In October, Mr Natzke was paralysed when his ute, driven by Miss Lucas, crashed, landing upside-down in a paddock.
Mr Natzke had been a shepherd at Rocklands Station near Middlemarch and the couple were driving to a friend's house at Macraes. Mr Natzke had had a drink after work, so they decided Miss Lucas should drive, although tests afterwards showed Mr Natzke was under the limit.
Last week, Mr Natzke was released from Burwood Hospital, technically a tetraplegic, although he still has the use of his arms and movement in his hands.
An outdoors-type who loved hunting and dog trials, he still considered himself lucky.
"I look at some of the other people in that hospital, and I think how bad some of them were ... how lucky I've been."
Miss Lucas, who sustained a fractured skull, back injuries and concussion, cannot explain why the crash happened, other than she might have been distracted.
During sentencing, Dunedin District Court Judge Dominic Flatley told the horticultural apprentice it was the type of accident that could happen to anyone, but it showed how important it was to be vigilant at all times while driving.
Both young people acknowledge a moment's inattention had changed their lives forever.
"But you've got to stay positive. There's no point crying about it really," Mr Natzke said.
His family was in Te Kuiti, but he had decided to stay in Dunedin near Miss Lucas and his Strath Taieri and Wanaka friends. He could manage his daily care and expected to be able to drive again, but at present he depended on Miss Lucas to drive him.
His friends had been great. He had been hunting, and hoped to also get back into dog trialling.
"I've certainly had to grow up," Miss Lucas said.
"Before, I was a normal teenager."
Yesterday, she was fined $350 and disqualified from driving for six months, but hoped the court would grant her a dispensation to drive, because Mr Natzke relied on her for transport.
