"The next day I knew I had to get on another plane. How else would I get home? I was still pretty drunk and didn't care if I would be drunk when we landed in New Zealand, it was the only way to go. "The cabin crew kept bringing half-sized bottles of Drambuie and when I spilt one they gave me two to replace it."

"We landed about 3am or 4am and I thought I'd get the bus to Rotorua but Sarah was there with a family friend who stood in front of the cameras to protect me. I appreciated that very much. "We went back to his house for a while and then I started to drive home but went two blocks and realised there was no way I could drive, my hands were shaking, I couldn't even see the road."

"Sarah drove and the next day we went to Tihoi where my son Richard was at a school camp. Sitting with them there I realised how valuable children are to us, that my experience had been a test. "I went back to work two days later because my locum couldn't stay on and it was a godsend because work is ordered, orderly, it makes sense, it was where the world was right."

"However about a month later I saw a psychologist because I realised it [the near-death experience] did upset me, that I needed help. "My amazing running friend, Shirley Watson, suggested we keep on running. We ran another marathon and it was the best thing -you appreciate how good your life is. My father was in the air force and he said: 'You must get
back on the horse.'

"That November my parents took my sister and me to the Melbourne Cup. I was sick on the plane . . . terrified, frozen."

"The day Sarah flew to America as an AFS [exchange] student was the most dreadful of my life. "I made a terrible fuss but I'm fine now. "Flying doesn't faze me and I've travelled a lot [since Flight 811]. "I sometimes think: 'Why was I so lucky?' My life's a bowl of cherries -sometimes you have to spray the tree so you can harvest