A woman who felt harassed when road workers whistled at her stripped naked in response, police said.

Workmen in the small northern farming town of Kerikeri, New Zealand, were repairing the main street when the young woman, an Israeli tourist, took offence at their attention.

She calmly stripped bare to use an ATM - bringing an abrupt halt to both the whistles and the road work - then put her clothes back on and walked away.

Sgt. Peter Masters said the woman told police she didn't take kindly to the men's wolf-whistles.

"She said she had thought '... I'll show them what I've got,' " as the men whistled at her, he said.

"She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive-looking lady," he said.

Police treated the incident "as a one-off."

"She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate (behaviour) in New Zealand," he added.

The woman was due to leave New Zealand later today.