Wellington  - An Australian woman who had never hiked in the bush before spent nine days living on muesli bars and breakfast cereal in a remote hut after realising she should never have attempted to walk a track in New Zealand's mountainous South Island, news reports said on Wednesday.

The woman, from Adelaide and reportedly in her 20s, abandoned her solo walk when she realised she did not have the skills or level of fitness to finish it, Phillip Melchior, chairman of the national search and rescue organisation, told Radio New Zealand.

He said she was ill-prepared for the hike, knew nothing about the track and had broken a cardinal rule of tramping in the bush by going alone and not telling anyone her plans.

She was found Tuesday by another hiker who raised the alarm and a rescue helicopter lifted her to safety.

Melchior said it was frustrating to spend money and volunteers' time rescuing people who had done little to keep themselves safe. (dpa)