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Mark Sainsbury was just 6 when he set eyes on mountaineer Ed Hillary, who ambled into his school bearing the ice axe that had helped him claw his way to the top of Mt Everest.
The award-winning broadcaster was in Primer 3 at Silverstream Primary School when "Ed" strode into Miss Mackenzie's room, all sinew and brow, to share his story about climbing to the top of the world.
To a small boy Ed seemed bigger than Everest itself - "he was like Colin Meads but bigger", Sainsbury recalled.
Three decades later they would meet again and become lasting friends.
The reunion came in 1991 when Sainsbury travelled with Sir Ed - then aged 72 - to Nepal to report on his work with the Himalayan Trust. High in the Nepalese mountains, Sir Ed almost died when stricken with altitude sickness and Sainsbury helped nurse him back to health.
From there the friendship grew. There were irregular meetings, with late-night chats over a glass or two of whisky.
Sainsbury last saw his great mate on Boxing Day when they spent a final couple of hours together. They were trying to sneak a quick whisky together, but Sir Ed's wife June, mindful of his precarious health, would have none of it. "We wondered whether we would get away with it, but no," Sainsbury lamented.
He recalls how fiercely protective Lady Hillary was and how she worried about her husband's failing health.
"She was like a guardian. Ed was always very laissez-faire about everything. He needed someone like June, especially as he got older, to keep things [ticking].
"You always knew where you stood with June... and she was fiercely protective of Ed. Not necessarily running him, but always looking out for him. He would get set upon [by media and public requests] otherwise.
"But that said, he never let the side down, never disgraced himself anywhere," Sainsbury said.
"He had two great loves [June and first wife Louise] - how lucky can you get?"
Sainsbury says if he could turn back the clock, he'd say thanks to Ed for the memories.
"It was an incredible privilege being part of the great man's life."
In truth his last words to Sir Ed had been "see you next week".
"There was a certain degree of hope in that statement," says Sainsbury, who was in Taumaranui when the news he didn't want to hear filtered through.
"It still really hasn't quite sunk in," Sainsbury said. But he is certain of one thing: he'll miss his old mate.
"He had such a full life and I just think he was tired. He knew time was marching on. He'd crammed so much in and was probably aware his time had come."
Sainsbury has vivid memories of Sir Ed's tales of building dozens of schools and hospitals in Nepal.
Sir Ed also shared with him the depths of his despair over the loss of his first wife, Louise, and their daughter Belinda in a Himalayan plane crash in 1975.
Sainsbury says Sir Ed knew Everest was the pivotal point in his life and felt a sense of duty resulting from being the first man to conquer it.
For a man who had reached such great heights, Sainsbury said Sir Ed was a strange mix of confidence and modesty.
While he could be blunt and dismissive at times, Sir Ed was also extremely generous with his time and money, Sainsbury said.
"He was a wry observer. He rarely made judgments about people. He was just bloody good company with an incredible generosity of spirit, and an incredible modesty as well."
Sainsbury doubts there was ever a time Sir Ed wished he hadn't been first to conquer Everest.
"He was justifiably proud of what he'd done and accepted everything that came with it," Sainsbury said.
"At times I think he thought 'Oh Jesus'. But he knew there were expectations of him.
"There were occasions when you suspect he got tired of talking about it, but Lady Hillary would always help him focus the mind. 'Edmund,' she'd say, 'tidy up your hair. You know they will be expecting you.'
"He would shut down when there was nothing for him to do, but the minute he was required to do something he would come to life."
Sainsbury believes, despite statements by Sir Ed to the contrary, that he was not frightened of dying.
He recalled how Sir Ed said in a Sunday television interview: "When I kick the bucket I don't want statues, I don't want memorials, I want my work to be carried on."
In a "funny and very manly sort of way" Sainsbury says he ended up loving Sir Ed.
"I'd spent years in awe of him, but over time the mystique around 'the legend' disappeared and I just ended up loving the guy."
