because she's getting diamonds or a bestseller.
"You can't have a better gift than to have your husband back," said the 45-year-old Ruakaka woman, whose husband Andreas emerged from four nights lost in the rugged Kaimanawa Ranges a month ago.
It could have been
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