For Southland farmers whose land was flooded by the Mataura River recently, the clean-up is still going on.
Jon Pemberton had 20 hectares of land underwater at Brydone. When it receded, he was left with a metre of gravel and sand.
The detritus has since been cleared by diggers but it's going to take a while before the grass recovers, he tells Country Life.
Jon Pemberton Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
The floods also dropped some huge rocks and other debris - including timber and car parts - onto Jon's riverside paddocks.
"There's actually a heap of old car parts and we're talking about car parts from the '60s, so chrome bumpers, wheels, a door. One staff member got a dozen golf balls so I'm not sure when they came from!" he chuckles.
Mike Henderson Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Mike Henderson milks about 2000 cows near Edendale. During the floods, 180 hectares of his land was submerged in water deep enough for local jet boaters to go for a spin.
He has to re-fence three kilometres of the farm to get stock-proofed again and the pastures "have taken a fair knock, too".
The cocky has been blown away by the support he's had to assist with the clean-up. In the days after the flooding, two dozen people from the Farmy Army turned up and members of the local Wyndham Rugby club lent a helping hand too, Mike says.
"They were mostly stripping debris off wires and then the rugby guys, they got on the post-banger and were re-stringing fences."
Southland Federated Farmers vice-president and Gore farmer Bernadette Hunt organised the Farmy Army.
Within days, it numbered 400 volunteers who mucked in on 72 farms in the region during the first week after the flooding.
One farmer texted Bernadette to say "[the Farmy Army] did in five hours what would have taken us five weeks".
Tracy Hartley Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Further downstream at Mataura Island, Tracy Hartley and her husband Hayden had only 10 hectares of green land on their dairy farm that wasn't under water when the flooding was at its peak.
The road leading to the property was cut off, too, Tracy says.
"We had a few choppers visit us, but we couldn't get out for five days."
She admits it was quite a surreal experience: "It was just like looking at the sea. There was water everywhere."
The Hartleys lost 300 bales of silage in the floods, kilometres of fencing was damaged beyond repair and valuable winter crops have been destroyed.
They've had other issues to deal with, too.
The cows have had lame feet, there are leaks in pipes going to troughs, lanes and culverts need fixing and the milk pump broke down.
Tracy says they're doing okay though as they've had so much help from friends, neighbours, the Farmy Army and strangers.
"I've had a lot of teary moments - the kindness has been quite overwhelming."
