There were emotional scenes in Gisborne as items retrieved from the Christmas Eve bus crash were returned to their owners.
Much of State Highway 2 between Wairoa and Gisborne was closed on Wednesday morning as salvage crews retrieved the wreck for further investigation.
As the sun rose over the Wharerata Hills, salvage crews were preparing for the grim task of recovering the damaged bus.
The road was closed for several hours - the job emotionally, and physically, demanding.
"The bus is about 30 or 40 metres down the bank. It's a very steep bank and it's fairly rocky, and the bus keeps getting caught in the rocks," Hawke's Bay police Sergeant Corey Ubels said.
Eventually it was removed and loaded onto a truck, taken away for further examination.
If there is any good to come out of this, the brass band now have their belongings back. Some instruments just need a little dusting off, but others will need serious work.
"Most of the instruments are damaged - and some are lost," tour leader Tuipolotu Samiu said.
Sixteen-year-old Kalo Kolotau survived the crash, but everything is taking its toll.
"I'm strong and I want to forget all about the things that happened."
In the face of this tragedy, this group is doing all it can to stay upbeat.
"The majority of those who were in the accident will be keen to forget the hurt and the pain because the love was so overwhelming," former Mailefihi Siuilikutapu college principal Mele Suipi said.
For the past few nights, a church hall has been the group's sleeping quarters. It can fit 50 mattresses in there. Then in the morning, they're cleared, and it becomes the place to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Much of the food they eat is donated by the local community. Some members of the group said they were most happy about eating some fresh corn.
At the end of the day a local man turned up and dropped off a new set of drums after he heard the originals had been damaged beyond repair - a fitting donation for a group that loves music, and nothing will stop them playing.
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