Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt (26 page)

Mum, Dad, me and Genji in 1988 after we moved to Sydney. Dad wanted us to grow up in Australia like he had.

Dancing the Tahitian way during my first trip back to Tahiti, when I was four.

I did a bit of modelling during my early years at university. This shot, taken in 2008, is from my portfolio.

Me surfing in Lombok, Indonesia, in 2010; I was a keen surfer from an early age. I will be again one day.

My two best friends flew to Queenstown, New Zealand, where I was working in the ski-fields, to surprise me for my eighteenth birthday: my Kiwi flatmate, Nicole, me, Nicola Tucker and Kristen Briggs.

With some of my favourite men: Michael, Toriki, me, Heimanu and Dad.

With Michael on the day of my graduation – only a week before my accident.

The blackened valley after the fire.

Heliworks WA pilot Paul Cripps making his risky approach to rescue me and Kate. This photo shows how steep the cliff face was.

Paul Cripps’s extraordinary feat: no one knows how he managed to keep the right skid of his chopper steady enough to load us on. He did it twice, taking first Kate and then me.

With one of my special surgeons, Professor Peter Haertsch. He organised the donated skin that ultimately saved my life.

With my other special surgeon, Professor Peter Maitz. He was my admitting surgeon at Concord Hospital.

Janine Austen, my wonderful physiotherapist in Ulladulla, working on getting my fingers to bend.