Relieved newlywed finds ring lost in sea
A newlywed husband lost — and found — his wedding ring in the tide at an Auckland beach just four days after getting married.
Julian Harrison was showing his new wife Rose Watson how easily his ring could come off his hand while swimming at Cheltenham beach on Boxing Day afternoon when his demonstration took an all too realistic turn.
The ring slipped off Harrison's finger and out of his grasp, floating through the water before disappearing in the sand.
It was like everything happened in slow motion, Watson said.
“His face . . . he looked at me and just started diving. He was pretty worried.”
What was a stressful situation
He looked at me and just started diving. He was pretty worried. Rose Watson
became an experience reminding the couple of the kindness of strangers, as friends and family members helped them scour the sand for hours, marking out the spot and digging once the tide went out.
“If it was just Jules and I we would have been devastated,” Watson said.
“But it actually turned out to be a pretty special day.”
The couple’s wedding celebrant put a call out on Facebook and passersby sent messages to groups asking locals to come help with the search.
At one point during the search a rainbow came out — a good omen convincing Harrison he’d find his ring.
The next morning he returned at low tide with a metal detector borrowed from a family friend and managed to retrieve the ring from the sand.
“I yelled at the top of my lungs and a dude came over and asked what I'd found.
“I said ‘ my wedding ring' and he was really stoked for me.”
The couple, who have a 2-year-old daughter, Alice, were married in Auckland three days before Christmas after flying home from Melbourne where they relocated for work recently.
“It was great,” Harrison said of the wedding.
Harrison said he still hadn't had the ring resized, but planned to get on to it soon.