It has got a pleasant shape (28 November 2024)

Marcus gets to the bottom of a pricing quandary, determines where you can and cannot use your cell phone, and remembers the Mount Erebus disaster 45 years on.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Marcus Lush Nights podcast from News
Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
There will be news, There will be updates Marcus till midnight.
How are you. I've got great things, great hopes for tonight.
First thought from me right the Inner City rail Loop.
It opens in two thy and twenty six. Yeah, so
a little bit of a wait for that. This is
an Auckland twenty twenty six. Do you think we will

(00:33):
get a chance to walk around it? Anyone heard anything yet?
I see there's always photos of people and works, people
and counselors going for a walk around the loop. Do
you think we as punters will be able to walk
around it? Have anyone heard anything about that? I presume
it's there's all sorts of osh things with wires and

(00:57):
stuff like that. What if that's going to be a thing.
I've never heard anyone do a walk through for an
under an underground railway before, but look, if it's happening,
I'm up for it. If you know anything about that,
let me know, because I'm all in. I think that'll
be remarkably exciting anyway, Macau, I suspect we probably won't

(01:18):
get a chance, but if we do that will be fantastic.
Will it be finished by twenty twenty six? PEPs? Not PEPs.
It won't be finished in time that he pushed these
things out by one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
ten eleven months. Anyway, here's something that I am interested

(01:38):
in that I will mention and see whether your if
at all, because I found this surprising having thought about it.
Do you know why when you go to the shops
traditionally and even still that things are always marked such
and such dollars and ninety nine cents, although these days

(02:01):
more so such and such dollars and ninety five cents?
Why do you think they've always done that? I'd be
curious with your answer about that, because it's front of
mine for me today, because I have some wisdom on that.
So if you can think about that, why would they
say such and such dollars and ninety nine cents when

(02:25):
we went to five cent pieces in ninety five cents?
Why is that? If you always got a response to that,
I think i'd find that very interesting to what you
think you've got to say about that. Yeah, get in touch,
oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty, because I might
tell you why that is, and you might find that
quite interesting. But first thing, I'm going to ask you

(02:46):
why you think that is? Yeah, that's the simplest I
can explain it. So if you've got something to say
about that jumpin' jumping? Now, yeah, why is it always
such and such dollars and ninety five cents? Have you
ever got any thoughts about that? Because it might blow
your mind. You might have thought about that already, but yeah,

(03:09):
it's an interesting one. Get in touch Marcus till twelve
if you think you know the reason why it was
always and ninety nine cents or in ninety five cents,
because yes, I've got something slightly surprising to say about that.
If you want to come through, Get in touch Marcus
till midnight, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty and nine

(03:31):
two nine to text. Yeah, Rick Marcus welcome. Oh hang on, yeah,
Rick Marcus welcome. Good evening, Yes, goodly.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I have got a lot to say about this, but
it's pretty obvious. It's psychological. They look at it and
they say, oh, it's hundred ten dollars undred nine dollars
on the eight that's all it is.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
How confident are you of that?

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Well?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I just think it has to be that.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
So you're you're you're confident.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yes, I'm till point. I'll tell you seventy percent.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, okay, thanks Rick. Yeah, I wonder if people agree
with Rick. But that's why they do it psychological, because
because when it works psychologically, well you think it's cheaper.
Because we're all quite wrong.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
It does, in a week moment sound far better than
ten dollars.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
But you would know, wouldn't we.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, people turn off and they go shopping. That's why
they end up with more stuff than those who tended
to buy.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Put a line under that rock. We all end up
with stuff we don't need. Linda, do you agree with Rick?

Speaker 5 (04:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (04:44):
I actually do. I think it's totally psychological. Two ninety
nine sounds cheaper than three dollars, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
In one hundred and ninety nine? Ninety nine sounds less
than two hundred. I brought it for less than two
hundred dollars.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Have you been told that?

Speaker 6 (05:01):
Well, it's it's been a topic of conversation amongst clients
and things before in the cellar on. Ye, so that's
what we all think.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Are you a here dresser? Yeah, you're not giving people coffee?
Or drink, say or see that's illegal.

Speaker 6 (05:15):
I can't say anything about that.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Linda. You keep doing that. You do what you do, Linda,
because you sound fantastic. Linda's doing Linda good. There was
a law, but no one knows about it. Not because
I think you're going to have a proper kitchen or something.
I'd like a bite two week when I get my
hair cut, like. But anyway, that's just something Wendy. It's
Marcus welcome.

Speaker 7 (05:37):
Oh him, Marcus just pulling up for fuel.

Speaker 8 (05:39):
So I'm gonna have to talk to you while I'm
doing the fuel clups.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I just got fuel, pulled the hose out early.

Speaker 8 (05:44):
Anyway, Yes, I think it's something to do with tex
So that is it going to the next pound?

Speaker 9 (05:52):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (05:52):
Sorry, dollar, it costs you more.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
It's to do with what.

Speaker 8 (05:59):
The eighty I'm good.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
To do with the text so v was called gst
now yeah, okay, we'll find out what sort of fuelly
getting asked whether it's an interesting question? Is it fuels fuel?
Stuart AND's Marcus welcome?

Speaker 7 (06:15):
Yeah, Hi, Mark, I saw you going tonight.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Good start.

Speaker 7 (06:19):
Yeah, okay, hey I can say long time listener, first
time for Yeah, that'll do okay. So I think I
have the answer to that because my grandparents. I've always
been a retailer, but my grandparents were in shots before
me and years ago, and they told me that it

(06:41):
was back in the days when well everything was just
done mentally and people could be a little bit light
fingers fingers. So it made the mettally give out change,
and that made sure that they didn't just say, oh,
that's one pound exactly, and they could just pop the
money in their pockets. So I'm not one hundred.

Speaker 11 (07:03):
Percent sure about this, but that's what I was told.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and that seems to be the right reason, Stuart,
as they were forced to ring it up on the till,
so it went into the inventory to give change. Therefore,
people what.

Speaker 7 (07:15):
I've always believed, and that's what I've always believed in,
So I thought I knew the answer.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
And look, and I'm sure most people have thought. It's
a great wizardry bit of psychology that people think it's cheaper,
but clearly that's a nonsense.

Speaker 7 (07:29):
I agree with all that reason was here.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
So you've got to go ring it up to the
till and then you've got to give them change. Therefo
we've got to put the money in and not take it.

Speaker 7 (07:41):
Yeah, some years ago, I was over in Hawaii. Some
years ago, I was in Hawaii and they still had
the old gadgetary and play in one other buildings. It
wasn't in use, but where they used to have this
sort of where you crank crank a handle and it's
like on a big chain system. So you would you

(08:02):
would put the power note or whatever it was, and
then wind it away and it would go up to
and with a receipt and it would go up to
the office and then they put the change from the
other one and wind it back down to you and
you give it to the customer. So they must have
had a real high risk business to you.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
And it was in Hawaii.

Speaker 7 (08:20):
Yes, it was all still there in place, but it
had been for years earlier.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, brilliant. Okay, nice, thank you for that sixteen pass.
It's take a break. And yeah, I that is the reason. Now,
I didn't know that till today. I just thought, ah,
I mean, Pee always said it was psychology. Don't ever
have Well, I thought that's weird, But yeah, that makes
perfect sense. You're forced to ring it up to get
the change. Therefore we've got to go to the till,

(08:47):
so obviously it's different now with f to pause. Now
a lot of people are hot onto the collar about
the woman from ringing whiles she's pumping up gas. I
don't have a problem with it. I don't think anyone
ever has caught fire while using a cell phone while
on the four court of a gas station. So for me,
not a problem. And we never know. It might have
been a land she might have borrowed the landline and

(09:08):
had that on a long extension. Unlikely, but it's always
a possibility. Marie, it's Marcus. Welcome.

Speaker 12 (09:15):
Hi, good aenning Marcus, just a thought the ninety nine cents.
So I know you're saying it's all psychological, but are
they Can they round up to the next dollar?

Speaker 2 (09:27):
You see? The point is, though, Marie, I'm saying it's
not psychological. Okay, I'm saying that's the whole point. Everyone
always thought it was psychological. But the reason that they've
always traditionally done it is because it forced people to
go to the till to get change. Therefore they had

(09:47):
to ring it up. Therefore they had to not rob
their boss if they were working for them.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
Do you get that?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Do you understand that vibe. Yeah, I've never thought of that.

Speaker 12 (10:02):
Yeah, I just wondered that if it's ninety nine cents
so a dollar ninety nine, can they round it up
to two dollars.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think they always do that. I think they always
do that now with Swedish rounding. Yeah, yeah, I think
it's I think it's ninety nine, ninety eight goes up,
seventy six goes down. Someone will don't know why it's
called Swedish rounding. But anyway, I'm interested in that, oh,
eight hundred eighty thirty and nineteen nine two text, So
I hope it's interesting with a learning curve about the
twenty about the rounding up and the Yeah, because I thought,

(10:32):
I think I'm a kid to ask me about that,
and I sort of mis explained it to them in
the past too, So I feel bad about that anyway.
Marcus Till twelve oh, eight hundred eighty thirty and nineteen
nine two text, Dave, welcome, kill mate, Hey Dave.

Speaker 13 (10:50):
Oh goody mate, not a dollar ninety nine thing that
you're going on about. Yeah, what about you know you've
got cars going for eight one hundred and ninety nine.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's a really good point.

Speaker 14 (11:06):
Really not.

Speaker 13 (11:09):
Yea, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's that's that's that's that's nothing to do with that
must be to do with the psychology, because that's nothing
to do with having to go to the towel, because
it's just.

Speaker 13 (11:21):
Who actually gets that dollar? You know what I mean?
Of course, of course minds behind, but you're.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Good and what if all those what if some person
got all those dollars that have millions, wouldn't they always.

Speaker 13 (11:38):
Who gets that dollar?

Speaker 2 (11:40):
I'm going to try and I'm going to try and
find out, because you're quite right, because in cars it is,
but in houses it's.

Speaker 13 (11:45):
Not exactly.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Is Oh well, I should I should embark to find out, Dave,
thank you? What about actually can you get? Does anyone
get told offering the phone at the gas station anymore
than guessie? Because why do we even start doing that
being concerned about using your phone? I suppose they thought

(12:09):
because people are going to get preoccupied and drive off
with their fuel thing and the bowser. I'm very happy
because the guest place I've been going to get guests
because I've got a fuel cut at Z they had
the world's worst hand pumps, but they've changed them. They've
got new ones, and boy, the old ones were bad.
You could never click them on. You had to stand

(12:31):
there out time the whole time, there freezing cold after
work at midnight. Good evening, Nigel, it's Marcus. Welcome and I.

Speaker 15 (12:40):
Just thank you.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
I'm a first time caller.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Well, it's exciting for all. It's exciting for me too.

Speaker 16 (12:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
I wanted to just contribute to the pricing discussion. I'm
actually a pricing expert help various companies. It's a skill
set in New Zealand. It's extremely lacking, but it's probably
the strongest profit lever that any company can use. And
we talk about pricing strategies, pricing methodologies and pricing tactics,

(13:10):
and when it comes to picking price points, that sort
of falls into the tactical bucket. And I totally get
the initial reason that might be true. But today's reason
is all about psychology. And really there's there's a favorite
research showing that the number nine is a lot more
attractive than the other numbers. That's the first piece, and
then the other one is as other CAUs have sort
of alluded to that there really is a heuristic in

(13:33):
terms of human psychology around that it's not ten dollars
it's below the ten mark or the twenty dollar market,
or however it might be. So there's quite a strong
psychological effect that you get from humans when you have
the nine ninety five versus the ten dollars effects.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
So it seems why do you do you do pricing
at supermarkets?

