Lovers hurt in blowhole fall
By HEATH GILMORE
Page 9     ( 409 words )
Sunday, 28 May 2000
From section: News
Publication: Sun Herald

A NAKED couple's adventurous lovemaking near the infamous Kiama blowhole turned into a dramatic rescue early yesterday after they fell down a 15m cliff.

The girl, 16, from Campbelltown, suffered serious spinal injuries after tumbling to the bottom of the cliff during the late-night tryst, and was flown by the Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter to Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital.

Her distraught family was waiting for news from doctors late yesterday.

``We are just waiting for her to come out of theatre now," her mother said. ``They reckon she will be in a wheelchair. She'll be a quadriplegic."

Inspector Alan Blake, of Corrimal police, said earlier the teenager was in a serious condition with multiple broken bones after the fall about 2am yesterday.

He said her 20-year-old male companion had fallen onto the girl, exacerbating the severity of her injuries.

The two had been with a group of young people at the lighthouse car park around 1.40am.

``The couple then left the group and went for a walk for about 300m or more along the southern cliff line," Inspector Blake said.

``They were involved in an intimate act and unfortunately fell over the cliff and down onto a ledge near the blowhole.

``The young man fell on top of her and she suffered multiple broken bones and a suspected broken pelvis.

``The young man suffered a badly broken ankle but he clawed his way up the cliff and alerted friends. Police, ambulance and the State Emergency Service were called to the scene and the helicopter had to be called."

There were no suspicious circumstances behind the accident, he said.

Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter spokesman Bruce Tarrant said a doctor and a paramedic had to be winched down to the girl.

``She was stabilised before she was flown directly to the Prince Of Wales Hospital," he said.

``The man was taken to Wollongong Hospital."

The Kiama blowhole is a gaping 10m-wide hole in the rock on the cliff top, joined by a narrow underground passage to the sea.

Sometimes, in the right weather conditions, waves drive sudden geysers of spray 20m to 30m high.

Tourists come from far and wide in the hope of witnessing this spectacle. The blowhole has also gained an infamous reputation after a number of drownings.

Kiama's `hated place'

* THE blowhole wasn't always a tourist attraction. Early last century, when Kiama was an out-of-the-way mining and dairying centre, local farmers dumped dead horses and cows in the hole.

* The blowhole has also attracted those intent on suicide. Once in the swirling waters, it is almost impossible to climb out.

* The Afghan community calls the blowhole a ``hated place" after seven of its members died there in July 1992, when a wave swept them into the ocean.

* Five years later, two women, aged 16 and 20, who were cousins and nieces of the Afghans who died, formed a suicide pact to drown in the same place.