A demanding job with tricky bluffs and steep terrain was made even more challenging with continual wet weather disruptions for the Gisborne-based Fisher Fencing Matawai team. But getting in the right gear and some good old-fashioned ingenuity got the job done.
Owner Ben Fisher was approached by the client to do a secondary quote for a QEII National Trust (‘QEII’) project she was planning on her property near Otoko.
“She had funding for plants and was working with QEII for funding to fence the area off,” Ben explains.
The job was approximately one kilometre of new deer fencing with two small top-up sections around the house.
“One being a top-up of three wires and the other of two additional railings to increase the height of the original fencing.”
The quote was accepted for the project and plans were made for a start date as it could be worked in and around jobs.
As trees were ordered and funding needed to be used, it became “a bit of a priority job”, Ben said.
Gear was ordered to arrive before the start date, which was planned for the end of April/start of May.
However, the weather did not cooperate, and the team managed to get started on 24 May.
Ben was joined on the job by Allan Spice, Bus Sterk, and Jaime Johnson, with the Komatsu D37 bulldozer creating access to the site and blading the lines ready for fencing.
There were challenges finding the best line around boulders, Ben said, dodging tomos and working with a couple of springs at the base of the hill that needed channelling through the fence line.
Two steeper bluff sections at either end of the hill meant the team was unable to blade the entire line.
“But we could access the top of the ridge from a track further around the road. Once on top, it was a nice easy line along the ridge.”
Once bulldozing was complete and the materials laid, they got started with the 360m line along the ridgetop to stockproof the adjoining paddock. This was completed in two days – and then the rain came again.
“This held us up for a few days, so off to tidy up a couple of small jobs elsewhere.”
The weather cleared and they were back into it again with a couple of days thumping posts where they could, the wet ground limiting progress.
“The spades came out and the remaining posts up the steeper sections were dug in.”
Then rain came again, halting progress for another few days.
When the weather cleared again, the ground was still wet and saturated, and a day was spent on the top-up sections of the job.
The decision was made to purchase a set of Kyne tractor spikes to get the job done. A netting rig for the front of the tractor had already been built about two years earlier.
“So, a mad dash to Pahiatua was done to collect [the tractor spikes] and then home to install and hopefully get the last 500 metres of netting out and sorted.”
With this all done, the last stretch was the fencing of the bluff at either end of the ridge.
“For this, we decided to swap out the netting and do a 13-wire and batten fence due to the conditions and terrain.
“One end was easier than the other; we were able to post where possible to get a line down the 50-metre section. The shorter line of about 30 metres took a lot more thinking and ingenuity.”
Steel brackets were made and 4×2 timber bolted to them as posts. These were then bolted to the rock and used as the rise posts.
For the foots, plates were bolted with an eyelet to the rock with a chain D-shackled to it and the wires fed through the chain.
“This was best as if we had done the 4×2 and bracket, we wouldn’t have been able to staple the top wires off. But with this, as we strained the wires, the chain lifted to height.”
The job was finally completed on 11 July. In total it took seven weeks to get 12 days’ work done.
“Bloody rain.”
Written by Rosa Watson
Published in WIRED issue 74/September 2024 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
