“I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon,” Hareb told the Herald.
“The lake was so still, the sun was creeping through the clouds and, somehow, two rainbows appeared while we were there.
“That has to be a good sign, right?”
The professional surfer organised a picnic at Jack’s Point, overlooking the region’s snow-capped mountains, and insisted the couple take a walk at a particular time.
That immediately aroused Scullin’s suspicions.
“She later told me she thought it was so weird because I’m usually so cruisy and definitely not the planner, so she had a feeling something was up,” Hareb said.
The couple officially had both rings on August 13, when Hareb proposed.
Paige Hareb and fiancée Cait Scullin toast their engagement on the Queenstown waterfront.
A week earlier, Scullin proposed during an otherwise ordinary Sunday walk in Australia, when the couple went out for a coffee and bite to eat with their dog Yarrow.
“We grabbed a sandwich and sat by the water, and Cait had secretly clipped a little ring pouch on to Yarrow’s shell collar,” Hareb told the Herald.
“It was very sweet, but also slightly chaotic because Yarrow got so excited she ran straight into the ocean. Thankfully Cait had already proposed by then.”
A week later, Hareb staged her own proposal during a family trip to Queenstown.
They had discussed marriage and each selected their own ring, but kept the timing and details of their proposals secret from one another.
“We knew it was coming but still didn’t know the exact day each other was going to do it, or how,” Hareb said.
“So there was still a nice element of surprise for both of us.”
Hareb said she had known the rings would be ready before the Queenstown trip and was determined to propose to Scullin in New Zealand.
“I knew I wanted to propose to her in my country – and Queenstown is such a beautiful spot to do it.”
‘We just talked — a lot’
Hareb and Scullin initially matched on a dating app while living on opposite sides of the Tasman.
Scullin, a marketing manager, was based in Australia, while Hareb was living in New Zealand and travelling extensively for her surfing career.
The distance meant they spent the first few months of their relationship communicating through FaceTime rather than meeting in person.
Newly engaged couple Cait Scullin and Paige Hareb sit beneath a double rainbow following the Queenstown proposal.
“Long distance definitely sucked, but looking back, I think there was something really special about how it all started,” Hareb said.
“We didn’t have the usual distractions that come with dating – we just talked. A lot.”
The arrangement allowed them to get to know each other deeply and confront significant questions early in the relationship, Hareb said.
“Once we finally got to be in the same place, everything just clicked.
“Our lives on paper are pretty different, but I think that’s part of what makes us work so well.
“We balance each other out, we’ve built a life that feels really ours and, after all those months being apart, getting to actually do everyday life together still feels pretty special.”
‘She feels like home’
Hareb, who became the first New Zealander to qualify for surfing’s elite World Championship Tour in 2009, said Scullin had given her a life outside the sport.
“I love that Cait isn’t from the surfing world and doesn’t have a surfing background,” she said.
“When we’re together, most of the time we’re talking about everything and anything except surfing, and I really love that. She gives me a whole other world outside of it.”
At the same time, Scullin remained one of Hareb’s strongest supporters.
“We both hate when I have to leave for a competition without her, but she’s still my number one hype girl. Knowing that she genuinely believes in me makes me want to do well.”
Hareb said her fiancee offered support when she needed it but was equally capable of delivering blunt advice.
“She’s the person I can be completely vulnerable with, the shoulder to cry on, the person I can talk everything through with – but she also knows when I don’t need sympathy and just need someone to tell me to sort my shit out,” she said.
“She supports me, challenges me and keeps me grounded. No matter where surfing takes me, she feels like home.”
The Taranaki athlete has spent more than 15 years competing at the top levels of international surfing. After becoming the first New Zealander to reach the World Championship Tour, she remained on the elite circuit for six consecutive years and fought her way back on to the tour in 2018.
Her career highlights include winning the Nias Pro in Indonesia in 2022 and claiming national titles in the open women’s and over-30 divisions that same year.
In 2023, she became the first woman named New Zealand’s best surf athlete in a New Zealand Surf Journal poll.
For now, the couple are in no rush to turn their attention to a wedding.
“No plans yet,” Hareb said. “We just want to enjoy the engaged stage.”