However, to her slight dismay, his was one of the first faces she spotted as she was rescued from the dense Mt Cargill bush.
The woman told the Otago Daily Times she became stranded after she reached the Organ Pipes and continued to walk, believing there was still track left.
"So I thought, ‘OK, where to from here?’ Because it’s like a dead end."
She then walked to the top of the Organ Pipes and followed an apparent track, but found herself confused when it ran out.
"Suddenly I was in the middle of the bush surrounded by prickly bush lawyer ... I just thought ‘Bugger this’, and called 111," she said.
Next thing she knew, her brother-in-law, an emergency responder, was calling her asking "Where are you?".
"I told him ‘Oh, you know just standing in the middle of the bush somewhere’."
Despite her brother-in-law trying to direct her out, the woman became stuck on a ledge about 8m from the road with a path forward too steep to climb.
When the Willowbank firefighters arrived, they hoisted a long ladder from the road and helped her off the ledge.
Uninjured and quite muddy, the woman said it was a good reminder for experienced walkers that when lost, stay put and contact emergency services.
While clambering down the ladder with the help of firefighters, her brother-in-law was standing dutifully at the bottom snapping a montage of photos.
"He’s going to show the entire family those pictures now," she said.
Her brother-in-law said he "certainly would".
"All in all, she did the right thing in that situation," he said.
