An Auckland woman has revealed she had an "uncomfortable" experience with a group of Irish tourists that have been causing havoc across the country.
The woman, who wants to only be known as Danielle, told Newshub she encountered the group of tourists while out at Takapuna beach on Sunday afternoon.
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She said she was sitting near the large group of children and drunken adults.
"The first thing we kind of noticed was one of the guys was on his phone talking really loud like 'you need to give me my f**king money' over and over.
"Everyone was kind of staring and one lady sitting down from us was like 'you've got to be kidding', it was just so blatant and loud he just didn't have any regard for anyone else."
- Do you have more information about the group? Contact news@newshub.co.nz.
But things got a bit awkward as Danielle was returning to the beach with a friend after leaving to get lunch.
"We were heading over the grass to where we were sitting and one of them came up behind me, I just felt someone walking really close behind me... then he was just like 'oh there's a bee in your hair'
"I just stopped then I think he touched the back of my hair as if trying to get the bee out and then he was like 'oh nah it was just a twig' and then kind of walked off."
Danielle said she was sure there wasn't anything in her hair, and believed in another setting she would have been nervous.
"If I was in Europe, say, and somebody like that came up to me and was like 'oh there's a bee in your hair' and was like that, I would kind of feel like... they kind of distract you to pickpocket you and stuff."
It wasn't the first time the family had a difficult encounter with locals that day. Krista Curnow confronted the group, who she believed to be from the Traveller community, after they left the beach littered with rubbish, but is now advising the public against interacting with them.
"The bigger thing for me was that they are dangerous, everyone in New Zealand [needs to know] please do not approach them," she said.
But Auckland Mayor Phil Goff praised her for the intervention on Twitter.
"Thank you for standing up for our beaches and public spaces. Some people need reminding," he wrote.
Danielle said she never felt unsafe during her encounter, but it wasn't a fun experience.
"When he came up right behind me, obviously there was heaps of people around and stuff so that didn't really feel unsafe.
"He just came up behind me, when he touched the back of my hair [it] was a bit like 'oh that's a bit uncomfortable', I wouldn't say I felt unsafe."
Newshub.
