Floyd Fernandes' funeralKEY POINTS:
There was bitterness at the final Mangatepopo River funeral this morning as the mother of victim Tara Gregory vented her anger at her daughter's father.
Tara, 16, was one of a group of six students and a teacher from the Elim Christian College in Howick who died when they were caught in a flash flood while canyoning in the Tongariro National Park last week.
Mother Catherine Linnen said Tara's father had no right to grieve for someone he wanted nothing to do with.
"She and I have been alone for 13 and a half years, we've heard nothing from her father," Ms Linnen said.
"I didn't feel they had a right to grieve for someone they couldn't be bothered to see.
"I've spent my life protecting her from him, and I wasn't going to stop because she's dead."
Mr Gregory, from Manukau, said he hadn't seen his daughter in 18 months.
He hadn't lived with Tara since she was three-years-old, but told reporters at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Otahuhu he wanted to come down and farewell his daughter.
"I thought the hatchet could be buried today but obviously not," Mr Gregory said.
Catherine described Tara "as a very quiet, private person who would have hated having her photo plastered across TV and newspapers."
She said she chose Tara's name because it meant 'star'.
"I know she's shining up in heaven right now," she said.
"She is a star by name, by nature and by destiny. So keep shining brightly Tara."
Tara's next door neighbour, Karen Blakeley compared Tara to the fireworks she loved, quiet at first but then "bright energetic and full of colour."
