Amanda and Andrew McConchie got married on July 1, 2017. Photo / Supplied
Amanda and Andrew McConchie got married on July 1, 2017. Photo / Supplied
Movie-makers call it a 'meet cute' - an amusing first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship. Every fortnight, the Herald on Sunday's Reset magazine shares a real-life relationship origin story.
Amanda and Andrew McConchie are the parents of toddler Arthur (and Ralph the schnauzer). Amanda is the founder and director of The Business of Influence PR and Andrew works in the dairy industry. The family is shortly moving back to Auckland from Tokyo.
Amanda says ... We were both at AUT. He lived in Papakura and I lived in Pukekohe, and I would drive from Pukekohe to Papakura to catch the train. One morning I saw this handsome young man with red hair and thought, "Oh, he's quite good looking.". I would have been 19 and Andrew 20.
I always saw him on the train and thought, "Shall I introduce myself?" and never did. But I used to talk about him and call him Hot Train Guy.
Fast-forward six months and I was at my best friend's 21st birthday party and I saw him there, and I said to her, "Oh my goodness, that's Hot Train Guy, how do you know him?" And she said, "Oh, that's Red." So, it went from Hot Train Guy to Red, which is how everyone knew him. I remember standing behind him talking to a group of people at the 21st but I didn't have the courage to say anything.
Later my friend said, "If you want his phone number, I'll give it to you." I said no because I was really shy. A couple of months later it was exam time and he caught the same train again for a couple of weeks. I knew he was older and finishing uni because my friend, whose 21st we'd both been to, was older. I was travelling to the city for my last exam, and he was on the train. I thought, "Stuff it, I am going to get his phone number. What have I got to lose?" I just had this feeling it was going to be okay.
My friend gave me his number, but it still took a few weeks before I messaged him. I just said, "Hi, my name's Amanda. I'm the tall redhead on the train. My friend gave me your number. I hope you don't mind me texting."
I was quite nervous, but I got a response quite quickly. He suggested we do something that Friday night. We met at the Autobahn car park in Drury, where the BP is on the side of the motorway. The plan was to go for a drive to Maraetai and get fish and chips and go for a walk.
We went in his car. I was a bit nervous because boys and cars don't tend to go well together, but he had a sensible Toyota Corolla. It felt really natural. We felt really at ease and relaxed and like we'd known each other in another life, almost. There was no awkward silence, we had quite a few laughs.
He was very warm and chatty, even though I'd heard he was quite a shy person. We had three consecutive weekends of dates and then on the fourth weekend, we went out to Port Waikato, and I felt his hand fumble for mine and then we clumsily grabbed each other's hands. That was December 16, 2007. We got married on July 1, 2017.
Andrew is my rock and is very pragmatic in times of stress. He's very steadfast. He's very kind and loving. He just takes very good care of me.
"Andrew is my rock and is very pragmatic in times of stress," says Amanda McConchie. Photo / Supplied
Andrew says ... I had noticed Amanda before. She would often show up borderline late to the train. Normally I would be sitting there, and she'd come running down the platform and would squeeze on to the train just before it left, so she was quite easy to notice.
I'd heard through the grapevine that I would be receiving a text from someone who had red hair. There were two girls on the train with red hair and I hoped it was her. The only reason I was on the train before she finally decided to message me was because I had finished my exams and was going to have some beers. Normally I would have driven into town, but because I was going to the pub, I caught the train that day. It was quite coincidental.
When I was waiting for Amanda in the Autobahn car park, I was wondering what I would do if it had been the other girl with red hair who'd messaged me? Would I turn around and jump in the car and leave or not? I wouldn't do that, but I was wondering if I should do a bit of a recce beforehand? It was on my mind, but she wasn't the wrong one.
Amanda was just as pretty close up as she was far away, and it was good to see her not late! When we went on our first date to Maraetai the fish and chip shop was shut, so we basically drove out to Maraetai and back and then went back to the car park.
We felt like we had a lot in common. Every time we'd go out, we'd think "that's weird" because it was so similar. We're both shy in certain ways and not shy in certain ways. I had a friend who knew of Amanda through someone else and he said, "Oh yeah, she's really good, but I think she's really religious though." He had no basis for that, it was just an assumption. That didn't turn out to be true. Amanda and I knew a lot of people in common, but we never actually knew each other.
Amanda and Andrew McConchie are the parents of toddler Arthur. Photo / Supplied
At her friend's 21st where Amanda put two and two together, I didn't even see her. It was quite dark and in a big barn. I was not very focused. I'd definitely had too many beers and if she had decided to strike up a conversation it wouldn't have been very high quality.
What do I love about Amanda? She's very kind, maybe too kind. She worries so much about others. She's very supportive. She says it's nice to see me become more confident, but I think she's responsible for that – it's been with her support. And I have been dragging her around the world for the last five years.
