That is how home invasion victim Nola Turnbull described the experience she and partner Maurice Smith endured in their Hill St home on Monday night.

The couple were getting ready for bed about 11.30pm on Monday September 28 when Nola was confronted by a masked man wielding an iron bar outside the bathroom.

Thinking quickly, she retreated into the bathroom, slammed the door shut and locked it. Luckily she had her mobile phone handy to call the police.

“They were here in six minutes,” Nola said.

“And the triple-0 operator was fantastic telling us what to do and handling the situation.”

While Nola was phoning the police, 82 year-old Maurice came to investigate the commotion. He found a number of robbers smashing and ransacking the house.

“I hit one of them with a heavy five-cell torch and then they all turned on me and started punching and hitting me garden stakes.

“While I was down, one of them stabbed me in the thigh with the stake.”

Maurice is bruised and battered and still undergoing treatment for his injuries.

In a frightening twist to story, Monday night’s attack was the second attempt to break into the couple’s home.

The couple were woken at 4.30am on Sunday by the sound of their side door being kicked in.

“They had pulled the fuses so there were no lights, I took the torch and poked it out the door,” Maurice said.

“I didn’t know they were hiding only inches away, they grabbed the torch right out of my hand and then stood at the end of the drive for a few minutes yelling abuse at me.

“This time the police arrived in eight minutes.”

The couple spent a trying night in the house the night after the attack.

“We had lots of offers to stay at friends places but we felt if we didn’t go back straight away we might not go back at all,” Nola said.

“The level of support has been amazing, I spent an hour and a half the other night answering emails and my phone hasn’t stopped.

“I felt like a movie star in town,” Maurice said.

“A dozen people must have stopped me to ask how I was.”

Although Nola and Maurice are coping as best they can, the trauma of the attack has taken its toll.

She said she had a question for other people who had suffered similar experiences.

“How long before you stop dreading the sunset?”