A kayaker who spent three hours trapped on a car-sized rock in the middle of Motu River overnight ended up in a spa-pool enjoying a coffee with his rescuers.

The man and his kayaking companion, believed to be aged in their early 30s, were making their way down the Motu River in the Eastern Bay of Plenty when they got into trouble about 5pm Friday.

Rescuers feed rope to a kayaker trapped on a rock in the middle of the Motu River.

The kayaker is taken to the waiting Taupo-based Greenlea rescue helicopter.

A personal locator beacon was activated and picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre, which put a call in to the Taupo-based Greenlea Rescue Helicopter to retrieve the pair.

Rescue pilot Nat Every says the two men came across some fast-flowing rapids in the upper reaches of the Motu.

'While trying to negotiate this particularly difficult section of the river on foot, one of the men slipped on the rocks and fell into the water.

'He was able to perch himself on a rock in the middle of the river, but was unable to reach the river bank on either side.

'During the course of the incident they managed to lose both of their kayaks and most of their belongings.”

The rescue helicopter received the call about 6pm and made its way past the Ureweras to Opotiki before deciding to off-load some equipment in the front paddock of a family's property at the mouth of the Motu.

'We decided to offload anything we didn't need so we went back to the coast and parked up on someone's front lawn and they came on out and were extremely hospitable.”

Using the coordinates provided by the RCC, Nat says the helicopter crew travelled down the river using a strobe light to spot the two.

'The two men were in a narrow section of the river with the hills on either side rising steeply to over 2000 foot.”

'One man was clearly visible stranded on a rock in the middle of the swiftly flowing series of rapids.

'The rocks were car-sized rocks, it was one of the most inhospitable river-beds I have seen in a long time.”

Due to the nature of the river the helicopter was forced to hover for about 10 minutes before finding a place to land.

'We got in there and had the lights on shining them at the guys trapped, but we couldn't put the helicopter on the ground. So we got the two LANDSAR people onto the ground.

'We only have a limited amount of gas, so we tried to find a place to land. We found a patch of sand and squeezed the tail between the rocks.”

Nat then made his way down the river to the rescue site in what he describes as cold conditions.

'As soon as the rocks got wet it was like walking on ice. I was sliding across the rocks and it was cold and slippery.”

After around three hours trapped on the rock in the middle of the river, the LandSAR team were able to set a rope anchor and pull the man to safety, says Nat.

The men were transported by helicopter back to the nearby resident's property where they were medically assessed.

Nat says neither was injured, although they were both a bit chilly, so the family offered them a spa.

'They [the family] said ‘best place to warm up is in the spa pool don't you think?'

'So by the time we left the pair were in the spa pool waiting for their contact enjoying cups of coffee.

'It's probably about as far removed as you could get from where they were.”

The person locator beacon that was activated helping the rescue centre to find the pair.