Northland farmer Bill Grounds, 89, rescued after 13 hours trapped upside down
A loyal farm dog, quick-thinking neighbours and determination saved an 89-year-old’s life after a harrowing 13-hour ordeal on a remote Northland farm.
Broadwood farmer Bill Grounds went out to check on his cattle several kilometres from home, and what was a routine job turned into a fight for his life.
After checking on his cows, his side-by-side vehicle became stuck in soft ground. After several attempts to free the vehicle failed, Grounds was left with little choice but to begin the long walk back.
He was about 5km from his house, and attempting the long walk back was not easy.
A few days before, the 89-year-old farmer was released from hospital after problems with his legs.
“I got halfway up the hill, and my legs were buggered.
“I lay down on a patch of grass and must have fallen asleep. I don’t know how long I was out for, but when I woke up it was getting pretty dark.”
As darkness fell, he continued to struggle up the steep farm road, repeatedly calling out for help.
He fell backwards several times and hit the back of his head three times on the rocky metal as he navigated his way home, he said.
Eventually he abandoned walking and crawled along the roadside water table, using a stick to feel his way around.
“I thought there was no future in that, and I took my woollen pullover and put that in front of me and crawled up. That’s why my knees are still bare.”
He saw neighbouring farmhouse lights go out but continued to call for help as he walked along. At times he got his dog to call for help too.
“I saw their lights go out, and I knew they had two dogs there and I thought well if Pie, my dog, went over there and started barking, that might have made them aware that something was wrong.
“Pie went right over to the house, and I could hear him. I told him to speak up. He went right over to the house, and he went around the house barking, but still nothing happened, and I kept calling and calling.”
Pie belongs to his farm helper but stays with Grounds on the farm, where he feeds and looks after the dog.
Grounds said when he fell in the darkness the dog came to his aid.
“He’s a very faithful dog. When I was down on the ground, and I might have been groaning a bit, the dog was up the hill a bit. He saw that, and he came down, and he tried to burrow underneath me. He got right under me, and then he tried to stand up.”
As Grounds continued to follow the water table, he said he must have crossed over to the wrong side of the road as the water table suddenly “disappeared”.
He slipped down a steep bank and became trapped, his leg caught up to the knee in the fork of a tree while the rest of his body hung upside down.
“I could just hold a branch up high, but there was no way I could get out. I called, and I kept calling, but there was no response.
“I just tried to stay rational, and I tried everything to free my leg, but there was no way I could free it. And at some stage after hours of holding up there I just had to let go, and I knew when I let go my head would go down. I thought then it was probably the last decision I would make when I let go.”
He spent the night suspended, surrounded by hordes of glow-worms.
“While it didn’t provide a great deal of light, it was enough to attract all the insects from miles around. I was breathing them in … I thought I wasn’t going to survive at that stage."
For the hours Grounds hung upside down, Pie never left his side.
The dog continuously barked at nearby homes, stayed through the freezing night, and when neighbours came looking for Grounds, he led them to the spot where Grounds lay barely conscious.
When a neighbouring couple, who asked not to be named, found him about 9.30 the next morning, he was not in good shape, they said.
They went looking for him after going to his house and becoming concerned when they could not find him.
Following the dog’s lead, the couple found him upside down, barely conscious and badly swollen.
His head was severely swollen and blue, the couple said.
Using all his strength, the neighbour lifted Grounds enough for his partner to free his trapped leg before calling emergency services.
They remained with him, using blankets to warm his body, which they said had become hypothermic.
“He wasn’t wearing a high-vis or anything, and he was hard to spot. He sort of blended in.”
The dog alerting them helped them find where Ground was trapped.
Grounds was airlifted to Whangārei Hospital and praised his neighbours, hospital staff and his loyal hound.
“The doctors down there told me I had a 1% chance of surviving. But then they probably tell everybody that.
“The lesson I got out of this is: look after your animals, and they will look after you,” Grounds said.
Yolisa Tswanya is deputy news director at the Northland Age. An experienced journalist and newsroom leader, she reports across the Far North and Northland, with a particular interest in health, education and community affairs.