James Harold's son Axel, 7, has a go at clearing silt from their Wimbledon property. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
Settlements on the coast east of Palmerston North, such as Herbertville, were particularly hard hit.
There, Wainui River levels have receded, but the water's destructive path almost three weeks ago left a trail of debris. At the Herbertville Campground, manager John Sedcole said the biggest problem was silt.
"It's soft enough to move, but it's still too soft to pick up and get rid of yet," Sedcole said.
"We've got a local digger driver down here with a little digger, and bucket and blade, and he's pushing it into piles so at some stage we can get a bigger digger and a truck in and clean it out."
During the cyclone, the campground driveway and the road outside were under water. Houses on the other side of the road were flooded, but campground cabins and baches close to the river were not. Neither was Sedcole's house, although he lost possessions in a shed.
Most of the damaged campground dwellings were further away from the road, where branches jammed against the bridge over the river into town, forming a dam. One campground house had items out in the sun drying after it was inundated with water, which left a layer of mud. Other cabins were drying out.
Five permanent residents were home when Gabrielle stuck. Of them one suffered damage to their caravan.
Roadworks are common in Tararua after Cyclone Gabrielle, and previous storms. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
Sedcole said he was not sure when the campground would reopen. Easter was one of the busiest times of the year, but it was too early to say if the holiday weekend would welcome people this year.
Over the road at the Herbertville Inn, owners Michelle Rampling and Ian Smith were still clearing out the mud, which found its way into every room. The bar, kitchen, dining area and guest rooms were all in need of an airing.
Smith said one of the biggest losses was an Axminster carpet. In another room a freezer floated on to its side, while out the back mud caked the yard.
Smith and Rampling were in Napier when the cyclone struck and could not get back for three days. Like the campground, they were unsure when they could open again.
"Once you get rid of the carpet it really dries out quite fast. When we first came here it was quite slushy, the mud, and it was quite high," Smith said.
"It was a foot high full of mud. That's all subsided now and it's manageable to scoop out with a shovel, which makes it a bit easier."
A few kilometres inland, Wimbledon was largely spared by the floodwaters racing past, except James Harold's property, which is down a slight dip. He lost possessions, but the water did not come inside his house - although, like at Herbertville, it left its mark.
James Harold's back yard is covered in silt after a nearby river and creek overflowed. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
"[I had] probably about six inches of mud on everything that's it not supposed to be on," Harold said.
"I've just been scraping it away into piles and making a good draining access point out the back of our yard... It's a bit of a mess."
When Checkpoint visited, Harold's 7-year-old son Axel was helping on the digger, as the clean-up gathered pace.
Tararua mayor Tracey Collis said late last week 14 roads in the district remain closed and, while whole communities were no longer cut off, some properties were.
"The land is still moving. We are still saturated and sodden," she said.
"We've had a couple of fine days, which has been really really helpful for the cleanup, but almost every day we've had another slip come down where it's so wet it doesn't take much."
The district's been hit hard in recent years and roads were pockmarked with slips and washouts before Gabrielle hit.
"The scale of the task ahead is massive. We will need to work with our communities, Waka Kotahi and the government," Collis said.
