The man was able to be winched to safety during the very early hours of the morning. Photo: NZ POLICE / SUPPLIED
A man is lucky to be alive after falling down a Northland cliff face and spending more than five hours stranded while rescuers worked to find him.
Police said various agencies pulled together on Saturday night to help the 53-year-old man who called police at 9.42pm to say he had fallen near Butterfly Bay, north of Tauranga Bay.
Detective Sergeant Ryan Cooper from Northland Search and Rescue said cell phone coverage in the area was poor making it difficult to pinpoint the man's exact location.
As a result, there were long periods of time where police couldn't speak to the man.
"From the first phone call we believed the man had fallen approximately 100-150ft down the cliff face, making it a threat to life," Cooper said.
"A member of SAR managed to voice appeal the man using sound line techniques. This was very difficult to do as to be able to locate him our officer had to saddle the side of the cliff."
At the same time the Northern Emergency Services Trust sent a helicopter to the area but due to the steep terrain and strong winds the man couldn't be reached.
Cooper said once the man was found a ropes team was sent to the scene.
The man was winched to safety at 2.36am.
"He was extremely shaken up but miraculously hadn't suffered any injuries aside from a few scrapes and bruises."
The man was then able to be reunited with his son back at a nearby campground.
"It's times like these where our LandSAR teams combined skills lead to a successful rescue," Cooper said.
"This rescue presented challenges with the cell phone reception and weather being a factor, but we managed to rescue the man back to safety."
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