A forestry tutor has died after a tree crushed him on Good Friday.
David Batterham's son Brooke said his dad was clearing trees at his home outside Leigh, north of Auckland. Brooke called 111 just before 6pm but paramedics and firefighters were unable to revive the 61-year-old.
Well-wishers were strugglingto understand how he got into trouble.
"He was a professional forestry worker. It's just a freak accident," Brooke said.
Batterham taught forestry science at Waiariki Institute of Technology. "He was such a good father figure. He taught us so much," said stepson Terry Lee Hunt. "He was a hard man without trying to be a hard man."
Batterham grew up on the North Shore before heading for forestry work at remote Kaingaroa. One of his companions there was bushman and writer Barry Crump.
