Just 50% chance of surviving was the poor news my wife 200km away from my hospital was told.
That was 3 years ago when I stupidly defied extreme pain to do a 4wd tour up Ninety Mile Beach that had been booked in advance. At that stage we had to no back up drivers. So I thought with my male ego, I will be okay. I wasn’t.
That day the drivers of the beach buses who all knew me saw me early on in the day and said I looked absolutely dreadful. I hadn’t thought about how I looked, just determined to not let my tourists down. But the pain was extreme and next day when the hospital said out of 10, I said it is 10. Haha
Those driver friends/fellow tour operators got me through the day by dosing me up on pain killers and instructing me to drive and stop when they do and they each stop took care of my passengers including laying out the luxury lunch I had in the back why their own customers got the normal bun, salami stick as some processed cheese.
That afternoon I got home, tour completed. Very happy customers as they were treated like royalty by everyone around them. The stubborn male I am said to myself I am fine, it will pass. It did not pass and 4am I was ambulanced off 2.5 hours to Whangarei and operated on within hours. And yes Xiaoli got the call to say there was a 50% chance I would not wake up. I did and I am here. A few bad side effects that make life interesting but I will live to 100 all going well.
From that day I learnt value your life but most importantly live your life fully. Have fun, be happy. One minute sad or stressed is one minute lost forever.
It took 2 years to recover from that 4.5 hour operation. 2 years to get my energy back. But all the time I just seemed to wake up more alive than I had been for years. I was 120kg and after the operation crashed to 72kg and they were ready to readmit me but fortunately it stabalised and I am now a trim 85kg. An unexpected rare side effect of what they needed do.
But as I have said I learnt, live this life and every single day. Don’t waste it. The clock ticks for us all and I know as I lost a son at just over 4 years and a partner at 39. So live everybody. Laugh, be happy.
Peter and Xiaoli Tours is my pet project. I want to grow the tour business so my step son De Hou can in a few years join me and eventually take over. At Peter and Xiaoli Tours we are family. We are not people that drive tours for big companies. You hire us and we are the ones that drive you. Not just an employee, but the boss and his fellow family bosses.
We have a passion about showing people New Zealand. I have toured a good number of overseas countries. I have favorite destinations but top of my list is New Zealand. I absolutely love showing people my country. I have no idea if I am a good tour driver/guide but I don’t care. With me you get a warmth, a love that you will struggle to get from others.
De Hou was born China. Only been here about 3 years but he has fallen in love with this country and so he should as he is a New Zealand citizen. He is a lousy fisherman yet he loves the sport but I will teach him over time. Cant have him out fishing Xiaoli or I yet. Ha ha
I dodged death and now am passionate about living this life until I am 100. After that I will sit and think whether I aim higher. I am passionate about my country. I have a pile of airpoints yet refuse to use them personally as I love being in New Zealand. If not touring showing people my country then enjoying our farm, enjoying my quiet time fishing, but always smiling
Come meet me, let me show you my country
Peter and Xiaoli Tours 