Trampers personally thank rescue team

The rescued trampers thanked Bill McNeilly and the rest of the team personally. Photo / Supplied

Five trampers who were rescued from a ravine drove more than 120km to hand-deliver a basket of baked goods to the chopper team who pulled them out.

The women were hiking in the bush near Te Kuiti when they became lost as darkness fell on June 1.

They activated a rescue beacon and were airlifted out of the area about an hour later by the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter team.

One of the trampers, Lee Mackay, said the women had been in the bush for about six hours before coming to a fork in the path.

With darkness falling and the weather closing in, after trying a couple of the tracks the trampers decided to set off the beacon in an open clearing.

They had no cellphone reception and were delighted to see the helicopter fly overhead, she said.

"It's a pretty amazing thing really, it's so reassuring to know help is available like that. It would be very easy to have an accident and you're in an area that's difficult to get help," she said.

"You're aware that a lot of the time people like that, whose job it is to come to people's aid, do their job and they might get thanked at the time but we wanted to convey our thanks after the event. Plus, they had been such good sorts we thought we would go and surprise them."

Crew member Bill McNeilly had cheekily suggested a banana cake wouldn't go astray as the team dropped the women off in the carpark after the rescue.

But the group went above and beyond his suggestion - baking them a banana cake, chocolate cake, biscuits, muffins and peanut crunch.

They drove from Auckland to the Hamilton helicopter base on Sunday morning so they could rock up at the hangar with their treats.

Mr McNeilly said it was a complete surprise.

"Bugger me, yesterday morning they pulled up to the hangar there and rang the number and came in with the [baking]. It was unbelievably good.

"They were really, really appreciative of what we were doing but it's kind of just what we do really, eh," he said.

The team were called out on a job while the women were there - but there was another surprise in store when they returned.

The trampers had penned a poem on the whiteboard, starting "You came when we called, what a sight to behold" and finishing off "Too bad you had to bugger off and we were left to eat the cake".

"I've got to say we haven't had a poem, that was a new one," Mr McNeilly said.

"We've had cake, biscuits, beers but yeah the poem was the first one. I've got a bit of a reputation of requesting the odd baked-good. All the boys give me a hard time and say 'That's so embarrassing' but they're pretty quick to sit down and get into the cake."

The rescue team flew into the ravine area by night vision and originally thought they might have to winch the women out, but managed to land near where they had got lost.

Flying at night increased the risk but it was an easy journey - taking only about 12 minutes to do two trips getting the trampers out.

The Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter provides a 24-hour service and is based at the Jennian Hangar on Pembroke St in Hamilton.