Rebuild continues but owner upbeat

Gordon Sasse’s pride and joy — his extensive garden — may have been destroyed in last year’s disaster, but the optimistic Blanket Bay man says every cloud has a silver lining.

The gardens on his section were washed away by a huge slip last July, which dragged a kilometre-long path of destruction in its wake.

A trailer unit was swept about 400m into the lagoon at the foot of his property, missing his home in the process, and so was a concrete mixer.

• Tree planting in pursuit of stability
• Cottage split in two suspended in time
• Memories of evacuation loom

Mr Sasse’s truck was also damaged by the torrent of mud and his quad bike was "crushed", he said at the time.

Trees were torn from the earth, and Mr Sasse was trapped in his cottage by a sea of mud. Despite his house being issued with an unsafe building notice, Mr Sasse was able to return less than a month after the floods.

A year on, Mr Sasse is still rebuilding his garden. Rather than being sad or bitter about the experience,  he described it as a learning curve and a transformational change.

"It keeps you young and healthy," he said.

"You end up doing things that you wouldn’t normally have done.

"I’ve bought a five-tonne digger."

The reconstruction of his garden had taken a lot of time, but the end result would be worth it, he said.