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Jan Knott says being reunited with her younger sister after 40 years apart is a "miracle really. It's like a dream come true. For more than 40 years I wondered where Elizabeth was, if she was still alive."
Jan emigrated to New Zealand from Britain with her parents in 1963. Her sister Elizabeth later moved back and, as a teenager, decided to stay. The girls neglected to keep in touch, something which Jan said she now "regrets very deeply".
The decades passed until in June this year Jan, of Orewa, decided to go to Britain to "hunt down" her missing sister.
Meanwhile, her daughter had contacted the Salvation Army about their case and, just before Jan was due to leave, the Family Tracing Service found Elizabeth living in Portsmouth.
The sisters have since spent three weeks together in Britain, and Elizabeth is returning to New Zealand for a holiday in 2009.
They speak on the phone every month and are determined not to lose each other again.
Jan said she was grateful for the work the Salvation Army had done in reuniting her with her sister: "They did a great job."
