Many Kiwi sports teams are having to make on-the-go decisions around travel at the moment with Cyclone Gabrielle causing havoc but none may compare to the calls and efforts of Ice Fernz rookie Bella Vogel.
Vogel was recently promoted from non-travelling reserve to squad member for the upcoming IIHF World Championships in South Africa with the New Zealand women's ice hockey squad meant to depart on Monday evening.
However, like many, the team's flights were cancelled leaving management scrambling to find another flight out which they managed to do tonight.
Unfortunately for Vogel, in that time Gabrielle swept through her community of Bethells Beach out on Auckland's west coast and when she woke this morning, she discovered flooding and slips had blocked the roads out of the area.
"I live at Bethells Beach which is quite a rural community so we're quite used to powercuts and the occasional flooding," Vogel told 1News.
"At about 7am I got up and checked outside and saw [the flooding] so I went down to the driveway and that's when I saw the water so I actually went into it to try and get an idea of how deep it was to see if my dad's ute could get through and it was just past my knees then.
"On my way back up I saw the Civil Defence and they said, 'you're not leaving here today, you can't go until tomorrow'."
Vogel was faced with a tough call; Miss her flight or try and find a way around Mother Nature's wrath to get to the airport in time for her flight this evening.
"I was trying to come up with a plan," she said.
"I was trying to see if a four-wheel drive could come to me or me to it if I could walk."
With option one scratched, she grabbed her gear and prepared for the only other choice she had; carrying her travel and playing gear by foot through flooding and over slips for several kilometres to the nearest spot where her brother and his car were allowed.
"I had to walk through mud up past my knees.
"I had a firefighter helping me, holding my hand and I had my dad with me with my gear bags - we scaled a digger we had to get past and luckily there was a local on the other side who was able to take me the rest of the way to my brother to pick me up."
Vogel said during her trek she had no second thoughts about turning around.
"There was no way I was going back - I'm making that flight," she said.
"I'm a rookie, this is my first time on the team, this is my first chance on the international stage, I'm going to do it.
"All I was concerned about at that point was not getting my gear all dirty because it's all brand new gear."
Vogel has since headed to a teammate's house for "a nice hot shower" to clean off all the mud from her journey before heading out to the airport tonight.
The Ice Fernz will compete in the IIHF Division II, Group B event in Cape Town, South Africa, from 20 – 26th February 2023.
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