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Speaker 1: You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Miya acknowledges

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Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast

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Speaker 1: is recorded on. Hello, Omeya. Friedman and the team at

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Speaker 1: Mamma Maya are bringing you over one hundred hours of

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Speaker 1: the best of the best from across our award winning

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Speaker 1: podcasts to give you the hot pod Summer of your dreams.

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Speaker 1: Here at No Filter, we have selected the very best

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Speaker 1: stories of human resilience, of escaping from colts and tsunamis,

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Speaker 1: of surviving in prison, surviving a landslide, surviving a broken.

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Speaker 2: Heart, and so much more.

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm bringing you the story of Sarah Isles that

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Speaker 1: we first aired a few years ago. Sarah survived what

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Speaker 1: we often think of as unsurvivable a tsunami. The Boxing

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Speaker 1: Day tsunami in two thousand and four took the lives

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Speaker 1: of two hundred and twenty seven thousand people, and Sarah

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Speaker 1: survived it. She is such a survivor that she even

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Speaker 1: went on the TV show Survivor, And as we near

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Speaker 1: the twenty year anniversary of that terrifying day, we thought

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Speaker 1: that we would revisit Sarah's story in her own words.

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Speaker 1: Here's Sarah Isles.

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Speaker 2: I felt the vibration of this building giving away on

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Speaker 2: my feet and I knew it was then. That was

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Speaker 2: the moment I knew I was in trouble and I

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Speaker 2: had to leap. It still gives me goosebops just thinking

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Speaker 2: about it.

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Speaker 1: For Mama Maya, I'm Meya Friedman, and you're listening to

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Speaker 1: No Filter, a podcast where I have counter conversations with

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Speaker 1: fascinating people. Do you remember what you were doing on

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Speaker 1: Boxing Day morning in two thousand and four, Well, you

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Speaker 1: probably don't, but when I say the word tsunami, it

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Speaker 1: might jog your memory a little bit, because that was

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Speaker 1: no ordinary Boxing day, not for the people who were

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Speaker 1: watching the news around the world, and certainly not for

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Speaker 1: the people who were caught up in that devastating tragedy.

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Speaker 1: My guest today, Sarah Ayle, was on a beach in

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Speaker 1: Sri Lanka on Boxing Day in two thousand and four.

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Speaker 1: She was putting on a mask. She was about to

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Speaker 1: go snorkeling with her business partner, who also happened to

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Speaker 1: be her ex boyfriend. But they were really close and

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Speaker 1: they'd gone on this holiday together so that she could

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Speaker 1: meet some of his family. And on that morning, while

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Speaker 1: they were preparing to go snorkeling. Life as she knew

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Speaker 1: it suddenly changed forever. And I know that sounds melodramatic,

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Speaker 1: you know, the day her life changed forever, But it

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Speaker 1: wasn't even the day. It was really in a matter

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Speaker 1: of moments. And I know that I was always so

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Speaker 1: curious and fascinated. Sounds like the wrong word, but I

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Speaker 1: wondered and I imagine just what it was like as

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Speaker 1: that tsunami took hold. In the countries that were affected

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Speaker 1: by it, almost a quarter of a million people lost

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Speaker 1: their lives on that day across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India

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Speaker 1: and Thailand. The Boxing Day tsunami was caused by an

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Speaker 1: earthquake in the Indian Ocean, and experts have said that

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Speaker 1: it had the energy of twenty three thousand Hiroshima type

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Speaker 1: atomic bombs. So what was it like on the ground?

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Speaker 1: What was it like when that tsunami hit? The astonishing

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Speaker 1: thing is that Sarah has lived to tell the tale.

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Speaker 1: She survived and now would you believe she's going on

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Speaker 1: Australian Survivor To push herself even more, I invited Sarah

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Speaker 1: into the Mama Mia podcast studio for an incredibly candid

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Speaker 1: conversation and one that I guarantee will have you leaning

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Speaker 1: so far in to hear what she has to say. Sarah,

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Speaker 1: I want to start with you getting on the plane

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Speaker 1: to Sri Lanka back in December two thousand and four.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell me a bit about your life back then? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Back then, I was early thirties and I had a

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Speaker 2: cleaning company. At the time. We had a couple of

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Speaker 2: hundred staff and life was, I guess, fairly busy. You

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Speaker 2: could say, who did you run your business with? I

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Speaker 2: ran the business with. I was a director. We had

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Speaker 2: two directors, and my business partner at the time was Suji.

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Speaker 2: He was a managing director. Yeah, and three of us

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Speaker 2: managed it. Were you guys dating not at that time, No,

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Speaker 2: but we had done in the past. We were together

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Speaker 2: for eleven years. I met him when I just turned seventeen.

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Speaker 2: I think, yeah, how did you meet? I had a

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Speaker 2: Japanese student living with me and she went on a

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Speaker 2: bus trip to Victor Harbor and I went along with

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Speaker 2: her and he was on there. So, gosh, it was

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Speaker 2: a long time ago and I was so young.

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Speaker 1: So you guys were together for eleven years, that's a

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Speaker 1: long time. At what point in your relationship. Did you

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Speaker 1: decide to go into business together.

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Speaker 2: Oh, it was a few years down the track. I

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Speaker 2: was at school at the time, so I finished school.

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Speaker 2: I did a year of nursing. No, it wasn't for me,

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Speaker 2: and took a year or so working out what I

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Speaker 2: wanted to do. And while I was studying, we started

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Speaker 2: this cleaning business, cleaning for someone else, and decided, well,

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Speaker 2: why are we working for someone else. We could do

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Speaker 2: this on our own. So we cashed in some cans,

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Speaker 2: as you do when you're cleaning.

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Speaker 1: Some actual can yeah, yeah, like recycling can.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, my car was always full of cans from bins.

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Speaker 2: So we'd get the money from that, I'd put it

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Speaker 2: in the bank and I don't know how many years

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Speaker 2: it took us, but we bought a vacuum cleaner with

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Speaker 2: the can money it's just insane mott bucket and some

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Speaker 2: chemicals and put some letters underdoors commercial premises and said

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Speaker 2: we're keen, we like to clean, We're good at what

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Speaker 2: we do. So we started from there.

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Speaker 1: You'd built that business together to a really big size,

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Speaker 1: I mean two hundred staff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: At the time of the tsunami, it was rapidly growing.

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Speaker 2: At that point.

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Speaker 1: So how long before you left for Sri Lanka had

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Speaker 1: you sort of ended your romantic relationship and kept the

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Speaker 1: business one goal.

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Speaker 2: It was a few years, So we were together for

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Speaker 2: eleven and at the time of the tsunami it was

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Speaker 2: fourteen years. So it look, oh, you know, you cling

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Speaker 2: onto familiar things when you're young. And we weren't compatible

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Speaker 2: for a long time, not romantically, but we were compatible

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Speaker 2: in business. We just had different skill sets. I was

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Speaker 2: a people person. He was kind of a broad thinker,

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Speaker 2: where I was more a detailed person. And the other

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Speaker 2: director that came on board, he was good at financials

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Speaker 2: and accounting and stuff. So we sort of pulled our

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Speaker 2: skills and we were good at what we did. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: you were obviously.

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Speaker 1: Still good friends if you were going on holiday together

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Speaker 1: or was it a working trip.

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Speaker 2: I wasn't really a working trip. Look, I'd moved on,

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Speaker 2: but he, I think, always felt regret at not taking

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Speaker 2: me to meet his family and to see his country.

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Speaker 2: So I guess in my head, I thought, well, for

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Speaker 2: him to just get over this and move on, We'll

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Speaker 2: go and I get a free trip out of it

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Speaker 2: and get to see some country. And yeah, he can

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Speaker 2: just not have to feel guilty about not taking me.

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Speaker 1: Had he lived in Australia for a long time.

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Speaker 2: He had he came to Australia. Gosh, when was it,

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Speaker 2: probably nineteen ninety so he was well, he loved Australia.

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Speaker 2: He was sort of a converted Ozzie and he integrated

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Speaker 2: because he got an Ozzy girlfriend. But I guess, yeah,

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Speaker 2: all his family were back home, so so what.

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Speaker 1: Was the plan for that holiday? You got on the plane,

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Speaker 1: what were you going to do when you got to

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Speaker 1: Sri Lanka.

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Speaker 2: We had some time in Colombo with his family, and

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Speaker 2: we actually went for a friend's wedding at the time,

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Speaker 2: so she was getting married. So sort of got myself

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Speaker 2: a sari when I was in Colomba and had it

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Speaker 2: fitted and never got to wore it. We're it's sorry.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, and then we had I guess an itinery

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Speaker 2: around the country up in the hill country, the tea estates.

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Speaker 2: He had friends in sort of high places everywhere. So

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Speaker 2: we had a great couple of weeks which was really

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Speaker 2: really nice.

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Speaker 1: How did Boxing day start for you?

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Speaker 2: We were actually in a hotel, a big, solid hotel

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Speaker 2: in a town called Hikkadua, which was a few k's

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Speaker 2: from Gaul, and had we remained there we would have

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Speaker 2: been fine. But we had such a great time the

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Speaker 2: day before snorkling that we thought, right, let's go to

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Speaker 2: Unawatuna early in the morning before the sun and the

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Speaker 2: tourists came out, because I was really sun burnt from

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Speaker 2: the day before in my back. So the plan was

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Speaker 2: to go there, do some snorkeling, enjoy and visit Gaul

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Speaker 2: on the way back. So yeah, we had our breakfast

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Speaker 2: in the hotel with a lot of other people and

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Speaker 2: got in the car with our driver who'd been driving

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Speaker 2: us around the country.

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Speaker 1: Was it just the two of you and the driver?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yea, and he was a lovely guy. Yeah, his

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Speaker 2: name was Cecirah. And we drove through Gaul and drove

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Speaker 2: on to Nawatuna and parked the car, and yeah, things

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Speaker 2: changed pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: How quickly did they change? I mean, when you hear

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Speaker 1: the word tsunami, you imagine a really I imagine a really

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Speaker 1: big wave. But in a lot of the accounts I've

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Speaker 1: heard people talk about the opposite of that, like the

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Speaker 1: tide going out. When was it for you that you

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Speaker 1: realize something strange was going on?

