"She'd been climbing up this cliff, which is not a usual thing for a six-year-old to do, and she got stuck."
A firefighter climbed down to secure the girl and waited with her, Freeman said. A line rescue was set up by a crew 30m above her but a second crew then managed to get a ladder up from the beach and bring the girl down.
The cliff was "pretty much vertical" but the little girl didn't seem fazed by the height, Freeman said.
"She was very brave and very much in control but she was just stuck."
The girl's grandmother - who he believed was a Waiheke local - had also climbed up the cliff face but had been unable to reach her granddaughter, he said.