Speaker 4 (13:55):
No? No, mainly in the technology world where you've got subscriptions.
So you know, one of the interesting ones with subscriptions
is you'll usually see a better, a good, better, best scenario.
So three offers, and the track there is to get
the differentation of the cost between those three offers and

(14:16):
the differentation and perceived value, so that generally what you're
trying to do is anchor people psychology at a very
high price point so that everything else looks cheap, and
then you're trying to make them feel like they're going
to go to that middle offer and find that the
middle offer drives much higher profitability than the lower offer does.

(14:36):
But you'll still get twenty percent of your customers taking
the top offer because they are the sort of people
that like to do that. So I guess the point
is there's a huge amount of goes into pricing and
packing the number is one of the small tactical things
you can do, but there's very good research around why
you do it and the impact it has.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
So with grocery items, right.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
Yeah, yeah, and I guess.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Well, I'm just I'm looking at I'm looking at peck
and sardines two seventy nine nineteen. These are the first
as they've come up to seventy nine. So you're right,
it all seems to end with nine. Why is nine
considered better looking?

Speaker 15 (15:19):
It's a good question.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
I don't know actually what the human brain's doing when
it sees nine, but I've seen a lot of research
that when you go and do blind tests around their
trackedness for the human brain, the nine stands out, which
is why you see that.

Speaker 16 (15:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
One of the things the supermarkets play with, obviously is
the bundling effect. So you sell a single lizer, you know,
for a dollar or for ninety nine cents yourself two
for one nine, and then you might have a larger
bundle as well. So they're doing effectively the same thing

(15:57):
that the subscription services do where they're trying to drive
They're trying to segment their customers and get them towards
the grouping that offers the highest possibility. The humans don't
realize what's going on.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
No, look, I can imagine that. I know there's actually
a show on at Netflix about supermarket and pricing and marketing,
but it's quite dull. Nigel, thank you so much for that.
Keep your calls coming through phones at petrol station and pricing.
Are you Are you concerned Mike about your phone at
the guessie? Good ay Mike at the gas station?

Speaker 5 (16:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 17 (16:34):
Good a Marcus, like you said, the thoughts on that is,
you were making that comment and you so always understood
that you shouldn't have your phone going when you get
out of your carb guess. But I don't know if
you've noticed, but winter you're on an air New Zealand
fight that standing in an airport that doesn't have an
air bridge. They also tell you not to use your

(16:55):
phone when you're crossing the Carmack. I flying queen down,
fine a lot queens down on airport with no air bridge,
and that's what they always say. Please don't use your
phone until you're entering the terminal building.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Do you know why is that? Maybe f guess is
more volatile, Well.

Speaker 17 (17:14):
Maybe bath guess is probably not more volatile. Because it's
effectively kerosene, so there's probably a lot. There's volatile and
petrol and anyway, when you get out of an airplane,
I mean generally you're out in the open air and
there's clany of air movement. You think it would be
even less of a risk than it would be in

(17:36):
a petrol station where some kereless person putting their own
petrol and might have skilled a bit.

Speaker 10 (17:42):
Yeah, so just a thought.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Okay, I might have a lower flesh point on Google
that up. Thank you, Mike. F guess it's good for me.
I'm not often say f guess guess. Good evening, Logan,
It's Marcus, welcome.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yes, thank you, Logan, loud and clear.

Speaker 18 (18:00):
No worries. I just want to down to the price
tag the beak. Do you want to call it that?

Speaker 19 (18:06):
So?

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I think we could call it that.

Speaker 8 (18:08):
I do.

Speaker 18 (18:09):
I do think it is slightly psychological because if you've
got a nine ninety nine, it's much cheaper because it's
three digits, where if it goes up to ten dollars
it's four digits. The same can be applied when it's
ninety nine, where it's four digits. If it's one hundred,
it's five digits. Yes, so the instrument there, it does
sort of weigh in on the cycloo.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
There wouldn't be there wouldn't be many grocery items that
would be ninety nine dollars and ninety nine cents. I guess,
well there'd be some. I suppose.

Speaker 18 (18:42):
There would be. I think we've got a thing for
milestones like that. If you were to, like, if you
were to sort of conflate this into a sporting issue,
milestones and cricket, like one hundred runs everyone's got when
they get out for ninety nine, so it's that three
number milestones. So milestones are quite a big thing, I suppose.
So if you were to drop it down to three

(19:03):
digits instead of four, people think automatically they've got a discount.

Speaker 7 (19:07):
That's just yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
And if we had eight fingers, people would be celebrating
when they got sixty four runs in cricket.

Speaker 16 (19:17):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, that's weird, isn't it?

Speaker 18 (19:20):
To a point?

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, Well, it's all about ten toes. Haven't got some
hit some of us some of us have or ten fingers. Yeah,
I still practice accounting and base two. That's fun. I'll
tell you more about that sometime good evening. Josh At'sacus welcome.

Speaker 11 (19:46):
Yeah, Marcus, you know you're talking about why you can't
use your phone while you're pouring gas. Yeah, there's a
few signs around, ay, and some of them are like,
don't use your phone, you might get static. You might
get a static electricity and you cause fire.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Wish.

Speaker 11 (20:08):
Yeah, it's nonsense, really, isn't it. It's like you'd have
more luck if you pull up in your Addis jumpsuit.
You know, you full on tracksuits with the top and bottoms.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Is that quite steady?

Speaker 11 (20:24):
Well yeah, woolen socks with sports shoes. Yeah, dude, Like,
actually you.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Get static match. I got a static shock at Peck
and Save the other day. I don't know if I
was ya, I was lighting or what I was doing.
I thought sort of out Peck and Save, get some conductors.

Speaker 11 (20:42):
Is it the concrete flooring with the all shined.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Normally places with carpet and you get your carpet and
your around, you get yourself a bang.

Speaker 11 (20:57):
See, Like if we could capsulate that, we wouldn't have
to bother having the conversation about nuclear energy.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Here we go, how to ruin a great call? But
I think something stupid at the end. Brilliant. Do you
think we will get your too energy one day?

Speaker 20 (21:13):
Josh, oh, mate, Hey, look, I'm not very cynical because
I'd like to get it for zero zero zero whatever
zero point one percent, the same as what they pay
for it.

Speaker 11 (21:30):
But you won't get it for that, mate, You'll get
a few unit price.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
Brilliant.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Good on you, Josh, evening mikets Marcus that we just
find a mouse. Mikets Marcus, welcome, Hello Marcus.

Speaker 10 (21:42):
Air fuel mixture fits Fasts did an experiment with still
phones instead of electricity, and they couldn't get an explosion
with any air fuel mixture. The only way they're successful
is they did an arc which for the ballistics cube
that they paid.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
What case was it Kerosen or was it the stuff
used in propeller planes?

Speaker 10 (22:06):
They use normal ninety one grade petrol.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Wow, so you.

Speaker 10 (22:15):
Better look at it on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Actually, yeah, so is this to walk across the tarmac
at the airport. This is not at the service station right.

Speaker 21 (22:28):
Now?

Speaker 10 (22:29):
They didn't in the service station environment, but they had
to be careful not to create a huge explosion, so
they hit their ballistic shields up, but they couldn't get
the cell phone to ignited.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Okay, and someone that thanks Mike. Someone's texted too. If
you've got an NPD, Marcus. When I fuel up at
a service station, self service NPD, allast for a seat
from the touch green. It gives the option of spitting
out a physical receipt or displaying it on a screen
so I can take a picture of it. So the
service station seems fine with people taking their phone out

(23:02):
on the fore court. Now chairs Aaron, There you go, evening, George,
it's Marcus. Welcome.

Speaker 9 (23:13):
Hey Marcus, can you hear me? All good?

Speaker 2 (23:15):
He's receiving you really clearly. Thanks for the quality of
your lines. Great.

Speaker 9 (23:19):
Before we get into it, I just want to let
you know that you've got a really good cadence. Thank you,
you're pating and your delivery. You've got definitely got a
radio place.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Well, there you go. I've never been complimented on my
cadence before, George.

Speaker 16 (23:36):
No, it's good, oh brilliant.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, I feel conscious of mycadence now I wonder well yeah, okay,
thank you you're good. Brilliant.

Speaker 9 (23:44):
No good. So we're talking about pricing. Yes, I had
another bloke call earlier and he was like, the most
attractive price is nine. I think the most attractive price
is zero.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I wonder why people like the letter the number nine.

Speaker 9 (24:06):
It's not quite there though, right you're almost about to
tick over, and you're like, you think it's no.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
It's I think it must be that people like the
shape of it, like psychologically it's just pleasing to look at.

Speaker 9 (24:25):
So then what does that say about six? Because six
is not a fig at nine and it's just an
upside down nine.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
If you never see that in pricing, do you?

Speaker 3 (24:35):
No?

Speaker 9 (24:36):
You don't, you don't. And the mobile phone thing, I
always thought it was static electricity, but apparently it's not.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
No, I don't know. I just can't work out what
that is. I've been told off a guess station didn't
like it.

Speaker 9 (24:55):
We're having your phone on you? Yeah, well, I don't
feel the need to pull my phone out. When I'm
pumping gas. I like to hear the sound of the
tank filling up.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
You've resound based, aren't you, George, with the cadence and
the fuel.

Speaker 22 (25:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (25:15):
Well, in a couple of times when I'm like to
the guy, I just want to fill my tank up
and then I'm going, And then it doesn't click over
and then it it's spills over, overfelt and pouring out
onto yeah, onto the car. And I'm like, so, I'd
just like to hear it top up like a bottle.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Of water at the tap, you know, and the yeah
because at the pitch changes a as it gets to
the top. Yeah, could you make that noise what it does?

Speaker 5 (25:45):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (25:46):
Not without a bottle of water.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, I'm trying to mention it up myself. George, thank you,
and Georgia Cadence sixteen to ten, Marcus, the nine is
like a smiley face. I like the nine and I'm
looking at we at why I like it? Doesn't he
look like the human form? You don't know what that

(26:09):
is about that, Marcus. Before Guestbee, all fuel prices ended
in point nine of ascent, now summing in point six
to a pair cheaper than get competitor Gaven where to
call out to a fire at a BP station in

(26:31):
Bayview north of Naper that started with person with an
open of petrol on passenger lap and drive use the
cell phone blew up, destroyed the fore court. Marcus, do
you know anything about the large fire just outside of
Hastings Lots of fire engines down au Mahu Road, very hot,
dry and windy here tonight. Who's our Hastings correspondent? Could

(26:54):
we go there? Please only know o Maho Road and remoder.
But if you've got the situation there, I've got a
picture of this coming to it. How did you find
out that animal? So I've got something on Facebook. So

(27:19):
if you've got information about the fire and hooks by it, Hastings,
I'm going to do a bit of a map Google.
I knew they'd been used tonight. I'm just looking at
the map to see where that is to explain it

(27:40):
to you people. Seems to be a road that goes
north west of Hastings towards Twyford, past the Tenpin Bowling Place,

(28:01):
and I've got a picture of it. We've got an image. Wow,
oh that's full on. So I'm looking the photos taken
from the corner of Kirkwood Road and now I'm going
to cross reference that with the map I've got and

(28:24):
I'll bring some information to you, okay about where in
fact that is? Just bringing that up, Male callers to
find Kirkwood Road and we should be able to work
out what building it is. Stand By callers, if you're
if you're Johnny on the spot or Karen on the corner.

