When Queenstown was hit by landslides and flooding in September, Queenstown cemetery bore the brunt.
Record rainfall inundated what is usually a place of peace with significant amounts of silt and logs.
Today, families are able to visit again.
Queenstown-Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers told 1News: "I look back in September and how confronting that was and we look at it now and I think we realised the effort went in to get this urupā cemetery back".
The effort to reopen has been wide, and extended to families, with local Brendan Leith and his family adding the finishing touches to his mum's grave stone.
"I think everyone's done a pretty amazing job. [It's been] a pretty tough situation but the communities got behind it," Leith said.
The cemetery beneath Bob's Peak has been closed since September, after the town was pummelled by more than a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours ― triggerinhg a local state of emergency and leaving a third of the site covered in debris.
It was the tourist mecca's wettest day in 24 years.
Queenstown Lakes District Council cemeteries and heritage officer Tarsy Koentges said the recovery effort needed was massive. "What that translated into was the removal of about 800 tonnes of silt material and then about 300 tonnes of wood debris... so all of that had to be bagged up ― mostly by hand."
Around 25 contractors worked on the clean-up.
Skyline Gondola operates above the cemetery on Bob's Peak and has been working alongside the council with remediation.
The company chief executive, Geoff McDonald, said today's ceremony "was a moving occasion, and we're delighted to witness this positive step forward for the community."
"We have been working purposefully on the necessary works following the slip. Progress on Bob's Peak is well underway, and we are committed to continued collaboration to ensure the safety and restoration of the affected areas."
The goal was to have the cemetery reopened by Christmas to allow family and friends to come and visit their loved ones during the summer break, but there was still some work to do before the place is fully restored.
"We are going to come back in the New Year and do some remedial work on the grass, there's also an historic stonewall that sits at the top of the cemetery that was damaged from the slip so we will need to rebuild a portion of that wall," said Koentges.
The works are due to be completed early next year, with families hoping nothing like this ever happens again.
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