A paraglider found himself the centre of attention at the Mount on Friday night when he crashed his paraglider into one of the tallest Norfolk pines along Marine Parade.

Jude Murray was out walking with her sister Christine Murray and her dog Molly when they became aware of the commotion.

'There was flashing lights, the fire engine went past, then the ambulance went past, and a couple of police cars,” says Jude. 'We get down to the main beach and there was a guy who had got stuck in a tree. His chute was quite high up and he was just sitting there on one of the branches.

'The fire engine had its ladder up but they couldn't get close enough as there were a couple of cars parked where they needed to have the ladder. They pulled the ladder down, found the owners of the cars and shifted them out.'

The paraglider jumped off the Mount before 8pm and was attempting to land on the main beach around the time the sun was setting.

'It was getting on dark, about 8.15pm when we saw him,” says Jude. 'By the time they got the ladder up the second time it was getting quite dark. We left about then to go home.”

In December 2015, Chris Wright from Auckland escaped injury, apart from a bruised ego, after crashing his paraglider into a large Norfolk pine near the cenotaph.

Mauao is a popular local flying spot for paragliders who take off from the peak of the former volcanic cone. It is usually flown in northerlies and easterlies and is considered safe with plenty of landing space, however as an intermediate rated site (PG2), novice flyers usually begin by jumping off the sand dunes near Tay Street, to first get a feel for canopy control.

'It was a bit of action for Friday night, out walking the dog and the next minute this stuff going on,” says Jude. 'We walked down to see and it was some guy stuck in a tree. Poor guy, I'm sure he got a good cheer when he got down."