From around 1965, Mahy lived at Governors Bay on the Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand.[1] She was a solo mother and raised two daughters there.[14] At age 62, Mahy had her right shoulder tattooed with the picture of a skull with a rose in its teeth.[15] She was writing about a person being tattooed and considered the tattoo research to enable her to describe the experience convincingly.[16]