Total strangers' kind act for couple at the centre of Hunter Valley bus crash - ... trends now
The newlyweds whose wedding was shattered by a bus crash that killed 10 guests have escaped for their honeymoon five months after the tragedy.
Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell were gifted a quiet but spectacular holiday in the Whitsundays to help them heal from the unthinkable events of June 11.
The couple spent several weeks attending funerals and services for the friends and family who died in the horrific accident on the same day they tied the knot in the NSW Hunter Valley.
A further 21 people were injured in the crash.
Only four people out of 35 on the bus escaped serious injury.
The 35 passengers on the bus had just left the wedding of Mr Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell (both pictured) in the Hunter Valley. Tragically when the bus rolled 10 died
The couple was gifted a stay at the Palm Bay Resort on Long Island in the Whitsundays
Mr Gaffney and Ms Edsell were collected at Proserpine Airport by a vintage car from Whitsunday Hot Rod Tours of Airlie Beach
The couple, who were not on the bus that was ferrying guests after the reception, had forgone their honeymoon and spent months following the crash lobbying the NSW state government to make seatbelts mandatory on buses.
But thanks to the kindness of tourism operators in the Whitsundays, they were finally able to take a much-needed break.
Their getaway was organised by Whitsundays woman, Maz McDougall, and her friend, Tina Kerr, who now lives in the couple's hometown of Singleton.
They wanted to do something special for the heartbroken couple so they contacted Queensland tourism operators in the holiday islands who gifted them a luxurious holiday free of charge.
Ms Edsell said the months since the accident have been the hardest of her's and Mr Gaffey's lives and that the belated honeymoon was a chance to re-set.
'It was just what we needed – a bit of a re-set – so we could spend some time together,' said Ms Edsell told Mackay and Whitsunday Life.
Ms McDougall had asked luxury hotels and resorts, a hot rod tour company, a ferry charter service, a makeup and hair
