An adventurous day up the Matukituki Valley with good friends ended in a dramatic rescue for eight-year-old Dunedin boy Mackay Blaikie last week.

The Blaikie family holidays in Wānaka regularly, and each summer Mackay has a day out with the Wellington family, which includes twins Ollie and Freddy. 

This year (Wednesday January 3) they went to Minaret Burn, and while Mackay and the twins went for a wander to investigate the upper river, Mackay and Ollie slipped in and were swept over a waterfall. 

While Ollie was able to free himself, Mackay was trapped, his leg and waist wedged between rocks.

He was “lodged in the rock, with the power of the water” holding him with his face just centimetres above the water, Mackay’s mother Tara told the Wānaka App.

“We were lucky he was with [the twins’ mum and dad] Mike and Erin who are the most wonderful hands-on parents. They were aware that something wasn’t right when the boys weren’t back within a few minutes.”

Within four minutes, Mike found Mackay.

Mike was joined by Christchurch friend Simon Beirne, while his wife Hayley called for help.

Around 20 people were part of the rescue effort, Tara said. They included the Wellingtons, the Beirnes, Auckland man Ben Main and his partner Greta, Simon Gould, Alex and Jeff Fulton, Micky Eradus, and a group of about 10 teenage girls.

Part of the group worked together to hold Mackay’s face out of the water, while others formed a human chain in the pool above the waterfall to reduce the water flow. 

Mackay (right) and friends in Wānaka this summer. 

The reduction of water flow allowed Ben to dive under the water and, with the help of those holding the boy, release Mackay’s leg from the rocks. 

He had been in the waterfall for approximately 30 minutes.

“It was a miracle he got out,” Tara said.

The rescuers Tara spoke to later “all reiterated what a dire situation it was and they didn’t know how they managed to get him out”.

“Sheer relief” followed his escape from the water, she said.

They said Mackay was strong, calm, and brave, telling Mike and Simon: “I love my Mum and Dad. Please tell Mum and Dad I love them”. 

Mackay had remembered his beach safety days with his Dunedin primary school, telling his 12-year-old sister Honor later that he remembered “we have to stay calm in such times”.

Mackay was carried out across the rocks, checked out by rescuers with medical training, wrapped in a survival blanket and kept warm.

“Other than shock he was doing amazingly well,” Tara said.

She eventually got a message from her distraught husband John, who was in Dunedin, about what had happened, and went to the Wellington’s Wānaka house.

“Mackay met me with a giant smile, saying ‘Mum I’ve been wrapped in tin foil!’,” she said.

Via a Facebook post Tara and her husband have managed to contact and speak to most of Mackay’s rescuers. 

“We want to celebrate these 20 plus individuals who don’t know our family but who we will be forever grateful to,” she said.

Describing her son as “resilient, strong, and so incredibly brave”, Tara said Mackay got back in the water just days later, mastering waterskiing on big skis for the first time.

“You want children to explore our amazing backyard, and I think it’s important to educate them on how things can change so quickly,” Tara said.

While Mackay is a water lover, Tara said: “He’s told me he doesn’t want to go near [the waterfall].”

She said a happy postscript to the story is that Mackay will be reunited with his lost blue croc, which had remained lodged in the waterfall. A woman found it at the head of Minaret Burn - unfortunately without its jibbitz (decorations that can be clipped to the shoes’ ventilation holes).

Wānaka SAR swift water rescue team leader Roy Bailey told the Wānaka App that Mackay was “really lucky”.

“It sounds like they did an awesome job rescuing him, and did all the right things.”

He said there were three important learning factors from what he knew of the incident: 

“Take any moving water cautiously and be aware of the dangers of any moving water and the weight of it. The force of water is huge. Every cubic metre of water weighs a ton - that’s a lot of weight if you’re trying to push against it.”

Second: “If you are getting swept away you don’t want to be trying to stand up”; and finally: “Staying calm is absolutely critical. Mackay did a great job remembering that.”

PHOTOS: Supplied