"It's only over once you say it's over."
The two young Kiwis who spent eight days stuck on a Solomon Islands mountain said they never lost hope that a homecoming was possible.
Keanu Isaksson, 25, and Luca Zylstra-Law,19, were trapped in a ravine on Mount Popomanaseu before their rescue on Tuesday morning.
Throughout what they referred to as an "adventure", the young men believed they would return home.
"We never believed that we were going to get out but we knew that we were going to get out. And that was a thought that if either one of us quivered in our minds, the other would have to reassure," Isaksson said.
Keanu Isaksson, 25, and Luca Zylstra-Law, 19, became trapped during an expedition on Mt Popamanaseu. (Source: 1News)
The pair said it had all started when they wanted to have "an adventure of a lifetime".
To them this meant a location that was tropical with not much of a trail, leading them to choose Mount Popomanaseu.
"It was going very well and then it most certainly was not," Isaksson said.
For several days they had navigated down a river that was leading off the summit of the mountain, when they decided to set up camp.
Zylstra-Law said there had been a cliff on one side of them and everything had seemed fine at first.
"When the rain came, it changed... everything changed."
The mothers of two Matakana men trapped on the Solomon Islands' highest peak say time is running out, with worsening weather, rockfall risks and no clear rescue plan. (Source: Breakfast)
Isaksson said they were in a cloud forest, and the jungle was very dense with little solid ground to stand on.
"It's all rotten logs, ferns, and moss. And every step you take, you either fall through and into a bit of an abyss or you end up with your foot on some moss-clad slippery rock.
"And it's insanely steep and rather inhospitable."
He said they were faced with 300 metre walls going up each side of them with a 50-metre waterfall roughly four metres north of their camp.
This meant their only protection from the rain was a 3.5m by 3.5m square camp where they were stuck for eight days.
They had survived on meals of dehydrated mashed potatoes and dried meats, noodles and vegetables with a Whitakers peanut slab every few days.
The uncertainty over how long they would be stuck meant they had to ration they food they packed, leaving them "very hungry".
To pass the time and keep their morale up they made sure not to let their minds wander.
"We're firm believers in that busy hands is a happy mind, and an idle mind is one that worries," Isaksson said.
They did things like improve their campsite, make themselves cutlery to bring back home, journal in their diaries and daydream about food.
"And a lot of conversing about family and wants and desires and regrets," Isaksson said.
"Things we'll do better when we get back," Zylstra-Law added. "Poems that we're going to write... when you have an experience like that, you end up doing a lot of reflection."
When they saw the helicopter that would rescue them, they tried not to get their hopes up but finally climbing aboard was a feeling Isaksson said he could not put into words.
He expressed gratitude to the pilot who rescued them, who he called "big balls Paul".
"Because that guy's got some balls to do what he did, and the feeling of actually getting into the chopper was a relief."
The experience, while harrowing, had not discouraged their future hopes of embarking on other adventures to the Amazon or Nepal. However, they do plan on making a few changes next time.
"One thing we've learned and that's to always pack a deck of cards," Isaksson said.
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