The Kiwi king of bungy, fresh from 25th celebrations in Queenstown, is lucky to be alive after a high-speed head-on road smash.
AJ Hackett's wife, Amanda, is hailing his quick swerve to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming car, and said his instinctive reactions probably saved their lives and those of her three children in the back seat.
''Oh my God, he is my hero. I'm just so grateful,'' Mrs Hackett told Mountain Scene, speaking publicly for the first time since last Thursday's brush with death.
Two days earlier, Mr Hackett had been in Queenstown with bungy co-founder Henry van Asch for the 25th-birthday bash at their original Kawarau bridge site, but now he is laid up in his Hawkes Bay home with two broken ankles.
Mr Hackett, who expected to be confined to a wheelchair for weeks, said he was only half an hour from his home when the oncoming car suddenly pulled into his lane, attempting to pass a truck.
''The truck's already on me and I see these [other] bloody lights. I had less than a second to do something or we're dead.
"I've had quite a few of these type of experiences. You act very fast, it's just an instinctive thing,'' Mr Hackett said.
''All I can do is swing it hard to the left but then there's a bank there so I pull it back to the right and try to create a gap between the bank and the car and the truck, which I managed to actually be able to do. [But] her car collected the front right side of ours so it was more of a head-on swipe.''
Mr Hackett estimated the combined speed of his Toyota and the oncoming Ford Falcon was at least 190kmh.
He was left hanging upside down in his upturned car for about 20 minutes: ''It was a very heavy level of pain.''
Mrs Hackett recalled both headlights bearing down on their car before impact: ''I just remember thinking I can't imagine all my babies could have survived this. For a mother there's nothing worse.''
After the car flipped, Mrs Hackett said her children, 12, 10 and 9, quickly undid their seat belts and climbed out through a window, shocked but unscathed.
''I panicked. My seat belt was stuck. I managed to force it free. AJ was, like, 'Just stay here', and then I got claustrophobic and I was like, 'No, I've got to get to my babies', and I crawled underneath him out the windows.''
After accounting for her children, Mrs Hackett focused on Mr Hackett.
Mrs Hackett, who had only a bruised arm and a few scratches, said she was angry they had not heard from the 35-year-old female driver of the other car.
''She never once apologised, asked who was in the car, nothing.''
It has been a roller-coaster month for the Hackett bungy family. Nine days before the 25th-birthday celebrations, veteran Queenstown bungy manager Tony Middendorf was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Mr Hackett had been due to leave New Zealand last Sunday to visit several of his bungy sites including a huge venture under construction in Sochi, Russia.
''This sort of puts a big spanner in the works, but all the troops have been amazing. If I'm patient, they're saying they won't need to operate on my foot and I'll be able to walk in six weeks,'' he said.
''I can only look at it positively. Ultimately, life has to go on. I'd rather be walking around normally but I'm looking at this as a chance to have a bit of reflection after 25 years.''
''We're really lucky someone watching us that night obviously thought we were worth hanging on to for a bit longer.''
