Kiwi ingenuity is keeping dairy farmers in Golden Bay afloat, after ex-Cyclone Gita severed a lifeline.
The Kaituna River bridge in Collingwood was badly damaged by debris-ridden waters, cutting off an important link between 1000 dairy cows and the tanker collecting their milk.
"We were talking to our Fonterra rep and he said the best call would be to actually dump that milk so we had to dump close on 10,000 litres at that stage," Alan Curnow told 1 NEWS.
They would have risked losing up to $1 million worth of product, if not for the help of neighbours and local contractors.
"Basically, we're all farmers and if we were stuck on the other side of the bridge, we'd be wanting the same response from the next door neighbours so it was a pretty easy decision to make," explained neighbouring farmer Naish Massey.
His stock bridge is now being used for milk tanker crossings.
The next task involved forging a way to get to the bridge.
"Two weeks ago this was just paddock" Mr Curnow says, pointing to an area of land.
"So we just created this road from this point right through the paddock, it just went straight on top of the grass there as it was because we didn't have time to strip the top off."
Together the farmers and contractors have built nearly a kilometre of road through farmland to transport the milk.
"This the first time we've done anything like this in a short time," Mr Curnow said.
Federated Farmers Golden Bay Dairy Chairperson Tyler Langford says the farming community "have always been great like that".
"They're always rallying around, and as you're aware our biggest constraint right now is the Takaka Hill".
NZTA says the hill should be open to truck and trailers again in two weeks' time.
"For anyone who knows Golden Bay it's still alive and it's still open for business, but yeah it's gong to be challenging going forward," Mr Langford said.
Something locals here seem ready to handle, in their own practical way.
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