It’s a birthday he almost missed, but the universe had other plans for local liquor legend Alfred Zinnecker and he turns eighty years old today, a birthday it seems he was destined to celebrate.
On the eve of turning 80, Alf is philosophical.
“Not much,” he says, when asked how he feels to be turning 80. “Like 70, I suppose. I’m just very lucky to be here, of course, with what I went through in Broome. That was plain and simple luck.”
Alf’s gift for understatement is highly developed: what happened in Broome is closer to the miraculous.
In June 2014, Alf and his wife Maxine were enjoying their annual Broome holiday.
“We stay at Cable Beach and I do my little bit of body surfing,” explains Alf.
“We were having breakfast this particular Saturday and I was looking out the window and I thought the surf's pretty good so I'll go surfing. So I tore down to the beach.
“There were just a couple of old fellows and myself there and then the waves just stopped. So they disappeared and I thought, well, not much use me standing here waiting for something that's not going to happen.
“I went to pick my towel up and stood up and then I fell down dead. No pain, no nothing. Just stopped.”
The cause was a defective valve in Alf’s heart.
“I knew I had a leaky valve because I'd had a few little turns before, but I didn't expect to just fall down dead.
“The young life saver, Rachel Gabb, was a paramedic, so she tore over and jumped on me and started pushing my chest down and what have you and then they brought the defibrillator out but they couldn't use it because I was in the water. They dragged me up the beach and it turns out there was a doctors' conference on at the resort.”
Dr Sven Geldermann – also from Dunsborough – was walking nearby with Broome nurse Misty Morton. They performed CPR until an ambulance arrived and Alf could be transferred first to Broome Hospital and then to Fremantle where he underwent a triple bypass, emerging with a new valve and a renewed sense of gratitude.
Alf recollects his working life with a smile.
“We had some happy times running the liquor store. We made a lot of friends. Even as far away as Japan. We had Japanese customers used to always come in and say g'day.”
Maxine recalls the surfies: “Some of the surfer boys used to come down and didn't have enough money so they'd give Alf their watches. And then when they went back to work and had enough money they'd come back down.”
And do you still love Dunsborough, we ask.
Alf shoots an affectionate glance at Maxine. “Yes,” he says, “We’ll stay and kick up our toes here.”
But not just yet we hope.