(28:45):
Give me a holler.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
So I've got a Kirkwood Road is there? Okay, So
I've got to flip that around the other way. I'm
just shuffling between two things here. So Kirkwood Road is on.
It's on the other side from Kirkwood Road looking towards
the hills. Okay, it looks like it's perhaps near Raizos Engineering.

(29:12):
I'm just going to double check that one. It might
be further back than there. It seems to be one
of those industrial places down there. I feel terrible saying
where it could be because it actually might be further down.
It's hard to get the distance near total span or
food stuff. But if anyone's got any more information about that,
please let us know. Marcus Hawks Bay needs to be

(29:33):
an urgent fire band. Lots of smoke this morning, the
whole cape and smoke and hard to see where it's
coming from, and nothing reported tinder dry. This is going
to be a serious drought the summer and fire risks beyond.
Measure boards and banners need to be up now, but
they are not. Regards Charlie Helmwana, could you tell me

(29:53):
what you mean by boards and banners? Do you mean
signed saying no fires? Daimo just passed Omahu had nothing
to report here, just the usual seeds of wealth and entitlement.
There are pump apps like sar tank. You have to
use your phone at the pump breaking use massive vegetation

(30:13):
Fire Lichfield twelve appliances. Now, sometimes when we get a
report of a fire, we can get subsequent reports of
fires that need to be verified because they mightn't be true.

(30:36):
So I don't even know where Lichfield is. But if
there is as far emergency, usn't got anything else there
as a fire. That's because because twelve appliance, it sounds
like a lot. By the way, sometimes in the past
we called fire emergency New Zealand fens. We'll never be
calling them fens again because no one ever called them fens,

(30:59):
and the fire emergency using themselves don't like it to
be called fens, so i'd ever say fens. I'm sure
one of it Litchfield if they mean Leathfield, because Litchfield
seems to be just a rural area south of Putau,
so I don't quite know if there'd be a fire

(31:20):
which Litchfield are on too cover, Marcus. I think it
could possibly have something to do with people's attention, like
walking in front of cars. There was a story last
week of Allman who walked into a propeller blade that
was operating when she was taking a photograph. Kent, why
about the number nine? That's pretty interesting, Marcus. At to

(31:40):
my mate James's birthday and what are your thoughts on Liverpool,
the city or the team. Marcus. Just sitting outside with
four of my grandkids after swimming the pool. They asked
me who I was listening to till I said Marcus,
I think you're amazing at what you do. Great talent,
keeping up chairs, Nigel, it's free camp things. Nigel, it's nice.

(32:02):
I hope you like mycadence. This is high octane petrol
used in pistol engine aircraft. The guy was talking about
jet A one, which jet aircraft use, and yes it's kerosene.
I don't think they realized that jets and propeller planes
use different guests, but it makes perfect sense. Jet fuels

(32:23):
for jets, air gas is for props prop planes. So
I've got information for you. This is from Fire Emergency,
New Zealand. Our crews are currently attending a large structure
fire on in the area of Omahu and tw Twyford Road.
Please remain out of the areas. Let our firefighters do

(32:46):
their job. So don't rub anick and don't say that
I told you to go over lock too because a reporter.
That's bad. Okay, I don't even say anything. The smoke
is blowing into Hastings Town, where she's badly written. We

(33:07):
are advised, I'll say, we advise firmly and cambly residents
to keep the windows and doors closed. So firmly and camberly.
It's the first time I've ever said firmly. It's not
a suburb I'm aware of. Why is it called a
terrible name for a suburb? So if you are in,

(33:28):
firmly close your windows and don't go look at the
fire so firmly. Is a suburb adjacent the other suburb?
I can't see that's mentioned. If you are in, frimly,
let us know. Is this smart coming in your windows?
Stop it? Close the door light, the light. We're staying

(33:50):
in tonight. How are you going? People? My name is
Marcus Welcome Heddle twelve. Firmly. I've never heard anyone mentioned
from I'm not good with my hasting suburbs. Marcus JITs
us Jet A plus A minus one aviation ADASH one

(34:11):
aviation grade keroseed, but also turbo props such as the
dash out and the A TR seventy two that the
New Zealand Fly also used. Jet A one. These are
really just jet engines that drive propellers. That's interesting. Small
planes like Sisters one five to get to use a
guest which is basically aviation grade petrol rob brackets pilot.

(34:35):
Good evening, Debbie, Hi, Debbi, it's Marcus. Welcome. What are
the chances?

Speaker 23 (34:46):
So it's just smokes not through this really?

Speaker 4 (34:51):
So? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:53):
But are you?

Speaker 9 (34:54):
Are you?

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Are you? I'll say some streets and you say, are
you near Nottingly Nottingly Road.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Around the corner?

Speaker 2 (35:01):
You got a cyclic cyclically know where you are? Where's
the other suburb, Kimberley? They said, Kimberley is there?

Speaker 8 (35:14):
Well, it's probably more towards sex Me area.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
I see Kembley's across the road. Okay, I've never heard
of Friendly. Okay, so you can see the smoke, but
it's not really coming towards you.

Speaker 22 (35:24):
No, that's yea.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
But I heard it was on Facebook.

Speaker 13 (35:28):
The spell a little bit of smoke now, but it's
not too bad.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Have you closed the windows?

Speaker 9 (35:33):
No?

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Well that's that's rebellious. Oh no, you closed the windows
before you close the windows before you call talk back?
Did we go close the windows now? Okay, I suppose
it's hot. It's hot?

Speaker 5 (35:47):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (35:48):
You have got the econ on well, econ coming of age.
So there we go. We've spoken too. Firmly Firmly it
doesn't sound like a town. Firmly, it's firmly. Flea is
like a brand of car. Firmly sounds more like something

(36:11):
you get from a cabinet treat Firmly. Come on, Marcus
Firmley as well known, particularly Firmly Aquatics Center. Never heard
of it. I've never ever heard of sentences has said,
what are you doing? We're up to the Firmly Aquatic Center.
Never heard of it. So there you go. That's me

(36:35):
being adamant about that. We are talking about when things
are reduced to ninety nine per cents? Why do they
do that? And the answer is it goes back to
the days where it meant you had to ring it
up on the till so people wouldn't take the money,
which makes perfect sense once you had that point out.
I never knew that. I always thought there'd be some

(36:55):
psychology of pricing, but clearly that I mean. But people
also said the number nine is attractive to people. Now
I've looked at the number nine or the letson, let's
call it the number nine. I've looked at the number
nine most of the most of the show, and I
can't work out why, but has got a pleasing shape.

(37:19):
If I google most attractive digit myself in a world
of trouble, what is considered the most beautiful number? Oh,
the golden I don't want the golden ratio. So yeah,
So I don't know why the number nine is out there, Mike,

(37:40):
because I wonder if any of your wonderful knowledgeable as
it's cold, advise where I listen to the cricket on
radio or app stand by. We'll get texture about that,
do we know, Dan, Yes, they haven't enjoyed that. They
want something else. Text them, Yeah, I think if you

(38:04):
know what you're saying, I think text them here, Marcus,
the councilor's closing the aquatic center. Someone of oh that's friendly. Yes,
of course there was that pool and I know why
they're closing out. They don't like outdoor pools because they're
expensive to heat. No, I didn't know about friendly Thank you.
That pool needs to be saved. By the way. On
a serious two, it is forty five years since the

(38:25):
Arabis disaster. For most of people of my generation, that
will be perhaps the most memorable event in New Zealand history,
perhaps until nine to eleven, which I wouldn't really say
was New Zealand history. I've done many a talkback night

(38:47):
on the situation Erebus, and just from a logistic point
of view too, because I know people are looking about
where they should put the memorial site. So my recollection

(39:08):
from previous talkback I think we did on the forty
year commemoration of Erebis was that the plane flew from
Auckland to christ Church and then I think there was
a crew change. I'm not entirely sure about that, but
then it flew from christ Church to Antarctica and was

(39:34):
expected to return back to christ Church and then come
back to Auckland. The other thing I remember at the
time about that was that the trips to Arabis were
considered well. They did a number of them and they
were much talked about things. Sorry, not the trips to Arabus.

(39:57):
The trips to Antarctica were much talked about things, and
I remember vividly there were competitions for toothpaste and stuff
and the prize was trip to Antarctica on a sightseeing plane.
So it was a really big deal. Now, I don't
know if the vibe is right to discuss that tonight,
but if there's something that you want to say, I'm
just putting that out there that it's forty five years

(40:18):
and I think it's probably important to commemorate that. Erebus
is a act of volcano that sits over Scott Bass
and McMurdo Base in Antarctica. Yeah, and if you are
in Antarctica, it sort of bubbles away over you. It
sort of feels like sort of mountain Overlord. And yes,

(40:43):
there are all sorts of headlines subsequent the event, the
recovery project and the ordeal of that that was the
recovery of the bodies and then the investigation and the
inquiries and stuff like that. Just gone to Wikipedia just
to check the facts. It does say in Wikipedia it
says the flights left and returned to New zeal in

(41:06):
the same day the plane left Auckland's national airport at
eight am for Antarctica and was scheduled to arrive back
at christ Jurgen His theirport at seven pm, which was
going to have a refill crew change. I don't know
if it stopped at Christchurch on the way down to Antarctica.
I'll just say that in terms of fact checking that

(41:28):
or does the last stop over so someone might have
the details about that, just to clarify that for me.
Twenty one past nine Breddit's Market's good evening and welcome.

Speaker 19 (41:38):
Hi Marcus, how are you good?

Speaker 21 (41:39):
Thanks Brett sol I don't want to get into, you know,
what what actually happened of the Eurobus because obviously that's
still an interesting story. But my father was the crew
that was going to take the plane on, not only
the next crew flight crew, so that was a bit

(42:00):
of a surreal experience for him, knowing that he knew
the flight crew and waiting for the plane to arrive
to take it on, you know, talkland and then knowing
that you know, that fuel would have now run out
and they hadn't heard back, and then basically they were
just told to sort of go back to the hotel.
So yeah, but but scary but surreal.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
So yeah, that's my little bit big things for your family.
How old were you.

Speaker 19 (42:26):
Then, Oh, slightly younger than you, Marcus. I, So, yeah,
I do sort of vaguely remember it.

Speaker 21 (42:38):
I more remember the aftermath because I knew we all
knew the you know, the other crew quite well, and
you know, we'd sort of go to uh, you know,
family parties put them and so forth. So I sort
of remember the apple maath of it. But yeah, at
the time, I think I was a little bit too
young to know right there at the time, but only

(43:01):
until later that I found out from a father that, yeah,
he was the crew waiting to take it on.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
So it were you living in Orkland or christ Church
at the time, Auckland? Okay, yeah, but he was waiting
in christ Churge to pick up the plane, is that right?

Speaker 9 (43:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (43:18):
Okay, y know, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 16 (43:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Wow. Well, okay, so he was waiting there and knew
that obviously, the pitt and they knew that everyone. Well
I guess he would have known early than anyone that
everyone had perished.

