THE AUSTRALIAN dirtbike rider who spent two days helpless and alone in bushland near Brisbane, dragging himself for half a mile with a smashed pelvis and internal bleeding has spoken about what happened for the first time.
David Roberts, 38, has spent the past few hours joking about his agonising ordeal according to doctors looking after him, he has spent his first few hours on the ward joking about mosquito bites rather than complain about his injuries.
The father-of-two, broke his pelvis when hit a tree while riding in a forest on Monday. Unable to walk and without mobile phone reception, he was forced to drag himself along on his elbows along a bush track in search of help. It was not until another trail bike rider found him two days later that he could be airlifted to Brisbane's Prince Alexandra Hospital for treatment.
Dr Roland Assman said: "He really amazed us. He's a very, very tough guy - a typical Australian. I asked him what was his main problem in the 48 hours he has been on his own and he said it was the mozzies. At the same time, he said that he thought he had been on his own for three days.
"But we counted the days and when we told him his first comment was 'You see what the mozzies did to me?'. It's unbelievable."
Mr Roberts, who is expected to make a full recovery in several weeks' time, has told reporters that during his two days lying in the bush he was in a "little bit of pain", but never gave up hope of being found and never called out for help.
"There was no-one there so you are just wasting your energy," he said: "So you just wait until someone comes past because there is always going to be someone eventually - it's just a matter of how long it's going to take."
Roberts said he often went trail bike riding and camped in the bush, so his wife was not concerned that he had been missing for two days. And despite suffering injuries on previous rides, he was not deterred from going out riding again.
"I'll give it another shot," he said.
