Deborah and Jim Hawkins left homeless after horror Bruxner Hwy crash

A couple are homeless and appealing for help from the community after crashing their ute and caravan, which was uninsured, on a major Northern Rivers road.

As water flowed into Deborah Hawkins’ Ford Ranger she had an out-of-body experience and saw herself among the wreckage.

She thought she was already dead.

Her husband Jim had a stroke while he was driving along the highway near Uralba, west of Ballina, last Tuesday.

Deborah and Jim Hawkins have been left homeless after their caravan and ute crashed following Jim's stroke.

In what felt like seconds, Mrs Hawkins thought her husband was choking on his iced coffee before they had veered off the highway and into the bush, rolling their car onto its side and into Duck Creek.

“I thought I died,” Deborah said.

“I could see myself it was like I was a ghost, the entire bottom half of my body was covered in water.

“I was screaming at the ambulance on the phone: “I’m going to drown!”.”

Deborah and Jim’s Ford Ranger was bought only two weeks before Christmas.

Mr Hawkins, 53 was originally a crane operator from Rockhampton in Far North Queensland and his wife, 57 was a stay-at-home mum from Glenwood in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs.

They met on a dating site a few years ago and pooled their resources to buy a ute and caravan to travel Australia 12 months ago.

They had spent the past few months up and down the NSW north and south coast.

Their temporary home base was in Kyogle.

On the day of the crash, they were driving from Grafton and stopped in Ballina for breakfast on their way to Kyogle to settle down for a few weeks.

Only minutes later, they were stuck inside the twisted metal of their Ford Ranger.

Deborah and Jim’s caravan was their home but it was uninsured.

While Mrs Hawkins was trying to get the driver side window open, her husband was still unconscious, slumped in his seat and not responding.

He woke a few moments later but as she unbuckled him, he crashed on top of her.

“I could move my legs but I couldn’t feel them,” Mr Hawkins said.

“I just thought I fell asleep, I don’t remember anything.”

Mr Hawkins will never be the same; he sways as he sits down after his discharge from Lismore Base Hospital.

It’s difficult for them to relive the events that they thought should have killed them.

“I don’t know how I’m alive,” Mrs Hawkins said.

After she was rescued and took refuge with Sonia Newman – a firefighter who helped them from the wreckage – it dawned on her that she had no insurance on the caravan.

Sonia Newman was the first person Deborah and Jim Hawkins saw when they were pulled from the wreckage. She is considered one of their guardian angels.

The couple were left homeless, with only their Centrelink income and a GoFundMe page to help them pay their bills for the towing company which pulled their vehicles out. The bill stands at $1000.

Their have been four major incidents on the Bruxner Highway since the beginning of the year including a fatal crash which took the life of a man in his 60s.

Guardian Angel

Deborah and Jim aren’t religious people, but to them Sonia Newman is their guardian angel.

“She’s the only thing I remember, I remember seeing her that’s the only face I saw,” Mr Hawkins said.

Ms Newman was one of the firefighters called to the scene shortly after the crash.

The fellow animal-lover offered the couple a place to stay and her caravan in Alstonville was the perfect place for a temporary home until the Hawkins can get back on their feet.

Despite the tragedy, Deborah finds solace in her love of animals including Sonia’s pet snake Zuri.

“I had to do it, it just felt right,” she said.

“They love my pets as well; my snake Zuri is warming to them.”

She also took on board Audrey their nine-year old Chihuahua and a young sheep called “Bahhtea”.

The name is a play on Aussie tennis star Ash Barty because they came across and took in the sheep the night of Barty’s Wimbledon win.

Deborah and Jim have been encouraged and grateful for the kindness strangers have offered them in the last week, from Sonia taking them in to a woman who offered her free clothing after the crash.

Anita France, a retail worker at Candy Lane on Main Street in Alstonville, welcomed Deborah as a customer only a few days after the accident.

Anita France offered Deborah Hawkins clothes for free from Candy Lane on Main Street in Alstonville.

“She was looking at the clearance rack and she wanted a ring as well,” Ms France said.

“It was then she told me what had happened, when she came to pay I said: “no, I can’t take your money”.

“She burst into tears and I gave her a big hug, it was the least I could do.”

It is a long road ahead for the Hawkins but they say the last week has restored their faith in humanity.