I've spoken before about what's considered by some as Hawke's Bay's Tane Mahuta.
Except that this isn't a kauri, it's a grand, gnarled totara that's stood for about 600 years in A'Deanes Bush near Ongaonga. DOC has labelled it "a survivor".
Apt because, at 33m in height, it miraculously endured Maori fires and Pakeha axes.
The latter no small miracle when you consider the milling heritage of Tikokino and Ongaonga.
Given its rarity, mass and endurance, I hatched a plan to attempt to propagate from the lovely old fella.
I made a few inquiries of an arborist and was told as the tree is dioecious (apparently having male and female flowers on different plants), I'd be best to visit it after high winds, which may bring down foliage (the lowest branches are at least 6-7 metres above the ground), from which I could then take cuttings.
So, I visited it last week - the day following Cyclone Cook's fury. I reached the enormous specimen, only to discover it had given up nothing. At 8.8m girth, the storm hadn't bothered it.
Not far down the road, in Waipawa, another survivor surfaced yesterday in the form of Lime Rock Wines.
Despite recent heavy rain spoiling many of the region's berries (and ending a stellar run of vintages), owner Rosie Butler said her site's lower rainfall and higher altitude terrain of the limestone-infused vineyards had spared the grapes of wintry wrath.
Survivors are noteworthy because we're more inclined to focus on the casualties.
That's why, come the next tempest, I'll probably trek back to the totara.