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Speaker 2: Well, it was really interesting because looking out what I

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Speaker 2: saw at the time, we'd literally just driven onto this beach,

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Speaker 2: hadn't seen it before, stripped off, and we were ready

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Speaker 2: to go snorkeling, as I said, But in looking out

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Speaker 2: of the ocean, the horizon was gone. And when I

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Speaker 2: think about it, the water was just higher than it

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Speaker 2: should have been.

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Speaker 1: What do you mean the horizon was gone?

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Speaker 2: Well, there was, I guess there was just a mass

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Speaker 2: of turbulent water, but it didn't look like a wave,

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Speaker 2: and I didn't realize that I couldn't see the horizon.

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Speaker 2: But when I think back to that photo, in my mind,

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Speaker 2: I think, yeah, Sarah, there's no horizon. There is a

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Speaker 2: mass of water that you're not understanding. So what did

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Speaker 2: you do? Well, basically, I was completely sort of confused.

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Speaker 2: I didn't realize at that point that I was in

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Speaker 2: any danger.

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Speaker 1: Were you in the water or were you on the beach?

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Speaker 2: Well, we're on the beach. We rocked up to a

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Speaker 2: diving shop and he sort of saw the wave before

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Speaker 2: me and he said, I don't think I can reach

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Speaker 2: and I said, well, hold on, I'll have a look.

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Speaker 2: So I've looked out and I've seen this picture and

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Speaker 2: turned back to him, and beyond Suji was the car

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Speaker 2: that was on the road. Its tires were getting lapped

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Speaker 2: with water. So I've said, just tell the drive, tell

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Speaker 2: Sarah to shift the car. It's getting wet. And where

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Speaker 2: we were, we were standing on sand with tables and

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Speaker 2: chairs for teas and coffees, and they were suddenly starting

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Speaker 2: to get wet.

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Speaker 1: So we were as the water was risy.

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Speaker 2: Well it was just dribbling in at this point, so

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Speaker 2: we were shifting these chairs and tables, just trying to

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Speaker 2: keep them dry.

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Speaker 1: For the owner of the dive shop exactly.

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Speaker 2: And I was here and the owner was probably about

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Speaker 2: a meter away doing the same thing, and Suji would

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Speaker 2: have only been two three meters and we were all

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Speaker 2: sort of shifting these chairs. It was strange. It was

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Speaker 2: really odd.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like it was a really slow door realization.

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Speaker 2: Well, it really took me a long time. I was

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Speaker 2: just completely confused. So I just happened to have stairs

220
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Speaker 2: in front of me, mud brickstairs. It was well, I've

221
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Speaker 2: walked up the steps, and as I've walked up the steps,

222
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Speaker 2: the water level is following my feet and I'm still baffled.

223
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Speaker 2: It took a long time for the penny to drop

224
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Speaker 2: with this lady. I just and I've looked over and

225
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Speaker 2: the car with the door open. My poor driver had

226
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Speaker 2: obviously got out and ran was just being sort of

227
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Speaker 2: washed away.

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Speaker 1: Were people panicking and screaming?

229
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Speaker 2: No, it was completely silent apart from this swirling sound

230
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Speaker 2: of water.

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Speaker 1: Were there lots of people around or not?

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Speaker 2: Where we were, there are only a few. And as

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Speaker 2: I've seen the car drift away, my instinct was, oh,

234
00:13:06,445 --> 00:13:09,045
Speaker 2: my god, my camera's going to get wet. And I

235
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Speaker 2: hope the cars ensured. I still didn't understand what was happening.

236
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Speaker 2: I feel so bad because thinking about that Cecia was

237
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Speaker 2: in the process of drowning, but I was worried about

238
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Speaker 2: my camera. I think because the door, the door of

239
00:13:25,125 --> 00:13:29,565
Speaker 2: the car was open, I think he'd decided to run

240
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Speaker 2: for it. So yeah, I kept climbing these stairs and

241
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Speaker 2: I got to the landing and I saw a bed

242
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Speaker 2: in a doorway.

243
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Speaker 1: Where were you like in a hotel. It's a diving shop,

244
00:13:42,885 --> 00:13:46,205
Speaker 1: so you were inside in a building more of.

245
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Speaker 2: A hut, a mud brick hut. And I've seen a

246
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Speaker 2: bed and I've thought, my god, Sarah, you're trespassing on

247
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Speaker 2: someone's property. This is just you know, you're doing the

248
00:13:56,365 --> 00:14:00,405
Speaker 2: wrong thing. And as I've walked along, I've seen in

249
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Speaker 2: the window two men, one elderly gentleman and one younger,

250
00:14:07,205 --> 00:14:10,365
Speaker 2: and I've seen through the window that the water level

251
00:14:10,645 --> 00:14:13,325
Speaker 2: was just there was just a massive water outside. And

252
00:14:13,365 --> 00:14:16,725
Speaker 2: the younger guy was helping his father out of the window.

253
00:14:17,765 --> 00:14:21,005
Speaker 2: And his dad would have been maybe in his seventies

254
00:14:21,085 --> 00:14:25,365
Speaker 2: or eighties, and he only had one leg. So I

255
00:14:25,445 --> 00:14:29,645
Speaker 2: wanted to say, don't put him out, because he's going

256
00:14:29,685 --> 00:14:34,565
Speaker 2: to die, but nothing came out of my mouth. I

257
00:14:34,805 --> 00:14:37,845
Speaker 2: was just watching there in disbelief. And look, at that

258
00:14:38,085 --> 00:14:43,045
Speaker 2: point in time, I felt I felt the vibration of

259
00:14:43,085 --> 00:14:46,045
Speaker 2: this building giving away on my feet, and I knew

260
00:14:46,445 --> 00:14:49,125
Speaker 2: it was then that was the moment that I knew

261
00:14:49,165 --> 00:14:51,525
Speaker 2: I was in trouble and I had to leap. Still

262
00:14:51,565 --> 00:14:53,285
Speaker 2: gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

263
00:14:53,685 --> 00:14:54,725
Speaker 1: Where did leap? Where?

264
00:14:55,485 --> 00:14:58,125
Speaker 2: I made a beeline to the end of the little balcony.

265
00:14:58,605 --> 00:15:00,885
Speaker 2: I threw my snorkel and mask in the water and

266
00:15:00,925 --> 00:15:04,165
Speaker 2: that shot off like a rocket and I've just jumped

267
00:15:05,285 --> 00:15:05,885
Speaker 2: into the water.

268
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Speaker 1: So in a matter of it seems like a minute,

269
00:15:09,485 --> 00:15:14,045
Speaker 1: two minutes suddenly. I mean, did you have the word

270
00:15:14,085 --> 00:15:16,805
Speaker 1: tsunami in your flood? Probably it was.

271
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well I was thinking, well, at that point, I

272
00:15:19,565 --> 00:15:22,925
Speaker 2: was just so focused on surviving. I wasn't It was

273
00:15:23,045 --> 00:15:27,605
Speaker 2: just water. And to this day, if I feel vibrations

274
00:15:27,605 --> 00:15:30,285
Speaker 2: in my feet, like at the airport when a plane

275
00:15:30,325 --> 00:15:33,045
Speaker 2: takes off, or at the gym if some big dude drops,

276
00:15:33,565 --> 00:15:36,125
Speaker 2: I feel like running. I just get me out of here.

277
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Speaker 1: Something is going to have a response.

278
00:15:38,645 --> 00:15:38,845
Speaker 2: Yeah.

279
00:15:39,885 --> 00:15:43,765
Speaker 1: So it wasn't raining. It was still a beautiful day

280
00:15:44,125 --> 00:15:46,725
Speaker 1: quite early in the morning. Do you know where Sugi

281
00:15:46,805 --> 00:15:47,485
Speaker 1: is at this point.

282
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Speaker 2: Well, once I was in the water, racing along and

283
00:15:53,885 --> 00:15:56,565
Speaker 2: my foot did get caught on the balcony. I was

284
00:15:56,845 --> 00:15:59,765
Speaker 2: sort of trying to hold my breath and get my

285
00:15:59,805 --> 00:16:00,245
Speaker 2: foot out.

286
00:16:00,245 --> 00:16:01,325
Speaker 1: So there was a strong current.

287
00:16:01,565 --> 00:16:04,685
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was on my back trying to get my

288
00:16:04,725 --> 00:16:07,405
Speaker 2: foot out of the railing. And once I was in

289
00:16:07,445 --> 00:16:11,725
Speaker 2: that current, I just thought, Suji's dead. There's no way

290
00:16:11,725 --> 00:16:13,765
Speaker 2: that he can get out of this because he couldn't swim.

291
00:16:13,925 --> 00:16:17,685
Speaker 2: It was just so it was just so much water everywhere,

292
00:16:18,685 --> 00:16:20,805
Speaker 2: and I sort of thought to myself, all, Sarah, if

293
00:16:20,805 --> 00:16:22,685
Speaker 2: you panic, you're gonna die too.

294
00:16:24,005 --> 00:16:28,485
Speaker 1: So yeah, I imagine that's the ultimate sense of survival.

295
00:16:28,605 --> 00:16:32,085
Speaker 1: Something kicks in. Are you very clear in your head?

296
00:16:32,245 --> 00:16:34,165
Speaker 1: Like the way you talk about it, It's like, Okay,

297
00:16:34,165 --> 00:16:35,845
Speaker 1: he's dead, I have to stay calm.

298
00:16:37,605 --> 00:16:41,085
Speaker 2: It was completely clear. My brain just went into this

299
00:16:41,325 --> 00:16:48,205
Speaker 2: zone of making decisions, grabbing onto palm trees to try

300
00:16:48,245 --> 00:16:54,405
Speaker 2: and hold myself there. I've seen a massive water where

301
00:16:54,565 --> 00:16:57,445
Speaker 2: all converges, and I knew I was going to go under,

302
00:16:57,485 --> 00:17:00,685
Speaker 2: so I thought, Okay, Sarah, you're gonna have to hyper ventilate,

303
00:17:00,765 --> 00:17:02,805
Speaker 2: and it was coming towards I'm gonna have to hype

304
00:17:02,845 --> 00:17:06,045
Speaker 2: of ventilate and hold your breath because you're going under.

