He grew up in Auckland and was an avid rugby player in his early years and played for Auckland.
"I was a very fast 9 stone 7lbs (60kg) winger."
After learning a trade as a leadlighter he went into antique restoration and owned antique shops in central Auckland.
But his nearly 10 years spent in Fremantle and Perth in Western Australia took him on a whole new journey.
It was 1981 and he was working for a Myers department store as hardware manager when the contents of a couple of large boxes changed his career.
He unpacked the first lot of Weber covered kettle barbecues from the United States.
"I'd never seen anything like them."
So he set one up then cooked a chicken for the staff on empty ground near the store.
His ingenuity so impressed the manufacturers that within a couple of weeks they hired him as their barbecue demo man in Western Australia, which quickly led the rest of Australia as well.
Being a huge barbecue nation, Patrick was off and running.
His motto: Cook for 45 minutes, with two stubbies on the side on a 30 degree day - "It's perfect every time."
He appeared on all the Weber ads on television and radio and toured with his special barbecue cooking school.
By that stage he had also amassed a stack of recipes and written a recipe book which sold about 200,000 copies.
Patrick glows when he talks about those days.
"It was a great opportunity and I enjoyed every minute of it."
He remembers one demonstration in a big hall when he decided the back wall was too plain and boring so he got a fresco painted on it.
"I had the picture of The Last Supper painted on it and got the artist to paint in a barbecue at the end of the table," he said.
"I was not popular I can tell you ... the fresco didn't last long at all, too many people were upset."
He devised a way of cooking a large piece of pickled pork, which transforms into a delectable ham and that recipe is still a hit today and he has eight orders from local people for Christmas.
"One elderly woman loves the meat so much that she takes it everywhere she goes in her bag. She reckons if she left it at home the family would get down on it so she's taking no chances."
Even with his barbecue successes he was still dabbling in antiques and laughs as he remembers buying a tiny historic church out the middle of nowhere in Western Australia for $2000.
But when he went in the truck to collect his church it had been burned to the ground by the woman's husband.
"His wife had taken the $2000 and runoff so her husband did away with the church. Shame because it was beautiful little building."
When he returned to Auckland in the early 1990s he set up a large antique shop and restoration service in central downtown Auckland.
"The shop was right beside a main bus stop so I would always put out an array of restored furniture on the pavement and I used to work out on the pavement as well.
"The buses drove past with everyone looking so I used to go back inside after a few minutes and my phone always started ringing. Wonderful way to sell."
Because his wife Maria had always dreamed of living in a country villa that is when they discovered Raetihi - a rural life and a small town of community-minded people.
"We loved it right away."
Apart from all the regular community events in town, Patrick said it has also been a hugely popular location for film shoots.
Most of the interior shots for the 2014 American movie Without a Paddle, starring Burt Reynolds were set up in Patrick's old shop which was once the town's general store.
The film was about a disastrous camping and canoe trip into the Oregon wild. It was filmed in New Zealand to take advantage of tax rebates, he said.
"Most of the outdoor camping scenes were filmed inside my old building."
Recently the old building sprung a nasty surprise when he fell through some rotten floorboards, he said.
"But good can come out of bad because I found a beautiful old carved totem pole down there which I think is Melanesian."
These days Patrick opens his shop just a few hours here and there with a notice on the door telling people if they are interested in looking around give him a ring and he will be "right down".
He's hoping for another good summer season like last year.
"Raetihi can well do with that again.
"Tourists are great for this area and there's plenty to see around here."
But in reality life he said life was really about "random acts of kindness".
"I always think on that."
