MasterChef judge Michael 'MOVING TO NZ WAS LIFE-CHANGING'

His culinary dream came true after tragedy

- Rebekah Hebenton

When US-born W MasterChef NZ judge Michael Dearth set foot on New Zealand soil as a 22-year-old, he was smitten.

"That turangawaewae, that sense of New Zealand calling me happened. I fell in love," Michael tells the Weekly.

Now, 30 years later, the 52-year-old has built the life he dreamed of all those years ago, raising his family in Aotearoa and opening two of New Zealand's most celebrated restaurants along with his wife Annette.

Though they can bask in their success now, Michael and Annette's journey to culinary success has been a bumpy ride.

Michael met Annette, 52, while working at a restaurant in San Francisco and when things started to turn serious, Michael told her of his desire to move down under and open his own restaurant. After she saw the beauty of our country for herself, she took a leap of faith and decided to join him.

They married in the Cook Islands, and in 2003 they packed up their lives and moved across the world to start their new adventure.

"When we first moved here, I was like, 'Oh, my God, what have we done?" recalls Annette. "Even though I was totally along for the ride, I found it hard. We'd left everyone behind."

They spent the next 18 months searching for the right location, the best chefs, and scraping together every dollar they could find to open the fine-dining restaurant they so wanted.