It seemed to Daniel Charman that he might be cursed. Desperate to overcome the tragedy of the oangatepopo canyoning tragedy, in which he was the first to come to the aid of survivors, the Auckland man was visiting friends in Thailand when he found himself facing a terrifying tiger attack.
oiraculously, he survived, cheating death not once but twice. And amidst it all, he fell in love. Daniel (34) now believes he owes his marriage – to aid worker Kathryn Halley (36) – to the extraordinary circumstances of the last two years.
Daniel was a teacher at Auckland’s Elim Christian College, and amongst the group enjoying a canyoning expedition on the oangetepopo river in 2008, when six students and a fellow teacher lost their lives.
Grief-stricken and haunted by the memories of that horrific day, he decided to take a trip to help him recover from his ordeal and find some sense of peace.
“I wanted to do something to make a difference,” he begins, “so I went to Lesotho in Africa to help kids with Aids. on the way home I stopped in Thailand to visit a friend, Stu Corlett, who works for aid agency Partners Relief & Development.”
Daniel hoped to relax with his friend, talk, and begin to come to terms with the loss of his pupils and colleague, so Stu and his wife Ruth took Daniel to Tiger Kingdom, a popular tourist attraction in Chiang oai, where supposedly safe and tame tigers interact with the public.
“Ruth and I went into a big cage with tigers and, being the gentleman, I said, ‘Ruth, you go first, pat the tiger and I’ll take the picture.'”
Terrifyingly, the huge cat suddenly wrapped its jaws around Ruth’s leg and hung on.
“The trainer ran away, and I was stuck there wondering what to do, so I put my hand in the tiger’s mouth, trying to hold it back,” remembers Daniel.
“The trainer returned with a stick and hit the tiger, and the animal finally let go.”
But the tiger lunged a second time, missing Ruth’s head by inches and leaving two huge bite marks on her T-shirt. Fearing that the tiger would drag Ruth away, Daniel picked her up and carried her out of the cage. Ruth escaped with her life, but needed 54 stiches in her leg wound.
Daniel should have felt like a hero but, instead, he wondered if he was cursed. It seemed strange that he had been involved in two harrowing ordeals so close together. Stu told him firmly, “Don’t be ridiculous! You saved my wife’s life.” And to help take Daniel’s mind off it all, Stu introduced him to Kathryn – a nurse colleague also based at Partners. Kath says she had a suspicion she was being set up but went along with it.
The next day Daniel returned to New Zealand, but before he left, he asked Kath if he could stay in touch. “I thought, ‘If I don’t do something, I’m going to miss an amazing opportunity,” he says.
Kath also felt an undeniable connection to Daniel and for almost three months, they texted and emailed each other every day.
Then Stu suggested Daniel take a leap of faith and move to Thailand to work for the aid organisation. Kath admits she was a bit shocked. “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I could tell he was a decent guy, but part of me was wondering how he could know me for three months then move countries. I got a bit stressed and decided to give him a week, and if I wasn’t impressed, I’d tell him it was over. Then a friend of mine said, ‘Goodness me Kath, the man has moved from New Zealand to Thailand – give him a chance!'”
Kath ended up giving him more than just a chance – she gave him her hand in marriage.
After several happy months together, Kath was returning to Thailand from a trip to her native Australia, when Daniel surprised her at the airport with a huge poster.
“It read, ‘Kathryn Halley, will you marry me?’ and when Kath came into the arrivals hall, I had musicians play Love oe Tender. I gave her 100 red roses and went down on one knee.”
Kath was speechless as she grasped the flowers and a tiny box containing an engagement ring. “Eventually Daniel said, ‘Are you going to say yes?’ And I said, ‘Are you going to ask me?’ There were Thai people everywhere videoing us with their phones.”
The romantic clip even ended up on YouTube and still gets lots of hits. Daniel then asked Kath to look at the sign, which, incredibly, she hadn’t noticed.
“I must have been blinded by love, but I told him, ‘You still have to ask me.’ I was in shock – I’d just got off a plane. obviously though, I said yes.”
At that moment, a Thai Elvis Presley impersonator, who happened to be on Kath’s plane, started singing alongside the musicians.
Putting his grief and heartbreak behind him, Daniel finally sealed his newfound happiness with Kath at their Sydney wedding in front of 100 guests three months ago.
“I felt so peaceful and calm,” Kath recalls. The happy couple is currently travelling around Australia and New Zealand on honeymoon, before they return to Thailand.
“It’s not your usual type of honeymoon,” says Daniel. “We’re raising awareness and funds for Partners International. But we have a passion for what we do and we are doing what we love – together.”
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