Walking stick in hand, it was probably the fastest the Invercargill 77-year-old had moved in recent years, dodging cruise ship tourists as she aimed for 78-year-old Canadian Lana Rodlie.
When the two finally achieved their rendezvous yesterday, they hugged for a long and meaningful moment.
After all, it was the first time they had ever met face to face.
But the moment nearly did not happen.
The duo arranged to meet after Mrs Rodlie said she was coming over from British Columbia to go on a cruise around New Zealand, and her vessel, Celebrity Edge, was stopping in Dunedin for a day.
At first, there was extreme excitement, but then three weeks ago, Mrs Kennedy’s transport plans fell over and she messaged Mrs Rodlie to say she was unable to make their long-awaited meeting.
"I haven’t got the confidence to come up here by myself."
Mrs Rodlie said her disappointment was palpable.
"I thought, ‘oh gee, well OK. I guess I’m not going to get to meet her’.
"And then ... Lynn wrote me and said her son would take her, so I was all excited again."
The rest is history.
Mrs Kennedy said she came across Mrs Rodlie’s address in a magazine or newspaper pen pal column and decided to send a letter because she was "a housewife" with four children, and needed "another outlet".
"I needed someone else to talk to.
She said in the early days, all of their conversations were on paper, with details about their children growing up and events in their lives.
Mrs Rodlie said she put her name in a pen pal column because she had always had an interest in people from other parts of the world, what they were like and how they lived.
"I had about 50 pen pals, including the guy I married.
"I had pen pals in Japan, South Africa, Australia, India, everywhere.
"I didn’t think I would ever get to travel anywhere in the world.
"I was very interested in foreign lands and foreign people, so I just started writing to people."
She said she connected with Mrs Kennedy because they were about the same age, they both had four children and it was interesting to hear about the life and challenges of someone else on the other side of the world.
Surprisingly, with the advent of email, rather than communicating more often, the duo usually only messaged each other at Christmas and on their birthdays.
After meeting for the first time yesterday, Mrs Rodlie said she was filled with "a really nice warm feeling", but was also sad the two only got to spend a couple of hours together before she had to get back on the cruise ship.
"I don’t think I’ll ever get back here again and I don’t think she’ll [Mrs Kennedy] ever get to Canada.
"We’ll make the most of this, and maybe we’ll be able to stay in touch by phone.
"I think it’ll be a lot easier to stay in touch that way."