Speaker 21 (43:32):
Yeah, well, you know that's what they presumed. Obviously they hadn't,
you know, they couldn't say that but you know, they
knew what was the time that they should be going
to and holding it, and then they knew the time
that the fuel would basically running out. And I think
he said to remember that, telling me that radio communication
is quite poored down there at the time. So the

(43:53):
fact that they hadn't heard from them for a while
wasn't a biggie because of just you know, how far
away it is and the radios they had. But then
when they knew that they should know something about it
because there are feels running out, then that's when they
knew something was wrong, and obviously just told to go home.

(44:14):
So yeah, a little bit scary.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Did your father remain within his in for long after that?

Speaker 5 (44:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 21 (44:20):
Yeah, no, No, he went on just a normal retirement.

Speaker 22 (44:25):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
So okay, well, okay, well, I appreciate you coming through, Brett,
thanks so much for that eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
I'm just tigure how many flight ten he was in
and made to Antarctica. It felt like they'd been going
going on for a while, like there might have been
a dozen or so. I will check on that. Donna

(44:49):
as Marcus, good evening, Hello, Hi.

Speaker 24 (44:52):
Donna, Welcome, Welcome, is that Marcus? Yes, hi, and I'm
live now. Is that right?

Speaker 2 (44:58):
That's correct.

Speaker 24 (45:00):
Well, I've just been listening to the program because my
dear husband loves your talk back. I would like to
share what happened that night for me. I was a
young seventeen year old trainee chef working at the Auckland
International con called restaurant Airport Go Chef, and that was

(45:21):
the night of the big dinner, the annual airport dinner.
And of course we were preparing all day. Nothing was
mentioned until we set up the buffet and everything, and
then literally at eight o'clock, everybody in the restaurant stood

(45:42):
up and left the building, well, left the restaurant anyhow.
And of course these were the New Zealand people the
airport and every other person that was, every other dignitary
related to it all. So yeah, that was a pretty
mind blowing experience for all of us at the airport.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
What was the event? They have an annual dinner there?

Speaker 8 (46:04):
Do they?

Speaker 24 (46:06):
We had the annual dinner. It was once a year.
I mean I'm going back, of course nineteen seventy nine
and they used to have the annual dinners within New
Zealand other ear lines. But it was also the actual
airport itself, you know, and of course we had this
annual dinner and everyone was there. Who was someone, I suppose,

(46:30):
But to a seventeen year old I really didn't understand
it until we were told. And then suddenly at eight
o'clock everyone just left and we were cleaning up, and
then history, as we know what happens. Yeah. So wow,
it's a day that I'll always remember and never forget.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
You used to remember it really clearly, obviously, very clearly, yea.

Speaker 24 (46:53):
And that was also because it was the first natural desert,
well not natural. Was it first disaster really as me
growing up as seventeen year old, and what it meant.
I mean, I'm sure there's other things like the white
tangy and the train and all those things that went

(47:13):
passed by, but that would stick on my mind to
the rest of my days.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
It's for sure nice to hear from your Donna. Thank you.
Plenty of texts about there's plenty of calls also, just
to confirm and someone can come through to me. If
this is not correct. I think the flight was from
Auckland to Antarctica is supposed to come back to christ
Church for refuelling because they couldn't get from Auckland to
Antarctica and back on the one load of fuel. That's
my understanding. I think it stopped a christ Church on

(47:37):
the way down. And the only reason I say that
is because there's often discussions where to put the memorial
to do with the last place it was in New
Zealand before it left. So that might be of interest
to you if you want to well, if you've got
some information about that too, I'll get toward to your
text and calls before too long. Peter, it's Marcus. Good
evening him.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Marcus. I was a apprentice avionics engineer at in New
Zealand when that flight happened, and we have had a
raffle amongst amongst our department to go on that flight.
The aircraft was in zp DC ten and I remember

(48:17):
working on that aircraft only in the days prior to that,
and our foreman won the raffle and he went on
it and subsequently died. But I remember the night that
it happened, I was with a friend playing a game
in Monopoly and we had had quite a few beers,
and I can tell you what that sobered us up,

(48:39):
really quickly. You know, it's still hard to talk about.
Marie Davis Davies was the CEO and he was liked
amongst the employees because he would come out to the
hangar and talk to all the engineers. And to see
him tell the world about the aircraft running out of gas,

(49:03):
it was really really hard. The following morning, a Thursday,
we went into work and it was it's very hard
to describe it. It's just surreal because everything's taped off.
You can't go into your normal workstations, you can't do anything.

(49:25):
I was in my third year of apprenticeship and we
all heard it up to the cafeteria upstairs. But I
will never forget those days. And we all have our
theories as to why it happened. But I think the
thing that we always have to remember is that it's

(49:48):
not a memorial that remembers those people. It's what happens
in our minds and our hearts. And I don't know
about them or a memorial. You know, many people want it,
but I will never ever forget that day. An interesting
side was I was talking to a younger in New
Zealand employee my last flight, and we just got to

(50:11):
talking and I told him I used to work for
New Zealand. I was there at the Arabis disaster, you know,
I was around that time. And he said what was that?
I said, the Arabist disaster? And he goes, what was that?
Do you know? They don't talk about the Arabi's disaster
now to the young employees. And I thought that was
really bad. So that's my thought that.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
I thought under five they sort of made apologies to
the family, and the family went down there and there
was a great reckoning for a New Zealand that I'm
quite clear of the memories of that that they that
they meant that they acknowledged all of that. Well, yeah, look,
I don't know. I don't work for you. That was
the sense I got from an outsider.

Speaker 16 (50:52):
Yeah, Rob did.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
But it's not being taught to the younger, okay, and
I can I can understand that.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Yes, if you if you run an if you're on
an airline, you don't want to focus on Hey just Peter.
But you know when you went to work the next day, right,
was everything taped off because it was a crime scene.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
I can't remember there was a crime scene, but the
Civil Aviation needed to inspect everything. So I was specializing
in emergency systems, so I was doing things like emergency batteries,
like crafts, that sort of thing. I was doing all
the electronics on that. And we couldn't get near where
we were, you know, we were just heard it upstairs.

(51:35):
It was taped off, no, but everything was closed and
we couldn't get anywhere near the equipment. And I remember
MZP as clear as day. It was a beautiful aircraft
and to see it, you know, in the snow and pieces,
was incredibly difficult.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Yeah, and there was there was a number of stories
similar to you that people that people had won or
they got gifted, or someone couldn't go, and there was
this moment of great joy where they found they were going,
of course obviously to the sadness that was the last
trip they took.

Speaker 4 (52:12):
Well, I remember the plane taking off because a lot
of you know a lot of people were wishing that
the you know, the form and good you know, good will,
good will. But yeah, I remember that plane taking off,
and I remember seeing it going to the sky. I
remember as clear as day. And then the evening when

(52:34):
at first was like coming back and Dick, then I
knew what had happened. You know, you can't be late
and there's no communications, and it was a few of
us phoned each other.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Why couldn't be Why couldn't it be late with no community?
Did you have so much faith in the AVA, in
the community, in the communication avionics? Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 22 (52:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (52:57):
Absolutely, I mean the avionics d the d C ten,
we were brilliant.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Did the DC ten potentially late land on the ice?

Speaker 22 (53:06):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Oh, I don't know. I can't remember if that was
discounted or not, if there was a thought that it could.

Speaker 4 (53:12):
Have, but yeah, perhaps perhaps it could, but I mean,
we'll never know. But the thing is that McMurdo couldn't contra.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
I was just wondering if that was a scenario, okay,
because I know that the obviously the scott based landing
is quite close to you. They would have known straight
away and they would have heard perfect comps with New Zealand,
wouldn't they. So yeah, at a good point, Well.

Speaker 4 (53:34):
Yeah, it was McMurdo, so they couldn't contact the aircraft,
so there was definitely something wrong. And when it was
late back to christ Church, because that was its first stop,
we knew something that has happened. You know, it was
a horrible feeling. And like I said, I'll never ever
forget those days.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Did you continue to work for long? For a using
and after that, Peter.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
Well, I worked in nineteen eighty two and then I
took off. I became a professional drummer, so wow, wow
changed that and now I'm a professional public speaker. So
go figure the.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Truth, screepers, How does a professional public speaker work?

Speaker 4 (54:11):
We do conferences and keynote speeches and that sort of thing.
I'm MC for a wedding this weekend, you know, anything
that involves public speaking. I've done talkback the same as
you in Australia. Yeah, lots of different things. But no,
I think the Arabs crash meant the end of my
av arts career.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Nice to talk to you, Thank you so much. Good evening,
Trisha's Marcus welcome.

Speaker 25 (54:37):
Oh hi, hello, that was very fast.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
How are you good?

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Thank you, Trisha.

Speaker 25 (54:42):
Oh that's good. So look, I was just I just
was working tonight and I just just raised some memories
from when I was younger. My dad was actually a
facility and maintenance manager in New Zealand, and Dave Gesh
was his manager who he really really liked, and it
had a huge impact on our family after it happened,

(55:03):
because my father lost a number of friends on that flight,
and one of his very good friends had to go
down and identify many of the bodies. So it was
pretty horrific, changed everything for people. Emie Zealand had been
a wonderful company to families, but yeah, everything changed after that.

(55:24):
My dad had been part I think, just going back,
my dad had passed. I was thirteen at the time
when it all happened, but I can remember sitting around
Google Stevenson I think came over on the TV. Could
be wrong, but you know there was only one TV
station and we all sat down and watched it and
we're all told to be quiet, and it was just
changed so many people's lives. And even my mother was

(55:48):
a librarian at a school in one of the teachers
had lost her boyfriend on the flight. Year just it's
a huge impact and it's something I probably need to
discuss with my children because they probably have never had
any idea about what happened.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Yeah, because I've been the same age as you. And
did you spoke about your father working for the airporter
at the of the d news and you spoke about
someone who mentioned my name. Did he die on that flight?

Speaker 25 (56:20):
So a couple of so there were some engineers, so
my dad is actually yeh, so they were look. I just
remember my dad was a very one of those men
that didn't say a lot, and it just he was
set me crying, and you know, they didn't tell you much, right,
And then one of his best friends, I think his
name was Ian, he had to he was the engineer
he was flown down to help identify bodies, and it

(56:44):
was just it was terrible. And then of course then
all the inquiries went on and Dave Gesh was I
think my dad. I know, my Dad's put a lot
of him, but of course, you know, we all know
later on through the inquiry he was lots of things
we said about him that I don't know if.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
They were true. That's right, of course, because it went
on for years and years and years the aftermath, and
it was very complicated. There are all sorts of things
that were said, and there was cover ups, and there
was blame, and it became revery murky, didn't it.

