And a little landscaping . . .

A Kaikohe Fire Brigade crew displayed a new skill after a single-vehicle crash on State Highway 1, 5km north of Okaihau, at 2.20am on Saturday.

Chief Fire Officer Bill Hutchinson said the driver of a Toyota hatchback lost control on a bend, crashing into a large boulder on the roadside bank, the vehicle then spinning off the wrong side of the road.

The car came to a halt off the highway, but the dislodged boulder, which he reckoned was the size of a table, or half the size of a car, ended up in the middle of the road.

It was too heavy to budge by manpower, so firefighters chained it to a truck, which dragged it clear.

A crew returned to the scene at around 4.30am after someone torched the vehicle, the flames spreading into nearby pine trees.

The driver was not believed to have been seriously hurt.