By Lee Scanlon of 
A close-up of Chris Wilson’s gumboot which was damaged by lightning.
Photo: Supplied
A Westport dairy farm manager who was hit by lightning reckons his gumboots saved his life.
Chris Wilson, 37, was on his quad bike herding cows into the milking shed about 6am on Monday when lightning struck.
“It was the whitest light I’ve ever seen…” Wilson said.
“I passed out and I woke up slumped over the bike and I couldn’t see for about five to 10 minutes.”
The herd of 400 cows had scarpered to the back of the paddock and his quad bike wouldn’t go, so he started herding them with a torch. About 10 minutes later the lights on the bike flickered.
“So I drove the cows to the shed and carried on working – as you do,” Wilson said. “At breakfast time I think I spewed a little bit and my missus was like ‘you better go to the doctor’.
“I was like ‘oh, maybe’.”
He had a migraine and his eyes felt like they were burning so he reluctantly went to Buller Hospital, got checked over, and was sent home.
“I was more gutted about my gumboots. It burned a hole in my gumboots. But my boss went and got me some yesterday when I was up at the hospital.”
Wilson said he rang gumboot manufacturer, Skellerup, to tell the company its gumboots had saved his life.
“Best gumboots I’ve ever had. I’ve had them for about two years. They’re the expensive ones… I reckon if they were the cheap ones I would have been toast,” he told the Westport News.
“Every boss I’ve ever had, there’s always been an argument about getting expensive gumboots. And I’m just like ‘nah, if I’m in my boots 12 hours, 10 hours a day, I want decent ones’. That was me being stubborn I think – but it’s pretty good, they saved me.”
He now has another new pair – Skellerup rang him today to say a free pair was on the way.
Wilson was back at work on Tuesday on Johno O’Connor’s farm, feeling no ill effects. His farm bike was “working mint”, he said.
“It (the lightning) must have charged up the battery.”
Asked what he would do in thunderstorms in future, Wilson said: “Get the cows in. They’re not going to milk themselves”.
– Westport News