I had spent the weekend celebrating a close friend’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in Sydney and so I didn’t pick up on a message sent to me from Vicky for two days. Apparently, her friend Nadia, had been visiting the beautiful Eurobodalla South coast of NSW, and whilst swimming at McKenzie’s Beach she had lost her precious ruby and diamond engagement ring in the surf. Nadia lives a couple of hours away from Batemans Bay and had returned home, so the only way I could get location instructions was over the phone. I am always concerned about this because when people say left or right of a landmark, I need to clarify the direction they are looking. Anyway, after the call I said I would have a look on McKenzie’s Beach at the first opportunity. Nadia had told me that she had been knocked over by a wave and lost the ring in the surf whilst trying to regain balance, so I decided to search at low tide. I arrived at the beach at about an hour before low tide only to be met with a pretty good surf rolling in. McKenzie’s is not a very big beach and is in the shape of a horseshoe. Because of the amount of surf that comes in on this beach it has a gutter that runs parallel to the shore, and a rip that runs out to sea at the southern end. The gutter was running like a river, and so detecting in this area was very difficult. After three hours and with a rising tide I decided to call it a day. I kept an eye on the surf for the rest of the week, and so on the Friday, (a full 10 days after the ring was lost), I ventured off again. This time the surf was about half the height of the previous hunt. After about an hour of looking for the lost ring, and finding pull tabs from aluminium cans, BINGO!!!! What can I say it is the most beautiful engagement ring, with a blood red Ruby flanked by two stunning Diamonds. I have just got back from meeting Nadia and her husband as they have travelled down for the weekend. Seeing the joy on Nadia’s face when I handed over the ring is what this is all about. The CTX 3030 does it again.
Bevan – NSW, Australia.
