Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch wants to live his best life with a glass of wine in hand despite embarrassingly falling out of an Uber in Melbourne.
The former broadcaster and liver transplant recipient had two glasses of "watered-down" Sauvignon Blanc over dinner with friends on Monday night before ordering an Uber home.
The 74-year-old took a tumble as he stepped onto St Kilda Rd in Melbourne - suffering a "minor brain trauma" - and was kept overnight in The Alfred hospital for observation.
"I am embarrassed by it. You shouldn't wear a knee brace and Cuban heels at the same time, but I've done it before," he told reporters on Thursday.
"Thank goodness the Uber driver and a passerby called an ambulance, which was here in four minutes. I was unconscious, knocked out, big lump on the back of my head.
"The next thing I knew, I was in The Alfred hospital with lots of tubes coming out of me and metal studs on me for the heart and stuff. They kept me in overnight for observation."
He was well enough to fly alone to Canberra on Wednesday for a War Memorial event.
Speaking outside his Melbourne home, Senator Hinch said he had not been drunk on Monday, blaming his bad knee, for which he wears a brace, and tiredness for the fall.
"I'm very appreciative to the family of my donor and I've met them many times over the years," he said.
"I'm eternally grateful for it. I didn't have a drink for five years.
"Until I am lying on the slab for the last time, I am here to live my life to the best I can and to the best of my ability. I swore I would never drink again, but you have got to live your life."
Despite having a liver transplant in 2011, Senator Hinch said his doctors had cleared him to have a few drinks.
"I have a couple glasses of wine a couple of times a week, I water it down," he said.
"I won't water down a glass of Grange, that's a pledge."
He will have a heart monitor fitted on Thursday to find out if his heart played any part in his collapse.
