outofoffice: When searching for a needle in a hay stack, call a man with a metal detector!

On our last full day in Sydney (well at least for this round since we will be back in 2 weeks), Kiera and Dave were both able to take the day off work to spend with us. We had thought about spending the day in the Blue Mountains, but when we woke up and found it to be a very hot and sunny day, after many days of rain and cloud we decided to take the ferry over to Manly instead and spend the day relaxing on Manly beach. From Kiera and Dave's we caught the train down-town to Circular Quay where you grab the Ferry over to Manly. When we arrived we found we had just missed the ferry and had to wait about 30mins for the next one so we decided to stroll through the Neighbourhood called The Rocks, Sydney's oldest neighbourhood which has been converted to a trendy, artsy type area, to grab a quick lunch at the market. We headed back to the ferry and enjoyed the scenic ride through the harbour before reaching Manly.

After picking up some much needed Gelato for the boys and gossip mags for the girls we headed to the beach and got comfy for the day. It was quite hot and the waves were pretty big, the kind that you just want to go play in, so we were all in and out of the water all day. On our first venture into the water Keira felt like her wedding rings were a bit loose in the water (Keira and Dave are happily married about 18 months) so she decided to go put them in her pockets safely on dry land. Like most do on a crowded beach, we spend the day taking turns going in and out of the water ensuring our stuff was never left alone so when we stood up to leave and Keira's diamond engagement ring was no longer in her pocket we were baffled. The other 2 rings were there and so were the rest of our valuables; wallets, credit cards, phones, etc and there was someone with our stuff all day so we quickly ruled out that we had been robbed. The next logical thing, and probably the worst possible situation, was that the ring had fallen out of her pocket into the sand and it was now buried. Kiera was understandable a bit panicked while the 3 others tried to stay calm even though we all knew we were basically searching for a needle in a haystack.......albeit a very VERY valuable needle.

We searched and sifted through sand for a little over an hour with zero luck and were just about ready to give up and head to the ferry when I suggested that she at least drop by the lifeguard stand and leave her contact information in the miraculous case that some honest person finds the ring in the sand. We found a lifeguard and he jotted down their info but also informed us that the lifeguards had the number of someone who had a metal detector and often comes down to search for things that people lost on the beach, for a fee of course. All little sceptical Kiera and Dave made the call anyway and 30 mins later an adorable older couple appears with a metal detector. We do introductions and they do a little comforting, letting us all know that they more often than not find what they are looking for and then we lead them to the spot where we were sitting. What happened next was nothing short of amazing, within 15 seconds of waving his wand above the sand he leans over, scoops up some sand in his sifter, shakes it off and THERE IT IS!! After a few Omigod's from us all and maybe a tear or two, Kiera gives the miracle couple a hug and we head off back to the ferry. Needless to say we stopped in the city to grab some food and celebratory drinks before heading back to the house for one last sleep at Keira and Dave's. Next up a quick flight to Melbourne to spend a few days catching up with one of Jonny's good friends from Dundas - Marci!