Cunliffe said Mini was a 5th birthday present for daughter Emily Hudson when they lived in a Whangārei house.
"Mini is 7 and she's lived on the boat for the last three-and-a-half years."
Mini the boat cat lives aboard the catamaran Catknapp in the Whangarei Town Basin. Photo / John Stone
Cunliffe said she always had a dream to sail a catamaran. So three-and-a-half years ago, she and partner Tristram Cheer bought one and the three of them, with their cat and two dogs, moved on to the boat while moored in the Town Basin.
"It's worked in our favour, it's cheap, central living."
She admitted the couple didn't know a thing about sailing but they have learned along the way, with Cunliffe completing some qualifications.
The dogs - miniature long-haired dachshunds, or sausage dogs, called Lily and Twiglet -are 6 years old and "soul mates".
In July the family moved their 11.5m catamaran, named Catknapp, from the piles it was moored to near the Town Basin Marina, closer to the Canopy Bridge.
"Now that we're here [Mini's] on and off the boat."
That means leaping on to the small jetty and straight along it into the path of potential pat-givers.
Mini the boat cat. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Cunliffe said she has had to pick Mini up from the SPCA once. She assumes someone thought the friendly puss was lost and handed her in.
"Now we've got the poster up, the collar on and a tag that says 'I live on a boat'."
The poster, on a pole at the end of the jetty, encourages people to tag Mini in their instagram posts. She has her own page, called mini_meowington.
"I see so many people with their phones taking photos, I want to see them too."
Cunliffe said Mini also loves walks and will follow along on the dogs' walks and on trips to the laundry block on Riverside Drive.
While there have been no overseas trips for Lily, Twiglet or Mini yet, the trio have sailed up and down the Northland coast and their family would like to go up to the Pacific Islands one day.