Speaker 25 (57:17):
Yes, Yes, And you know, my dad had always had
a huge amount of respect for his boss, who was
actually in New Zealand back in the day were amazing
to the employees. My dad used to go to Barrait
Hunger and build hangers and yeah, he was away for
a couple of months at time. They actually looked after
all the families, Like my mum was a stat home
and they looked after mum and us, and you know,

(57:39):
they were amazing. And then all of a sudden this
happened and it just changed the whole culture of the Zealand.
Everything changed. My dad actually didn't stay there much longer
than I think the nineteen eighties, so he'd been there
for like sixteen seventeen years, so he knew a lot
of people just wanted that. He was a carpenter by trade,
just kind of knew just did his job, but observed

(58:00):
had wonderful relationships with so many people who'd the men
that you were talking to earlier, who had been engineer.
You know, it was just this camaraderie in these Zealands.
I think when Erabis happened, everything changed and it still
had an impact now. I mean I've met people later
on in life. It was a family who had their

(58:21):
parents be photographers, remember Phodolve. Yes, Yes, so the parents
died on that flight. That had a huge impact on
all of the children. And they talk over the company,
you know. So it just went on and on. So yeah,
I don't normally call.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
No, Yeah, I hear the emotion too, triusture. Look, thank
you for calling and nice to talk to you. Also, Yes,
every so often you come across people that you know,
you hear stories that we think, oh, that's right there,
you know, that's such and so died. Just a bit
of the news, it does say. According to the history website,
news of a possible problem with the flight may have

(58:57):
been announced in radio bulletins from seven PM. Newspapers were
where the flight was overdue. By approximately eight twenty, TV
and Z interrupted its normal broadcasting with a special news
bullet on the fight. Just after eight point thirty. Innings
In issued a statement confirming the flight was overdue at
approximately nine pm. This was around the time the flight

(59:20):
was scheduled to land at Margati Airport. If they hadn't
already heard the news, those arriving to meet passengers at
Margity quickly learned something was wrong. The arrival board directed
them to check with the airline. Inn news In an
airport manager Don Murray issued a statement explained the flight
had been radio silent for a number of hours and
would by now have run out of fuel. Shortly before

(59:43):
ten pm, us In's public affairs director Craig Saxon issued
a statement in which the airline accepted that the aircraft
must be down. The statement report on radio and in
the South Pacific television news at ten PM was almost
people would have known about the fate of the flight
before they went to bed that night. At that point

(01:00:07):
there was still hope that some of those on board
might have survived, but at one fifteen a m n
z DT in New Zealand chief executive Murray Davis told
the media the wreckage had been sighted in the erebus
with no sign of survivors. The news was broadcast in
radio bulletins and on TV and Z in the early

(01:00:30):
hours of the morning. That's the timeline has happened. I
think I don't know who the news reader was. She
said it was Google Stevens. I've got a memory it
might have been. No. I'll work out and I do
some research on that. Not that it matters, but I
know people like to check how their memory works out. Lisa,
it's Marcus. Welcome good evening away from ten rather Lisa,
good evening, Oh.

Speaker 23 (01:00:50):
Good evening, Marcus. I just wanted to ring in and
remember my wonderful teacher, Miss Nicholson. She was my teacher
at Walston Primary School. And I think it was the Friday.
It always makes me think it was a friday.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
I thought it was a friday to oh, okay, you
keep going.

Speaker 23 (01:01:08):
Yeah, she talked last about her flight and how excited
she was coming to come back, and we were going
to learn all about the flight of Antarctica and that
sort of thing. And actually we didn't hear anything about
what happened for about two or three weeks, and he
was standing news. My grandfather was not a Christian, but

(01:01:30):
he actually took me to church and remember it of
her when I found out about it. But yeah, so
that was my memory, and she was a wonderful teacher.
She used to remind me of Karen Carvender. I don't
know why. I think she looked from my memory she
had long, dark.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Years and she was young too. She was twenty six,
so she was really young young.

Speaker 23 (01:01:51):
She was very young years she was. And it's probably
not a year that goes by. It's not about Erabus
but I just think of her because she did before
this happened. She was a wonderful teacher. You know, I
was very lucky to have her. I only had a
broken years, but I think that was that she was
significant of my life, specially with social studies. I absolutely

(01:02:13):
loved it. And I think I can't remember, but I
went on to Lynwood High School and I think miss
Smiflson was her brother.

Speaker 15 (01:02:20):
He was a teacher there.

Speaker 7 (01:02:22):
A character and was she.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Just about Was she someone that chose to go because
she was re passionate about Antarctica? Is it the situation?

Speaker 23 (01:02:29):
I don't remember. I learnt years ago, Gosha. It must
have been in my twenties them firty five now that
it was just an idea of her to go, I
don't know, but I remember who's being really excited about
the flight, and all week that's all we heard about.
It was snow and Antarctica that I remember, and what

(01:02:54):
lived there, you know, like penguins and stuff like that.
And I do remember drawing something on the board and
then telling us about the flight explorance flight, and to memory,
I I could be wrong, but I was gly to
believe it was the best and only flight like it.
So I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Yeah, I think I think that in New Zealand and
Quantas had both been doing flights for a couple of years.
Not a lot of them, but they've been doing them
for a while, and I think they're about to stop
doing them as well. But look, as I say, with
everything to our memories aren't great. That's that's what I recall.

Speaker 23 (01:03:33):
Right, Yeah, so I just wanted to remember.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
Remember that's tragic, isn't it to be twenty six?

Speaker 23 (01:03:41):
Too young? She was too young and too too much,
too beautiful to your believe as well, she's so much
offort of thinking back as a child and being really
intrigued by your school teacher. Like, to be honest, I
came from quite a dysfunctional home and all through my
school years I didn't do well, but she there was

(01:04:02):
just something about here that I just loved and I
did well into classes.

Speaker 4 (01:04:07):
So it's really good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
She's beautiful, It just says on the website. It says
the crash was a devastating conclusion to what had been
an exciting project for his sister, who taught standard for
Willston Primary School in christ Church. This is the brother she.

Speaker 7 (01:04:25):
Was reading.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Yeah, She was really interested in Antarctica because she was
developing a learning module with her class, and so she
attended university lectures a lot of research into environmental issues.
And then a friend of a friend came over from
the United States to take one of us in sight
seeing flights to Antarctica, and Christine decided to join her.
Christine thought, this is a really great idea for the
end of this module. I'll take the day off work

(01:04:48):
and I'll go and take pictures. It's a good way
that I can contribute firsthand to the class on what
i'd seen.

Speaker 15 (01:04:56):
Yeah, Paul, really careful.

Speaker 23 (01:05:00):
Yeah, that's just bought back so much memories of talking
about that and that what we have sort of said
on that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
I just google her name and erebus it's the Aaron
Zi website. But it was a big financial sacrifice. It
was three hundred and seventy nine dollars, which was a
quarter of her annual salary. God about the chance of
a lifetime.

Speaker 23 (01:05:25):
Yeah, yeah, oh well, I hope there's other people were
out there that bring in that, remember her and others
like her.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Anyway, did you say you weren't told straight away? Lisa, No,
it was from.

Speaker 23 (01:05:39):
My memory it was two or three weeks. I remember
a lot of our class is about five of us.
They were always asking the other teachers and why she
and we were literally believe she was still there. And
then it was quite a few weeks later my grandfather
father asked my mother to take them around there and
he told me I was absolutely devastated. I looking back,

(01:06:02):
I actually didn't comprehend it. I knew she was important
to me.

Speaker 26 (01:06:08):
But.

Speaker 23 (01:06:10):
The whole school, nothing was told, nothing was told, and
I looking back, I think it was quite like that
in my days.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
And I remember you were you were you were nine
or ten? Were you, Lisa?

Speaker 23 (01:06:22):
That's right, I'm fifty five now, so yeah, I think
it was about ten of a b. Yeah, yeah, that's
how long it took for us to learn. And so
and my family were not at once life. When family
members died, asks never went to funerals, which was sad.
But my grandfather, who absolutely hated churches, took me to

(01:06:45):
church and the minister actually got me to stand up
and talk about her. And that was at the Opawer
Methodist Church. And I've never forgotten that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
Wow, Okay, and it's forty five years ago.

Speaker 8 (01:06:59):
Eh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 23 (01:07:01):
So when I came up, I just thought, oh, I'm
going to rung up and talk about it and.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Then at least at the end of the school acknowledge it.
In the end, you said they did.

Speaker 25 (01:07:10):
I do not know.

Speaker 23 (01:07:11):
I do not remember. To be honest, I went.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Of course, least there was only two weeks left before
the end of the year. To remember, it was right
at the end of the end of the end of
the third team in those days, so probably they would
have thought, oh, well two weeks and they'll be able
to go and spend time with their family and maybe
we can two Yeah, okay, because it's that puts a
bit of a different light on it, doesn't that it
was the end of the year.

Speaker 23 (01:07:36):
Yes, yeah, that's right. And if I think about it too,
over the holidays and then the following nothing was ever
really talked about.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Or you're probably off. You're probably off. You're probably off
to intermediate school after that were you went.

Speaker 23 (01:07:50):
I think I went to another school who got moved
around quite a lot with family. Okay, I don't remember.
I went to from there and then on to Longwood
High School. Oh, I went to Bamford Primary that's right
just down the road, and then and then Anslom with
high School.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Nice to talk, please to thank you for that. Colin,
thanks for hanging on there. Good evening. It's Marcus welcome.

Speaker 27 (01:08:14):
Yes, some of my fingerprints were on some of the
equipment that went down with that plane. I was working
at Air New Zealander particular night in the bond store
and we were there until three o'clock in the morning
waiting for it to come in and it didn't come in.

Speaker 19 (01:08:37):
Wow.

Speaker 27 (01:08:38):
But I you know, different containers in a bond store
they go on the plane, and I would have handled
those the day before. And some my fingerprints went down
with the plane. And the other point is they were
going to make a memorial in the Rose Gardens in Auckland,

(01:09:05):
but there was already one up at Wykenlitty Cemetery, and
if there were to put another one, they should really
put in the Auckland domain. And the other point is
Judge Justice Man, the tissue of lives and how Maury
Davis and the heads of there in New Zealand at

(01:09:26):
that particular time tried to cover up what happened, and
that was part of the story which Justice Man reviewed
everything resigned over. And he didn't say that in New
Zealand had explainable crash and everything as a tissue of lives.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Remember that, Mark, Yeah, I think the term was orchestrated litany,
but that's not important today. What is important as to
talk about that when you said the bond store, what
is a bond store?

Speaker 27 (01:10:02):
The bond store is the provadoring section where when a
plane goes out, they have like aluminium containers and everything
which is sold on the plane goes into those, and
liquor and everything like that, and also salable things like
you know, small items of jewelry or something with them

(01:10:26):
more with Air New Zealand engraved on them. But it
was a very sad night just sitting there waiting for
it to come in.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Colin, I appreciate you calling. Thank you for holding on
for so long too. Bearing in mind also to the
people that did go up there. You acknowledge that the
people that and I think was a police I think
it was a police operation on a military operation. Those
people that just had to pick their bags and head
down to Antarctica and spent a long time in terrible

(01:10:59):
conditions and body recovery. You know that. And I've spoken
to those people and that just sounds absolutely heroin on
the side of a volcano, although as I say volcano,
it's not a steep volcano, it's a regradual grade up
to it. But they were there, and then of course
you've got you know, it was just absolutely horrendous for

(01:11:22):
those people to do that body recovery. So and I
think there's been documentaries lader on those people to get
recognized for the work that they did do too. But
I think tonight, yeah, and bearing in mind too that
this is New Zealand's worst disaster with more people died

(01:11:44):
than the in fact, one more person than died, which
seems surprising. The hawks by earthquake and the reck of
the Orpheus and the christ Church quake and tongue away
with a white tonguey someone called it earlier on in
the wreck of the Tarua out beyond Fortrows. We'll keep

(01:12:06):
talking about that. At eighty to eighty fourteen past ten
suits Marcus, good evening.

Speaker 14 (01:12:12):
Good evening, Marcus.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
How are you good?

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Thank you sir.

