A resourceful Kowhitirangi farmer displayed good old fashioned 'kiwi ingenuity' this week when his tractor caught fire.
The man ripped out a stock water line, cut the pipe and then directed the water flow at his tractor.
Both the Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi and Hokitika volunteer fire brigades were dispatched about 11am.
Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi fire chief Tim Burden, said the farmer had managed to cut a water line feeding his stock water, and had managed to quell the fire by the time the brigades arrived.
"He was a wise man."
The tractor was left moderately damaged.
Meanwhile the Hokitika brigade was called to the Arahura roundabout on the southern approach to the Arahura River bridge at 1pm on Tuesday after a motorcyclist came to grief on the 25km bend, with conditions wet at the time.
Fire chief Harry Collett said the man was apparently moderately injured after he landed in the middle of the roundabout, and was transported by St John for medical attention.
At Franz Josef Glacier on Tuesday, police gave some advice to a campervan driver about driving to the conditions after their vehicle got into a slide and over corrected on the wet wooden deck of the new Waiho River bailey bridge.
The vehicle suffered some minor frontal damage after hitting the railing.
- Brendon McMahon
