SHARK SURVIVOR’S NEW START
Diver Greg had given upon loveafter his second shark attack ... then he received a very special letter
With deep purple scars covering his ruggedly handsome face, Perth shellfish diver Greg Pickering used to look at his reflection and wonder if anyone could ever love him. A survivor of two shark attacks, the second mauling shredding his face, Greg gave himself little hope of finding his happily-ever-after. But love did come along in the oddest of ways and the 60-year-old now proudly sports a wedding band! “I got annoyed after reading an article about Greg where he said it was very difficult finding a girl to accept his dangerous line of work,” says Rose Austgen, 62, who wrote to the paper almost three years ago, encouraging him to “hang in there” because plenty of women wouldn’t mind him having that sort of job. “It was a bold move, very out of character for me,” she adds. “I didn’t think they’d bother passing it on.”
A bit of alright!
But the note was delivered to the unlucky-in-love diver, complete with Rose’s parting message – “I think he’s a bit of alright” – much to her embarrassment.
“Normally I’m a bit shy, but I felt safe because it came through the paper, so I decided to contact Rose,” says Greg, who had been single for six years.
Emails became phone
calls, many lasting hours into the night, and before long, the two decided to meet face to face.
“I was so nervous driving to the café,” chuckles Greg, a father of four daughters. “I’d never done this before – what if I didn’t meet her expectations?” He need not have worried. “When we met, Greg took my hand softly and I knew he was ‘the one’,” says Rose, also a mother-of-four, who’d been single for 30 years. “I’d never felt that way before just by someone holding my hand.”
The pair shared a kiss and though it remained unspoken, they both knew they were hopelessly in love.
“I would do anything for Rose – all I want to do is look after her,” gushes Greg, fresh from exchanging wedding vows with her, 16 months after proposing.
Tears were shed as the enormity of Greg’s journey was revealed to guests at their
wedding in Perth late last year.
His happiness on his big day contrasted greatly to late 2013 when he was recovering from horrific “teeth on bone” injuries to his skull, back and shoulder after a white pointer attacked off the remote south coast of Western Australia.
So bad were his injuries from his second attack, during the 10-hour operation to piece him back together, a shark tooth was removed from his eye socket.
The 39-year sea veteran and star of Sky’s Discovery Channel Abalone Wars now dives for paua in a protective cage, with a shark deterrent strapped to his leg.
“I understand he needs to keep diving,” says Rose, who avoids the ocean. “He loves it – it’s his passion and he’s promised me he’ll make it as safe as he can. That’s all I can ask for.”