Christchurch parish mourns pair in fatal Lake Hauroko boating incident

Wednesday, 5 June 2019

The wharf at Lake Hauroko. A woman is dead and a man is missing after a boating incident in the Southland lake. (File photo).

A Christchurch man and woman involved in a fatal Southland boating accident set out five days before the alarm was raised, police say.

The pair, understood to be Michael Goodson and Rosemary Spiewak, never made it to the hut they intended to stay in, which was half way around the lake from where they launched, Invercargill Sergeant Ian Martin told RNZ News.

The woman's body was found on Saturday, along with a life jacket nearby, but the man is still missing. The search has been suspended until further notice.

Their Christchurch parish is now mourning, said St Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church vicar Father Chris Orczy.

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Goodson and Spiewak are from Christchurch and are aged in their 60s.

Emergency services were alerted to the incident after a 4-metre vessel disappeared on Lake Hauroko, in Southland, on Friday with two people aboard.

The woman's body was found on Saturday about noon near Teal Bay, at the southern end of the lake.

Martin told RNZ police believed the couple went onto the lake on Sunday, May 26 and intended to spend five nights at Caroline Hut.

'There's been no entries in the book to suggest anybody's been there.'

It appeared they had been missing for days before anyone raised the alarm, he said.

The lake had risen 400mm since Sunday. 'We haven't had particularly good conditions for searching,' he said.

'It was extremely cold on Saturday when they recovered the [woman's] body.'

She was not wearing a life jacket, but a life jacket was found nearby, he said.

Martin said the lake was the deepest in New Zealand. It is also cold.

'[There is] nothing to suggest any foul play at all.'

CHURCH IN MOURNING

Father Orczy said Goodson emailed him before he went down south to say he was going to the Bluff Oyster Festival, which was on Thursday, May 25.

'He was just really looking forward to going down … he was really excited.'

On Tuesday night the parish was informed the pair were in a fatal boating incident.

Goodson had been with the parish for over 20 years, Orczy said.

'He didn't just come to church on Sunday, he would be here during the week to do things, and he was a person who always wanted to engage in a conversation about God or anything.'

Goodson would often organise a lunch for homeless people at the church for Easter and Christmas.

'He was a very kind person and he had a really dry sense of humour. He was a joy to be around, if I was having a bad morning he'd have a way to go around and say pull your head out of your bum.'

Spiewak, who was going through some health issues, was a dedicated parishioner.

'I really admired her and loved talking with her about things. She had such an interesting way of looking at things, particularly how women were presented in the gospel.'

Goodson said the parish was coming to terms with the deaths.

'In a church people die, we get this, it's always sad when one of your parishioners dies, but we also have the hope that person is now with God.

'But when it's something so sudden like this, it changes it, it's like – hang on, we didn't have a chance, we didn't get to say goodbye.'

Martin had earlier hoped the Police National Dive Squad would search parts of the lake once water levels receded and conditions improved, with help from Maritime New Zealand investigators.

Martin said anyone who came across debris while out boating on the lake should contact Invercargill Police on (03) 211 0400.