On November 10 she will take up the position of manager at Tauranga's Baycourt Community and Arts Centre.
''I love Oamaru. It's a great small town, with so much potential, and I am sad to leave,'' she said.
The main reason for returning to the North Island was family.
''This job offer came up. I was shoulder-tapped, and I couldn't refuse the opportunity to go to a bigger city and be closer to family,'' she said.
She officially finishes at the opera house on October 24, but will continue to work in the venue, directing Ladies for Hire, Musical Theatre Oamaru's 2014 theatre restaurant production.
''I love directing, especially when you get in a room with passionate people ... people who are really open to learning,'' she said.
''The pleasure in directing a play like [Ladies for Hire] is in knowing that if you find the right actors that are brave enough to embrace the characters and become one with them then the story just falls into place. I am very lucky to have found such a cast.''
It was the role of director at the ''beautiful'' Oamaru Opera House that brought her here in May 2012.
The Oamaru Opera House, officially opened on October 7, 1907, remains largely in its original condition, having been restored in 2010.
Its refurbishment had been a huge drawcard for touring acts, she said.
''It's really made people sit up and see what's on offer at the Opera House. Without that refurbishment we wouldn't have quarter of the shows,'' she said.
''The challenge is just the [small] population [of Oamaru] and getting people to come to shows more often.''
Hosting Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's only New Zealand concert in 2013 was a highlight of her two and a-half years at the opera house.
''It really helped put the opera house on the touring circuit - nationally and internationally,'' she said.
''It was a lot of work, a real team effort and a very successful outcome.''
She was proud to have introduced a seasonal brochure highlighting the diversity of productions staged at the venue and of having helped create a South Island circuit of venues for touring shows and Oamaru was ''very much'' a part of that.
''What I've tried to achieve is to try and make the opera house more accessible to everybody.''
