Tourist car plunges from Paihia bluff to beach

The tourist's car ended up deep in sand on Ti Beach in Paihia. Photo / Supplied

A pair of English tourists will have quite a story to tell at home after their car fell more than 10m down a bluff and landed on a popular Paihia beach.

The accident occurred during rain about 5.45pm where Marsden Rd makes a tight corner around the bluff.

The Nissan Sunny slid off Marsden Rd just metres from the bluff crash barrier and fell down a steep bank on to Ti Beach.

The car rolled once before coming to rest upright and up to its axles in sand. Sergeant Phil Le Comte, of Kerikeri police, said the car had been heading towards Waitangi and rounded the bluff at a "very moderate speed" of about 30km/h.

"Then somehow they've gone over the bank and on to the beach," he said.

The two female occupants were taken to Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa with minor injuries and were discharged about 10pm that evening.

Neither speed nor alcohol were factors.

Mr Le Comte said he was pleased there were no serious injuries and thanked St John Ambulance and the Paihia Fire Brigade for their help. The car was winched back up the bluff by a tow truck in a tricky operation that briefly closed Marsden Rd about 8pm and drew a sizeable crowd of spectators.

The Englishwomen's car was not the only one to plunge down a bank in Northland in recent days.

On Saturday, an elderly Kaitaia couple suffered minor injuries after their car slid off State Highway 1 on the south side of Mangamuka Gorge, rolled down a 20m bank and came to rest on its roof on rocks just above the stream. Their lucky escape had emergency services urging them to head to a Lotto shop.

And on Friday, Paihia firefighters were called to a drama worthy of a Hollywood movie when a driveway manoeuvre left a car teetering on the edge of a 20m drop.

The driver called police about 4.40pm and said she had managed to stop the car using the handbrake, but was afraid to open the door and get out in case the shift in weight sent it plummeting over the edge.

Her partner managed to secure the car so it couldn't fall, while volunteers from the Paihia Fire Brigade winched it back on to the driveway.

Fire chief Rex Wilson said the car was perched on top of a steep bank with a drop of at least 20m to the road.

It was the second such incident on a School Rd driveway in the past two weeks, he said.

- APN