Tilted house all in a day's work

The cottage, being transported from Masterton to Gladstone along Black Rock Road, was being manoeuvred in a way to avoid overhanging trees and the concrete sides of a bridge. Photo / Belinda Milnes

Drivers travelling along a rural Wairarapa road could be forgiven for imagining the worst this morning when they came across a cottage seemingly perched on the side of a bridge.

However, the dramatic lean was all in a day's work for Wellington house haulage company Alpha Specialised Movers.

The cottage, being transported from Masterton to Gladstone along Black Rock Road, was simply being manoeuvred in a way to avoid overhanging trees and the concrete sides of a bridge.

The haulage company's office manager Carol McGhie said the operation was as safe as houses with the oversized load firmly fixed to the hydraulic trailer.

"Our trucks are specially built to tilt forward and backward, side-to-side to get around trees, bridges and a lot of overhead and hard-to-get-past obstacles," she said.

The house being moved today was firmly fixed to the trailer's steel beams.

Veteran house mover Dave Coley said despite the angle it was sometimes necessary to put loads on big leans.

"I understand what people are thinking, that it looks pretty scary, but this is what happens. Sometimes there's a car or a bridge in the way and we need to get over it."

This was largely done out of the public gaze as most house haulage happened at night.

While the occasional load slipped off it was not very common, he said.

The photo, posted to a Masterton community Facebook page, fooled many who feared the worst.

"Puts new meaning to fallen off the back of a truck," wrote Jodie Kochman.

"Buggar!!! (sic)" posted Wendy Ayling.