Speaker 28 (01:12:15):
It's good.

Speaker 14 (01:12:16):
Now, this is the first time I've rung.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
Yes, I can hear, I can hear that. It's it's
it all sounds new to you. So so first thank
you and welcome. Yeah idea.

Speaker 14 (01:12:26):
Now, yeah, we basically turned on the radio and started
hearing you talking about the Erabas. Now mine is quite
personal sort of remembrance. It was the early hours of
what was the following morning, about one o'clock, two o'clock
in the morning. I hadn't always going on in my parents' place,
so we went out. There was a policeman and a policewoman.
They'd come to pick my dad up because my dad

(01:12:49):
was part of the d vi I down in christ
Church for the erebus.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
Well, tell me dv I. What does that mean?

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
Does asked?

Speaker 14 (01:12:58):
The victim identification? Okay, yeah, so that yeah, so that's
that's on my personally live Also, I remember the early
hours of the morning. But long term, you know, the
effects as you've Jeff Beinished saying, the long term effects
on you know, the servicemen that were there doing what

(01:13:20):
they had to do in christ Church, like my dad,
he was working in the morgue. I will say nothing more.
And so you know, mentally, all those guys and ladies
that were doing that side of it, you know, it
really really messed up their heads for a very very
long time. And you know, it's say, in probably the
last four years, my dad's usually able to talk about

(01:13:42):
it now. It was a topic conversation we could never
ever talk to him about. I remember as a child
him telling me things you know that he had saying
because he just had to get them out at different
points and they've stayed with me, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
Clarify, just to clarify, So, was it was he police?
Did you say he was?

Speaker 28 (01:14:03):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
Okay? And did he do his work and rist George
and he go down to Antarctica for the.

Speaker 14 (01:14:09):
No, he didn't go to the intact but he was
one of the guys in christ Church doing the parts that.

Speaker 13 (01:14:14):
They had to do here.

Speaker 14 (01:14:17):
So yeah, like, yeah, he's talking about things now so
much so that with a lot of the community groups
like Rotary and all those sort of things, he actually
goes and does talks to them now about the situation
as things happened. Just probably you know, it's good therapy
for him, I would imagine as well. But just here,
it's just that you said you wanted a memory from

(01:14:39):
that night, so that was basically my memory. But funnily enough,
I think it was on the two days before there
was some big police thing that was supposed to be
happening down in christ Church anyway. Now, my dad and
my uncle were supposed to have been on that flight
and ironically, sadly they got pulled off it until other

(01:15:00):
police officers went in there in their place. So but
subsequently he had my dad did end up having something
to do with in the end. Yeah, so yeah, that's
my story.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
I really appreciate you coming through too. So it infected
so many people. That's why I find it's such a
because it just shows what a small It just shows
what a small country New Zealand is too. And even
recently I was actually I think we were getting out,
we weren't getting our well done. But something about you know,
next of kindne what you do as a parent, and

(01:15:33):
there's always that great case or not a great case.
There was always an example of I don't know, I
don't know. I suspect it was an in Vicargo example
because it wasn't in Vcago that was quoted about that
there was, you know, because you don't have to lose
both parents. But the situation VI Cargo with two parents
had gone down there and both of them obviously perished.
So yeah, yeah, you know, I think the example was

(01:15:54):
you never quite know what's going to happen, and that
very example had happened with erebus Eyvon It's Marcus.

Speaker 15 (01:16:01):
Welcome Marcus.

Speaker 8 (01:16:05):
I come off it from a slow, a different eagle.
I had been ill and my husband woke me up
when the news had come over the radio at one
o'clock in the morning. He was quite upset. And what
threw me was the sourstad where I was meant to
be on that flight had at the last time it
canceled because of my illness, and that left me feeling

(01:16:28):
really bad because I agree for those that had lost
their husband and felt guilty that my husband was still
with me.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Wow. So a friend did he have a time? Did
he have a ticket?

Speaker 8 (01:16:42):
He had had a ticket and he canceled?

Speaker 14 (01:16:44):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
And did he give the ticket to someone else? Or
did because that would be the terrible thing to do?
Is that what he did?

Speaker 8 (01:16:50):
No, he had actually canceled his ticket for a refund.

Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
Oh okay, wows.

Speaker 8 (01:16:55):
The reason he was wanting to go. He had colleagues
that had been down there working. He's with New Zealand
Fasting Telegraph. And we also threw friends new boy from
out of the deep free space that were based in
christ So he had, Yeah, he had friends that he
wanted to go and see where they worked. And yeah,

(01:17:16):
after that he never ever wanted to go again. It
did kill his enthusiasm for trying to venture out of
the square box occasionally.

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
So you were quite unwell and he stayed home to
look after you. If I got that one right.

Speaker 8 (01:17:29):
Yeah, we had, I had We had two young children,
and he just felt that, Yeah, maybe that wasn't the
right time to be going away and leaving me.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
And did you did you say you lost another friend
on that flight?

Speaker 8 (01:17:41):
There was a friend. Yeah, I had a friend and
un quaint well call her a friend. Yeah, I lost
for you, but yeah it's yeah, it's you. You look
and the irony other there is. My mother went through
the same situation. Well I went through the same situation.
My mother was supposed to have been on the train
at tenaway cheap.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
As creepers, Yvonne. Thank you for your call. Roberts Mircus, welcome,
good evening.

Speaker 5 (01:18:07):
Oh high Market. I was playing golf at the air
you see on the open golf tournament at Tittering a
golf club on the day and Murray Davis was in
the foe in front of me, and we were at
the extreme end of the golf course, out at the
fourteenth or fifteenth whatever it was, and a greenkeeper's ute

(01:18:31):
came roaring across the golf course, just scattering people right,
left and center, which created a bit of a yelling
and commotion amongst the golfers, and within a couple of
minutes there was in exchange Murray Davis, this clubs and
trundler were thrown on the back of the utes and
the ute ruled away back to the clubhouse. And we

(01:18:53):
were completely mystified, but we assumed that there was something
pretty serious going on in a New Zealand to have
come and got the boss off the back of the
golf course sort of in the middle of late afternoon.
And of course we found out the tragedy later.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
And that's fascinating because I mean, it fits with the
whole timeline, doesn't it, because it would have been halfway down.
It would have been halfway down by yeah, because I
presume they have to talk and report in the whole
way about their journey left aalkten in the morning, was
coming back at night, so I guess the turnaround point

(01:19:34):
must have been about mid day, so it must have
been around about then. There must have been some concerns
about that, yes, and I.

Speaker 5 (01:19:41):
Think it was about three thirty or four. I can't
atmain it's a long time ago.

Speaker 28 (01:19:48):
But yeah, well.

Speaker 5 (01:19:50):
Right out on the course. And of course the next
morning in the paper was that amazing photograph of him
sitting at the.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
Bad at the giant desk.

Speaker 5 (01:19:59):
Yeah, yeah, the giant desk with his jacket on and
his chin in his hands, and yeah, unforgettable.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
I don't know, Robert, I don't know much about gold.
Is this a tournament for professionals or a tournament that's
sponsored by or a tournament that's for in news in
and clients? Is that the way it works?

Speaker 5 (01:20:16):
It was a pro am okay, and the amateurs got
to play with the pros in New Zealand had a
long history of being sponsors of New Zealand Open and
the golf tournaments throughout New Zealand, and I was lucky
enough over the years to be a sponsor and so
I got to play with the pros.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
That's what my Christian I's got to ask you if
you're some golfer I've heard of, but you're not a
professional you were the amateur, that's why you were there.

Speaker 5 (01:20:43):
Yeah, I was the amateur, and I was grateful to
be able to walk along and see how golf was
really played.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
Nice to hear from you, Rob, Thank you for very much.
Ray Marcus welcome.

Speaker 22 (01:20:57):
Hi. All right.

Speaker 26 (01:20:59):
I was on the crew waiting to bring the plane
from christ Church back to Auckland.

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
Okay, so tell me about that.

Speaker 26 (01:21:09):
Well, we positioned down a couple of days before. I'd
actually run the senior hosty to swap flights with her,
but she was out at lunch and her husband, who
also flew with us, he said to call back. Well,
I was getting married three weeks four weeks later, and

(01:21:31):
I didn't ring. So I carried on with my own roster,
which was to position down to christ Church and carried
our uniforms. Most of us were in cities and we
hadn't been there long, and the seniors we were told
to get changed and we were given the briefing. And

(01:21:51):
that was at about three point thirty because by then
people were starting to arrive who were coming to pick
up passengers from that were getting off in christ Church.
So they put them into a separate lounge and we
couldn't say anything, but we were there to serve them

(01:22:14):
tea and coffee and things. And then when we were
told that they were out of fuel, we actually went
back to the Shadow Commodore and took over the rooms.
Our whole crew and nac Our Domestic and all the airlines,

(01:22:36):
Quanto US, the Air Force all came round and we
were all together when we heard the news, the final
news that they'd found the crash.

Speaker 2 (01:22:49):
Us to talk about it. You'd flown down for You're
an Auckland based crew, is that right?

Speaker 26 (01:22:54):
All a crew were based in Auckland.

Speaker 2 (01:22:56):
So you'd flown down to christ Church that day?

Speaker 26 (01:22:59):
Yeah, that afternoon and you know, we were just in
the crew rest area, the flight deck, were in the
ops rooms and we got word that the seniors had
to go and get changed. In fact, we all had
to into uniforms. Yeah, so I wasn't going to ring

(01:23:22):
because it's all So.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
What happened next the next day? The next day, you the.

Speaker 26 (01:23:29):
Next day we brought it. There was a flight went
from I think it went from Sydney through to christ
Church and we positioned that plane back up to Auckland. Okay,
you know another DC ten So yeah, it was a
pretty hard because we all knew crew, all the crew,

(01:23:52):
I mean the flight deck. I'd been flying at that
stage nine years and it was but my sister in
London heard about it before it was released here.

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
Okay, yeah, so and so they were obviously I don't
know what innus In would be like, but those I
don't know how many cabin crewe ins In would have
had for the DC tens, but those people would have
been close friends of your of you.

Speaker 26 (01:24:18):
A lot of them. Some of them were in my
class when you know, when I went through training school,
but most of them we'd flown with. There was a
couple that I hadn't met before because there was quite
a large number of crew was a DC ten, so
you never knew who you were flying with. But the senior,

(01:24:41):
the senior's husband, he never forgave me for you know,
he kept saying, you should have been on that flight.
I wasn't rostered, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:24:50):
So yeah, it was subsequently the subsequently ray were there?
Did you how did that? Did you get a lot
of funerals and things? Is that what happened afterwards?

Speaker 7 (01:25:00):
With all that?

Speaker 26 (01:25:01):
We still had rosters. But yes, when we were home,
we went to a lot of the memorials and you know,
as I say, that was leading up to my wedding
on the twenty seconds. Yeah so, but no, it's something
and I very rarely talk about it. It's a lot

(01:25:22):
of people don't know about it, but especially the younger ones.
But I mean, my daughter's got all the memorial sheets
and things like that that we had for the services.
But it was a very sad and horrific time and
there was a lot of antiness between different sections of

(01:25:46):
the flight deck, those who with the company side and
those who writ it.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
I didn't know that. I say that the company got divided
because of cover ups and stuff like that.

Speaker 26 (01:25:56):
The company got divided, Yeah, yeah, very much so.

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
Yeah, and you did you stay cabin Crewe after you
got iron payed.

