Norsewood resident Kathryn Mulinder was amazed at the wall of wind-blown hay alongside State Highway 2 which greeted her on a drive in to Dannevirke on Monday.
"I haven't seen anything like this before," she said.
The high winds which continue to blow through the district also caused headaches for the Norsewood Volunteer Fire Brigade on Monday afternoon, chief fire officer Terence Ahern said.
"An old rubbish fire, lit before New Year, was whipped up by the wind," he said.
"With so much dry fuel around, we were worried there might be a lack of water so the Dannevirke Fire Brigade's water tender was called in to help us out," Mr Ahern said.
The Dannevirke brigade was then called to a vegetation fire on Weber Rd, east of Dannevirke, just before 4pm Monday and now Paddy Driver, Tararua District Council's principal rural fire officer, has declared a restricted fire season across the district.
It's not because of fears of the wind and dry grass, rather "because idiots are lighting rubbish fires", he said.
"Some areas of the district are very dry, others very wet, but people will not be able to light a fire without a permit."