High-flying proposal! KAITLIN CAUGHT OUT

SHE GOT A FAIR GO WHEN SHE WAS SWEPT OFF HER FEET BY ADVENTURER JOSH!

- Fleur Guthrie

By her own admission, nothing usually gets past Kaitlin Ruddock. With her ability to sniff out a scam, the new Fair Go reporter has always been very hard to surprise.

But after level 4 lockdown, on what was supposed to be a ‘meet the family’ weekend for her and boyfriend Joshua Aldridge, the 26-year-old never suspected the epic marriage proposal that lay ahead or that both sets of parents were in on it.

“Yes, they all got me!” smiles Kaitlin. “I really had no expectations. All I had hoped for in a proposal was something a little bit out of the ordinary, but this surpassed it.”

Based in Nelson at the time, the couple’s plan was to first meet Josh’s parents in Auckland before driving down to see hers in the Thames.

“It was our six-month anniversary, so we were going to stop for lunch in Clevedon,” recalls Kaitlin.

“As we’re driving there, Josh says, ‘Remember on our first date, when you picked me up from Nelson airport and you joked that the 1 News chopper was booked so you had to bring the truck instead? Well, would it be okay if we took a helicopter this time?’

“And before I could say anything, we turn a corner and there is one parked outside his mate’s house.”

Still unsuspecting, Kaitlin assumed they’d land on Waiheke Island, but the chopper kept ongoing.

“All of a sudden, we’re flying over the Coromandel, pointing out different places, when Josh says to the pilot, ‘Do you reckon you’d be able to land on the beach?’

“I couldn’t believe it! Cathedral Cove is my favorite place in the world.”