Speaker 26 (01:26:04):
For another year? I left thellowing Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
And was that always the plan ordered that affect the
job greatly?

Speaker 26 (01:26:12):
No, it was always there. But no, my husband got
transferred to Wellington and they didn't do international out of
out of Wellington again. It was Auckland based, you know, So,
so I gave up the flying.

Speaker 2 (01:26:29):
Then had you flown on the scenic flight? Had you
been down to Antarctica?

Speaker 26 (01:26:34):
No, I hadn't been rostered on it, you know, and
that's why I thought i'd do it, you know. Yes,
so my family because I told my mum and my
sister and they all thought I was doing it, you know.
So yeah, there was panic stations, but my husband assured them,

(01:26:54):
well fiance then assured them that I didn't I didn't
make the flight, you know, I didn't do the change.

Speaker 2 (01:27:02):
There's also there's also room for confusion pre cell phone too,
because I guess probably people trying to find out where
you were, and you'd be there staying at the hotel too,
weren't you.

Speaker 26 (01:27:11):
Well, at that stage we weren't at the hotel. We
didn't get to the hotel until about nine thirty, and
that was pretty horrible when you're taking over people who
are not coming back, you know, taking over their rooms.
So yeah, but I mean they didn't have gear there
because they would have got off and christ Church, you know,

(01:27:32):
before going to the you know.

Speaker 4 (01:27:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 26 (01:27:36):
So yeah, it's another another year.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
And was your life was changed because of it?

Speaker 26 (01:27:47):
Yes, and no, I've had a pretty a pretty happy life,
but yeah, it was horrible for the last well, the
last the first six months of the last year were
pretty daunting because it was still so fresh and everybody's mind.

(01:28:08):
You know, yeah, I suppose the last year was the
worst year before it was all a big adventure.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Oh, it must have been amazing, I mean to be
those days to be Kevin crew must have been the
most exciting job in the world. Flying it, you know,
it was.

Speaker 26 (01:28:22):
It was you know, it was like a taxi service
taking you to party, party in different countries. It was.
It was a wonderful life, very artificial, but an absolutely
wonderful life because we could be away for twenty days,
you know, fled to Honolulu twenty four hours, La three days,

(01:28:44):
down to Tahiti four days, back to La another three
days Honolulu, Fiji back home.

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
You know.

Speaker 26 (01:28:53):
So it was a wonderful life.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
Love your talk, Rat, thank you so much for calling.
But even Grig, it's Marcus, welcome you, Marcus. Good, thank
you Greg.

Speaker 22 (01:29:05):
It was a very daunting night that happened. I was
actually just not long got a job as a den
keeper and it was placing away on the wound dogs
about thirty k thirty five k and in their backs
of the men up and then don in the Greenland.

Speaker 18 (01:29:20):
It was but.

Speaker 22 (01:29:21):
Anyway, come across on the radio about ninus. I think
that there was something wrong with a flight, and I
always thought it was about just there that when they
had come to the realization of something really bad had happened.
Was about nearly about eleven fifty or something like that,

(01:29:41):
but I could be mistaken. But the way the work
colleague killed on it, and his name was Whatdy Thompson
and our old guy who got a work you know,
done stuff in the wallsheads. But he was a gold
winer and it was very interesting duing. It was a
really sad time to know that he'd gone saved up
for that and perished. So and the thing the other

(01:30:05):
thing are in member was just this man when he
spoke to that lot there and the whole outfit, you know,
like Ian new Gien were so disrespectful to him, and
he put it straight down the middle of saying, that's
just a litany of lies that you guys have put.

Speaker 16 (01:30:22):
In the air.

Speaker 22 (01:30:24):
And the other thing there is I remember about it.
They burgled the cat one that the fight, went the
pilot's wives place and retrieved stuff, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
Diaries there was missing diaries, wasn't there. That's right, You've
got a good recall I've kind of got information overload
because there's so much. I've read books about and stuff,
but there's so much information. But you're right about the diaries.

Speaker 22 (01:30:47):
Did you got that be around? Mark? I said, rain
Treamers taken out about eight years ago, and it sort
of bugged me a bit.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
Hey, Greg, did you know what was the guy's name
that was the gold miner?

Speaker 22 (01:30:59):
What he Thompson?

Speaker 2 (01:31:00):
What he Thompson? Did you did you know he was
on the flight?

Speaker 14 (01:31:07):
No?

Speaker 22 (01:31:07):
I didn't. Okay, it was only laughed when they put
the list there, but I do. We'll know one thing.
I was married to a Policeman's Order, you know, I
was the Freshman's Order for seventeen years. But anyway, we
said these confidential conversation that they were within the police walls,
and he said something about the condition of the bodys.

(01:31:30):
They are pieces that are fucking up.

Speaker 2 (01:31:32):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that we need
to discuss that. I think that might be not very horrible.

Speaker 22 (01:31:38):
Yeah, he meant, and that it was how horrible it was.
It was really testing the guys that were doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
Oh, yes, they was. Because there was also there was
sort of the skewers were coming and there were birds.
I've spoken to those people that was it was horrendous
because it was you know, they didn't have great dear.
They went there in a harry. They're just up there intense,
I think trying to Yeah, I have heard that that
they were really changed by that. Hey.

Speaker 22 (01:32:03):
Great.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
So you're up there and for one of the most
isolated places in the world, what do you do as
a dam keeper?

Speaker 22 (01:32:13):
Well, I I had i uh to fly water for
the Eye of the Valley irrigation scheme. Then part of
it was to the Galloway went into the Galloway Beach Alexandra. Yes,
so I got a phone call at night and they
have orders for water. How much of that go shut down?

(01:32:34):
So you had to be about twenty four hours plus
ahead of you know, because they went one went to
another were called the Mark Creek War, and the others
went down the rats divided at the airstrip and it
went down and into the down the Raggedy's there and
into the Galloway scheme. So the big the big plus

(01:32:59):
to that was when they built the flight the insight
and that gives people a lot of water.

Speaker 2 (01:33:03):
Okay, so you you lived up at the dam.

Speaker 22 (01:33:06):
Yes, you know, we're coming out on Aday on a Friday,
and I had to go back on a Sunday evening.
And then that's sort I think it was a stone
stone hut had two rooms in it, and I went
back on me wood and coal range, and I had
a generator there to card for victories up for the lights.

(01:33:28):
So yes, I had to learn to bow up a
fit for in the morning, full generator up a fit
for the morning, and then make sure there's no fillage
or anything by the time in the evening. You just
started up and and and and sadly and made a
case of sudden. I never thought that they burned one

(01:33:49):
of the generated head down.

Speaker 2 (01:33:52):
So your job was just to direct enough water down
the appropriate channels. So i'd go to Galloway or burns
that have I got that right, yep, okay, and it
would take it would take twenty.

Speaker 7 (01:34:04):
The water.

Speaker 2 (01:34:06):
What's that the water will take twenty four hours to
get there.

Speaker 22 (01:34:10):
Well, you sort of got the face that goes and
you sort of got to work all that out and
then have your measures. You know, your measure out saying
much well, going to go through a measuring box and
you've got another way and you go through your measure
of that. So you've got to sort of have that
on and then you've got to be calculating water loss
on the way you move water, okay, Yeah, like when
you're going down or even down down a river, you know,

(01:34:33):
and then it gets picked up. And then of course
once you get into underwater races and stuff, they lose
water too, so you're going to be patrolling them, but
you know, for leaks and then you got to puddle
them up. It's an ongoing job, you know. It's just
how you put it in. But going back to that
amount erebus thing, it really haunted.

Speaker 18 (01:34:53):
Me that one.

Speaker 2 (01:34:56):
I can imagine sit up there when you're staring cut
hot with your radio finding out about it.

Speaker 22 (01:35:01):
Yeah, it was, and you focus, you're just so focused
on it the news that comes through. I don't know
exactly what the times weever, I was awake when it
was announced.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Nice to hear. I think it was at one third
in the morning, Green, But thank you so much for
that nice to talk. It's well worth reading about what
he Thompson, the gold miner, that man was talking about.
If you google up what he thomps in New Zealand.
It's a remarkable story about him. Here's the miner that
had been to Ford in World War Two, was a
prisoner of war for three years, captured in North Africa,

(01:35:38):
returned and mined near Bendigo at the age of fifty six.
In nineteen sixty four, he said off on foot on
a journey from Bluff to Cape Rianga, wearing a sandwich board,
calling on his innas to repent and remember the Sabbath
in a life changing vision while lone in his hut,

(01:35:59):
which left him deeply religious and skeptical of what he
saw was the commercialization of the mainstream churches. Anyway, he
was frugal and say and he went to Erebus on
eleven hour sightseeing trip November nineteen seventy eight, but thanks
to low cloud he saw nothing, so he decided to

(01:36:20):
go back and went on for a second time. He
news in in flight t E nine to one and
lost his life along with two and fifty six others.
But if you google what he Thompson en z it's
a great read. Talking tonight about remembering that year forty
five years ago will be found out about seven o'clock

(01:36:41):
on the radio eight point thirty on tv I think
the news I think the news reader was Bill McCarthy
who and as they did in those days, they really
did a news break, but they broke programs to say
that a plane Well, I'll tell you exactly what they said,
because some of you remember it. They said a plane

(01:37:04):
was overdue. I'm pretty sure that's what they said. News
of a possible problem with the flight was announced in
radio bulletins from seven pm. It said may have been announced,
they obviously have archived it. Newspapers were where of the
flight was over due. By approximately eight twenty, TVNS had

(01:37:24):
interrupted its normal broadcasting with a special news bulletin on
the flight. Just after eight point thirty, in An issued
a statement confirming the flight was over due. At approximately
nine pm, which was around the time the plane was
scheduled to land at marg at the airport but obviously
hadn't come back to christ Church innus In the airport
manager Don Murray issued a statement explained the light the

(01:37:46):
flight had been radio signed for a number of hours
that would now have run out of fuel. Shortly before
ten pm, ME News in its public affairs director Craig Saxon,
issued a statement in which the airline accepted that the
aircraft must be down. The statement, reported on radio and
on South Pacific Television's news at t in BM was

(01:38:07):
all most people who have known about the fate of
the flight before they went to bed that night. But
at one fifteen am in news in chiefs of Murray
Davis told the media that wreckage had been sited near
Mount Erebus with no sign of survivors. The news was
broadcast on radio, bulletins on TV and did in the

(01:38:28):
earliest hours of the morning. That's where you would have
heard it at the men of born Dam one fifteen
in the morning, and of course too they would have known,
they would have seen their records because it would have
been in twenty four hour sunlight down at Antarctica. So

(01:38:53):
that's the situation there. And confirmation there were no survivors
came later that day after three news in the mountaineers
Keith Woodford, Shoe Logan and Darryl Thompson were lowered onto
the site by US Navy helicopters. So that's the day

(01:39:18):
it unfolded, or that's the way it unfolded. And then
of course everyone going to school that next day people
were talking about and saying, and people lost family and
situations like that. By the way, it was very much
I think it was schoolsey science exam was on that
day and also to just a week or two from
the end of term, so things were coming to so

(01:39:38):
it sort of people getting into the holiday mode. But yeah,
it was just such a It was just such a
shocking day, New Zealand's worst disaster. Curiously, one more person
died on Erabas than with the quake at Napier. So look,
it's been a lot of calls of people that want
to talk about that and get in touch. Marcus, what

(01:40:01):
is hut is one killing me to walk up the
side of the river from the free camp site at
the Old Lin in his hotel and in his pass
beautiful round and Chelsea would have had, but very hard
to live in the harsh winter. Marcus. I knew the
captain of the plane that went down to the Antarctica
the trip before nine oh one. He was so distressed
when the plane went down. He would not talk about

(01:40:22):
it at all. He was in complete shock and disbelief.
It also knew two people on flight nine. I when
I remember hearing it come over the radar of about
ten thirty PM. The plane was missing at that stage,
most tragic time New Zealand history. Helen from Hodefinoa Marcus,
I worked for the passengers, mister and Missus Chatterton found
his photo live studio school photographers. That's due information to me.

