KEY POINTS:
The tourism company which ran the quad bike tour in which an English tourist died after plunging up to 30m down a steep bank has suspended its operations.
Police said the Department of Labour was investigating the death and police were arranging for the body of Sarah Bond
to be returned to the United Kingdom.
The 24 year-old from Essex in England suffered life threatening injuries when her quad-bike landed on top of her. She died at the scene at Te Anga, near the Waitomo Caves on Saturday.
Miss Bond's body will be flown back to the UK and escorted by an Auckland based representative of the Jewish community.
Her family has described Miss Bond as "one of life's enthusiasts", who should have been travelling around New Zealand and Australia for the next 10 months.
It took emergency services almost four hours to retrieve her body because of the difficult terrain.
"Unfortunately, when we arrived on the scene there was nothing we could do," an ambulance spokesman said.
Miss Bond was travelling alone but joined a group of travellers for the biking adventure, run by the Waitomo Big Red quad bike company.
Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported her quadbike was one of a group of five making their way along a narrow, rutted trail above a steep bank when the accident occurred.
The company has refused to make any comment.
"Sarah was one of life's great enthusiasts. She was so excited about this trip, she was so full of life," her mother, Elizabeth, told the Daily Mail.
Mrs Bond said her daughter had two jobs and had saved for more than a year to fund her trip.
"We don't regret her going, but obviously we regret that this accident happened, just two weeks into her trip," her father Jack said.
Sarah, second of three daughters, had obtained working visas for New Zealand and Australia and was due to leave New Zealand to fly on to Sydney at the end of November.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Ms Bond regarded her holiday to New Zealand as the trip of a lifetime. The paper reported that she worked two jobs - at a bank by day and as a barmaid by night - to save for the trip.
A neighbour of the Bonds from Ilford, Joyce Medley, said she had known Ms Bond since she was a baby.
"Obviously we are all devastated. It was only 10 days ago that she held a leaving party before flying out to New Zealand," Ms Medley said.
Miss Bond's death has been referred to the coroner.
The police serious crash unit and the Department of Labour are investigating the accident.
- NZPA and NZHERALD STAFF