TO BE SHORE
IT’S 50 TRIPS TO FIJI, AND COUNTING, FOR PAT AND HARRY!
Pat and Harry’s Fiji love affair
After 56 years of marriage, Pat and Harry Tait are madly in love – however, it’s not just with each other!
As well as being visibly smitten, Pat (79) and Harry (82) also have a long-standing love affair with Fiji.
The retired couple have visited the idyllic South Pacific nation more than 55 times as tourists and say the real reason they keep going back is because it’s so easy.
“We prefer Fiji because it’s so quick. If we leave Auckland at 9.45am, we are on the beach at 1.30pm,” tells Harry.
“There’s no hassle and you don’t have to dodge crowds,” adds Pat.
Clearly, the weather is a huge advantage too, as Harry laments he’d finally had to trade in his shorts for long trousers to come and speak to the Weekly.
When they met 57 years ago, Harry was a physical trainer in the navy and Pat was a pay clerk with the air force.
Harry had served alongside Pat’s uncle and when he spotted her at Wigram Air Base in Christchurch he thought the surname sounded familiar.
The two hit it off, and soon after the pair married and had two children, Trevor and Kiri.
The couple say it’s that connection with the forces that first drew them to Fiji.
“I’d been there several times with the navy and she had visited once with the air force,” explains Harry. “We just really love the people.”
However, it’s their choice of accommodation that has since played a huge part in their decision to go back time and time again.
The pair first visited Tokoriki Island Resort in 1991, after a trip to another nearby resort left them disillusioned due to the large crowds and having to fight for a lounger on the beach.
At the time, Harry was running his own successful fitness centre and Pat was working six days a week at the post office − and both were in need of a well-deserved break.
“[Tokoriki] was so good, when
we went up there they left us on our own,” Harry tells.
In April this year, they visited the resort for an incredible
50th time and no expense was spared to mark the occasion.
“We went to get off the plane and the airport manager said, ‘No, you can’t get off – I want your passports’, and they pushed us right to the back of the queue and made us put on special outfits,” says Harry. “Then down at the baggage area there was a great big, four-foot wide screen with our photos on it and a band!”
“Everybody else stopped to see what was going on – it was quite hilarious,” chuckles Pat.
Harry’s much-longed for plans to be relaxing on the beach by 1.30pm that day didn’t exactly go to schedule. After that, he and Pat were welcomed onto the island resort with a special ceremony, where they were presented with a watercolour painting and a frame, carved to represent the milestone.
Despite all this fuss, the couple still managed to make their trip extremely relaxing. When asked what they got up to for the rest of their stay, Harry jests “as little as possible!” Although, it appears their definition of as little as possible may differ from others! Harry enjoys a daily kayak around the island, while Pat unpacks her suitcase full of wool to teach the ladies on the island how to crochet. “She’s treated like royalty,” laughs Harry.
Pat and Harry are no strangers to the resort going above and beyond for them, with another memorable trip on their 45th wedding anniversary.
“The assistant manager came up to us and said, ‘I want you in your bure at half past two,’ and when we got down we were dressed up, marched down to the library where they had set up a chapel, a priest and a photographer and they made us renew our vows,” says Harry.
Pat says she felt incredibly spoiled by the staff who helped them celebrate the special occasion, adding that she and Harry have marked every single wedding anniversary since 1991, and they’ve even held their daughter’s wedding in Fiji.
The down-to-earth pair admit they don’t expect special treatment every time they arrive at Tokoriki, though. They simply go to relax at their tropical home away from home.
“We go swimming every night and then we sit on the beach with a glass of wine and watch the sunset,” says Harry, looking at his beloved wife. “She’s good fun to be with.”