KEY POINTS:
A British backpacker plunged to her death when she lost control of a quadbike yesterday during a tour group visit to Waitomo.
She was named as Sarah Katie Bond, 24, from Essex.
The woman was part of a Kiwi Experience group taking in the sights and sounds of Waitomo and its nearby caves.
Bond died after losing control of the vehicle she had hired from the Waitomo Big Red quadbike company, tumbling 50 metres down a steep bank.
The company declined to comment last night.
The death has already been referred to the coroner and the Department of Labour and police are investigating.
Waikato police were also working with Interpol to inform Bond's family of the tragedy.
Shocked members of the 17-strong tour group were last night being counselled by police and Victim Support staff at the KiwiPacker hostel in Waitomo, where Bond was staying before the accident.
Backpackers were too upset to talk about the tragedy.
Police understand Bond was travelling in New Zealand alone and planned to be here until November 28.
She had signed up for a tour of Waitomo Caves with the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company yesterday morning, before deciding on a quadbike tour through the Waikato countryside about 10am.
The tragedy unfolded about 2km from Te Anga and a short distance from the car park of Waitomo Big Red, run by father-and-daughter team Bill and Sarah Johnston for more than 10 years.
Aerial photographs show how the quadbike Bond was driving, one of five in the group, left the narrow rutted trail and tumbled down the side of the steep bank.
The company's website said riders were given protective clothing, boots, helmet and 4X4 driving instructions.
Visual demonstrations and "hands-on" training for the powerful 300cc quadbikes were followed by a practice run before the tour group rode through farmland and bush.
"Navigating rutted tracks in and out of valleys will be part of your challenge. You will be driving your quadbike among the famous Waitomo landscape of rocky outcrops and through huge natural limestone tunnels," the website said.
Management at the KiwiPacker lodge referred inquiries to Sue Sullivan, operations manager for Kiwi Experience - the "hop-on, hop-off" bus service popular with backpackers.
Sullivan said Kiwi Experience was looking after the group of 17 international visitors, who were shaken but "bearing up" after the accident.
Some of the 17 would have visited the caves in the morning with the rafting company, which is owned by the same parent company as Kiwi Experience, but Sullivan was not sure how many went on the bike tour.
Dr Dave Moore, who has carried out extensive research on quadbikes, including making recommendations to ACC and the Labour Department, said research into their use in tourism was "well overdue".
Moore described the vehicles as "a different animal" from other offroad bikes. "For young people in a tourism setting, for a lot of them it may be the first time they have been on a quadbike. That might take people by surprise and that might be quite telling.
"I suspect there is a huge variation between the types of machines and terrain and where they let you go and what they let you do."
Quads were heavy and were more likely to tip rather than slide. "You can't learn by trial and error."
ACC payouts for quadbike accidents have doubled in the past five years to $8.3 million last year.
There were 358 quadbike accidents - including 10 deaths - in the 2006 to 2007 financial year.
