Mrs Corlet said yesterday she had not cared too much for reaching 100 until last year, when great-granddaughters Brianna (8) and Chloe (6) Robertson, of Clyde, told her how excited they were about coming to Great-nana's party.
The sprightly centenarian, who will next week move house for the 17th time since 1935, when she shifts from Chatsford in Mosgiel, into Yvette Williams Rest-home in Dunedin, said she thought maybe her active and busy life kept her well.
It might also be something to do with the whisky and milk she takes once a week, or her regular consumption of beetroot juice.
"If you eat well, I suppose it's got something to do with that."
She had always pursued activities with zest, and until recently went to everything going.
"I still make sure I go to housie and indoor bowls ... you have to keep a few things up ..."
She loved rugby and had had a flat-screen television installed so she could watch the Highlanders and Otago's games.
Mrs Corlet arrived with her family in New Zealand from Belfast, Ireland, when she was 12. The family was escaping religious unrest in the city.
She married Pat, an electrician, in 1935 and they brought up four children in Dunedin, before moving to Alexandra, where they had an electrical business Domestic Services. Just before retirement they owned motels in Leigh, north of Auckland, for three years.
They settled after that in Mt Maunganui.
A few years after Pat died, Mrs Corlet and her friend Tom Blythe started taking holidays and cruises.
When Mr Blythe died in 1994, Mrs Corlet came south to live at Birchleigh (now Chatswood) to be near her two daughters, who lived in Dunedin.
About 100 people will visit Mrs Corlet over lunch and afternoon tea today, including the latest addition, her third great-great-grandchild.
