"We met at my cousin's place - Mr and Mrs Albie Lindner - she asked us to come to her place in Vectis for tea. I'd been to their place plenty of times but Norma was there that night," he said.

"We had tea and there was still plenty of daylight, so we went for a stroll along the river. A few days later I went and visited her again, and again, and again.

"I felt attached to her straight away. (It was) love at first sight."

Over the next few years their relationship grew, uninterrupted by World War Two as Eric's eyesight exempted him from serving.

"My eyesight was OK but I wanted to go into the air force and they were more fussy I suppose," he said.

"My neighbours and I all went to Natimuk to have the examinations, and the bloke that examined me said, 'If things get worse, we'll get in touch with you', but I never heard anything more."

Related: Eltzes celebrate 75 years of marriage

They were married on August 16, 1944 by Pastor O'Thiele at Horsham's Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which Eric remembered as a wet day in a drought year.

"In those days you couldn't buy ribbons, so you had to buy tape rolls of coloured paper," he said. "And then when it rained, the paper stuck onto the car and it was a job to get it off!"

For the next 25 years, the couple formed a formidable team working the apricot and peach orchard at Quantong and raising seven children. They are now grandparents to 21 and great grandparents to 42 others.

"We did most things together on the orchard," he said. "In the summer time I was out all day picking and Norma worked out in the packing shed helping to grade the fruit into different sizes."

"I also used to grow a lot of vegetables, and actually the first Christmas we were married she didn't have any rings because she was picking beans and they fell off because they were a bit too big. There were a few days there we were a bit worried, but she found it alongside a bush while picking beans again a couple of weeks later."

Eric took over the orchard from his father Fred and grandfather Ben.

Their 75^th year together also marks the second time the Eltze's will celebrate a diamond anniversary, having most recently surpassed their Blue Sapphire (65th) and platinum (70th) milestones.

"When it was 70 we got a letter from the Queen, and we've got a whole lot of other letters for other anniversaries from Bob Hawke and... we've got a few Prime Ministers in there," he said.

Eric, who turned 98 in April, said he was proud he and Norma, 96, had never had any fights in their three quarters of a century as husband and wife.

Norma agreed.

"We might have growled a bit at each other, but that's all. We just talk nicely to each other," she said.

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