A 74-year-old woman who figured in a car accident was found trapped down a cliff, and the first words she said were: "How the hell did you find me?"

Shirley Loft accidentally put her car into reverse and fell nearly 300m down the steep bank on the Coromandel Peninsula on Thursday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Mrs Loft's car was wrecked, but she managed to protect her body and prevent a further slide when she wrapped each leg around a tree.

She later stayed between branches in thick scrub and wrapped herself with a cover from her golf bag to stay dry and warm. She even managed to reach into her car and get an old hat to help keep her head warm.

Mrs Loft's brother Des Patterson told Radio New Zealand Monday morning that she survived by eating leaves and berries.

Mrs Loft's neighbour Geoff Gillett went searching for her since she went missing after a morning drive on Thursday. He had been out with police working on their theories on where she might have gone, until he and his workmate Valance McLaughlin spotted her car bumper down the bank.

The men and Mr Gillett's son Callum, 16, hurried down and were surprised to hear Mrs Loft, who exclaimed, "How the bloody hell did you find me?"

"We were expecting to find a body so you can imagine our surprise when she heard us and she yelled out for help and it was like, 'Jesus, she's alive ... It's just unbelievable,'" Mr McLaughlin said.

The men said they found Mrs Loft's wine red Ford Taurus had crashed vertically, rear-first, into a gully and was "completely smashed up."

The Herald spoke to Auckland Westpac rescue helicopter advanced paramedic Chris Deacon, who said he joked about being scared of heights with Mrs Loft as they were winched up the cliff to safety.

"She looked a bit nervous," Deacon said, noting that Mrs Loft told him how she played a lot of sport when she was younger, so was quite fit and healthy for the helicopter lift. She was taken by ambulance to Thames Hospital after being winched up.

Mrs Loft had suffered just a few scrapes and bruises and was coherent but probably suffering from hypothermia when they got to her, according to Mr Gillett.

Her brother Des said on air that she will stay in the hospital for a few days but she is recovering well.