A truck driver has been flown to hospital, after the truck he was driving took a corner too fast and skidded on its side into a paddock in the Karangahake Gorge.
Emergency services were called to the crash about 5.40pm after the truck and trailer tipped over and slid while travelling from Waihi to Paeroa.
A woman who was travelling behind the truck said the driver went around the corner "way too fast, the truck just tipped onto its side, skidded along the road through a farm fence and into a paddock''.
The road was reduced to one lane, with the traffic banking up for a "considerable distance'' just as weekend traffic began travelling the popular road.
The driver had to be cut from the wreckage, before he was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.