305
00:17:06,685 --> 00:17:09,965
Speaker 2: So I just went into this zone of this this

306
00:17:10,165 --> 00:17:13,485
Speaker 2: this is what you gotta do, gear up for it.

307
00:17:14,045 --> 00:17:16,165
Speaker 2: And I knew he was dead, and I knew sort

308
00:17:16,205 --> 00:17:17,605
Speaker 2: of Ceciria would have been dead too.

309
00:17:18,925 --> 00:17:20,685
Speaker 1: Did you just sort of go right, I'm gonna park

310
00:17:20,725 --> 00:17:22,485
Speaker 1: that information to deal with later, I.

311
00:17:22,405 --> 00:17:25,125
Speaker 2: Mean, because you were I was in the zone, yep.

312
00:17:26,365 --> 00:17:28,005
Speaker 1: Were there other people that you could see?

313
00:17:29,485 --> 00:17:33,805
Speaker 2: Not at that point. No, No, I've looked back towards

314
00:17:33,965 --> 00:17:37,725
Speaker 2: the diving shop and I've just seen the roof floating

315
00:17:37,765 --> 00:17:39,685
Speaker 2: along in the water and thought, well, thank god. I

316
00:17:39,765 --> 00:17:44,485
Speaker 2: dropped off that it was just all water and it was,

317
00:17:44,525 --> 00:17:47,285
Speaker 2: as I say, it was completely silent except the sound

318
00:17:47,325 --> 00:17:48,965
Speaker 2: of the water. At that point.

319
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Speaker 1: Did you go under? Yeah?

320
00:17:50,885 --> 00:17:51,645
Speaker 2: I did go under?

321
00:17:52,005 --> 00:17:52,765
Speaker 1: What was that like?

322
00:17:53,885 --> 00:17:57,885
Speaker 2: I went under? I hyperventilated and I went under, and

323
00:17:57,965 --> 00:18:02,605
Speaker 2: I had bubbles around my face, and I just looked

324
00:18:02,805 --> 00:18:05,565
Speaker 2: up and I thought to myself, if I can see

325
00:18:05,605 --> 00:18:09,005
Speaker 2: the sun, if I can see which way is up,

326
00:18:10,085 --> 00:18:13,765
Speaker 2: if I get smashed into a wall or in some

327
00:18:13,885 --> 00:18:17,365
Speaker 2: kind of massive I know where which way's up, because

328
00:18:17,365 --> 00:18:20,045
Speaker 2: I could have ended up anywhere. So I just kept

329
00:18:20,045 --> 00:18:22,245
Speaker 2: looking at the sun and I just basically thought, well,

330
00:18:22,245 --> 00:18:25,765
Speaker 2: this is it. I didn't think about my family or

331
00:18:25,845 --> 00:18:39,125
Speaker 2: it was just purely this is it.

332
00:18:39,205 --> 00:18:41,445
Speaker 1: Was the water like the ocean, or was it like

333
00:18:41,485 --> 00:18:44,885
Speaker 1: a dirty river or with it things in it?

334
00:18:45,365 --> 00:18:51,885
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a brown, dirty river type water. And

335
00:18:51,965 --> 00:18:59,565
Speaker 2: there were big logs of buildings. Motorbike goes past and

336
00:18:59,605 --> 00:19:02,685
Speaker 2: you think, well, yeah, I'm glad that missed me. Yeah,

337
00:19:02,725 --> 00:19:07,805
Speaker 2: it was just like basically a junk yard in a

338
00:19:07,805 --> 00:19:08,485
Speaker 2: surge of water.

339
00:19:09,365 --> 00:19:10,325
Speaker 1: So what happened next?

340
00:19:11,405 --> 00:19:14,965
Speaker 2: So then I've as I'm looking up, I've just popped

341
00:19:15,005 --> 00:19:18,765
Speaker 2: out the other side and I've thought to myself, God,

342
00:19:18,845 --> 00:19:23,405
Speaker 2: you're going to live. And I could feel the mudge

343
00:19:23,525 --> 00:19:26,125
Speaker 2: on my toes and I thought, Sarah, you can reach

344
00:19:26,205 --> 00:19:30,005
Speaker 2: the ground. So when you reach the ground, you think, okay,

345
00:19:30,045 --> 00:19:34,085
Speaker 2: well I'll start walking, but I couldn't. I was just

346
00:19:34,165 --> 00:19:38,725
Speaker 2: kind of pushed along, but still in that moment of terror.

347
00:19:39,805 --> 00:19:44,205
Speaker 2: I could see a building coming up and two villagers

348
00:19:44,605 --> 00:19:50,885
Speaker 2: were on it, and my timing and my trajectory was perfect.

349
00:19:51,565 --> 00:19:54,885
Speaker 2: They could see me coming and they've held down the

350
00:19:55,005 --> 00:19:57,805
Speaker 2: roof of a rainwater tank so I could grab it.

351
00:19:58,765 --> 00:20:01,205
Speaker 2: So I've grabbed onto this thing and they've pulled me up.

352
00:20:01,365 --> 00:20:04,605
Speaker 1: Did they call out to you or it'll just each other?

353
00:20:04,845 --> 00:20:05,365
Speaker 2: Yeah?

354
00:20:05,845 --> 00:20:10,205
Speaker 1: Yeah, they pulled you up. And what were you standing

355
00:20:10,205 --> 00:20:11,805
Speaker 1: on a building? Yeah?

356
00:20:11,885 --> 00:20:14,765
Speaker 2: It was their house, but it was it was concrete,

357
00:20:14,845 --> 00:20:18,725
Speaker 2: so it was solid. It wasn't mud brick anything. Mud

358
00:20:18,725 --> 00:20:23,085
Speaker 2: brick was just washed away. So yeah, they were lucky.

359
00:20:23,165 --> 00:20:26,445
Speaker 2: They must have been sort of well off and they

360
00:20:26,485 --> 00:20:28,205
Speaker 2: just got on their roof and they were safe.

361
00:20:29,565 --> 00:20:31,925
Speaker 1: Once you're on that roof with them, did you say anything?

362
00:20:31,965 --> 00:20:32,965
Speaker 1: Did they say anything?

363
00:20:33,325 --> 00:20:37,285
Speaker 2: The first thing I've said to them was sounds ridiculous,

364
00:20:37,365 --> 00:20:39,445
Speaker 2: but I've said, does this happen? Often.

365
00:20:40,925 --> 00:20:43,965
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can understand why you would say, like, I

366
00:20:44,005 --> 00:20:45,005
Speaker 1: can get I get that.

367
00:20:45,925 --> 00:20:47,845
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think my head went back to

368
00:20:48,045 --> 00:20:51,365
Speaker 2: like the annual Nile flooding, you know, the history lessons,

369
00:20:51,445 --> 00:20:55,045
Speaker 2: where like it floods yearly. So in my head, I thought, well,

370
00:20:55,045 --> 00:20:57,485
Speaker 2: maybe this sort of happens every now and then. It's

371
00:20:57,605 --> 00:21:03,285
Speaker 2: just absurd. No, they said no, no, no, no no. And

372
00:21:03,325 --> 00:21:06,205
Speaker 2: I could partly speak singles at the time so I

373
00:21:06,205 --> 00:21:10,285
Speaker 2: could make myself understood. And then we just stood up

374
00:21:10,325 --> 00:21:14,765
Speaker 2: there and I all I could think of was Suji

375
00:21:14,925 --> 00:21:18,045
Speaker 2: was dead, and I just started shouting out his name.

376
00:21:20,525 --> 00:21:22,205
Speaker 2: I have no idea why I didn't that, because it

377
00:21:22,245 --> 00:21:24,725
Speaker 2: wasn't like he was just going to answer back, or

378
00:21:25,645 --> 00:21:31,845
Speaker 2: I just once again my mind has focused and I

379
00:21:32,085 --> 00:21:37,285
Speaker 2: sort of was screaming out his name until an Englishman

380
00:21:37,405 --> 00:21:42,325
Speaker 2: was louder than me came washed into where we were.

381
00:21:43,085 --> 00:21:46,365
Speaker 1: From that roof, what could you see?

382
00:21:46,565 --> 00:21:51,245
Speaker 2: I could see just basically, all I could see was

383
00:21:51,365 --> 00:21:59,685
Speaker 2: water with palm tree tops sticking out. I've got a

384
00:21:59,805 --> 00:22:05,365
Speaker 2: vision of dogs paddling. Dogs survived. I don't know how,

385
00:22:05,405 --> 00:22:10,205
Speaker 2: but they were paddling. It was just nothing but water basically,

386
00:22:10,285 --> 00:22:14,725
Speaker 2: and treetops. Many people in the water. Not at that point.

387
00:22:14,845 --> 00:22:17,725
Speaker 1: No, No, And did that change.

388
00:22:18,245 --> 00:22:24,245
Speaker 2: Well a further down yes, once I got off and

389
00:22:24,365 --> 00:22:26,285
Speaker 2: had to go to higher ground.

390
00:22:26,605 --> 00:22:29,645
Speaker 1: Yeah, So did the water subside enough for you to

391
00:22:29,685 --> 00:22:32,325
Speaker 1: be able to walk towards higher ground?

392
00:22:33,005 --> 00:22:38,805
Speaker 2: Well? Once ron washed in the Englishman who was completely

393
00:22:38,885 --> 00:22:44,045
Speaker 2: naked and holding his dry boxes up, what I think

394
00:22:44,045 --> 00:22:47,325
Speaker 2: he had a big night before, he was asleep and

395
00:22:47,405 --> 00:22:49,925
Speaker 2: in he comes. I'm screaming out so do his name?

396
00:22:50,845 --> 00:22:51,765
Speaker 2: Can I swear me out?

397
00:22:51,885 --> 00:22:52,245
Speaker 1: Please?

