Keith Nicholson and Heather Reeve were greeted by calls of "is there an invasion?" when they motored up the Hatea River for a look at the Whangarei Town Basin in Paea, a former wartime Navy vessel.
It was late on the last working day before Christmas and the calls came from mellow workers having a drink beside the river before closing for the holidays.
The drinkers weren't to know that any take-over was the other way round, with Whangarei grabbing Keith and Heather, who say they can't wait to drop anchor here.
Paea is the very last of New Zealand's small fleet of harbour defence motor launches (HDMLs) in original condition, complete with battleship grey paint. HDMLs were made in the United States and used worldwide for harbour defence work.
The Royal New Zealand Navy sold its fleet into private ownership in the 1980s. Keith and Heather, the fourth private owners, bought Paea in Picton in 2008 from a vendor who turned down higher offers in their favour because he knew "we were going to leave her traditional and not turn her into a gin palace," says Heather. They brought her to Auckland up the east coast in just six days and used her extensively for a couple of years making the most of the vessel's sturdiness by going out in all weathers and all seasons.
Then they had to face the fact that the fun had to stop for a while until repairs and maintenance were completed.
That was just the start of their problems. "The Auckland yards said she was either too big or too heavy or the quotes were too high," says Heather.
A chance meeting with Murray Wilkinson of Norsand Boatyard in Whangarei at his stand at the 2011 Auckland Boat Show solved everything. He saw no problem with any aspect of their requirements and sure enough suddenly everything became very easy, says Heather, including a smooth as silk haul-out just before Christmas.
They lived on board while working on Paea with yard boat-builder Daniel Kelly.
Heather also managed to continue her administration and transcript business from her own on-board office.
She says they couldn't believe their luck with the boat-builder, who was not only a traditional craftsman but had previously worked on the vessel in the 1990s when she was based at Wanganui.
Paea's history includes two on-board births - the navy occasionally transported pregnant women across from Waiheke in a hurry - and three encounters with rocks, at Stewart Is, Great Barrier Is and Islington Bay on Rangitoto Is. No serious damage was done. Like the other HDMLs she was extensively used to train members of the volunteer reserve. Her current owners take veterans' group the Ngapona Old Salts (Ngapona was the base for volunteer reservists) out for an excursion on Paea once a year.
Keith has had three previous old wooden motor boats but you can tell that along with Whangarei, Paea wins any contest hands down.