Māori filmmaker Kim Webby says filming on the East Coast in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle was a hair-raising project.
Webby was one of four film-makers commissioned at short notice by Monsoon Pictures and New Zealand On Air to make short documentaries from the worst-hit areas of Auckland, the East Coast and Hawke’s Bay.
One segment involved her two-man Maori film crew and herself hitching quad bike rides with local civil defence, into isolated Whareponga, south east of Ruatoria
“Frankly it was quite hair-raising. I was in the back hanging on for my life, and we ended up that day, they were delivering fresh and canned food, generators, and gas bottles – to people who did not have power, had no way to get into the shops for food supplies, no way in or out,” Webby says.
She says the East Coast communities seemed to just take it in stride that no matter how bad things were, they would find a way to get through it together.
The four short-films are on YouTube under “My Cyclone Gabrielle” – with Webby’s film titled “Lifeline – State Highway 35 East Cape.”
