If you are born in Australia or become an Australian citizen, you have won the lottery of life.

I was reflecting upon this last week as we were anchored off Opal Reef, about 40 kilometres  north-west of Port Douglas.

Well, yes, you have won the lottery of life if you are on your own yacht in such a place. But suddenly, mid last Friday morning, the lottery ticket became much more valuable. My wife, Louise, was struck with agonising abdominal pain.

Fortunately, we have a large aerial atop the mast to ensure we have phone and internet coverage way out to sea.

We rang accident and emergency at Cairns Hospital. Louise described her symptoms and medical history to the doctor. The advice was clear. Bowel obstructions can lead to peritonitis and be life-threatening. You must come in to the hospital as soon as possible.

But the fastest motor sail we can do is about 13km/h. It would be eight hours. Not a good idea, the doctor said. Ring triple-zero.

Triple zero is in Brisbane. Patched to Cairns. “Give me your number. We’ll talk to rescue and coast guard. We hope to get a helicopter out there very soon or failing that a fast coast guard boat. We’ll call back.”

A bit later, “Helicopter will be on its way within an hour.”

Meanwhile, I have been on the radio to Calypso, the dive boat that takes people to Opal Reef most days.

“Calypso, Calypso, Calypso this is Biringari, Biringari, Biringari, do you read me.”

“Biringari, read you loud and clear.”

“Calypso, go one-two.”

“Biringari, one-two”

We change from the emergency station of one-six to one-two which is one of the many available.

“Calypso, we have a medical emergency. Can you help us please? We are anchored about 200 metres from the bouy at one of your dive sites, Bashful Bommie.”

“Yes, copy that. Hi, Lisa here. We saw you on the way up. Willing to help in any way we can. We expect to be there in about an hour. How can we help?”

[Lisa, super skilled twenty-something, is skipper of Calypso]

“Standby on that. My wife is going to be choppered out, are you coming back here tomorrow? Would you be able to bring a couple of people back to help me sail home. I cannot crew this yacht on my own.”

“Yes, we can do that, but it will be better if your wife is winched off Calypso than your yacht. We have been trained in this.”

“OK, I have given them the lat-long. I can get back to them to see what they say.”

I got back to them. Calypso was clearly the go. The Calypso crew, like the crew in all of the main tourist boats that go out to the reef each day, have trained for medical emergencies.

Besides, their boat is bigger with a larger landing deck and less likely to be thrown about by down draught.

Lisa on the radio again: “When we moor, we’ll bring our dinghy over to pick your wife up.”

This was followed by more phone and radio exchanges with Emergency Management Queensland Helicopter Rescue in Cairns. Everything was teed up. Louise was winched aboard and safely in Cairns Hospital within two hours.

Next day, Calypso brought out two friends to help me take the yacht back to Port Douglas. They did not charge. The helping hand in Australia is another bonus in winning the lottery of life.

The people at Calypso were outstanding. Professional. Competent. Helpful. Compassionate.

Equally, the pilot, crew and medics at EMQ Helicopter Rescue were terrific. Professional. Reassuring. Calm.

Queensland has free ambulance cover. Elsewhere, coverage usually comes with health insurance.