A large slip blocking part of State Highway 11 between Kawakawa and Opua gave early morning motorists a surprise yesterday.
The slip, which brought down a large amount of soil, vegetation and a big tree stump, occurred near a bend on Lemon's Hill, on the Kawakawa side of the summit.
The Kawakawa Fire Brigade was called out at 5.30am after a driver came across the slip. Volunteer firefighters managed traffic until roading contractors arrived.
Fire chief Wayne Martin said there were concerns initially that the slip was still moving and it might be necessary to close both lanes, but when daylight came it was deemed to be safe.
Traffic was reduced to one lane throughout the morning as contractors worked to clear the highway.
An engineer was due to inspect the slip face to assess its stability and decide whether more work was needed to prevent further slips.
It wasn't the Kawakawa brigade's first call-out of the day. At 4.30am the volunteers responded to a blaze in Moerewa, which Mr Martin said turned out to be someone having a rubbish fire when he thought no one would notice. He put it out himself.