After 39 years of dispensing medication to the Coromandel community, Neville Cameron is prescribing himself some much-needed time to relax.

'Dear God, absolutely, I love being a pharmacist but you can't take any time off,” says 67-year-old, who is handing over the pharmacy he's owned since 1975 to a new owner this week so he can retire.

Neville Cameron is retiring after 39 years of owning and operating the Coromandel Pharmacy. Photo courtesy of Neville Cameron.

Neville will initially stay on to help the new owner find their feet, but then he's shifting his focus to his retirement dreams.

'I'd like to travel New Zealand or work a bit somewhere like Great Barrier Island; they have trouble getting pharmacists.”

Neville says it's the people of the Coromandel community who have made his job brilliant, by being extremely nice, understanding and helpful.

'The main difference between most places and Coromandel is the people have a sense of humour.”

He met his wife Liz at the pharmacy; she was a customer and caught his eye when she walked through the door. Neville says it's his 'number one memory”.

Neville's two children Sarah and Richard, and Liz's son Timothy also worked in the store as they grew up.

'In those days we didn't have tasers, but if I did they would have worked much better.”

Neville grew up in Greymouth. His father Jack was a career army man and his early childhood was spent moving around the country before his family settled on the West Coast.

During high school his passion for chemistry led him towards his chosen profession, plus a little bit of mischief. 'I used to enjoy making explosives; and oh I did some rippers back in the day.”

Following high school, Neville completed two years' study at Petone Pharmacy School in Wellington before working for two years as an apprentice pharmacist on Auckland's Queens St.

With a qualification and work experience under his belt, he embarked on an overseas adventure that would change his life.

'I was in Melbourne during 1973 and bought a Kombi van, which I drove to London in with friends.

'We were on the road for a year, travelling through countries like Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.”

'The biggest learnings I took were tolerance and being helpful to others. That was extended to me by lots of people; you have to pay back.”

He returned to New Zealand in 1975, purchasing the Coromandel Pharmacy the same year.

When he wasn't running the pharmacy, Neville was up in the air – literally – enjoying a love of flying he's relished since his Greymouth days, gaining a pilot licence in 1984.

Flying has been a life-long passion for Neville Cameron, who is seen here with a Russian Wilga airplane at the Thames Airfield in 1999. Photo courtesy of Neville Cameron.

'I've flown everything from microlights to jets, flown the biggest biplane in NZ from Russia to here, and it's now in a museum in Wanaka. I had a good run.”

This Friday, on Daffodil Day, Neville and Liz are hosting a morning tea to thank their customers for their loyalty and support.

But if you thought Neville was taking off to a far-flung destination to enjoy his retirement, you'd be wrong.

'I am staying here; I'm not going to retire and move to Hamilton or somewhere repulsive.

'This is my home. I could never be anywhere else,” says Neville.