KEY POINTS:
A small community isolated by a major landslip is calling on authorities to help it after more than two weeks of struggling to cope.
The slip forced the closure of the Clevedon-Kawakawa road, forcing residents of the small township of Kawakawa Bay to take a one-and-a-half-hour trip around
the coast to reach Auckland.
Other residents have resorted to taking two cars to work, driving from home to the slip site, taking a 25-minute walk up the hill, and then driving to work in a vehicle waiting on the other side.
Children have had to attend other schools and some people have had to move out altogether, relying on friends or staying in motels.
A public meeting with Manukau City Council tonight is expected to be packed with residents eager to find out what the council plans to do.
Jack Johnston, 72, who moved to Kawakawa Bay 23 years ago, said there would be standing room only and "fireworks".
"Manukau City Council engineers don't seem to know how to deal with slips like this," he said. "If they don't do something, some locals might do something about it."
Resident Callum McCallum, who works at Clevedon Coast Oysters - on the other side of the landslip - has been ferrying people on his boat for the past two weeks so they can get to work on time.
"We can't keep going like this," he said. "It's just not easy. It really needs to be fixed.
"Business people in Clevedon are upset because it's through-traffic that they get business from. If it was State Highway One, they would've fixed it ages ago."
A four-wheel-drive shuttle service has been taking mainly schoolchildren over the hill, operating from 6am to 6pm, and a free bus service takes residents on specific days for grocery shopping in Thames and Papakura.
Farm manager Richard Keast, who works on the other side of the landslip, is dropped off by his wife at the bottom of the cliff in the morning and walks up the hill to take his own car to work, a better option, he said, than having to drive around the coast and spending $200 on gas each day.
Mr McCallum said: "A lot of people can't afford to spend an hour and a half to go around every day."
The landslip was yesterday said to be moving slowly as geotechnical experts monitored the area to see if recent rainfall had had any impact. Council economic director Rick Walden said an updated assessment of the slip would be presented to residents at tonight's meeting.
He acknowledged that before the road could be reopened, geotechnical advisers would have to confirm that the slip had stabilised.
"The council will also be talking about the long-term options for the road into Kawakawa Bay," Mr Walden said.
"The aim will be to fix problems associated with the landslip so this doesn't happen again."
STORIES FROM THE SLIP
COPING WITH UNCERTAINTY
Duncan Munro doesn't mind getting up before dawn to take children to school, but says something needs to be done to get rid of the landslip - sooner rather than later.
Mr Munro has been trekking up the hill behind the slip for the past few weeks in his 4WD, starting from 6am and taking his final journey at 7pm - but it is not the solution, he says.
"Something has to be resolved. I'd like the thing to just go [and] it's just the uncertainty of the thing that people have a problem with. We're helping people out and people are appreciative of it - the kids love it but the parents aren't too sure."
Mr Munro acknowledged that many local residents were doing their best to deal with the situation, but it was one which many were hoping to see the end of.
"A lot of people have been philosophical about it and just taking it one step at a time."
ERRANDS BECOME A CHORE
A drop in business and a more timely trip to buy bread and butter has been the direct result of the major landslip for local Keith Pye and his family.
Mr Pye, who works as a mechanic at the local service station, said there had been a drop in customers and therefore business because there were fewer people heading out of town.
"Business is slower because all the customers who come in to get petrol to go to town aren't coming in anymore."
He said his family usually go into Papakura to do the weekly grocery shopping, but were now forced to make a trip to Thames to shop.
"We have to go into Thames once a week and because we don't go in as much, we have to buy twice as much - for the two weeks."
Mr Pye said many people now had to go out of their way to do simple errands like taking the children to school.
"A lot of the kids who used to go to school in Clevedon are now at [nearby] Orere Pt. Some people have to wake up at 5am to go to work - it's an inconvenience for everybody. It's just a waiting game I guess."
LIVING FOR TOMORROW
Ans Bloem and her husband Fred are not looking too far into the future.
"I don't want to think about a year's time. I think only about tomorrow," said Mrs Bloem.
The couple were the first evacuated and Mrs Bloem said there was no way of knowing when the hill might collapse on their home of 12 years.
"At 10 o'clock one night I heard the fire alarm go off. I thought the hill was going to go. I couldn't get back to sleep."
They are now staying at a friend's house while he is on holiday. Mrs Bloem is a nurse at the local clinic for this "really special community where everyone knows everyone".
She has organised for people to get urgent prescriptions faxed through to a doctor on the other side of the slip. The doctor then faxes the signed prescriptions to a chemist, so a nurse from Clevedon can deliver the medication once a week.
BAY BUSINESSES FEEL PINCH
Businesses in the bay are feeling the pinch and may have to cut back their hours if the road remains blocked, says Rhonda Turner, whose father owns the local petrol station.
Ms Turner said the busy season would usually begin now but the blocked road has put a stop to it.
"We don't have to worry about stock not getting through because there's no one here to buy it. Even Clevedon has been affected."
The outcome of tonight's meeting would need to give the business owners some direction.
"People will put up with it if they can see an end," she said. "Otherwise it looks pretty grim."
- Jenny de Montalk