398
00:22:52,605 --> 00:22:55,645
Speaker 2: He's saying, what the fuck was that? What the fuck

399
00:22:55,845 --> 00:22:59,045
Speaker 2: was that? I'm like, man, it's okay, you're safe. He

400
00:22:59,245 --> 00:23:04,365
Speaker 2: was what the forck? He was beside himself and he's

401
00:23:05,125 --> 00:23:08,925
Speaker 2: washed in with his arm up holding his boxer shorts

402
00:23:08,965 --> 00:23:12,165
Speaker 2: which were dry. I kid you not. I'm thinking, what

403
00:23:12,205 --> 00:23:15,565
Speaker 2: the hell's this dude like? Seriously, who actually has the

404
00:23:15,645 --> 00:23:19,085
Speaker 2: presence of mind to grab your undies as you'd like

405
00:23:19,205 --> 00:23:24,165
Speaker 2: fighting for your life and keep them dry? So he

406
00:23:24,285 --> 00:23:28,205
Speaker 2: stood up, put on his boxes and then he's he

407
00:23:28,285 --> 00:23:30,885
Speaker 2: and I I've said thank you to the men lifted

408
00:23:30,925 --> 00:23:34,925
Speaker 2: me onto their house, and we've gone off together to

409
00:23:35,005 --> 00:23:35,845
Speaker 2: find high ground.

410
00:23:37,565 --> 00:23:39,005
Speaker 1: What were you walking through?

411
00:23:40,445 --> 00:23:46,165
Speaker 2: Shit? Basically, it was scary because at that time. You

412
00:23:46,205 --> 00:23:48,445
Speaker 2: don't know what you're going to step on. You don't

413
00:23:48,445 --> 00:23:49,845
Speaker 2: know what you're going to feel.

414
00:23:51,765 --> 00:23:54,165
Speaker 1: Because you couldn't really see because the water wasn't it

415
00:23:54,205 --> 00:23:58,365
Speaker 1: wasn't like mud, it was still water. How deep was it?

416
00:23:58,845 --> 00:24:02,205
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, it could have been just slightly above the knees.

417
00:24:02,925 --> 00:24:08,085
Speaker 2: And we were, yeah, trudging along and I've seen two

418
00:24:08,165 --> 00:24:12,525
Speaker 2: men in the water pulling along a surfboard, and on

419
00:24:12,565 --> 00:24:15,925
Speaker 2: top of the surfboard was to do his body on

420
00:24:15,965 --> 00:24:16,445
Speaker 2: his belly.

421
00:24:18,445 --> 00:24:20,685
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is when you were with the

422
00:24:20,765 --> 00:24:25,085
Speaker 1: Englishman in his boxes walking away. Do you have any

423
00:24:25,085 --> 00:24:26,605
Speaker 1: sense of how much time had passed?

424
00:24:28,285 --> 00:24:31,245
Speaker 2: Maybe from the minute we were sort of shifting those tables,

425
00:24:31,365 --> 00:24:35,285
Speaker 2: maybe ten fifteen minutes at the most.

426
00:24:36,725 --> 00:24:39,205
Speaker 1: And these people had his body on the surfboard.

427
00:24:39,605 --> 00:24:42,925
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they must have, I don't know, been safe

428
00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:47,045
Speaker 2: or seen him wash in. I don't know where the

429
00:24:47,085 --> 00:24:49,565
Speaker 2: surfboard came from. I've got no idea.

430
00:24:50,205 --> 00:24:51,325
Speaker 1: Did they know he was dead?

431
00:24:52,685 --> 00:24:53,645
Speaker 2: They knew he was dead?

432
00:24:53,965 --> 00:24:58,285
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you knew straightaway. Oh.

433
00:24:58,645 --> 00:25:02,845
Speaker 2: I actually said his name twice, hoping that he would

434
00:25:02,925 --> 00:25:09,245
Speaker 2: open his eyes, and he didn't. And I actually regretted

435
00:25:09,405 --> 00:25:12,605
Speaker 2: for a long time, not feeling for his pulse because

436
00:25:12,605 --> 00:25:16,285
Speaker 2: I thought maybe he needed maybe he needed help, and

437
00:25:16,365 --> 00:25:20,125
Speaker 2: I never like, I didn't double check he was obviously dead,

438
00:25:20,125 --> 00:25:24,645
Speaker 2: but I still regretted not checking properly thoroughly as I

439
00:25:24,805 --> 00:25:27,525
Speaker 2: tend to do things. And I've just looked up at

440
00:25:27,565 --> 00:25:31,485
Speaker 2: these men and I've just said, call an ambulance. I

441
00:25:31,605 --> 00:25:35,805
Speaker 2: think they understood a word I said. They was sort

442
00:25:35,845 --> 00:25:39,125
Speaker 2: of simple villages that I don't think spoken English, and

443
00:25:39,125 --> 00:25:42,845
Speaker 2: they've just looked at me. Why aren't you calling an ambulance?

444
00:25:45,005 --> 00:25:48,245
Speaker 2: So say. It still didn't quite hit me, and then

445
00:25:48,445 --> 00:25:51,365
Speaker 2: Ron said I'll take care of you.

446
00:25:53,325 --> 00:25:56,565
Speaker 1: Let's go, And did you have to leave Sonjee?

447
00:26:00,045 --> 00:26:02,565
Speaker 2: Yeah? I did at that point. At the time, I

448
00:26:02,845 --> 00:26:07,045
Speaker 2: don't know. I wasn't upset. I just you're in shock. Yeah,

449
00:26:08,685 --> 00:26:14,085
Speaker 2: then what happened? So I've just left him there? Yeah,

450
00:26:14,085 --> 00:26:19,965
Speaker 2: I've left him. That was really hard. Yeah. So we

451
00:26:20,365 --> 00:26:26,325
Speaker 2: struggled through this water and found a bit of a

452
00:26:26,405 --> 00:26:30,125
Speaker 2: dodgy bank that we've climbed up, and he was cut

453
00:26:30,205 --> 00:26:39,645
Speaker 2: up quite severely. We wandered up hill along with people

454
00:26:39,765 --> 00:26:42,245
Speaker 2: that were just in a similar situation to us. We

455
00:26:42,285 --> 00:26:44,405
Speaker 2: were all sort of zombies. It was completely quiet. There

456
00:26:44,445 --> 00:26:49,245
Speaker 2: was no real conversation. We were just going uphill many

457
00:26:49,285 --> 00:26:52,365
Speaker 2: people oh, drips and drabs, you know, there was the

458
00:26:52,445 --> 00:26:55,205
Speaker 2: two of us, and then up, you know, ten twenty

459
00:26:55,285 --> 00:26:57,685
Speaker 2: meters there was another few people and so it wasn't

460
00:26:57,925 --> 00:26:59,685
Speaker 2: like a crowd and.

461
00:26:59,645 --> 00:27:01,605
Speaker 1: We're people talking to each other or just.

462
00:27:02,565 --> 00:27:05,365
Speaker 2: No, it was pretty quiet. I remember it being really quiet.

463
00:27:05,725 --> 00:27:11,885
Speaker 2: We must have all just been in deep sharp Yeah.

464
00:27:11,925 --> 00:27:12,925
Speaker 1: How high could you go?

465
00:27:14,005 --> 00:27:18,325
Speaker 2: Well, I remember stopping halfway and Ron and I lost

466
00:27:18,365 --> 00:27:25,405
Speaker 2: each other, and I've flopped down on someone's veranda and

467
00:27:27,685 --> 00:27:31,285
Speaker 2: helped myself to a pair of thongs because I didn't

468
00:27:31,325 --> 00:27:37,045
Speaker 2: have shoes, And there were some young ossies walking past,

469
00:27:38,525 --> 00:27:42,245
Speaker 2: and I said, if you've got a phone, and they

470
00:27:42,285 --> 00:27:46,205
Speaker 2: said yeah. I mean, it's just bizarre. I thought, okay,

471
00:27:46,845 --> 00:27:50,285
Speaker 2: my business mind went on, got a call on let

472
00:27:50,405 --> 00:27:53,165
Speaker 2: the Department of Foreign Affairs know. I mean, is this

473
00:27:53,245 --> 00:27:54,845
Speaker 2: a normal reaction? I don't know me.

474
00:27:56,085 --> 00:28:00,205
Speaker 1: I mean the times that I've been into behaved very differently.

475
00:28:00,285 --> 00:28:00,565
Speaker 2: Sarah.

476
00:28:00,605 --> 00:28:04,125
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're thinking. So I've grabbed sounds

477
00:28:04,405 --> 00:28:07,005
Speaker 1: like you were incredibly self possessed through all of this,

478
00:28:07,165 --> 00:28:11,405
Speaker 1: Like every single decision you've made sounds like the optimum

479
00:28:11,445 --> 00:28:13,805
Speaker 1: possible decision that you could have made in that moment,

480
00:28:13,885 --> 00:28:17,365
Speaker 1: like that your brain was functioning on this incredibly high

481
00:28:17,925 --> 00:28:21,605
Speaker 1: level when you must have been in such crazy deep shock.

482
00:28:22,165 --> 00:28:26,365
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really don't know how the brain works.

483
00:28:26,445 --> 00:28:28,445
Speaker 1: So you were like, I've got to let the Department

484
00:28:28,485 --> 00:28:29,325
Speaker 1: of Foreign Affairs know.

485
00:28:29,645 --> 00:28:31,045
Speaker 2: I don't know if I thought they were going to

486
00:28:31,085 --> 00:28:32,765
Speaker 2: fly out and pick up his body. I don't know

487
00:28:32,805 --> 00:28:34,965
Speaker 2: what I was thinking, but I just thought, I I've

488
00:28:35,045 --> 00:28:37,485
Speaker 2: had this company at home. Oh, hell was going to

489
00:28:37,525 --> 00:28:41,405
Speaker 2: break loose. But so I've borrowed these kids phone. They

490
00:28:41,445 --> 00:28:45,045
Speaker 2: would have probably been about eighteen twenty, and I've picked

491
00:28:45,125 --> 00:28:49,885
Speaker 2: up the phone. I've said Hi, Mum, I think it worked, yes,

492
00:28:50,405 --> 00:28:54,005
Speaker 2: And I couldn't remember Yeah, I could only remember the

493
00:28:54,045 --> 00:28:58,925
Speaker 2: home phone up. So, hi mum, we've been hit by

494
00:28:59,005 --> 00:29:01,925
Speaker 2: a tidal wave and Soda is dead. Can you let

495
00:29:02,045 --> 00:29:03,245
Speaker 2: Department of Foreign Affairs?

