The girl sitting on a horse at the farm in Ruatangata caught John Grose's eye back in 1943.
She was 15 and he was 18.
Four years later John and Ailsa Grose married and, with many from their family with them, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Now aged 89 and 92, Ailsa, then 19, and John, 22, were married at Ruatangata Memorial Church on April 19, 1947.
The story goes that John used to work with Ailsa's brother Ray, who was seeing John's sister.
Visiting Ray's parents' farm on a day off, John saw the girl on her horse, and started chatting with her.
''Things developed from there and we started courting,'' John said.
On their wedding day the rain was so heavy the river flooded and water came up over the old wooden bridge on Thorburn Rd.
The only way for the wedding couple and guests to get to the church on time was over that bridge.
A trusty Model A saved the day with its 19-inch wheels - the only car that could get through the high water without conking out, it ferried guests over the bridge.
After their wedding the young couple lived with Ailsa's parents for a while, and John worked for the Kamo Potteries brickmakers.
After that they began share-milking together around Whangarei before buying a block of Ailsa's father's farm at Attwood Rd, Ruatangata.
They lived there for 20 years, building a house and milking their own cows.
When the Whangarei glassworks opened John found work there, eventually becoming a shift foreman. The couple sold the farm and moved to Tikipunga, while their six sons and one daughter, their youngest child, grew up.
The Groses moved to Ngunguru for several years when John retired and now live in Percy St, Kensington.
They are the proud grandparents of 18 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Until the travel became too hard for them, the couple enjoyed visiting Australia for a few months each year to stay with family who lived there.
Ailsa and John agree that the best thing about their wedding anniversary is they will have all but one of their children with them. One son, Gary, passed away a couple of years ago.
Asked what makes a good marriage, John said being compatible, doing things together and respecting one another.
''We have had a lot of good times and some bad times,'' Ailsa said. ''You've got to have give and take.''