Hundreds of family and friends gathered in Devonport to welcome home sailors returning from an extended tour-of-duty on the frigate HMNZS Te Kaha.
Te Kaha was on its way home in November from a four month deployment in South East Asia when Prime Minister Helen Clark ordered it to divert to the Middle East to support America's war on terror.
The extended mission took eight months.
The wife of the frigate's Lieutenant Commander Matthew Williams, Claire Williams, said it had been a difficult time, especially leading up to the war on Iraq.
The ship was serving as part of a Canadian-led force aiming to stop Al Qaeda movements by sea between Afghanistan and Pakistan and around the Middle East.
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