Pat's treasure island 'I'LL NEVER LEAVE RĀKINO'

It was love at first sight after her life-changing visit in 1978!

- Elisabeth Easther

You don’t often meet women like Pat Withers. Aged 81, or 20.25 if you take into account her being born on a leap day, Pat is an octogenarian sheep farmer who tends her small flock on an island in the middle of Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. “Rakino is either a big rock or a small island,” Pat tells the Weekly from her rustic seaside home. “There are only about 20 of us who live here full-time and being off-grid, it’s very quiet in winter as the holiday people don’t tend to come when it’s cold.”

As to how Pat discovered her treasure of an island, she says she has her former husband Grant to thank.

“Grant had been here doing some building for a man called Doug,” recalls Pat of that life-changing visit. “That was 1978 – back when the island was mainly just grazing for cattle. To say thanks, Doug invited us out for a weekend with the family and we never really left!”

Fringed with pōhutukawa and crystal-blue waters, Rākino is a paradise just 40 minutes from downtown Auckland, so it’s no surprise the family fell in love with the place.