Friends, family and students have gathered at Elim Christian College to mark 10 years after a teacher and six students lost their lives while on a school camping trip.
Natasha Bray, Portia McPhail, Tom Hsu, Anthony Mulder, Floyd Fernandes, Tara Gregory and teacher Tony McClean were swept away by flash flooding while canyoning in the Mangatepopo River in April 2008.
Ten years later, the group's loved ones say the grieving process didn't end but instead evolved.
Andy and Nikki Bray lost their 16-year-old daughter, Natasha.
"I was completely distraught," Mr Bray said.
"We talk about her around the dinner table like she's still sitting there."
Hannah McClean was 15 when her brother Tony was swept away.
"At the time, I grieved as someone who lost their big brother - their mentor. But now, in the last couple of years, I've had to re-grieve for someone who would have been a friend and a peer," she said.
The education centre involved in the tragedy says lessons have been learnt since that tragic day.
"Not a day goes by without me thinking of that event. Our business has changed significantly in the last eight years. The most significant one is our safety culture," the Hillary Outdoor Education Centre CEO Graham Seatter said.
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