West / Temuka, NZ being encounter — July 12, 1981

Ken Thew, his wife and their three daughters reported a prolonged sighting while returning from Pleasant Point to Temuka on 12 July 1981. A contemporary Star clipping says their six-year-old daughter first called attention to the object. The family initially considered reflected light because rain had fallen earlier, but opening the car window convinced them that they were watching a solid form. Thew estimated a football-shaped object about ten metres long and five metres high, with an iridescent-green upper half and reddish-gold lower section. Square-looking windows emitted strong light. Something resembling a figure eight appeared at one window; later catalogues interpret this as a heavyset occupant. The object reportedly approached within roughly 120 metres and tracked the car for twelve kilometres. His wife, who was driving, accelerated despite his wish to stop. At home Thew wrote a report and asked the children to draw what they had seen. He later drove out again and saw the object over the sea. On returning, he said it passed above the house and departed east toward Milford Huts. A later case reconstruction describes a fan-shaped golden-red tail visible while the object moved. The original newspaper clipping survives in a New Zealand Defence file alongside private correspondence. Inclusion in that file does not mean the Air Force verified an occupant. The ambiguous window shape supplies no face or alien anatomy. Later claims about a visiting investigator are separate from the family's July observation.