A week after a slip closed the Kaukatea Valley Rd, Stu and Natasha Cripps are still using their quad bike to maintain contact with the outside world.
They 've also endured four days without power and telephone, and with no power they've had to dump all the food in their freezer.
Best estimates by the Wanganui District Council is that the slip will be cleared within one to three days' time.
The Cripps farm is 12.5km up the road from its junction with No3 Line and is the last house on the road.
Mrs Cripps is a registered nurse working at Wanganui Hospital but because of the slip she's been forced to take annual leave.
"I can't do shift work, finish at midnight then drive up our road, hop on the quad bike and drive in the dark across farmland to home. But taking annual leave isn't really a holiday for me," she said.
They lost power last Saturday morning and it was not restored until Tuesday afternoon.
"We had no phone and lost everything in the freezer. Some people may have lost power but at least they could get out. We were stuck and still are," Mr Cripps said.
Their one son still at home has not been able to get to school since the slip came down either.
The Cripps run sheep and beef on their farm and thoughts of getting a truck up there to take some lambs away is on hold until the slip is cleared.
"We can't drove them off the property around the slip and down the road because there are too many holes in fences," Mr Cripps said.
There was also a problem with poplars along the roadside that he said needed topping which have now toppled onto the road.
"I told council two months ago about those trees but nothing was done," he said. "We got 60mm of rain fall in one hit and everything up that road started to open up. There were cracks everywhere so we took the precaution of parking a vehicle further down the road at a neighbour's property expecting the worst," he said.
Mrs Cripps said it was "pretty tricky" trying to get household essentials like groceries up to the house on the quad bike.
THE BIG WET
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