496
00:29:03,285 --> 00:29:05,405
Speaker 1: No, this is a voicemail.

497
00:29:05,805 --> 00:29:08,245
Speaker 2: No, this I'm talking to where on the landline back

498
00:29:08,245 --> 00:29:12,325
Speaker 2: in Adelaite. Can you imagine my poor mom boxing day. Yeah,

499
00:29:12,365 --> 00:29:16,565
Speaker 2: so this was before it had come out in the news.

500
00:29:16,765 --> 00:29:20,085
Speaker 2: She's just got a phone call from her daughter saying

501
00:29:20,125 --> 00:29:30,525
Speaker 2: that Suji died. And yeah, she said, what I said, yeah,

502
00:29:30,565 --> 00:29:32,845
Speaker 2: he's dead, and she said, do you want me to

503
00:29:33,205 --> 00:29:34,405
Speaker 2: She said, do you want me to go and get

504
00:29:34,445 --> 00:29:39,285
Speaker 2: your father? So typical, you know old people, you'll get

505
00:29:39,325 --> 00:29:42,525
Speaker 2: your dad say hello. So she's gone out to Dad

506
00:29:43,765 --> 00:29:45,645
Speaker 2: and they must have had a quick chat and he's

507
00:29:45,765 --> 00:29:49,085
Speaker 2: gotten on the phone and I was in my early

508
00:29:49,165 --> 00:29:53,445
Speaker 2: thirties and he said to me three words. He said,

509
00:29:53,525 --> 00:29:59,725
Speaker 2: my precious child, I'll never forget it because we're not

510
00:29:59,845 --> 00:30:02,525
Speaker 2: really never tell each other. We love each other much.

511
00:30:03,205 --> 00:30:05,645
Speaker 2: You know, you're a grown woman, you love your dad.

512
00:30:06,965 --> 00:30:11,245
Speaker 2: But at that moment he saw me as his little girl,

513
00:30:11,365 --> 00:30:18,965
Speaker 2: of course, and yeah, I don't lose it. Then No,

514
00:30:19,525 --> 00:30:22,045
Speaker 2: I just thought, God, that's weird hearing Dad say that.

515
00:30:22,085 --> 00:30:24,925
Speaker 2: This is only after upon reflection did I I think

516
00:30:25,565 --> 00:30:29,765
Speaker 2: what he said. But yeah, we barely had a chance

517
00:30:29,845 --> 00:30:31,765
Speaker 2: to talk, and a whole lot of people ran up

518
00:30:31,805 --> 00:30:37,125
Speaker 2: the path and a second wave had come in and

519
00:30:37,205 --> 00:30:39,925
Speaker 2: he said, Sarah, you're at the highest point. He said,

520
00:30:39,965 --> 00:30:43,205
Speaker 2: you need to have your head switched on. Dad, I'm trying, seriously,

521
00:30:44,565 --> 00:30:48,085
Speaker 2: he said, get to the highest point. So I hung

522
00:30:48,125 --> 00:30:49,645
Speaker 2: up the phone, gave it back to the Ausies and

523
00:30:51,005 --> 00:30:54,325
Speaker 2: went uphill in my thongs and my two piece bathers.

524
00:31:03,125 --> 00:31:04,605
Speaker 1: So you were up as high as you could go

525
00:31:04,685 --> 00:31:08,125
Speaker 1: at this point. More or less the water didn't seem

526
00:31:08,165 --> 00:31:09,125
Speaker 1: to be following.

527
00:31:08,805 --> 00:31:11,005
Speaker 2: You see it at that point.

528
00:31:12,245 --> 00:31:16,365
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the villagers must have been pretty distraught. I

529
00:31:16,405 --> 00:31:18,045
Speaker 1: mean they must have lost.

530
00:31:19,405 --> 00:31:23,245
Speaker 2: Up on this mountain. Obviously they were getting feedback from

531
00:31:23,285 --> 00:31:27,605
Speaker 2: all the people lower down, but they just they lived

532
00:31:27,645 --> 00:31:31,365
Speaker 2: really simple lives. They were really quite poor, and they

533
00:31:31,565 --> 00:31:35,365
Speaker 2: just suddenly had like forty foreigners rock up on the doorstep.

534
00:31:36,165 --> 00:31:37,405
Speaker 1: Close foreigners.

535
00:31:37,685 --> 00:31:40,645
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were all tourists. I don't know where the

536
00:31:40,685 --> 00:31:44,125
Speaker 2: locals went. They were probably looking for their own people,

537
00:31:45,965 --> 00:31:48,725
Speaker 2: I'm sure they were, but yeah, no, we just congregated

538
00:31:48,765 --> 00:31:52,045
Speaker 2: on the highest spot and landed on these poor people's doorsteps.

539
00:31:52,285 --> 00:31:54,925
Speaker 1: And what kind of people were among the forty There.

540
00:31:54,805 --> 00:31:59,565
Speaker 2: Were a few Europeans. There was a Aussie family. They

541
00:31:59,565 --> 00:32:02,605
Speaker 2: were an extended family with grandma who was eighty six

542
00:32:02,685 --> 00:32:06,565
Speaker 2: at the time. There were English English tourists as well.

543
00:32:07,645 --> 00:32:11,485
Speaker 1: And did you sort of clustered by nationality? Did the

544
00:32:11,485 --> 00:32:13,045
Speaker 1: Aussie stick together? Well?

545
00:32:13,125 --> 00:32:16,445
Speaker 2: Yeah, they won my tribe. I it was like, oh

546
00:32:16,485 --> 00:32:19,725
Speaker 2: my god, thank god, you know someone that can kind

547
00:32:19,805 --> 00:32:22,645
Speaker 2: of help me get to the consulate, you know, so

548
00:32:23,405 --> 00:32:25,405
Speaker 2: it was really nice to have some Aussies up there.

549
00:32:26,605 --> 00:32:28,765
Speaker 2: And they were all shocked, but they had managed to

550
00:32:28,845 --> 00:32:31,645
Speaker 2: run up I don't think they'd been swept. They saw

551
00:32:31,685 --> 00:32:34,725
Speaker 2: it and they ran up a hill so they were dry.

552
00:32:36,245 --> 00:32:38,605
Speaker 1: And what happened in a situation like that? Does someone

553
00:32:39,485 --> 00:32:42,725
Speaker 1: do some people naturally sort of become the leaders? Or

554
00:32:43,605 --> 00:32:44,965
Speaker 1: how long were you all there for?

555
00:32:45,485 --> 00:32:50,605
Speaker 2: We stayed overnight and I somehow events I got a

556
00:32:50,645 --> 00:32:53,285
Speaker 2: little bit separated from the Aussies until the next morning.

557
00:32:53,405 --> 00:32:57,005
Speaker 2: But I slept on the floor with an English couple

558
00:32:57,725 --> 00:33:01,965
Speaker 2: of a little house. Didn't sleep too much. Actually, there

559
00:33:01,965 --> 00:33:04,205
Speaker 2: was a bit of a fire outside. And we made

560
00:33:04,245 --> 00:33:07,125
Speaker 2: a pact. We said we swap phone numbers. We said,

561
00:33:07,165 --> 00:33:12,005
Speaker 2: if you get home first, you call the family let

562
00:33:12,005 --> 00:33:15,525
Speaker 2: them know. And yeah, and I did. I got home first.

563
00:33:16,245 --> 00:33:19,445
Speaker 2: I got to the little colombo first, and when I

564
00:33:19,485 --> 00:33:23,765
Speaker 2: called mom, I said, here's this number, call her mum

565
00:33:24,605 --> 00:33:26,765
Speaker 2: and tell her that she's alive.

566
00:33:29,365 --> 00:33:44,525
Speaker 1: Oh, I've got goosebumps. Yeah, I can't imagine what that

567
00:33:44,565 --> 00:33:45,325
Speaker 1: phone call was like.

568
00:33:46,725 --> 00:33:50,005
Speaker 2: I don't know. I was in business moment my mom. Yeah,

569
00:33:50,165 --> 00:33:52,045
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just so strange. She s had to

570
00:33:52,085 --> 00:33:55,285
Speaker 2: call up some lady in England and say, well, my

571
00:33:55,405 --> 00:33:59,245
Speaker 2: daughter's slept with your daughter and they've swapped phone numbers

572
00:33:59,245 --> 00:34:00,165
Speaker 2: and they're okay.

573
00:34:00,645 --> 00:34:05,125
Speaker 1: It's like the jungle drums in action. Yeah, we're cold.

574
00:34:05,245 --> 00:34:07,085
Speaker 1: Were injured? Were people hurt?

575
00:34:07,885 --> 00:34:11,525
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, I wasn't too bad, as I say. I

576
00:34:11,565 --> 00:34:13,845
Speaker 2: had my scrape that I was trying to keep flies

577
00:34:13,885 --> 00:34:17,085
Speaker 2: off for most of the day. But there was one

578
00:34:17,165 --> 00:34:20,365
Speaker 2: gentleman that I remember. He had a fully broken leg

579
00:34:21,125 --> 00:34:24,445
Speaker 2: which we were trying to what do you call it

580
00:34:24,485 --> 00:34:29,565
Speaker 2: when you sat with branches, Yeah, like put in a splint. Splint. Yeah,

581
00:34:29,685 --> 00:34:32,285
Speaker 2: we were trying to put his leg in a splint

582
00:34:32,365 --> 00:34:35,525
Speaker 2: so he could somehow make it to a hospital which

583
00:34:35,605 --> 00:34:37,725
Speaker 2: wasn't in inord Tonal. We had to get to gall

584
00:34:38,205 --> 00:34:43,925
Speaker 2: somehow and I remember translating how far it was and

585
00:34:44,125 --> 00:34:46,525
Speaker 2: trying to coordinate because I could speak the language. It

586
00:34:46,605 --> 00:34:49,445
Speaker 2: was useful learning Singhalese.

587
00:34:50,525 --> 00:34:50,725
Speaker 1: You know.

