Sam – We were set up on a blind date through a mutual friend that I worked with and I just asked her on the off chance if she knew any single men. I had newly moved to Lismore and he’d newly moved back after 15 years and a broken relationship so the last thing he was looking for was a new woman so we were set up on this date.
Bill – I dressed right up!
Sam – he didn’t dress up at all. King Gee shorts and a t-shirt and we went to Mary Gilhooleys for a beer and then it eventuated to dinner.
Bill – yeah I’d told her, ‘look for the guy with the heavily tattooed face and you’ll see me in the crowd.’
Sam – well we just hit off. It’s the last thing we expected, Sydney girl, country boy, we would never have crossed paths. We went for a bush walk the next day.
Bill – I took her for a walk out in Minyon Falls and we were late going in, about lunch time so by the time we got to the bottom, had some wine and swam we were coming out in the dark and she was a little concerned that I might of been an Ivan Milat.
Sam – at least I knew if he was dodgy in the bush that there was a connection through the friend that set us up. Someone would find us.
Bill – on the way back out she wouldn’t walk in front or beside me, she was like, go ahead!
Sam – we couldn’t find the track and I’m thinking this could be a total set up.
Bill – It was pitch black when we got back to the car. My beat up old Toyota was there waiting.
Sam – that was 2005 and we married in 2012. Took us a while, we weren’t rushing the marriage thing.
Bill – she wasn’t expecting it, she was in her gardening clothes and I’d been thinking for a few days how I was going to find the right time to spring this ring on her. Here she was in the garden with her old work boots and her hat.
Sam – very attractive gardening gear..not!
Bill – I just thought, you know what, the days are disappearing here so I just went and did it in the garden in our place.
Sam- he came skipping up to me literally and said ‘I think we should get married’. You know we’ve had endless challenges, step children, death, loss, legal issues but we’re still standing.
Bill – sense of humour makes a big difference. You need to be able to laugh things off together. You’ve got to be able to stand your ground in your relationship but you also need to be able to bend in the wind. It’s a tough one and a massive learning experience knowing when to. Sometimes you bend when you shouldn’t and other times you stand up and you think that was a wrong move! That’s life though, isn’t it.”