"I dialled 111 and the fire brigade came very quickly."
While it was a nerve-racking experience, Roslyn said she was remarkably controlled, and clearly remembered fire safety advertisements on television about not going into the house.
"You don't realise how many of those fire safety ads you take on board until you live it."
Not that she would have gone inside.
"The smoke was incredibly dense and you wouldn't be able to breathe in it. It was horrid."
After contacting emergency services she rang her daughter in Plimmerton as the enormity of what was happening sank in.
"I kept on repeating 'the house is on fire'.
"I felt a bit of an idiot going on like that."
Her husband, who was in Invercargill because of work commitments, was contacted with the grim news.
A lot was lost in the fire, including 30 years worth of catering equipment, precious photographs, a car and lots more.
"It has probably totalled the house to be honest.
"The wooden posts that support the house are all really charred as well as the beams."
While the damage was significant, it could have been a lot worse.
Fortunately when Roslyn and her husband moved into the house they put insulation between the garage and house, which stopped the fire from spreading fast.
And they were lucky that gas cylinders for barbecues that were in the garage didn't explode.
Bizarrely, the only thing that didn't burn in the garage was a stack of dry firewood.
"How ironic was that."
The aftermath meant the house was "full of soot".
"It's not stuff you can dust off, you have to scrub it.
"And everything stunk.
"I've never done so much washing in my life."
Roslyn, who has been the food and beverage manager at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club for about eight months, said while there was a smoke and fire detection system in the house, there was nothing in the garage.
Roslyn King. Photo / David Haxton
"It took a long time for the smoke to actually get up into the house.
"It was actually going more towards my neighbour's house because there was quite a wind.