Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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In December 2019, Stephanie Broward, along with her mum, her dad and her sister, flew up from Melbourne to Sydney, where the four of them boarded one of those supermassive cruise ships called the Ovation of the Seas that was going to take the family around the South Pacific. One of the day trips the cruise was offering when they got to New Zealand was
was the chance to visit a live volcano on an island named Waikare or White Island. This is New Zealand's most active volcano. But the Browett family didn't know that.
Chapter 2: What led Stephanie Browitt's family to visit White Island?
They weren't told. Nor did they know that the day before the ship had left Sydney Harbour, the New Zealand authorities had issued an alert that White Island was now entering a phase where an eruption was more likely than normal. And so on the 9th of December, Stephanie, her dad Paul and her sister Crystal joined a group of day trippers who set out for White Island.
And they went about exploring its weird grey and brown lunar landscape that was splashed with yellow and green. Then at 2.11pm, as they were walking away from the steaming crater, the volcano erupted. ejecting a vast amount of steam and gas and smoke and ash and rocks into the sky and across the whole island.
The force of the blast knocked Stephanie off her feet and onto the ground that was now covered in hot ash. Stephanie, who was 23 years old at the time, suffered volcanic burns to 70% of her body. 22 people were killed. and many more were left with lifelong injuries.
As Stephanie Browett slowly recovered, she and her mum had to ask the question, how was it that the cruise ship company had decided to put passengers in their care on the most dangerous volcanic island in the world? Stephanie's written a memoir with her mum, Marie, that's called Out of the Ashes. Hello, Stephanie.
Hi, thank you so much for having me here.
Like I said, on that day, 2019, on December the 4th, your family sailed out of Sydney on the Ovation of the Seas. I've been on one of those giant things. They're like kind of floating skyscrapers. And this was you, your mum, your sister Crystal, your dad. How close-knit were you as a family?
Oh, we were very close. We did everything together. And I mean, it got to a point where if it was coming up to my birthday or some sort of an event or celebration, it was always like, what are we doing? Us four. Not me and my friends, not other people. I just, I always valued and appreciated my time and genuinely enjoyed every single moment I had with us four.
Now, your mum, Marie, has MS. So I suppose a cruise like that would actually be really great for her. It's a great way for someone with MS to see the world, isn't it?
Well, that's right. Once we reached a certain age where my parents knew, okay, we can actually take in and enjoy and remember these holidays, these moments shared together, we realised that a cruise would be a better option because of my mum's progression with her MS, her multiple sclerosis.
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Chapter 3: What happened during the volcanic eruption on White Island?
It does not go over the entirety of your head. It literally just goes and covers your nose and your mouth. So just the bottom half of your face to sort of help make breathing a little bit easier is what I understood. And then a hard hat as well. which was to be worn for the entirety of our trek on the island itself, just in case any issues with maybe like a falling rock or something happened.
So then you all piled into a rubber zodiac and inflatable raft. And what did the island look like as you approached it?
Desolate, very empty. I assumed it would be pretty flat, you know, just like a beach. You can walk into the ocean and walk back up onto land. But that's not what it was at all. By the time our raft had arrived at the edge of the island, there was then another rusty ladder that we'd have to climb up of to get onto the land.
I know my dad, he made sure me and my sister went up before him so that he could keep the ladder as still as possible for us and make sure we weren't rocking. And then Dad followed suit.
So what instructions were you given by your guides once you got onto the island itself?
Before we were on the island, the only instruction was to have our hard helmets on at all times and then wear the mask that we were provided just as needed, really. But then once we were on the island, that's when they started to go through some more instructions, which included...
walking in a straight file in one straight line and making sure that we were behind one of the guides at all times and also that we would have a guide at the back of the line as well to make sure we were right in between and no one would get lost.
They wanted us to follow them in a straight file and stick to a certain path because apparently you could fall through some holes in the ground because the land wasn't very safe in all areas. So they had a path they wanted us to stick to for that reason.
