About love lost and then gained — a second chance at happiness.
Gail Page, who was brought up in Dunedin but now lives in Melbourne, had travelled to Auckland for the World Masters Games last April with a couple of friends.
The widow competed in the women’s pairs but was looking for someone to pair up with in the mixed pairs.
She asked the organisers if she could find someone.
Up stepped Peter Davies.
And then love took over.
Mr Davies, who hails from the small town of Tuross Head, in New South Wales, said he went to the World Masters Games to play some bowls and was also looking for a partner for the mixed pairs.
The two hit it off and just failed to qualify by a point for post-section play at the Auckland event.
But the story does not end there.
They went back to their homes after leaving Auckland and stayed in touch by text.
"But I got sick of texting so I rang him and was on the phone for two and a-half hours," she said.
In June, they went to the Australian Open at the Gold Coast to play bowls — they are both professional bowls coaches. The connection grew and by now love was in the air.
They went back to Melbourne and then Sydney together and five weeks later he got down on one knee and proposed.
She said yes and now they are excited about their wedding in May in Melbourne.
Mr Davies, who has also been widowed, said the couple had a lot in common and had just clicked.
Mrs Page said she liked the look of her future husband as soon as she set eyes on him.
"I can remember at the bowls in Auckland, checking him out, and saying to my friend, ‘He looks all right. I like the look of him’."
The wedding will have a 1920s Gatsby theme. Then it is off to Europe for a four-month honeymoon for the happy couple, who are both aged 66.
