Before their 70th wedding anniversary celebrations on Saturday, Colleen and George Reid, in their usual spirited banter, recount fleeing Dunedin against the wishes of her father.
It was 1947.
Then Colleen Rowe, the 16-year-old had been dating her 23-year-old boyfriend George Reid for a few months.
She was staying with Mr Reid’s family in Pine Hill because it was "not a happy home" with her widowed father and his new wife.
After a couple of months her father demanded she return, saying she was too young for the relationship.
"I didn’t want to go home, I was happy out there."
Instead they packed their suitcases.
They bought train tickets, boarded the express to Christchurch, and started a life together.
There was not a word of this to their parents before they left, she said.
"We sent a telegram back to tell the folks we were OK."
The couple met earlier that year when Mrs Reid began working at Princes St milk bar Beau Monde.
Mr Reid also worked there part-time.
He described the first time he saw her as a "bolt of lightning".
"I thought, ‘would you see the girl behind the counter’."
For her, however, the dating game was very new.
"I hadn’t had a boyfriend before, so when someone says they think you’re pretty good, he’s your boyfriend."
They began going to "the pictures" and listening to music together on jukeboxes at the back of their work.
Before she stayed with his family he would occasionally drop her at her South Dunedin home after a date, before walking back to Pine Hill on the other side of the city.
Half of their colleagues came to the station to wave off the couple as they snuck away.
In Christchurch, they both got jobs cleaning and dishwashing at Christ’s College.
Mrs Reid’s father eventually did allow the two to wed.
They went down to the Christchurch court registry on September 29, 1948, got married, and went back to work.
Eventually they returned to Dunedin and in the early 1950s put a £50 deposit on a £450 house in Mornington.
They had their four daughters within six years.
Mr Reid had "100 different jobs" throughout his life and Mrs Reid worked in several hospitality roles.
Seventy years later they still playfully squabbled, which Mrs Reid insisted was "not arguing, just banter".
They have 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
Daughter Robyn Parker said they made a great team.
"He will cook, she will do the garden. He will drive, she’ll tell him where to go.
"We’re very lucky, they truly are wonderful people."
At their anniversary on Saturday, Mr Reid coaxed his wife into openly admitting her feelings.
"Of course I love you," she said, "but I’m not putting that in the paper".
