The teenager who plunged into a fast-flowing river in Blenheim to help save a 12-year-old girl being swept away says he just did what anyone would do.
After Angus Pauley told his mother to phone for help on Wednesday morning, the 17-year-old began running alongside the girl, shedding his clothes as he followed her down the Taylor River giving her reassurance and advice.
"She was starting to get swept away, so at that stage I knew I was probably gonna have to get in the water, the head boy at Marlborough Boys' College said.
"I started running next to her and I was talking to her telling her to keep her head up, try to stay on her back and use her feet to push off rocks and things.
"Because I knew I was going to have to get in the water, I ended up stripping down to my undies and socks and kept running next to her telling her that she was going to be okay and that help was coming."
His mother, Helen Pauley, said before she knew what had happened, it was all go.
"At that stage I was just like, 'Right, ring 111 and deal with it'. And then when I got down to the riverbank and saw his clothes laying there because he'd stripped off, then it really starts to hit you and you start to look at the risks that your own child's putting themself under - and at that moment I was more anxious."
Her son waited until someone else appeared on the scene before deciding he could risk going into the river to help the girl.
The helper turned out to be top triathlete Jeremy McKenzie, and eventually they managed to bring the girl to shore near Beaver Road.
The girl was taken to Wairau Hospital, but has since been treated and discharged, as has Angus Pauley, who was suffering from mild hypothermia.
Police said the teen's quick actions and those of Jeremy McKenzie saved the girl's life.
But Angus Pauley remains very modest about what he did.
"I guess, you know, it's the same sort of thing anyone would've done in a situation like that. Adrenaline sort of kicks in and you just do what needs to be done. Luckily enough, earlier this year I was on an Outward Bound course and I guess that's given me a bit of confidence of how to act under pressure and things like that."