"Lucky to be alive and unlucky to be in a landslide" Australians Cheryl and Darren Gilroy were overcome with emotion when they visited Orua Bay a year after their bach collapsed. The couple and Cheryl's mother nearly lost their lives. Video / Dean Purcell
Walking along the beach at Ōrua Bay for the first time, Darren and Cheryl Gilroy feel lucky to be alive.
The New South Wales couple are rebuilding their lives after their rented Airbnb holiday house collapsed in the aftermath of the Auckland floods last year.
“It’s so peaceful here and it’s hard to think we could have lost our lives here. Ōrua Bay is beautiful, it would have been nice to put some rods out, go for beach walks and take the canoes out and chill. But it turned out to be the holiday from hell,” Cheryl said.
Australians Cheryl and Darren Gilroy return to Ōrua Bay a year after their bach collapsed on top of them and they nearly lost their lives. Photo / Dean Purcell
What remains on the empty section is a mattress, two crushed water tanks and towering trees precariously perched high above.
About 11.30am on February 1 last year, the two-storey bach was knocked off its foundations, sending it 15m down a cliff.
Days earlier, torrential rain in the Auckland region had caused severe flooding and damage. The owner of the property texted the Gilroys to warn them of the heavy rain and suggested they could reschedule, but the couple decided to go ahead with the holiday plans.
Darren and Cheryl Gilroy, and Cheryl's mother Shirley, were injured after their Airbnb bach collapsed on top of them in Ōrua Bay beach at Manukau Heads. Photo / Michael Craig
Cheryl and her mother were upstairs reading while Darren was downstairs snoozing. He slept through the first rumble, but woke suddenly when he heard the retaining wall fall. He called to his wife and mother-in-law to evacuate immediately.
Two minutes later there was a thunderous rumbleand Darren yelled out, “Grab your passports, wallets and get out.”
Darren Gilroy heard the retaining wall of their Ōrua Bay bach fall and yelled out to his wife Cheryl and his mother-in-law Shirley to get out. Photo / Andrew Bayly
“I told mum, ‘run as fast as you can’. We went on to the veranda at the top of the stairs then the house hit us and pushed us forward.
“The house, the trees, and everything in it hurled us on to the beach. As I tumbled, I thought, ‘this is it I am going to die’,” Cheryl said.
Darren was also taken out by the house and landed on his head. He fractured his leg and could hear his ribs crack.
Darren Gilroy is treated after his leg was shattered. He was buried in debris when the bach in Ōrua Bay collapsed in the aftermath of the Auckland floods. Photo / Supplied
“There was blood everywhere, I could see a bone sticking out of it and thought s*** that’s not good.”
Andy Fennell, a builder who was working on a house six doors down, says he heard an indescribable loud noise. He noticed a slip hit the back of the house near the Gilroys, then ran to the beach where he saw Cheryl and her mother on the balcony upstairs.
“Then the earth started to move, I saw the trees starting to come down the hill — I shouted, ‘get out get out get out’. It was over in seconds and the house collapsed,” Fennell said.
Darren had been hit by the retaining wall .
Andy Fennell saved Darren Gilroy's life by making a tourniquet out of his shoe laces. Photo / Dean Purcell
“He had blood all over his face and looked like something out of the Munsters. I took off my shoelaces and tied them tight around his leg, he was losing lots of blood.”
Then Cheryl came over and said, “My mother is under there.”
While Cheryl stayed with Darren, Fennell and another neighbour went to find Shirley who was trapped under roofing, beams and a ranch slider with shattered glass.
“We could see her from the waist up, but she was trapped from the waist down. I looked at the leaning roof structure. If we’d taken more debris out it would’ve crushed her. Urban Search and Rescue used steel poles to brace the roof so they could get access to Shirley. Lucky it wasn’t high tide — it could have been a very different outcome,” Fennell said.
Debris from the house collapse at Ōrau Bay in Manukau Heads in the aftermath of the Auckland floods. Cheryl's mother, Shirley, was trapped under debris for two hours. Photo / Supplied
Critical care paramedic Marcel Driessen, from Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter, says the landslide was “carnage”.
“Darren was white as a ghost and his leg was munted. The tourniquet was a lifesaver, but he shattered his bone. We topped him up with a unit of blood to help with the circulation.
“I have seen a few houses collapse, but nothing as dramatic or catastrophic. I can’t believe no one was killed. We put him on the back of a ute and loaded him into the helicopter,” Driessen said.
His colleague, Ross Aitken, was lowered about 25m from the helicopter to the bach. He assessed the scene safety and figured out how to extract Cheryl’s mother out of the debris.
Australians Cheryl and Darren Gilroy meeting with critical care paramedic Ross Aitken, Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew, pilot Simon Owen, and critical care paramedic Marcel Driessen. Photo / Dean Purcell
Pilot Simon Owen says he observed the risk of further potential slips from the uprooted trees. His helicopter was left running on the beach ready to airlift Darren to Auckland hospital.
“Auckland Control requested medical priority and gave us a direct route and other planes to Auckland had to be redirected.”
A year on, Darren has had seven operations. He needs his broken bones to heal before a pin in his leg can be removed. He relies on heavy doses of antibiotics to prevent infections. He has torn the rotating muscle off his shoulder and has damaged vertebrae.
Darren Gilroy in Auckland hospital. He shattered his leg after the bach in Ōrua Bay collapsed in the aftermath of the Auckland floods. Photo / Supplied
Although Cheryl was lucky to escape relatively unscathed, her health has deteriorated and she is learning to live with pain in her legs, shoulders and neck. She has a phobia about trees and is easily triggered by loud noises.
The Gilroys never wanted to come back to New Zealand after their horrific ordeal, but Cheryl didn’t want to miss her mother’s 84th birthday and Darren wanted to personally thank the first responders who rescued them.
Cheryl and Darren Gilroy were overcome with emotion when they visited Ōrua Bay a year after their bach collapsed. The couple and Cheryl's mother nearly lost their lives. Photo / Dean Purcell
This week the pilot, the paramedics and the patients were reunited at Ardmore base.
Cheryl was overcome with emotion. “I have suppressed my emotions and not dealt with them. Darren wanted to meet the guys, but I was apprehensive — then I changed my mind last minute and I am glad I did.”
Darren says he is mentally strong, but was upset seeing how stressed Cheryl was dealing with the insurance companies.
“It has hit me at times. Cheryl was having a rough time with the insurance and I cried seeing her so stressed and I couldn’t do anything. This was a freak accident. We were at the wrong place at the wrong time. I feel lucky to be alive and unlucky to be in a landslide.”
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist. She has worked for the Herald since 2007 and was previously a commissioner at TVNZ and a current affairs producer for 60 minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.
