Having a 1000-tonne boulder land 40 metres from their house was a good thing, say the couple whose property could have been obliterated when the 22 million year old monolith toppled.
Building inspectors and geo-engineers have carried out safety surveys at the site since the sentinel on Mt Aubrey's jagged skylineplunged towards Harvey and Elizabeth Gadd's house last Saturday.
"That rock's not going to budge from where it is now and it's protecting the house from anything that comes down behind it," Mrs Gadd said.
If any more rocks were to fall they would not get past the immovable wall the fallen giant now provides, she said.
Knowing now that the rock had been sitting on undermined ground and was not embedded in the ground, the Gadds are relieved it is no longer hovering over their property.
When it took its plunge - "Thankfully it slid and didn't bounce," Mr Gadd said - it came to rest on a flat area on their boundary with Whangarei District Council's Mt Aubrey reserve.
Accompanied by an earthshaking rumble late on Saturday afternoon, the monolith slid down a route already weakened by landslides caused by heavy rain in the summer. The public track to the summit had been closed since January because of instability.
It was now evident erosion had been nibbling away the ground at the base of the rock since then, Mr Gadd.
Engineers have given the Gadds informal assurances the 300-plus cubic metre rock is unlikely to move again for possibly another 22 million years.
The council had promptly engaged engineers to review the site for stability, Infrastructure and Services Group Manager Simon Weston said. The consultant engineer's official report has yet to be given to the council.
The council is unable at this stage to offer any information about the future of the Mt Aubrey walking track.
Over the past week many people have been to view the giant's resting place and the altered Reotahi skyline. The Gadds say they did not have a nostalgic attachment to the monumental landscape feature as they have lived under the mountain only since last September.
