They had a miraculous escape from death or serious injury when a tree fell on their car on Wildwood Road last Friday.

It crushed the vehicle, trapping them inside for about an hour before they were rescued.

“It was a miracle,” Jan said, of them emerging virtually unscathed from the harrowing experience.

Aub said a tunnel of wind, like a cockeyed bob, struck the car. They could see the tree coming down in front of them but there was nothing they could do about it.

He said Jan, who was driving, did all she could, but couldn’t avoid the tree.

“There was nothing we could do, just watch it coming down, and it seemed to take forever,” Aub said.

Fortunately for the Marybrook farmers, it struck the vehicle at an angle, which probably saved their lives, pinning Jan and Aub inside.

“Jan had very little room to move,” Aub said. “She was trapped between the steering wheel and where the tree went across the car at a bit of an angle, and my head was down between the roof and the seat. She got a real shiner (black eye).

“I managed to get the seat lever and move the seat a bit and push it back. In the end I was quite comfortable as I was in a reclining position, but I couldn’t get to Jan.

“I’ve got a sore head, a bit of skin off my head and a possible crack in the sternum, but that could have been from the seat belt,” Aub said.

“If I had been sitting up when I was driving……!” Jan didn’t need to complete the sentence.

“I was worried about Aubrey. He’s just had a heart attack.” (It happened five weeks ago when they were in Esperance on an interstate trip and Aub had to be flown to Perth by Royal Flying Doctor).

“We could talk to each other and hold hands, but I couldn’t actually see him because I couldn’t move,” Jan said.

“I had a phone in my pocket which was on and was able to dial 000,” Aub explained.

“The window was broken and I just handed it to this guy who had been at the back of us and asked him to talk to them and tell them what had happened.”

The couple was able to laugh about the incident afterwards, saying they didn’t intend buying a ticket in last night’s Lotto jackpot because they felt they had used up all their luck.

“We’ve now got a no-door convertible that won’t need air conditioning,” Jan was able to joke about the condition of the car.