They will also mention the possibility of boulders falling from the sides of the wall, because what people don't realise is with this volcano itself, and I didn't realise until later on, is that you're basically heading inwards into an amphitheatre-shaped island. It's not cone-shaped in that sense. So you're surrounded by walls all around you.
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Chapter 4: How did Stephanie survive the aftermath of the eruption?
But, you know, by then we're already moving on to the next piece of information. So my mind's just trying to keep up with everything.
So then you approached the crater lake. What did you see as you approached this huge lake in the crater of the volcano?
there was just this huge edge of where the land just stopped. So I remember seeing that and thinking, wow, this is just so much bigger than I anticipated. And I had no idea of what to expect there. So it's just this huge edge, really far from side to side, right in between the walls that we were surrounded by.
And then it felt like if you got too close to the edge, you could very much easily fall over. But I was also scared of the edge just falling beneath my feet. So I made sure to keep a distance. I mean, we were told... to stay behind a certain area anyway. But I thought to myself, it'll be better to probably stay a bit further back than what they've even said.
But straight away, you're seeing all this like clear clouds is what I would call it that cover this lake. So we didn't actually get to see the lake because it was just covered in these clear clouds, which I know now is obviously the steam that was rising from the heat of the lake itself.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Stephanie face during her recovery?
and it would slowly rise up, just slowly, ever so slowly. And it was just very peaceful. It wasn't loud. It was very quiet. It didn't look scary. You couldn't tell what you were looking at, so it didn't look scary. It just looked very fluffy, like a cloud.
So you and your dad and your sister were walking away to get back to the boat to leave the island. What do you remember of those minutes that followed?
We had just turned around from the crater and we were about a minute or two into our walk knowing that we were heading back now. We're basically done. We've come and seen the main part of this volcanic island. And I know my sister is behind myself and dad. So me and my dad were a few feet ahead of my sister. So every so often we would turn around just to make sure she was keeping up with us.
But not really concerned because we knew there were a few other people and a tour guide at the end anyway. But she was focused on taking some photos and some last-minute footage. And it was only one of those last moments that we had turned around where we then began to notice some black smoke rising from the crater. And it didn't look very big and it didn't look like it was moving outwards.
It just looked like black smoke coming out and rising upwards.
And were you more kind of fascinated than frightened at this point?
Yeah, I was fascinated because I was just like, what's happening right now? I just wasn't sure what was happening. And I thought, okay, maybe someone's about to explain what's going on. And then my dad's just telling us, oh, look, take a photo. He's pointing it to my sister because she hadn't turned that way just yet. Look, take a photo, take a photo.
So no, we had no idea of the danger that was about to unfold.
And then what happened?
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Chapter 6: How did Stephanie and her mother seek justice after the tragedy?
And I think that's because I was very much focused on my feet and just looking at the ground. But you could definitely hear it. You could hear things landing around you. So that I knew definitely that there was stuff being thrown in the air.
And what happened when the seismic blast wave of the eruption hit your body?
I was knocked down instantly, just face first straight to the ground, the hard surface ground, mind you, with such a force that it winded me completely and I could no longer breathe. I felt myself trying to catch my breath. I was that winded. It didn't stop there because I couldn't get myself back up and I couldn't stop myself from moving.
It was knocking and tumbling me and rolling me over everywhere. So I was being thrown around on the ground whilst being burnt at the same time in such horrificness. There's just no words to describe the pain. It's like a stinging pain, but it's all over your body and it just doesn't end. On top of the force of this thing that's just holding you and rolling you around on this ground,
that's also cutting you and you can feel the rocks and the things on the ground stabbing you and cutting you everywhere on top of all of that hitting you as well. So it's just... I'm going to die here, aren't I? At that moment, I knew I couldn't do anything anymore. I'd lost control of my body, of all my movement. I had to just let what was happening happen.
And, yeah, I thought I was going to die. And it's just the unbelievableness of the situation just struck me.
Was there part of you thinking, is this real? Is this really happening?
