Pike River: Heartbreak in a beautiful setting

Families prepare to board the bus to the Pike River mine. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The uncle of one of 29 men still underground in the Pike River Coal mine says a trip to the mine site was heartbreaking.

"You're going up to such heartbreak in such a beautiful part of the world," Brent Palmer, who lost his nephew Brendon Palmer, told NZPA.

Buses lined the street outside the Grey District Council earlier today to take the families to the mine.

They walked out of the council building onto the buses this morning, some carrying large bunches of flowers, one man holding a framed picture of his loved one.

Up to 500 family members travelled up to the site and saw photos of the men's tags that they placed on a board before entering the mine. However they were not taken to the mine entrance or put in any areas deemed dangerous.

"The tags to me are so poignant," Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn told the Herald.

"In the coal mining industry, it has always been tradition that the tags stay there."

One woman was helped into an ambulance after collapsing while waiting to get on a bus. Another was too upset to talk to waiting media, who gathered alongside police and victim support workers.

Mr Palmer described the mood of the families as "sombre" as they made the bus trip along the same route that the 29 men had travelled just over a week ago.

He said the family briefings had been "amazing" but a trip to the site had made the whole situation more real.

"Words fail you," he said when asked to describe the experience.

He said the families had been taken to the "bathhouse" and administration area, which was several kilometres away from the mouth of the mine.

Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall had spoken to the families and a marquee had been set up.

Mr Palmer had only praise for Mr Whittall: "I could not imagine a better person, in the most unfortunate circumstances, to be here."

Mr Palmer, who came down from Auckland with his partner Janet and baby son, said the rest of Brendon's family still lived in Greymouth.

Pike River Coal staff had taken the flowers families had brought with them and promised to put the flowers as close to the men as possible, Janet said.

The mother of Zen Drew told NZPA she found the trip to the mine "very healing".

"I felt close to my boy. I felt like I was able to say goodbye to him - just directly from me," Leeza Verhoeven said.

"There was a lot of information but it felt gentle and supportive...we felt safe - we felt emotionally safe. It just felt like we were able to relax with the spirits of the loved ones," she said.

Ms Verhoeven, who lives in Oamaru, said the support of family and friends and "fabulous" support services had helped her and her family cope.

She had been amazed by the love, support and prayers she and her family had received from people including strangers.

"It's incredible how much we are being carried by the love of others," she said

"Zen didn't just make friends, he made family," she added.

Reality sets in

A sense of reality has dawned upon the families and friends of the 29 lost Pike River miners and the West Coast community, according to mayor Tony Kokshoorn.

"Today we woke up and really there was a sense of reality," he told the Herald.

"Now we know they're not coming back, but we also know they're in the mine."

Mr Kokshoorn said that loved ones would remain in "limbo" until the miners' bodies had been recovered.

"You can't have closure until you're holding those bodies again, which is all part of the healing process to move on and move through."

The uncle of Brendon Palmer agreed, saying it was particularly difficult to go through the grieving process without a body.

"I think this is the beginning and the next stage will be when they get the bodies out," he said.

Maori have already performed a karakia at the site alongside the White Knight Stream, which was sacred to iwi and also a symbol of the mine.

At 2pm this afternoon, surf lifeguards around the country marked one minute of silence in respect of the dead miners.

Tonight, a service adapted to remember the men will be held at 6pm in the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Greymouth.

A national memorial service for the men is being held at the Omoto racecourse, which looks out to the Paparoa Range where the mine is located, at 2pm on Thursday.