"So the scenario is we have a petite-sized cruise ship. It goes from a contained incident to people start evacuating. You are then faced with 250 people spread in the area."
He's one of the select few that knows the finer details of today's operation.
"There are really only three of us that are on the planning team that know what's going to be happening."
That's the way he wants it.
Emergency services have gathered today knowing very little. The rest they'll have to figure out with other services from the area.
"Getting those teams together and knowing those faces and building those relationships is really important. It builds trust and builds importance."
Dotted around the shoreline actors wait for their saviours to arrive. Each has been given an identity - a name, age and medical situation. They range from simple injuries, like scratches, to life-threatening ailments.
Other "victims" have been in the water since this scenario began.
"We have around 20 soccer balls that we will be dropping into the water and hiding in various places as well that have information on them hopefully when they find them will be relayed back to the incident management team," says
For Surf Lifesaving New Zealand's Dunedin club, this is truly uncharted waters. The east coast team is at home in the waves and bays of Dunedin but they're here to prove their ability in the shallow rivers and icy lakes of Fiordland.
Using local and air force helicopters their members are able to deflate their IRBs and drop into remote areas, places unreachable by road or larger vessels.
These days Surf Lifesaving's SAR are finding themselves being called upon to help in rescues far from the ocean shores.
"We've been into situations that aren't typical surf lifesaving areas. We've been tasked to pick people off roofs and pull people out of rivers," says
While they search for those in need of help they also need to be ready to keep themselves safe.
Mid-morning a fire is simulated on the mock cruise ship. Quickly teams on the ground need to evaluate their response as those on board find themselves in hypothetical danger. Two people are quickly evacuated from onboard while thick orange smoke fills the area.
As real as you can make an exercise like this it's hard to simulate the emotional toll of a real disaster. But many taking part here have stories of real-world rescues. Christchurch, White Island and more recently Hawke's Bay. These are experiences that are passed onto newer search and rescue members to highlight how taxing reality can be.
"For young members of the crew, this is the first time in a team. Sending them out and saying hey you're in charge here what are you going do?" says Matehaere. "Uncomfortable situations you can learn from because a lot of the stuff we do is rather uncomfortable."
After eight hours on the water, the exercise is called to a close. Only two of the 250 victims are still unaccounted for. Both of them are soccer balls. But for White, the day's success comes from different arms of our emergency teams coming together and acting as one.
"We want them to be the best they can be. if it was a straightforward scenario that wouldn't happen. If we can put hurdles in there and put that pressure on, and learning will come out of it."
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