"I thought that maybe the neighbours were out hunting, so I sat out on the deck but couldn't see anything, usually you see a spotlight (if someone is hunting).
"I looked out to the road and a milk tanker with its hazard lights on and I saw another couple of vehicles put its their hazard lights on, so I hopped in the car and went to the scene, and it wasn't good," Harvey told the Herald.
Arriving at the crash with firemen already on the scene, Harvey could hear a baby crying in the back seat of one of the cars.
"There were two little boys in the back, another gentleman was holding a little two-year old and got him out of the car.
"I said 'I'll take the baby' so I just picked him up and comforted him as best I could until the ambulance arrived, that's all I could do," she said.
After the ambulances arrived, Harvey said she was home for 10 minutes and heard a helicopter arrive to pick up the children.
"I just hope they're alright. You don't know what internal injuries they have."
A number of crashes have occurred around the Harvey family's home, she recalls.
"(We had) a fatality about a year or so ago when a young man hit a power pole just south of our house, and my husband was just saying someone had gone through our fence probably 20 metres away from the accident.
"It's a long stretch of road that people can put their foot down and go quite fast, I don't know what caused the accident last night, but it was just horrific."
The crash reinforced how precious life was to Harvey, with last night's events still in the forefront of her mind.
"The thing that keeps me going is that if it happened to me, I would hope someone would step in and take charge of my kids," Harvey said.
Harvey says she would not have been able to do the things she done without first aid training she received last year.
The two children were flown to Kew Hospital in Invercargill. The toddler had moderate injuries and the baby had minor injuries. Both are being supported by members of their family with the situation deemed to be non life-threating.
Police continue to investigate the crash involving two vehicles, with State Highway 6 to be temporarily closed tomorrow.
It's been a terrible few hours on the country's roads.
A motorcyclist was killed in a collision with a car in the South Island town of Motueka, NZN reports.
Emergency services were called to the crash at the corner of Thorp St and Glenaven Dr at about 6am on Monday.
The driver of the car had been left with head injuries, although they are not believed to be serious. Diversions are in place as police investigate.
Police are pleading with drivers to take more responsibility after a lethal weekend on the country's roads.
Nine people died between Friday and the early hours of Monday morning, bringing the road toll to 292 for 2017, up 41 on the same time last year.
At least 10 others have been injured or seriously injured.
Assistant Commissioner Road Policing Sandra Venables says this weekend's fatalities will have left families devastated up and down the country.
"Every death is reported as a number, but each number has a face, a name and a family. They leave behind loved ones whose lives have been changed forever.
She said it was too early to give exact details of the causes of the weekend's crashes but speed, fatigue, losing control and crossing the centre-line were all factors.
"We have another long weekend coming up when traditionally more people will be out on the roads. Everybody needs to focus on getting to their destination and home again safely."
