Couple share rescue stories
Angie and Garth London are the welcoming couple behind Whakaipo Lodge. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
Hosts of this weekend’s Whakaipo Lodge Summer Concert have more reasons than most to support the Greenlea Rescue helicopter.
By Dan Hutchinson
Lodge owners Angie and Garth London have both been rescued by the service in separate incidents, eight years apart.
In fact, Garth is lucky to be alive after being caught in a rockfall while mountaineering on a Mt Ruapehu glacier.
He “played skittle that day” as he navigated the glacier with crampons and ice axe.
“I don’t know how fast it (the rock) was going but I tell you, it bounced ... about five or six metres away and when it hit me it was chest height and I reckon I went 80 metres down the glacier.”
He suffered six broken ribs, a punctured lung, broken hand and other injuries.
“I was lucky because I had two very good, capable people with me and the rescue helicopter were a godsend you know.
“What they were really worried about was that I had a ruptured spleen because of where it hit me and how it had done so much damage.
“I didn’t have a ruptured spleen, but six broken ribs on one side is not a flash injury to have. I’m up to nine (broken ribs) in total now.”
It was a busy day for the rescue helicopter.
“That same day there was a woman who broke her leg on the Tongariro River, rafting. She had to wait until I got taken to Rotorua and then they went back and got her.”
Angie had her accident eight years later in 2019, while mountainbiking near the summit of the Timber Trail.
Her bike suffered gear failure and because she was clipped in she went over the side into a ditch, and her arm swelled up so badly she couldn’t ride. Her companions, including Garth, thought she had broken it and called the Greenlea Rescue.
The couple even had the very same paramedic descend out of the sky.
“The rescue helicopter came and Tony came down on a winch thing and got me sorted,” Angie said.
The couple ran the Timber Trail Lodge for a year in 2020, at a time when the borders were closed.
“New Zealanders were stuck, right, so everyone went and bought e-bikes and went mountainbiking.”
Greenlea Rescue Helicopter lands on the Tongariro Crossing in 2024 - one of 534 missions carried last year. Photo / Greenlea Rescue Helicopter
As a result, the lodge had its busiest year, and there were also a lot of rescues happening on the popular moutainbiking trail. The lodge was the first sign of civilisation and had a satellite phone.
“The number of times we had rescues out of there was unbelievable.
“We had some guys ride out of there – and it’s about 10-12 kilometres to the lodge and so they’d come off and have a dislocated shoulder. The shoulder’s down here somewhere and they’ve ridden 12 k’s with a dislocated shoulder ... desperation, needs must.
“Otherwise people would ride out and say we’ve left our mate here, he’s injured. We became the first port of call.”
Whakaipo Lodge Summer Concert
So now, the Whakaipo Lodge Summer Concert is a fundraiser for Greenlea and they typically raise about $2000, but people are also encouraged to make a donation to Greenlea Rescue, which is running a campaign to raise money for a winch for its new helicopter.
So far the service has raised about $415,000 of the $616,000 required.
They can host about 250 people at the event, which takes place at Whakaipo Lodge on Mapara Rd.
The concert features two bands – Silver Hammers playing The Beatles and the Andrew London Duo.
Andrew London is Garth’s cousin and is an accomplished musician based out of Wellington.
Andrew had a very succesful band called Hot Club Sandwich and is also involved in another band called Too Many Chiefs, with Wayne Mason and Rob Joass.
“He was doing Flight of the Conchords stuff before Flight of the Conchords. Real Kiwi satirical stuff. Indie music, tells the stories about New Zealanders – ballads and jazz,” Angie said.
People bring gazebos, picnic baskets and the concert is a very chilled out afternoon.
They have to pay the bands and other costs associated with the event but they guarantee at least $5 per ticket goes to Greenlea Rescue.
This year sveral businesses have given them prizes to raffle off so there will be two raffles with three prizes each, with proceeds going to the cause.
DETAILS: Gates open at 3pm, concert runs from 4pm-7pm. Free parking onsite. Tickets are $45 from Eventfinda. To support Greenlea Rescue, head to rescue.org.nz/greenlea-rescue-helicopter.
