Eric's big adventure - a shift to NZ at 102
The Dominion Post | Saturday, 05 January 2008
Man who will be one of New Zealand's oldest immigrants - at 102 years old -still travels just fine.
Eric King-Turner and his Kiwi wife of 12 years, Doris, 88, boarded the Saga Rose cruise ship today - finally starting the move from near Southampton to Nelson after five months of toil over paperwork.
"It's a wonderful new adventure and I would say to anyone that if you want to do something you should do it straight away while you can," Mr King-Turner, a retired dentist, said.
"What's important is that when I'm 105, I don't want to be thinking, `I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102'."
Mrs King-Turner's daughter Gabriel said her stepfather was honest, outgoing and humble - and savvy enough to have mastered e-mail.
"He played cricket when he was 90 with the family ... and went fishing at Rotoiti with my brother about three years ago."
Mr King-Turner was not quizzed about his age by officials but had to show he had the financial means to support himself in New Zealand.
"We not only had to produce a marriage certificate but ... evidence that we were in a long and stable relationship," Mrs King-Turner said.
Immigration officials confirmed Mr King-Turner met the requirements to be sponsored by his wife as an immigrant.
National's immigration spokesman, Lockwood Smith, said the arrival of a 102-year-old immigrant was unusual - but it was obviously not a marriage of convenience. "He is married to a New Zealander and has been for some time so he has a right to come," Dr Smith said.
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