A German tourist ended up perched on a cliff face near Cape Kidnappers, Hawke's Bay, for nearly two hours today after a bird-spotting trip went wrong.
The man took a wrong turn while trying to find the nearby Gannett colony, a popular tourist attraction, and ended up sliding about 20m down the cliff face before coming to a stop on a narrow perch about 100m above the beach.
The man used his mobile phone to call emergency services but had to wait nearly two hours in strong wind and rain before his rescue.
Fire crews abandoned their attempts to abseil down to the man, who was instead winched up by rescue helicopter about 1.40pm
Police were investigating how the man came to be on top of the cliffs, as access to the Gannett colony was via the beach.