Yeah, I can't believe this is real. It doesn't feel real.
real that this would be taking place what are the chances i couldn't believe we we were being caught up in this right now just the amount of tours i hear taking place in volcanoes and you never hear anything like this i've heard of some take place and people who live nearby being caught up in one but yeah just the unbelievableness and the chances of it happening how hard was it to pull yourself back up again
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Chapter 7: How did social media play a role in Stephanie's recovery journey?
I've got to move forward a way. to where help would be, to where we were dropped off, to where the boat was, because I knew there was the person who had driven the boat, the skipper, was still on that boat, so he would have seen everything that had happened. So I was like, I need to get to a spot where I can be seen.
What did you see when you looked at your hands and arms, Stephanie?
Yeah, there was a moment once I had lost movement and I had fallen over and realised I couldn't get back up and I just sat with my thoughts realising, okay, now I'm stuck waiting for help here. I started to take in my surroundings and try to assess my injuries. And I realized I couldn't do so properly because I was covered in black ash. So I couldn't see myself properly.
And I still had my clothing on that because it was a steam eruption, steam gas eruption. It goes through your clothing. It doesn't burn your clothing. But my hands, my hands had nothing on them. So when I looked at my hands, that was when I noticed my nails.
I had got a colourful manicure before coming on the cruise ship, but I could see hints of my nails just hanging off my fingers, loose skin falling off as well. And that's when I realised if that's what I'm seeing on my hands, clearly I'm very, very bad everywhere else. This is bad. This is really bad. I don't know what's going to happen from here onwards.
How did you become aware that your dad was still alive at this point?
I tried my best to look for them. Once I had landed in this spot where I ended up being stuck, I was among a group of people. It was the first time I'd properly seen some people around me again. from my group. And I scanned and looked to see if that was my dad or my sister, because I was wondering, are they alive still? Are they alive still? I hope they're alive still. But they weren't there.
I could not see them. About 15 minutes in or so, I'd say, I heard my name being called. I knew instantly that's dad. I could hear my dad's voice and he was going, Steph, Steph. And I responded, yes, thinking that he'd have a follow-up question. He was needing to know something. But then it went silent. And I just remember thinking, oh, what did he want?
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Chapter 8: What was the significance of the memorial service for the victims?
What did he need? I wish I knew. I don't know what he was thinking. I wonder how he's doing. And where is my sister? Because he had only screamed my name. And then a while later, he ended up repeating my name. And it was the second time that I realized he was checking in to make sure I was staying awake and conscious.
What happens to your sense of time as you lie there, Steph, in this bizarre situation?
Yeah, very difficult to keep up with time. In my mind, I was holding on to the information that we were told as we were making our way to this island from the tour guides on the jet boat, which was that By boat, it takes about 90 minutes to get there, but by helicopter, it can take around 20 minutes.
So one of the things I was holding onto in my mind is that, okay, I just need to stay conscious for a minimum of 20 minutes at least, maybe 30, give or take for them to actually know what's happening. 30 minutes. That's one of the pieces of information I really held onto, 30 minutes. I just need to hold on and stay awake for 30 minutes at least.
Sometimes people in these situations have these conflicting voices in their head telling you to let go or demanding you stay alive. Did you have that?
Yeah, I did. I did. I mean, I felt it in my body. My body very much wanted to close off. I could feel my eyes wanting to shut. And in my mind, you know, I could hear myself thinking it would be just so much easier if I just shut off right now. I wouldn't feel this pain. It could just be done.
But then there was another part in my mind, another side saying, don't do that because if you do, you will not wake up again. And I knew deep down my mum, you know, my mum was somewhere on this cruise not knowing what had happened. And this was one of her worst fears, something horrible happening to her family. She was always very protective of us. So I knew this was her worst fear come true.
And I couldn't believe it because as kids, me and my sister would always tell her, you have nothing to worry about. What are the chances? Relax a bit. It's okay. So I think in my mind I was very much battling as well for my mum as much as myself because I knew she wouldn't survive if... None of us came back to her.
How do you reflect on those conflicting voices in your head in the years that have passed now, Stephanie?
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