588
00:34:50,765 --> 00:34:52,725
Speaker 2: It just goes to show I never thought it would

589
00:34:52,765 --> 00:34:56,205
Speaker 2: be useful, but it actually came in handy that day. Yeah.

590
00:34:56,325 --> 00:34:59,005
Speaker 2: So there were some people that were that were injured,

591
00:34:59,005 --> 00:35:00,565
Speaker 2: but they left pretty quickly.

592
00:35:01,565 --> 00:35:05,405
Speaker 1: When you were up there, how long until you understood

593
00:35:05,445 --> 00:35:07,845
Speaker 1: the scale of it that it wasn't just the village

594
00:35:07,845 --> 00:35:09,805
Speaker 1: that you were in that it was just so massive

595
00:35:09,805 --> 00:35:11,325
Speaker 1: and that so many people had died.

596
00:35:12,125 --> 00:35:16,205
Speaker 2: It wasn't until the next day once we kind of

597
00:35:16,365 --> 00:35:20,005
Speaker 2: hit a radio and it was translated for us, and

598
00:35:20,045 --> 00:35:23,325
Speaker 2: we had someone pointing to an atlas to Indonesia. That's

599
00:35:23,365 --> 00:35:26,725
Speaker 2: where it started from. But we had no idea of

600
00:35:26,805 --> 00:35:30,365
Speaker 2: the amount of life that was lost at all at

601
00:35:30,365 --> 00:35:30,805
Speaker 2: that point.

602
00:35:30,965 --> 00:35:33,645
Speaker 1: How did you get off the mountain and into Colombo?

603
00:35:34,965 --> 00:35:39,365
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, with a bit of difficulty. We coordinated. I

604
00:35:39,405 --> 00:35:42,445
Speaker 2: sort of hung off the Aussies and they managed to

605
00:35:42,485 --> 00:35:46,365
Speaker 2: know someone I'm assuming sort of give him some payment

606
00:35:46,365 --> 00:35:50,565
Speaker 2: and hit a little van and so we loaded in

607
00:35:50,605 --> 00:35:55,965
Speaker 2: this van and drove through the hill country because all

608
00:35:56,005 --> 00:35:59,525
Speaker 2: the infrastructure along the coast was gone. Although we did see,

609
00:36:00,125 --> 00:36:03,245
Speaker 2: oh yeah, pretty much what I saw in the next day,

610
00:36:03,285 --> 00:36:06,685
Speaker 2: they'd set up morgs in shops. So we as we

611
00:36:06,725 --> 00:36:08,845
Speaker 2: got into the hill country, and I just remember seeing

612
00:36:08,845 --> 00:36:11,005
Speaker 2: there was a t in front of us, some kind

613
00:36:11,005 --> 00:36:13,645
Speaker 2: of lorry with a whole lot of people sitting in

614
00:36:13,645 --> 00:36:15,765
Speaker 2: the back, and they had about the size of this

615
00:36:15,845 --> 00:36:20,165
Speaker 2: table or a big plastic rubbish bin which that occasionally

616
00:36:20,205 --> 00:36:22,925
Speaker 2: one of them would vomit in that are obviously really

617
00:36:23,725 --> 00:36:26,445
Speaker 2: carsick being in the back of this truck in these

618
00:36:27,405 --> 00:36:29,165
Speaker 2: so we just say in this van and we had

619
00:36:29,205 --> 00:36:31,565
Speaker 2: the view of these people. I mean, it was just

620
00:36:32,845 --> 00:36:36,485
Speaker 2: it was just terrific. I'm getting Gus goosebumps talking about it.

621
00:36:36,525 --> 00:36:39,885
Speaker 2: But there's those little things like that that you know,

622
00:36:39,965 --> 00:36:43,925
Speaker 2: you don't see on the news, the detail, things you

623
00:36:43,925 --> 00:36:44,725
Speaker 2: wouldn't expect.

624
00:36:45,725 --> 00:36:48,405
Speaker 1: Yeah, what was the situation like when you got to Colombo.

625
00:36:50,685 --> 00:36:56,605
Speaker 2: The city had started to get covered in white flags,

626
00:36:57,165 --> 00:37:02,565
Speaker 2: which is the morning tradition. So down the streets there'd

627
00:37:02,605 --> 00:37:06,165
Speaker 2: be these beautiful white flags hung everywhere.

628
00:37:06,565 --> 00:37:10,045
Speaker 1: So Colombo hadn't been affected, not at all. But everyone

629
00:37:10,405 --> 00:37:14,805
Speaker 1: was congregating there because of hospitals and infrastructure.

630
00:37:15,205 --> 00:37:19,925
Speaker 2: I think that the country just absolutely scrambled. It was

631
00:37:19,965 --> 00:37:23,005
Speaker 2: thrown into this position. I think thirty thousand people died

632
00:37:23,565 --> 00:37:26,285
Speaker 2: and they I mean, it's probably not as well set

633
00:37:26,365 --> 00:37:30,965
Speaker 2: up as Thailand as far as infrastructure goes. So oh, look,

634
00:37:31,005 --> 00:37:34,925
Speaker 2: there were army people coming in from around the world

635
00:37:34,925 --> 00:37:40,045
Speaker 2: to help that Colombo wasn't too bad. I only saw

636
00:37:40,245 --> 00:37:43,045
Speaker 2: a bit of it because I sort of spent the

637
00:37:43,125 --> 00:37:46,165
Speaker 2: day in the consulate and the night in the Hilton

638
00:37:46,565 --> 00:37:50,765
Speaker 2: on the ballroom floor where they'd set up a rescue center.

639
00:37:51,165 --> 00:37:52,125
Speaker 1: Who was there with you?

640
00:37:52,485 --> 00:37:55,765
Speaker 2: My Ausi's We were the first ones to arrive. So

641
00:37:56,085 --> 00:37:59,445
Speaker 2: we walked into the Hilton and this this massive ballroom

642
00:37:59,565 --> 00:38:03,645
Speaker 2: with all these little beds set up all around the outside.

643
00:38:03,845 --> 00:38:06,525
Speaker 1: Were you still wearing a cosins and stolen thongs? At

644
00:38:06,525 --> 00:38:06,925
Speaker 1: this point?

645
00:38:07,405 --> 00:38:10,565
Speaker 2: A villager gave me yes. But a villager did give

646
00:38:10,605 --> 00:38:13,485
Speaker 2: me a sarong us. I was wearing this black and

647
00:38:13,925 --> 00:38:19,165
Speaker 2: brown song around you my boss for it? Really? Well? Yeah, yeah?

648
00:38:19,205 --> 00:38:22,725
Speaker 1: How long did you stay in that emergency accommodation in

649
00:38:22,765 --> 00:38:23,245
Speaker 1: the Hilton?

650
00:38:24,045 --> 00:38:28,445
Speaker 2: Only one night? Long story? But I went from the

651
00:38:28,525 --> 00:38:37,005
Speaker 2: Hilton to the Consulate, and then the Consulate to Suji's funeral,

652
00:38:37,685 --> 00:38:40,205
Speaker 2: As I said, there's a whole long story there, and

653
00:38:40,245 --> 00:38:43,405
Speaker 2: then from the funeral, I then had the accommodation in

654
00:38:43,685 --> 00:38:46,725
Speaker 2: what we had initially booked, which was a big hotel

655
00:38:46,765 --> 00:38:47,325
Speaker 2: in Colombo.

656
00:38:48,605 --> 00:38:53,805
Speaker 1: How many days after the tsunami was Suji's funeral? And

657
00:38:53,845 --> 00:38:58,285
Speaker 1: how did how is his body recovered and reunited with

658
00:38:58,325 --> 00:38:59,685
Speaker 1: his family? Well?

659
00:39:00,085 --> 00:39:05,885
Speaker 2: I felt absolute horror at the thought that he was

660
00:39:05,925 --> 00:39:08,685
Speaker 2: going to get put into a mass grave. Some what

661
00:39:08,805 --> 00:39:11,605
Speaker 2: was happening well, when I was back in, I thought, well,

662
00:39:11,645 --> 00:39:14,605
Speaker 2: if I just leave him there, he's just going to

663
00:39:15,045 --> 00:39:17,365
Speaker 2: end up. So I've ended up going down the following

664
00:39:17,925 --> 00:39:21,565
Speaker 2: morning before he left. Before I left, one to find

665
00:39:21,565 --> 00:39:25,085
Speaker 2: out where he was, and two to just make sure

666
00:39:25,125 --> 00:39:27,005
Speaker 2: that they didn't put him in a mass.

667
00:39:26,805 --> 00:39:30,485
Speaker 1: Grave and the order ad receded by then. Yeah, how

668
00:39:30,485 --> 00:39:31,685
Speaker 1: did you find where he was?

669
00:39:33,245 --> 00:39:36,445
Speaker 2: I walked around for a bit looking, and you know

670
00:39:36,485 --> 00:39:40,125
Speaker 2: I wasn't the only one there. Yeah, people were looking

671
00:39:40,165 --> 00:39:46,485
Speaker 2: for everyone. You know, there's people walking around with children

672
00:39:46,525 --> 00:39:49,085
Speaker 2: in their arms that had died the day before, and

673
00:39:49,125 --> 00:39:53,925
Speaker 2: that the whiling, the women that had lost kids, that sound.

674
00:39:54,405 --> 00:39:57,085
Speaker 2: It was just something that you just don't forget. But

675
00:39:58,845 --> 00:40:04,605
Speaker 2: once I'd located him, I basically said his family will

676
00:40:04,685 --> 00:40:08,685
Speaker 2: come down and get him and take him back home.

677
00:40:09,485 --> 00:40:13,045
Speaker 2: He was in a in front of a shop. They

678
00:40:13,045 --> 00:40:16,725
Speaker 2: were aligned, they were lined up because obviously people were missing.

679
00:40:16,685 --> 00:40:20,365
Speaker 1: So someone had just started lining up and so everyone

680
00:40:20,405 --> 00:40:22,245
Speaker 1: had to just go and look for their loved ones.

681
00:40:22,365 --> 00:40:24,565
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't know how long I ca.

