Whangārei woman overwhelmed as wedding rings lost in the sea found and returned

Kim Ferguson with the weddings rings of her and her late husband lost at sea until Northland detectorist Pete McGhee swung into action and found them in the sea at Taiharuru. Photo / Pete McGhee

A Whangārei woman who thought she'd lost her and her late husband's wedding rings in the sea was amazed that they were found the next day by a Northland detectorist.

Kim Ferguson was supposed to have had her honeymoon with husband Billy at Taiharuru, after they were married four years ago.

Kim says they could not afford a honeymoon at the time of the wedding and her brother-in-law later paid for one at Taiharuru.

But the honeymoon was delayed twice by Covid lockdowns then a third time when Billy became ill, and died six weeks later in March this year.

Despite her ongoing grief Kim decided to finally take the honeymoon, with two girlfriends the weekend before last, thinking Billy would approve.

''I was still grieving really, but decided to finally take the honeymoon. I went through hell (following Billy's death) so was really looking forward to it with my girlfriends.''

They spent a great first two days at 'the Blue Bach' in Davies Bay, at Taiharuru, and on the third morning- the Sunday - as they had done the previous two, went for a swim about 8.30am.

And that's when the trauma started.

''I must have been a bit cold and my fingers shrunk. Billy's ring was a bit loose anyway, but I had my ring on to stop it coming off, but I got hit by a wave and felt them slipping off. I actually managed to grab them, but I got hit by another wave and lost them again. I then got them again, but another wave hit me and they fell into the sand.''

Kim and her friends were distraught and spent hours looking for them, but to no avail. Her brother-in-law also spent time looking for them.

Luckily one of her friends had put a pile of rocks on the beach up from where Kim had lost the rings and paced out 69 steps to roughly where she had been standing when they slipped into the sand.

''I just felt dead, totally dead. How could this have happened? I'd been through enough and I felt that I'd lost a part of Billy and my heart just hurt,'' Kim said.

After getting home that evening, and she doesn't know why, she had a thought flash into her head - 'ring finders'.

''I started looking on Google for ring finders and it took me to people in the United States. So I pushed a button on the site about my location and it took me to one here. So I rang Pete.''

That's Pete McGhee, from Northland Jewellery Recoveries, who hunts for lost treasures with his metal detector. After initially thinking he would only be able to get to Whangārei on Wednesday, he made time to do it on Monday, arriving at Taiharuru about 8am to meet Kim's brother-in-law.

McGhee told Kim and her friends they did everything right by marking the spot where the rings were lost and within about 40 minutes he had found them.

The two rings that bind Kim Ferguson with late husband Billy that were lost, then recovered, from the sea at Taiharuru. Photo / Pete McGhee

''My brother-in-law rang me to tell me he'd found them and I didn't believe him. I thought they must be somebody else's rings. I was still really numb from losing them.

''I think it's just fantastic that he managed to find them. I'm not really religious, but it's a miracle I got them back. Pete did an amazing job and he said we did everything right to make his job really easy, so that was great thinking from my friend'' Kim said.

''I thought it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but he found them. And I'm just so grateful that he did. These rings are priceless to me and I'm so happy to have them back.

''When I got them back I was just thinking about Billy and looking at the rings and thinking how lucky I was to have them back. The toll of the loss was still there and I couldn't quite believe that they had been found. I didn't sleep that night, I just kept holding them, and thinking of Billy.''

The rings are now tucked away safely and they won't be allowed in the ocean again.