Masterton couple shipping out

THEIR BOAT'S COME IN: Richard and Mary Page, of Masterton, have won a cruise around the Mediterranean. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Masterton couple Richard and Mary Page have won the trip of their dreams after they entered TV One's Breakfast competition for a Mediterranean cruise.

Mrs Page almost missed the phone call, broadcast on national TV, from Breakfast TV presenter Rawdon Christie informing the couple of the win.

She got quite a shock when she took the call.

"Get out. You're kidding me," was her response.

"Is this an April Fool's joke?"

Mr Christie assured her it wasn't, so Mrs Page got working to make sure husband Richard received the same shock as she did when he and the dogs came back from their morning walk.

"When he came in I told him I had something funny for him to watch on TV," she said.

Mr Page said he didn't have time, so some persuading was required.

The couple sat down to watch the repeat of the Breakfast show.

When it came time for the presenter's phone call to his wife, Mr Page took a while to catch on.

"I said, that sounds an awful lot like you, Mary," he said.

When the penny dropped, he had felt "gob-smacked".

Mr Page said it was only the second time he had entered a TV competition.

The 14-night cruise, on a new cruise ship, Britannia, was a competition designed to celebrate the royal tour of New Zealand.

"Tens of thousands" of people entered, Mr Christie said.

The cruise liner visits Gibraltar, Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Coincidentally, Mr Page works in the marine industry and often works on large vessels, carrying out maintenance work.

He said it would be a treat to be on a boat and not be working flat out.

"It might be hard to go back to work."

The couple have been married 28 years and have done a bit of travelling, but not on this scale.

Only one of the couple's four children is still at home but they are looking forward to a child-less holiday so they "don't have to visit any theme parks".

The cruise departs from London in 2015 so the couple have time to field house-sitting offers already coming in from their Melbourne-based children.