The Auckland environment was going to be a challenge.
"I want to help women believe in their bodies and know they can do it," she added.
"Kaitaia maternity has a fantastic rate of normal births for the women that we look after. To date this year 84 per cent of our women have birthed normally. This is a very impressive rate in comparison with most maternity facilities in New Zealand. These statistics are only possible because of the combination of the positive and determined approach to normal birth by women of the Far North alongside the expertise and close interaction of the midwives in this area ... I want to protect natural birth and women's rights.
"Our role is much more than pregnancy, birth and after labour - it intertwines with the woman's belief system, culture and cognitive learning. It's a big area."
Sue is a member of the NZ College of midwives, which requires re-certification every three years and a review before a panel every two years.
"This is not a nine-to-five job; it's not a job at all," she added.
"It is a lifestyle career that merges the daily life of a midwife with families and her own busy home life with being a dedicated professional who takes the lives of her clients seriously, giving individualised care to suit the specific needs and choices of each woman in a partnership framework."
One of a family of "home-birthers", with three sisters, Sue is a strong advocate of both drug-free and water-birthing.
"Drugs pass through the placenta to the baby; any intervention is unnatural," she said.
"Babies are amazing little creatures. It's all designed to go the way it does. Nature is incredible, it's just people doubt it.
"I have never had a woman have a water birth and say they didn't like it. The relaxation and weightlessness are huge positives, and I rarely need to use any drugs with water," she added.
There had been some big changes in Kaitaia over the past 12 years, she added.
"When I came here in 2000, if you wanted elective surgery you could get it. At the end of 2000 Kaitaia stopped performing caesareans. There was lots of protesting and marches at the time. So after that all women had to go to Whangarei. We used to have six to eight post-natal beds; that dropped to three. It dropped our birthing numbers too," she said.
Working in the Far North had presented other difficulties at times, thanks to geography and weather. She once delivered twins, normally transferred to Whangarei, at Kaitaia Hospital because of severe flooding and the fact that the helicopter couldn't get through.
"That was a very special moment for me. There are not many midwives who can claim to have done that," she said.
The unexpected delivery of a "bouncing big baby boy that came breech" was another highlight.
"There are a lot of midwives based in cities who haven't had those experiences. It is quite empowering as a midwife to go through that," she added.
"Those are the things that Northland allows us to do, because of the remoteness. We are one of the two most remote hospitals in New Zealand. Far North midwives have developed skills not used by midwives in urban hospitals because we do not have the resources and specialist practitioners immediately at hand."
Mangonui mother Casey Wilton had nothing but praise for Sue as her midwife.
"I still can't really explain how to describe her," she said. "She gives you a sense of confidence and calming. She is a very knowledgeable, professional lady who is so caring and down to earth. She will be a huge loss to the community."
The one thing that hasn't happened - yet - is that her name has been given to one of "her" babies. But there's still time for that.