682
00:40:26,525 --> 00:40:28,125
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the middle of the day, in the middle

683
00:40:28,125 --> 00:40:28,605
Speaker 1: of the sun.

684
00:40:29,405 --> 00:40:31,205
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was horrifying.

685
00:40:33,285 --> 00:40:35,925
Speaker 1: So you were able to say goodbye at his funeral

686
00:40:35,925 --> 00:40:37,085
Speaker 1: before you left the country.

687
00:40:38,645 --> 00:40:46,005
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, I sort of, I guess. Yeah. It

688
00:40:46,365 --> 00:40:50,165
Speaker 2: was different to I guess Australian funerals, or at least

689
00:40:50,165 --> 00:40:54,005
Speaker 2: culturally what I've been sort of familiar with. And it

690
00:40:54,085 --> 00:40:56,045
Speaker 2: was all it was a Buddhist ceremony, and it was

691
00:40:56,085 --> 00:41:00,125
Speaker 2: all in another language, and it was at the house,

692
00:41:00,245 --> 00:41:02,645
Speaker 2: so the coffin was in the lounge room. So I

693
00:41:02,645 --> 00:41:05,445
Speaker 2: guess it was confronting, and I was a total mess,

694
00:41:05,645 --> 00:41:09,285
Speaker 2: to be honest, and I felt so horrified that they

695
00:41:09,405 --> 00:41:11,285
Speaker 2: hadn't found the other members of their family.

696
00:41:13,765 --> 00:41:16,685
Speaker 1: So there were other members of his family.

697
00:41:16,725 --> 00:41:21,365
Speaker 2: Who died, Yeah, his mum died, his sister and brother

698
00:41:21,405 --> 00:41:24,365
Speaker 2: in law died, and a six and a four year old.

699
00:41:24,685 --> 00:41:26,045
Speaker 1: Oh god.

700
00:41:26,485 --> 00:41:29,045
Speaker 2: So I've sort of put my foot in and sort

701
00:41:29,045 --> 00:41:32,125
Speaker 2: of said I'm sorry, as you say, and they said,

702
00:41:32,165 --> 00:41:35,205
Speaker 2: oh no, because they weren't aware at that point that

703
00:41:35,805 --> 00:41:38,045
Speaker 2: they weren't going to get found or they were in

704
00:41:38,045 --> 00:41:41,085
Speaker 2: fact dead. So I don't know if you call it

705
00:41:41,125 --> 00:41:43,765
Speaker 2: saying goodbye, but yeah, because.

706
00:41:43,525 --> 00:41:45,565
Speaker 1: There's a lot of confusion for a long time, wasn't

707
00:41:45,565 --> 00:41:48,885
Speaker 1: there not knowing where people were and in hospitals and

708
00:41:48,925 --> 00:41:54,005
Speaker 1: communications being down, That's right? How did you get out

709
00:41:54,045 --> 00:41:55,165
Speaker 1: of the country and back.

710
00:41:54,965 --> 00:42:00,125
Speaker 2: Home Quantus sent a Was it a mercy flight?

711
00:42:00,845 --> 00:42:01,325
Speaker 1: I think so?

712
00:42:01,965 --> 00:42:07,885
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did, which was great. Really, I mean, yeah, what.

713
00:42:07,765 --> 00:42:09,965
Speaker 1: Was that flight back like? I mean what was the

714
00:42:10,005 --> 00:42:11,205
Speaker 1: mood on the plane? Oh?

715
00:42:11,245 --> 00:42:16,925
Speaker 2: It was. The plane was very more less than half

716
00:42:17,205 --> 00:42:20,125
Speaker 2: like it. There's only a few people, and it was

717
00:42:20,165 --> 00:42:22,765
Speaker 2: the bumpiest ride I'd ever had because we none of

718
00:42:22,845 --> 00:42:26,165
Speaker 2: us had sort of suitcases or anything, so it was

719
00:42:26,245 --> 00:42:28,565
Speaker 2: really light. So it was really bumpy ride. And I

720
00:42:28,645 --> 00:42:32,325
Speaker 2: used to hate flying, be terrified of turbulence. You look,

721
00:42:32,365 --> 00:42:35,765
Speaker 2: I couldn't have given a damn. I just it was odd.

722
00:42:35,805 --> 00:42:38,885
Speaker 2: You know. They gave us little toiletry bags of stuff.

723
00:42:38,925 --> 00:42:42,605
Speaker 2: And the government, what the government did for us all

724
00:42:42,765 --> 00:42:44,085
Speaker 2: was absolutely fantastic.

725
00:42:45,045 --> 00:42:45,845
Speaker 1: What did they do?

726
00:42:46,205 --> 00:42:49,285
Speaker 2: Oh, we were all given a letter and we explained

727
00:42:49,485 --> 00:42:51,525
Speaker 2: the process of what was going to happen at the airport.

728
00:42:52,725 --> 00:42:57,645
Speaker 2: We were offered. Oh, I think there was religious counseling

729
00:42:58,005 --> 00:43:04,285
Speaker 2: or any kind of support, privacy from media, First Aid,

730
00:43:05,045 --> 00:43:08,045
Speaker 2: anything that we needed. It was going to rock And

731
00:43:08,045 --> 00:43:10,325
Speaker 2: well I didn't go through customs even I've just got

732
00:43:10,525 --> 00:43:15,685
Speaker 2: ushered out into a separate little room. And yeah, yeah,

733
00:43:15,685 --> 00:43:16,405
Speaker 2: it was amazing.

734
00:43:16,765 --> 00:43:18,325
Speaker 1: Did you talk to some of the other people on

735
00:43:18,365 --> 00:43:19,925
Speaker 1: the plane?

736
00:43:20,205 --> 00:43:23,045
Speaker 2: Not really, We all kind of it was quite odd.

737
00:43:23,165 --> 00:43:28,485
Speaker 2: We really did keep to ourselves. I know there are

738
00:43:28,525 --> 00:43:32,405
Speaker 2: a couple of freeloaders that got a free trip to

739
00:43:32,445 --> 00:43:37,605
Speaker 2: Australia out of it, but really cheeky boys. Cheeky boys,

740
00:43:37,605 --> 00:43:40,165
Speaker 2: but yeah, it's just didn't seem important to double them

741
00:43:40,165 --> 00:43:45,685
Speaker 2: in at the time. Oh goodness, but yeah, no, it was.

742
00:43:45,885 --> 00:43:46,805
Speaker 2: It was pretty quiet.

743
00:43:47,765 --> 00:43:51,285
Speaker 1: How do you go back to your life after experiencing

744
00:43:51,325 --> 00:43:52,085
Speaker 1: something like that.

745
00:43:53,925 --> 00:43:58,365
Speaker 2: No choice, You've just got no choice but to carry on.

746
00:43:59,045 --> 00:44:01,685
Speaker 2: I had to go back to work. I had new contracts,

747
00:44:01,685 --> 00:44:06,205
Speaker 2: starting new employees to come on board. I couldn't fall apart.

748
00:44:06,325 --> 00:44:08,485
Speaker 2: I couldn't lose to fall apart. It was really rough.

749
00:44:08,805 --> 00:44:13,085
Speaker 2: It was really because it was so public. Everyone knew

750
00:44:13,125 --> 00:44:16,965
Speaker 2: that the managing director was dead, so I couldn't really

751
00:44:17,085 --> 00:44:24,005
Speaker 2: afford not to be competent. But privately, yeah, the nightmares,

752
00:44:24,125 --> 00:44:27,725
Speaker 2: and as I said, we're vegetarian for quite some time.

753
00:44:28,245 --> 00:44:29,245
Speaker 1: What do you think that was.

754
00:44:29,805 --> 00:44:33,605
Speaker 2: I couldn't. I couldn't deal with the association of eating

755
00:44:33,645 --> 00:44:37,125
Speaker 2: something that was dead. And I remember totally flipping out

756
00:44:37,165 --> 00:44:40,445
Speaker 2: once at Marion shopping Center I'd got a smell of

757
00:44:40,925 --> 00:44:43,965
Speaker 2: something to do with the Euros meat that was cooking,

758
00:44:44,605 --> 00:44:46,765
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I had to get out. Tears were

759
00:44:46,765 --> 00:44:48,365
Speaker 2: coming down my face. I think, oh my god, Sarah,

760
00:44:48,965 --> 00:44:52,565
Speaker 2: you're crazy. But I just there was real. And I'm

761
00:44:52,565 --> 00:45:01,205
Speaker 2: not particularly religious, but that association of human death and

762
00:45:01,285 --> 00:45:03,245
Speaker 2: at the end of the day we are just a

763
00:45:03,285 --> 00:45:07,805
Speaker 2: shell and meat. I just couldn't. I could not eat

764
00:45:08,165 --> 00:45:11,365
Speaker 2: and I love I love steaks, but yeah, not for

765
00:45:11,405 --> 00:45:11,965
Speaker 2: a long time.

766
00:45:13,565 --> 00:45:16,605
Speaker 1: Did you have post traumatic stress disorder?

767
00:45:17,165 --> 00:45:22,605
Speaker 2: Well, I you know, I wasn't officially diagnosed, but oh god, yeah,

768
00:45:22,605 --> 00:45:26,885
Speaker 2: I was reliving those seconds for a long time in

769
00:45:26,925 --> 00:45:30,365
Speaker 2: my brain and you know, you'd have a flashback and

770
00:45:31,845 --> 00:45:37,645
Speaker 2: get it real, Sarah, you know you're actually safe. But yeah,

771
00:45:38,325 --> 00:45:40,205
Speaker 2: as I say, I sort of woke up one night

772
00:45:40,445 --> 00:45:43,685
Speaker 2: not remembering who I was. That was terrifying, but with

773
00:45:43,725 --> 00:45:48,965
Speaker 2: a bit of DIY, psychiatry and self counseling, I sort

774
00:45:49,005 --> 00:45:50,165
Speaker 2: of got through it with time.

775
00:45:50,965 --> 00:45:53,005
Speaker 1: Did you ever stay in contact with Rob?

