Boulder bounces across road

The boulder sits near the kerb after crossing the road. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

It was the rock that rolled - all the way across a busy Napier road.

Ground-softening rain on Friday night appears to be responsible for dislodging a 1-metre by 70cm boulder from near the top of a hill on land above Church Rd.

In the early hours of Saturday morning the rock tumbled down the hill, smashed through a fence, rumbled across Church Rd and came to rest about 5m over the kerb.

Its new resting place is about 30m from the back fence of nearby Summerset retirement village.

Merlot Drive resident Yvonne Laing said she heard a noise about 1am, which she thought must have been a car hitting the kerb at the nearby roundabout, "which they sometimes do, so I didn't think any more about it. In the morning, we saw the big rock there."

"It was just luck it didn't happen in the daytime when there are lots more people around," Mrs Laing said.

The hillside is on Mission Estate Winery land and Mission staff yesterday repaired the section of fence the boulder had taken out during its journey.

The oversized rolling stone won't be gathering moss in its new location, however.
Mission chief executive Peter Holley said a winery tractor fitted with a forklift would be used to remove it, and if that failed the Napier City Council would be called in for assistance.

"I've never come across anything like this before but it's definitely our rock and rolled off our hill, so we'll do what we can to put it right," Mr Holley said.

"Thankfully, nobody was hurt."