Ring Recovery

I really feel for people who've lost sentimental items. I've done it. There's a sense of loss that takes a while to recover from. Which is why when I saw a distress call on one of the metal detecting Facebook groups that I'm a member of, I felt the need to reach out and offer help. A young couple had lost two wedding and one engagement ring at a caravan park near a beach.

The post actually attracted a lot of attention and a few people said they would head down to Rapid Bay to assist, so many so that I reconsidered going, but I wanted to do some other things in the area so we made a day of it and took the doggo with us.

Over an hour's drive and we arrive at the caravan park at 11:05am. I get out and faff about really. Say hi to my mates, make a visit at the local facilities, put the sunscreen on that sort of thing.

I talk to the lass who's quite upset and ask her about her movements on the day they lost the rings to get an idea of where they might be.

By 11:28am I'm taking this photo.

There they were. Two little rings just under the surface of the dirt. They rang up at 84 on the XP Deus and sounded close to the surface. I simply brushed away the dirt and caught a glimpse of sparkle.

"Ooh!, I've found some rings" I say to myself.

"What!" I hear from someone nearby, "you've found them?!"

"I've found something. Two rings, but I don't know if they're hers or not". On calling the young lass I am informed "don't you be joking with me". "No," I replied, "I've found some rings, I need you to identify if they're yours or not."

Her hands went to a gasping mouth and she fell back and fortunately landed on the fence. You could tell by the emotion pouring out that they were indeed hers and I had just made her day. Her friend said to me "I'm going to give you the hug because she's not capable right now". And that was true. It was a good few minutes before she was able to speak.

Photo credits Damien Brider

We'd recovered her engagement and wedding ring, but sadly we weren't able to find the husband's ring even after a further hour of searching. We suspect that ring may have been visible from the surface and someone had found it, not realising there were two more that had fallen below the dirt's surface.

This find is (and will probably always be) one of my favourites.