''That's beautiful, eh,'' he said.
''I've been so privileged.''
Mr van Tuel (65) retired yesterday after a full 47-year nursing career, which included 23 years working in Dunedin Hospital and 16 years as an intensive care nurse.
For 10 of those years he has been part of the retrievals team, accompanying the rescue helicopter and the Mainland Air air ambulance on patient transfers throughout the lower South.
Some of those callouts have been routine, while some involved no work whatsoever - one assignment last week to liaise with a cruise ship to pick up a passenger was stymied by bad weather, although he enjoyed the scenic flight to Fiordland.
While not all are to emergencies, many callouts Mr van Tuel has attended have been to aid the gravely ill, and not all of them end well.
''You have to be well-prepared and you always prepare yourself for the worst scenario,'' Mr van Tuel said.
''You can get a full-blown cardiac arrest in the helicopter, or you go to a site where you can't pick up a patient, they are so critical and actually dying, and you just help them as best you can.
''It's all about transferring a patient from one location to a better location - that's what it's all about.''
An ICU nurse is always on stand-by to assist with retrievals, and Mr van Tuel has been a regular on board.
He would usually have one retrieval trip per shift, and three or more such trips each week.
''It's the perk of my job. I so love it,'' he said.
''You work in a very small team and you actually carry the equipment of a small hospital with you - we can nearly do anything, treating little babies to elderly people, from people who are not that sick to people who are very sick.''
A trip to Oamaru and back on Monday was Mr van Tuel's last retrieval.
He has a busy retirement planned, travelling and spending time with his grandchildren.
