A detailed record of alkenone-derived sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) offshore western New Zealand has been generated for the penultimate deglaciation and last interglacial. SSTs were 3.5 to 4.5¿C warmer than present, peaking 4.5 thousand years ahead of ice volume minima. The short duration of Marine Isotopic Stage 5e off New Zealand exhibits a striking parallelism to the record of air temperatures at Vostok, Antarctica. Changes in latitudinal SST gradients for the Southwest Pacific from New Zealand to the equator are also assessed, showing values consistently lower than today. In this region, this situation usually occurs during periods with positive values of the Southern Oscillation Index and thus La Ni¿a conditions. By inference, we suggest that our assessed low thermal gradients might be indicative of a prevalence of either persistent or more frequent La Ni¿a like conditions, particularly during early Stage 5e.