Waimate woman Eileen Fake has always been an adventurer.
A keen mountain climber, walker and traveller in her youth in England, she sailed around the world to New Zealand to work for a year as a teacher and met the man she was to marry.
She is taking turning 100 in her stride, living in her own home, playing bridge, embroidering and enjoying a generous glass of Baileys.
She continued to drive until recently, but has decided to hand in her licence, rather than have to again go through the process to keep it.
Born in Chesterfield, England, Mrs Fake was an only child, and always liked to be outdoors, walking and climbing.
In 1953, when New Zealander Edmund Hillary climbed Mt Everest, she climbed her highest mountain in Switzerland.
‘‘It wasn’t the most common pastime for a young woman, but I’d always liked the outdoors.’’
As a child, she watched the silver jubilee of George V and Queen Mary, and the coronation of George VI, and later, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, on a 9-inch television set.
During the war years, she was in a reserved occupation, working as a wages clerk for the Post Office, so thoughts of joining the Wrens — with their appealingly-shaped hat — had to be put to one side.
Her first holiday after the war was an 18-day trip to Norway — despite the rules only allowing two weeks’ leave at a time.
She got away with it, but got a telling off.
‘‘I thought, this is no good, I need a job with more holidays!’’
There was a push at the time to train up more teachers, condensing the training to 13 months, so she decided to apply.
‘‘So it wasn’t really for the love of the job, but rather for the love of the holidays.’’
Teaching — and the holidays — opened the door to adventure — riding a scooter around Italy, climbing and walking in Great Britain and around Europe.
She travelled to New Zealand on a primary teacher exchange in 1957.
‘‘I didn’t know much about New Zealand before I came over. I was going to go to Canada, but there were no vacancies.’’
New Zealand was her next choice, and her first placement was in Rotorua.
She was hoping to head to Queenstown, but found herself placed in Wānaka instead, boarding with a local family.
‘‘It was just a tiny little village in those days.’’
During her time in Wānaka she met the man she was to marry four and a half years’ later — young Taranaki man Melven ‘‘Bluey’’ Fake, living and working in Dunedin as a sheet metal worker, who was, like her, on his way up to Coronet Peak for a day of skiing.
She returned to England, and remained longer than planned, as her father died, but the pair continued to correspond.
There was nothing official, but she ‘‘had a feeling’’ she might marry him.
Mrs Fake returned to New Zealand in 1962 and the couple married in December that year, settling in Dunedin.
The couple went on to have one daughter, Helen.
‘‘After Helen was born, I became very homesick for England, so we decided to go back for a couple of years as a working holiday.
‘‘Helen was nearly 2 when we left. She had her second birthday crossing the international date line.’’
A two-year working holiday became almost a lifetime, as Mr Fake enjoyed his new role as a travelling salesman in the North of England more than his previous work in sheet metal.
Widowed in 1977, Mrs Fake remained in England, but when daughter Helen followed in her mother’s footsteps in 1989 and travelled to New Zealand for a working holiday, and met her husband and began a family, Mrs Fake began to travel out every English winter to stay.
Eventually, she made the decision to move back to New Zealand permanently, and in 1998, moved to Waimate, bought her home, and has stayed here ever since.
She gave up teaching when she was 56, and that allowed time to take up bridge and pick up her embroidery needle again. Many of her works adorn the walls of her home, and she is an active member of the Waimate Embroidery Guild.
She does not think there is any particular secret to reaching 100.
‘‘I don’t know — it’s in my genes.’’
Daughter Helen believed it was playing bridge and keeping independent and active — and that aforementioned glass of Baileys.
