Neri Ma doesn't like being the centre of attention.
Yesterday afternoon he had no choice.
At Novotel Queenstown Lakeside, staff gathered to pay tribute to Mr Ma, who retired after 14 years' service - his departure coinciding with his 82nd birthday.
Hotel manager Jim Moore described Mr Ma as "an inspiration''.
"It's all about positivity - coming in and doing a hard day's work - no-one could convince me ... that Neri slacks around because he's a little bit older; he always puts in 110%.
"He climbed Ben Lomond [earlier this month]; two years ago he rode a bike to Glenorchy and back.
"In this industry ... to have somebody get to retirement for a start [is unusual], but then to go through to 82.
"He's huge.''
Mr Ma said he had been living in Invercargill where he had been a taxi driver and had worked at the Tiwai smelter when he decided to visit Queenstown.
He'd heard about the Novotel, popped in to have a look and liked what he saw.
"And I applied for a job.''
His application was successful and Mr Ma was taken on as a cleaner - a job he didn't particularly enjoy but one he persevered with until he was offered a position as a houseman, a role he held until yesterday.
"For me, if it's part of the hotel it's part of my job.
"Sometimes I do a job that I wasn't told to do [but] I don't wait [to be told]; I just want to be a step ahead.''
To ensure he was physically able to do his job, he regularly visited the gym and ran or walked about 5.5km to work every fine morning.
He recently climbed Ben Lomond with a colleague and had climbed Queenstown Hill and walked the Routeburn Track.
While he would have liked to have done the Milford Track, he said it was "just too tough''.
Keeping fit had helped him to continue working for so long, he said.‘‘People say I'm silly, but that's their prerogative.
"I go to the gym because of my job - I don't do it for nothing; it's so I can do my job fully.''
When asked why he had kept working long after many others would have retired, Mr Ma gestured around the room at the colleagues who had become close friends and people he considered family over the years.
"It's the people and the management.
"When an ordinary person like me to get a presentation like this, it's just unbelievable.
"It's a wonderful place to work ... they're all fabulous.''
Mr Ma had planned to begin his retirement with a holiday in the United States but the near record-breaking snowfall there had forced him to cancel the trip.
Instead, he intended to return to Invercargill where he had plenty of plans to keep him busy over the next couple of years.
He said he would also find time to visit Queenstown and his Novotel family.
