Bush Mechanics & Shed Fixes: A Homage to Getting Shit Done

Let’s face it: if rural New Zealand had a flag, it would probably be a piece of duct tape flapping off a busted tail light on a Hilux. Out here, we don’t wait around for spare parts or fancy tools. We make do. We patch it, wrap it, prop it up, and carry on. This blog’s a nod to that gritty, get-on-with-it attitude that keeps the wool flying, the gates swinging, and the utes running (mostly).

We’ve broken it down into the holy trinity of bush repairs: Zip Ties, Duct Tape, Bungee Cords, Number 8 Wire, and Everything Else That Wasn’t Nailed Down. We’re celebrating the ingenuity of rural legends everywhere who keep the show on the road with whatever's on hand — even if Mr and Mrs WorkSafe would have a coronary just looking at it.

🔨 Zip Ties: The New Number 8 Wire

Once just for bundling cords, now the backbone of farm infrastructure. Zip ties have held up exhausts, wool press doors together, Prattley gates together, dog box doors, and the dignity of many a bloke who forgot his belt.

Got a leak? Zip tie a rag around it. Fence busted? Whip out the long black ties. Shearer snapped the lace off their moccasin? Tie 'em up and get back on the board.

Just don’t ask how many are still holding up the boundary fence down the back paddock. That’s between us and the possums.

📍 Duct Tape: Holds the Nation Together

If duct tape was currency, most sheds would be worth millions. It’s patched holes in troughs, sealed up shed roofs, reattached rear vision mirrors, and even doubled as temporary insulation (don’t do that).

Duct tape fixes anything... for a while. Until it doesn’t. But that’s not the point.

Our favourite hack? A roll of duct tape around the gumboot when the sole starts flapping like a fish on deck. Or wrapping the handle of a handpiece mid-run because "she's a bit bitey but still humming."

WorkSafe Warning: Duct tape is not a replacement for PPE. But it sure looks like it sometimes.

🌬️ Bungee Cords: Because Straps Are For City People

No tie-downs? No problem. Chuck a bungee on it. Catching Pen door not swinging back? Bungee. Tucker box lid broken? Bungee. Shed door blowing open in a nor'wester? Bungee the bastard to the nearest post and move on.

Yes, they snap. Yes, they ping you in the eye. But until they do, they’re doing God’s work.

Top tip: Colour doesn’t matter, but longer bungees make you look like you actually thought about it.

🛠️ Number 8 Wire: The OG Kiwi Fix

The stuff of legends. Fence line too short? Number 8. Gear linkage in the old tractor flopping about? Wire it. Exhaust fallen off the shearing van? That’s a wrap job, mate.

Number 8 wire once held up a water tank at a woolshed in Gisborne for 11 years. True story. Probably.

Side note: Mr WorkSafe had to lie down when he heard about that one.

⚖️ The "Miscellaneous" Department: AKA Everything Else

• Baling twine: Holds up pants, secures gates, replaces halters, and is now technically classified as a structural material in some sheds.

• Bale Clips: Hold up bungees, hang anything from them, hold pants together, and even double as a toothpick.

• Milk bottles: Funnels, dog bowls, oil containers, and sometimes even air filters (don’t try that one at home).

• Socks: Pipe insulation. Tap seal. Or just bung one in the muffler to "quiet it down a bit".

• Stubbies & singlets: Field dressings for machinery and people alike.

  
  

The magic lies not in the materials, but in the mindset: Don’t stop. Just sort it.

📋🧑‍💼A Gentle Ribbing for Mr & Mrs WorkSafe

Look, we get it. Safety matters. But let’s be honest — if you showed up to half the sheds in this country with a clipboard and a high-vis, you’d faint before you got in the door.

Yes, there’s value in doing things properly. But there’s also a reality to the farm: sometimes, you just need to get it going again long enough to finish the run. And then you forget to fix it because, well, another job came up. And then it becomes tradition.

But seriously, don’t run bare wires across puddles. Even the dog knows better.

⚠️ The Serious Side: Don’t Be a Bloody Idiot

Now before someone gets too carried away with the duct tape and zip ties — here’s the line in the sand: if it’s a serious risk to someone’s life, health or livelihood, it’s time to knock off and sort it proper.

We’re talking:

• A gaping hole in the grating floor where someone could drop through.

• A machine with live wires hanging out like it’s auditioning for a fireworks show.

• Equipment so rooted it could jam, snap or crush someone in a heartbeat.

No job, no fleece, and no tally is worth someone going home busted up or not going home at all.

Quick fixes are great — until they’re not. And when they cross the line into proper dangerous, it’s not bush fixing anymore, it’s just plain reckless.

Patch it, tape it, wire it — but use your bloody head.

Wrap-Up: Fix it, Patch it, Keep Grafting

This is a love letter to the rural fixers. The ones who don’t wait for the mechanic or the builder. The ones who stare at the problem, scratch their head, grab a cable tie, 2 bugle screws, a rattle gun, and go, “Yeah... that’ll hold.”

You’re the reason the wool keeps moving, the sheep keep appearing in the count out pens, and the van makes it one more trip to the quarters.

So, cheers to you, you bush mechanic legends. You’re the duct tape holding the country together. Literally.

Bonus Bit:

Got a photo of a next-level bush fix? Flick it to us on Facebook or tag @TheSharingShedNZ. The best (or worst) will get featured, and maybe even earn a spot in the unofficial Museum of Kiwi Shed Ingenuity.

Need a hand or a laugh? Visit www.thesharingshed.blog — it’s your shed too.