Alex Pullin’s widow returns to beach where he died on one-year anniversary
The widow of Olympic snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin has returned to the beach where he died a year ago, watching the sunrise with his parents.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The widow of Olympic snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin has made an emotional dawn pilgrimage to the Gold Coast beach where he tragically drowned a year ago.
Pullin, 32, died after suffering a shallow water blackout while free diving at the Palm Beach on July 8 last year.
His widow, Ellidy Vlug, who recently announced she was pregnant with Pullin’s child, wandered the chilly beach with her two kelpies and a friend just after dawn on Thursday.
She gazed out at the sea as the dogs frolicked on the shore while the sun rose above the horizon.
Ms Vlug was joined on the beach for the moving vigil by Pullin’s parents, Chris and Sally.
The family did not want to talk to media, Mr Pullin saying: “Bit too much grief mate.”
On Instagram last week, Ms Vlug shared the ‘bittersweet’ news that she was pregnant with Pullin’s baby through IVF and would give birth in October.
She told how his sperm was urgently harvested and following his death so she could try for their baby.
“Bubba Chump coming this October,” she told her 53,000 followers including surfing champ Mick Fanning, beneath an ethereal photo of her with a bulging belly.
“Your Dad and I have been dreaming of this for years little one.
“With a heart-wrenching plot twist in the middle, I am honoured to finally welcome a piece of the phenomenon that is Chumpy back into this world!
“When my love had this accident, we all held onto hope that I’d pregnant that month. We’d been trying for a baby.
“IVF was on our cards but it wasn’t something I ever imagined I’d be tackling on our own.
“Bittersweet like none other, I’ve never been more certain or excited about anything in my life.”
The news came after Vlug broke down in a podcast as she revealed the ongoing heartache of losing Pullin, 32, last July, and that she still goes to text and call him.
In the podcast, ‘Darling, Shine!’, Vlug cried as she told how Pullin’s death still felt “surreal” and she felt “like a robot”.
“I miss him, I want him back,” she tells the ‘Darling, Shine!’ podcast she made with best mate Chloe Fisher, wife of international DJ Paul Fisher.
“I just can’t believe he’s not about to walk in the door any day. I go to text him, I go to call him still. I f---’n just wish he would come back. And I still can’t believe he can’t.”
Wife loses childcare job after child-rapist husband worked at centre for SEVEN YEARS
A South East Queensland childcare centre director whose convicted child-rapist husband was hired to work there has lost her job and will face court.
Elite schoolboy’s despicable act after launching stolen ute into grandma’s car at 114km/h
This is the harrowing toll caused by an elite school graduate when he fatally launched a speeding stolen ute into a grandmother’s car sitting stationary in a 60 zone.