A photo of a cat in a clear bag has gone viral and a woman is still scratching her head about the strange encounter.
Alanna Campbell did a double take on her Monday afternoon hike up Mauao when she saw a cat in a clear backpack.
"I was quite shocked ... I looked again and I thought 'oh my gosh there's a cat in that bag'," Campbell said.
While the cat appeared to be "very happy", Campbell said it was not something she would use for her feline friend.
"Each to their own."
Campbell did not ask the woman about it or talk to others about it until she got home.
When she returned home she asked her mother to guess what she had seen up the Mount to which her mother guessed a woman walking in heels.
And as a matter of fact, she did see a different person walking down in high heels, but that was not the news she was eager to tell.
Catherine, Campbell's mother, posted the photos on to Mount Maunganui Notice Board 20+ Facebook group.
"What the hell? Who takes a cat up the mountain? You're not even allowed dogs up there," she said.
"It's ridiculous," she laughed.
Dogs are not allowed on the popular track.
The backpack may not be common but "In a Nutshell" pet carrier capsules can be bought. They are described as being fashionable and designed with comfort in mind.
They come In a range of colours, are dirt resistant, with breathing holes on the front and side, and a "comfortable strap".
Meanwhile, in another case of cats turning up in unusual places, yesterday a cat attended part of a Tauranga City Council meeting.
The moggy belonged to drug addiction worker Darryl Wesley, who presented to the meeting about his opposition to legalising cannabis.
Police reveal the identity of Tauranga pedestrian fatality injured in Pyes Pa crash.