The inspectors take photos when a roading asset has a unique characteristic, helping the Tararua Alliance team determine if a culvert is fit for purpose but Hainsworth and Hynes recently encountered something out-of-the ordinary in the lens of their camera.
When checking a culvert in the Alfredton area, Hainsworth had the fright of his life when he snapped a giant weta in the culvert, then looked up to see "the whole ceiling moving".
"There were giant wetas for 10 metres along that culvert ceiling," he said.
"It was really amazing, I've never seen anything like it before."
These giants are all legs and Hynes said the pair have looked at close to 2000 culverts but this was the only one which was home to the leggy, giant wetas.
Both men say they haven't been back to this particular culvert to have another look – yet.
But Hynes has snapped healthy looking koura (native crayfish) along Top Grass Rd.
"You find them everywhere," he said.
Hainsworth said he loves working in the fresh air, with every day different.
"Some days you are looking at snow while eating your lunch. On others you are looking at the ocean or a river," he said.
"It's a pretty cool job. We get to chat with farmers and so we're out there doing a PR job too,"
Hynes agrees. "We're often working on our own to get the job done and we have to plan our days, depending on the weather," he said.
Uncovering native flora and fauna is all part of the job for Hainsworth and Hynes and the network information they gather allows informed decisions about the treatment of our roading network, understanding network demand, including changing demand for analysis and planning purposes.
And while the roading inspectors have uncovered old, historic bottles, there is, sadly a lot of illegally dumped rubbish too.
"You can see the problem we have with plastic, with the pollution in the culverts," Hynes said.
