The last thing Perry McDiarmid expected when he was riding his motor scooter home from work was to be hit on the head by a flying boat.
Adding insult to injury, the driver of the ute dropped off two passengers to help the injured cyclist but then took off.
McDiarmid, a 17-year-old apprentice builder, was knocked off his bike after an aluminium dinghy flew off the vehicle he was following down the Onerahi hill, heading toward Whangarei, on Thursday evening.
"Basically, the dinghy was on the ute with the front of it up on top of the cab. I'd noticed it only had one rope tying it down.
"Next thing, the front of the dinghy lifted up and it came across my helmet, hit me on the head and knocked me off my bike," McDiarmid said.