Shark attack survivor weds
Diver Greg had given up on love after his secondnd shark attack... before he received a very special letter
With deep purple scars covering his ruggedly handsome face, P Perth abalone diver Greg P Pickering used to look at his r reflection and wonder if a anyone could ever love him. A survivor of two shark at attacks, the second mauling sh shredding his face, Greg gave hi himself little hope of finding hi his happily-ever-after. But love did come along, in th the oddest of ways, and the 60 60-year-old now proudly sp sports a shiny wedding band! ““I got annoyed after reading an article about Greg where he said it was very difficult fin 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 cafe,” 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
‘I knew he was The One… I’d never felt that way before’