776
00:45:54,325 --> 00:45:59,245
Speaker 2: Well, it's really strange because a year after he went

777
00:45:59,325 --> 00:46:04,965
Speaker 2: back to Una and went to the house where we

778
00:46:05,285 --> 00:46:08,965
Speaker 2: washed up and they had my wallet because I think

779
00:46:08,965 --> 00:46:11,845
Speaker 2: the car, everything where we were had all got washed

780
00:46:11,885 --> 00:46:15,165
Speaker 2: up to the one spot my driver's license was there.

781
00:46:15,245 --> 00:46:18,445
Speaker 2: He knew it was me, and he got the business

782
00:46:18,485 --> 00:46:22,885
Speaker 2: card out and decided to email me. And he'd spent

783
00:46:23,085 --> 00:46:28,445
Speaker 2: the whole year feeling really terrible that he never looked

784
00:46:28,485 --> 00:46:33,725
Speaker 2: after me like he promised. So, yeah, I was just

785
00:46:33,765 --> 00:46:35,845
Speaker 2: got to work one day and there was this email.

786
00:46:36,765 --> 00:46:41,245
Speaker 2: Do you remember me? We were together in the tsunami

787
00:46:41,245 --> 00:46:43,605
Speaker 2: when we found side was body. He said, I'm really

788
00:46:43,645 --> 00:46:45,685
Speaker 2: so sorry that I could never look after you. We

789
00:46:45,725 --> 00:46:50,885
Speaker 2: lost each other. So I said, it's all right, man.

790
00:46:51,565 --> 00:46:53,405
Speaker 1: It must have been so happy that you're alive.

791
00:46:53,725 --> 00:46:56,445
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said, it's all right, man, we got through it.

792
00:46:57,525 --> 00:47:01,085
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine after going through something like that, it's

793
00:47:01,085 --> 00:47:03,085
Speaker 1: something that any other people who've been through it can

794
00:47:03,165 --> 00:47:05,645
Speaker 1: possibly understand.

795
00:47:06,165 --> 00:47:11,845
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean we all have problem, different

796
00:47:11,885 --> 00:47:14,045
Speaker 2: sorts of problems at different stages of our lives that

797
00:47:14,085 --> 00:47:18,045
Speaker 2: we've got to deal with. But yeah, it was epic

798
00:47:18,085 --> 00:47:25,165
Speaker 2: and it was public, and yeah, I don't know, and

799
00:47:25,365 --> 00:47:28,285
Speaker 2: I guess my story is different from someone else's story

800
00:47:28,325 --> 00:47:31,365
Speaker 2: that went through it, So I guess we have a

801
00:47:31,565 --> 00:47:35,325
Speaker 2: level of understanding. But it's a bit like playing Survivor,

802
00:47:35,405 --> 00:47:39,925
Speaker 2: you know, those those contenders on my tribe. We've got

803
00:47:39,965 --> 00:47:41,885
Speaker 2: that in common. You know, we were there.

804
00:47:42,245 --> 00:47:47,365
Speaker 1: We So, yeah, how did you make the decision to

805
00:47:47,445 --> 00:47:50,285
Speaker 1: do Survivor? Because I imagine that could have been really triggering.

806
00:47:51,245 --> 00:47:54,325
Speaker 2: It could have been Yeah, look, I'm up for a challenge.

807
00:47:54,525 --> 00:47:57,725
Speaker 2: I love adventure. I love being outside. I love the

808
00:47:57,765 --> 00:48:03,365
Speaker 2: idea of like having to sort of be short of

809
00:48:03,485 --> 00:48:06,885
Speaker 2: food and having to like light fire and make your

810
00:48:06,885 --> 00:48:09,245
Speaker 2: own shelter and you know, see what you're made of

811
00:48:09,365 --> 00:48:10,885
Speaker 2: at the end of the day. I just love the

812
00:48:10,925 --> 00:48:12,445
Speaker 2: idea of it. And I'm a bit a fan of

813
00:48:12,485 --> 00:48:12,845
Speaker 2: the show.

814
00:48:12,965 --> 00:48:17,885
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you're married now and you've got two kids. Yes,

815
00:48:19,365 --> 00:48:22,405
Speaker 1: we all tell stories to our kids about how much

816
00:48:22,445 --> 00:48:25,085
Speaker 1: tough we had it than they did when we were younger.

817
00:48:26,965 --> 00:48:29,965
Speaker 1: What do they think about your tsunami survival stories?

818
00:48:30,765 --> 00:48:33,445
Speaker 2: Well, you know what, I haven't gone into too much

819
00:48:33,565 --> 00:48:38,125
Speaker 2: detail with them. My youngest Jacob, he he hasn't really

820
00:48:38,165 --> 00:48:41,325
Speaker 2: asked too many questions about it. Holly, on the other hand,

821
00:48:41,445 --> 00:48:47,485
Speaker 2: she's eleven and she's a lot more curious, and I guess, yeah,

822
00:48:47,485 --> 00:48:51,405
Speaker 2: I haven't really wanted to go too much into detail

823
00:48:51,445 --> 00:48:55,005
Speaker 2: because she just latures onto information. She'll want absolute detail.

824
00:48:55,165 --> 00:49:01,485
Speaker 1: So girls many want bad news. Oh my god, is

825
00:49:01,525 --> 00:49:03,285
Speaker 1: it something you had to explain to your husband in

826
00:49:03,325 --> 00:49:05,445
Speaker 1: a lot of detail for him to really get to

827
00:49:05,485 --> 00:49:07,725
Speaker 1: know you. Oh do you sort of lock it away?

828
00:49:07,805 --> 00:49:09,005
Speaker 1: And no?

829
00:49:09,605 --> 00:49:13,565
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, he knows, he knows, and I I guess

830
00:49:13,565 --> 00:49:16,045
Speaker 2: it's just not relevant. Well, it hasn't been up until

831
00:49:16,485 --> 00:49:18,645
Speaker 2: going on Survivor, but supported up as part of the

832
00:49:18,685 --> 00:49:22,085
Speaker 2: application process because it's kind of cool story. But yeah,

833
00:49:22,205 --> 00:49:25,845
Speaker 2: I just it gets put into a part of your mind.

834
00:49:26,125 --> 00:49:29,365
Speaker 2: That's just it's there and you're aware it's there, but

835
00:49:29,405 --> 00:49:34,285
Speaker 2: you don't necessarily need to really think about it until

836
00:49:34,325 --> 00:49:36,205
Speaker 2: you start freaking out at the gym that someone's dropped

837
00:49:36,205 --> 00:49:38,085
Speaker 2: to weight and it's the vibration on your feet and

838
00:49:38,085 --> 00:49:39,245
Speaker 2: you've got to go okay, Sarah.

839
00:49:39,285 --> 00:49:41,765
Speaker 1: So you're still triggered by things, yeah, today.

840
00:49:41,765 --> 00:49:45,685
Speaker 2: Quite unexpectedly at times, not often, not often, thank goodness,

841
00:49:45,765 --> 00:49:47,725
Speaker 2: but yeah sometimes.

842
00:49:48,325 --> 00:49:51,285
Speaker 1: Well I can't wait to see what you do. I

843
00:49:51,285 --> 00:49:52,965
Speaker 1: was going to say in the jungle, but it's not

844
00:49:53,045 --> 00:49:56,765
Speaker 1: the jungle, is it. That's a different show. It's kind

845
00:49:56,805 --> 00:49:58,845
Speaker 1: of it's is it in Fiji?

846
00:49:58,885 --> 00:49:59,245
Speaker 2: Where's it?

847
00:49:59,285 --> 00:50:00,445
Speaker 1: Where's it actually shot?

848
00:50:00,525 --> 00:50:03,165
Speaker 2: Survivor? Yes, so it's it's on a beach in Fiji.

849
00:50:03,885 --> 00:50:08,725
Speaker 2: But I guess that the forest behind is somewhat jungle like,

850
00:50:09,325 --> 00:50:12,445
Speaker 2: it's humid and it's green, and yeah, just a bit

851
00:50:12,485 --> 00:50:12,805
Speaker 2: of both.

852
00:50:13,525 --> 00:50:15,365
Speaker 1: Well, I can't ask you how you went, but I

853
00:50:15,405 --> 00:50:18,245
Speaker 1: hope you went well. And I'm glad you're back, Yeah,

854
00:50:18,285 --> 00:50:22,205
Speaker 1: in one piece. And thanks. You really are a survivor.

855
00:50:22,445 --> 00:50:24,325
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you me. Oh, thanks for having me.

856
00:50:25,925 --> 00:50:29,925
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to No Filter and Sarah's incredible story.

857
00:50:30,605 --> 00:50:34,565
Speaker 1: She is such a great I don't know, salt of

858
00:50:34,565 --> 00:50:37,845
Speaker 1: the earth is the phrase that comes to mind. She's just,

859
00:50:38,045 --> 00:50:43,845
Speaker 1: you know, no bs down to earth, still really affected

860
00:50:44,405 --> 00:50:46,285
Speaker 1: by what happened to her. And afterwards she said, I

861
00:50:46,325 --> 00:50:49,725
Speaker 1: hope I don't come across as cold when I tell

862
00:50:49,765 --> 00:50:53,125
Speaker 1: the story. And I said, no, why would you think that?

863
00:50:53,165 --> 00:50:57,805
Speaker 1: And she said, well it I still feel like I'm

864
00:50:57,845 --> 00:51:00,565
Speaker 1: in shock in a way, and she did. She got

865
00:51:00,605 --> 00:51:03,725
Speaker 1: really teary when she talked about it. And you couldn't

866
00:51:03,765 --> 00:51:06,685
Speaker 1: have seen that because a podcast is not a visual thing.

867
00:51:07,205 --> 00:51:11,245
Speaker 1: But I can guarantee she's not cold, she's not numb,

868
00:51:11,285 --> 00:51:14,925
Speaker 1: she's not cavalier about it. But she just had to

869
00:51:14,965 --> 00:51:16,925
Speaker 1: do what she had to do to get through it.

870
00:51:16,965 --> 00:51:22,205
Speaker 1: And survive And yeah, I feel like inspiring is an

871
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Speaker 1: overused word, but I just found listening to her tell

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Speaker 1: kind of a matter of fact way, but obviously she's

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Speaker 1: just been affected so deeply, and it was just so

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