(01:40:45):
Someone else had told me that tonight, Marcus. My grandparents
were supposed to in the air of his flight, a
day before they would a head to christ Church. My
grandfather had a mini stroke. Good evening, Chris, it's Marcus. Welcome.

Speaker 7 (01:40:58):
Oh hi, Marcus.

Speaker 28 (01:40:59):
I was just talking to my family about this a
few minutes ago actually, so that's interesting just to tune
in on the radio and hear it. I was working
that night as a as a hotel night porter and
listen to the radio through the night because they'd already
heard the TV story. And I vividly remember letting the

(01:41:21):
receptionists know at the morning at seven am that it
was out of fuel and that they'd actually found the wreckage,
and not being aware. She bursts the tears and said
that she knew somebody on the plane and she hadn't
heard the story because you know, we didn't have we
didn't have you know, social media in those days.

Speaker 2 (01:41:42):
Combs were colms were very different, weren't they? And I
never know there were. There would have been live radio
bulletins through the night, but there would not have been
talk back at night, so they just probably would have
been and Z would have had a live reader on
the hour, would have Well, I guess, actually that's right, Chris,
when you talk about that, right, was it an Auckland
when you're at that hotel?

Speaker 7 (01:42:01):
No?

Speaker 28 (01:42:02):
No, I was actually in but a lot a lot
of the flight staff didn't necessarily live in Auckland because
they were Yeah and yeah, so that was quite distressing
because I mean I just I just sort of raised
it as a as a conversation piece, really and didn't
expect that, didn't expect that outcome. But there's a couple

(01:42:23):
of interesting things about the flight. I think Ed Hillary
was supposed to be on that and at the last
minute swapped over and his friend, his good friend and
I can't remember his name, he went in.

Speaker 2 (01:42:37):
His place, Peter Mulgrew, that's right, yes.

Speaker 28 (01:42:40):
Yes, And if memory serves me, well, I think Ed
eventually married his widow.

Speaker 2 (01:42:45):
That's correct.

Speaker 28 (01:42:46):
Yeah, yeah. But the the other thing I remember about
that is the chief accident Inspector Ron Chippendale, because there
was a lot of noise made about his report. He
was tragically killed and Toddy to her up by the
Police College out from morning walk, long after he'd retired,

(01:43:07):
and he got wiped out by a car just behind
the police College. So many threads to that story.

Speaker 2 (01:43:13):
And they're all very familiar names, aren't they people because
there was so much in the media for a long time.
The reason I asked you if you're an aucklud too.
So I remember, and I don't know the timeframe, but
I remember the front page of the n Zed Herald
that morning, and I don't I seem to remember there
was a front page with the with the Chief of
Venues in and sitting at that long desk. Now, I
don't remember if that memory is accurate or not, because

(01:43:36):
I don't know how they would have managed to if
they would have held back the newspaper to put it out.
I think they're probably you know, by two o'clock, you
could have done a late edition to get that out,
because it must have been an interesting time as far
as how they managed to get that paper out with
that cover. But then again, I can't see I can't

(01:43:56):
bring up a copy of that, Chris, but look, thank
you for that call. Keep it going, David's Marcus, good evening.

Speaker 15 (01:44:03):
Yes, but the erebus recovery that went and was put
in place when they flew New Zealand rescue team down
to do the recovery set of forensics starting point for
mass body recovery and identification from when the wearer. There
were two New Zealan Auckland Hospital Board dentists that were

(01:44:26):
flown down as part of the recovery team and part
of them sat in place the dental forensics identification system
whereby they used basically teeth and prints from those that
they were able to recover and it helped recover identify
a lot of the victims that they actually did manage

(01:44:46):
to recover and bring back to New Zealand. One of
them was Robert Matts and the other woman was I
believe the gentleman called William Bell. Both of them were
at the time were well known dentists on Renuel Road.
Wow and set that set the precedent for years later
for basically a template that whenever there was a mass

(01:45:09):
mass incident with aircraft crash, that they were able to
start the forensics process of trying to identify those that
had been lost.

Speaker 2 (01:45:20):
And they themselves. Are you involved in that field day
or yes.

Speaker 15 (01:45:24):
At the time, I was actually a grammar student on
a sixth form camp with a series of teachers that
were doing the Billy Goat track hiking as part of
a release for basically the fifth junior's fourth formers went

(01:45:45):
out for high school camp and then there were some
seniors that have been accredited school see or ui a process,
and so we went to support teams at the base
camp and there was a Japanese teacher you may remember yourself,
and grammar mister Hunt was actually that base camp as

(01:46:07):
the quartermaster, and he was listening to the radio overnight
listening to the hourly bulletins where I fell back at
Camden listened to the news bulletins until late hours in
the open Nervers trains. Is the radio there at the
time when it was coming through the night.

Speaker 2 (01:46:24):
The question I was asking about the dentist is that
something you knew about them? That the dentists with the identification?

Speaker 15 (01:46:33):
I stumbled on the information through my role in the
health service. At a later date, we were verifying various
fast records and it happened to come up and recognition
that they had been received. They were part of the

(01:46:53):
recovery team that was that were sent down and spent
many hours identification because at that time it was the
first major aircraft crash of any tyitan in in that
particular area and doing mass identification, there's a major task convolved.

(01:47:14):
And another piece of information which is only came out
at an Altland library presentation by a photographer was actually
on the base in antaped To at the time. He
was a New Zealand photographer that had gone down to
just doing basically photography for the Arctic teenth He was
actually conscripted and he happened to have a full set

(01:47:36):
of equipment and that's where you get that very special
image of the tail in the ice. He was a
gentleman who took that and a few years ago he
did a presentation at the Upland Central Library and that
was up in the Mawaii room, and so it was
very interesting. He went back and told the story of
how he happened to be on the ice, diad the

(01:47:58):
photography and took it back to the base and how
it got eventually teletype transmitted to become the front page
on the Hill.

Speaker 2 (01:48:07):
What was his name, Dave, I could not tell.

Speaker 4 (01:48:10):
You of who he was.

Speaker 15 (01:48:11):
Unfortunately, I do have a very vague recollection of just
being in the room when he was there, and in
the presence of that in that audience was the flight
captain's daughter, and she was unaware of some of us
that she'd been walking past every day going to school.
The dentists that happened to have been that helped identify

(01:48:34):
and you know her father that was behind it there.

Speaker 2 (01:48:39):
Appreciate you cool, Dave. Thanks very much that the Breakers
have been comfortably beaten by the Hawks. Breakers have gone
to set on the table. The Hawks got a third.
It was one hundred and nine seventy one. It didn't
really gel from the very beginning. I think the person
that took that photograph of the iconic shot was a
political science that having been down because I've spoke to
my by the name of Nigel Roberts. I think the

(01:48:59):
guy's name was you're known from the TV from politics,
But he was down there working on the ice over
the summer and got sent up and took that photo.
That original photo you see of the Kordu and the engine,
I guess the tail engine and the Kordu. That's on
the ice black and white photo. You'll know that image.

(01:49:21):
Get in touch by Name's Marcus Heddel twelve. Oh wait
her at eighty TDY twenty two past eleven, Michael evening.

Speaker 16 (01:49:28):
Good evening, Marcus, How are you good?

Speaker 2 (01:49:30):
Thank you, Michael.

Speaker 16 (01:49:32):
It's a story. Look, I just wanted to look about here.
It was like everybody else. For me, it was it
was quite significant.

Speaker 23 (01:49:39):
You know.

Speaker 16 (01:49:39):
It's funny and as you grow up as just certain
events that you'll never forget. Twenty eight to November happens
to be my birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:49:47):
So wow.

Speaker 16 (01:49:48):
I remember as I was at Common Co and I
remember an announcement coming over quite quick, clearly as nine
years old, and I couldn't hear it. Probably it was apostatic.
He sort of an intercoment what he had back then.
But I heard the sort of, you know, mentioned something
about a eider if anyone knew knew anybody on a flight.

(01:50:09):
I guess that's what it was. Yeah, to go up
to reception, which I thought again nowadays when I look
at it, I think it's pretty odd to put over
at a.

Speaker 2 (01:50:17):
Restaurant, Michael, which which Cobb and Coat was.

Speaker 16 (01:50:21):
That I was actually in tomorrow at the time, because
I've never.

Speaker 2 (01:50:24):
Heard anything about public announcements, but I mentioned people that's
what people would do if something like that had happened.
They'd want to tell people and alert people, and so
I can quite I can quite understand that happening.

Speaker 16 (01:50:37):
Yeah, it's quite bizarre. I remember, sorry, Marcus, that's right.
I remember my dad got up and went to the
reception area, and when you come back, he didn't actually
say what it was. He only went up because he
hadn't heard the announcement properly. But I remember he was
a little bit, yeah, a little bit solid. I guess

(01:51:00):
when you come back. And I remember when we left
the restaurant that there was actually quite a few people
gathered at the you know, around the reception area. So
I guess that six degrees of separation. Everybody knows somebody
of somebody, you know. But yeah, it was just so
God never never really forgotten. Remember every year now.

Speaker 2 (01:51:22):
Of course it's your birthday as well, so so those
things sort of come together, don't they, which is weird.

Speaker 16 (01:51:27):
Too, absolutely, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:31):
And what birthday was? It was your thirteenth, your thirteenth birthday.

Speaker 16 (01:51:34):
Fifteenth, it was nine, so it was forty five years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:51:38):
Okay, appreciate it, Michael, thanks for coming through. We're talking
about Erebus, if you've got any memories about that, about
the night, of course, from then I became quite complicated.
Mark's school suit an English day, always remembered by Manley
waking me that morning. Doug Marcus, the local police station
held a raffle. The prize was a seat on the

(01:51:58):
flight to Antarctica. Locked mountain rescue guys got technically my dad,
a very popular member of the police squad wide. That
shocked everyone when it went down. I'll never forget My
parents were on standby for the flight but missed out
as the flight was full, and they were so very Disappointedly,
kids who heard the breaking used use whilst they're out
for dinner, and I've never gotten the fitting of relief
alongside the devastation of my parents. Two knew people on

(01:52:21):
that flight. It was Warren Bell, not William Bell, the
other forensic dentist. He was my dentist for many years
before he retired. He spoke about his forensic work at
Erebus frequently, probably Belle Max and Lynn. George Balani was

(01:52:45):
on the ZBA network that night on the New Zealand
Tonight Show. Remember listening that night as the news came through.
Marcus at my high school lost both his parents of
the flight, and Nahbe was going to ticket by his
son who'd won it by guessing the weight of a
block of ice. If I recall.

Speaker 1 (01:53:03):
For more from Marcus lash Knights, listen live to Talk
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