In Reply to: romantic stories posted by ella_oz on Thursday, 9. June 2005 at 09:13 Bali Time:
Well, I've never been one of those girls that went looking for love. Thought if it was ever gonna happen it would just happen.
Back in 1996 I went to Bali with a girlfriend for a 3 week holiday. Every day we would be at the beach swimming, having massages & well, just relaxing.
One day I spotted this quite good looking fella sitting just a little further along the beach from us. I sat & watched as he got up for a swim. The next day at the beach as usual I looked out for him but he didn't show. A few nights later my girlfriend & I were out to dinner at La Luciola & guess who walked in? I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him & he smiled as he walked past us. A couple of days later he was back down at the beach again :). On this particular day I was sitting on the sand whilst my girlfriend was having her daily massage when THE cute guy walked straight past me & said hello. So then we started chatting. He was South African, had been working & travelling around the world for the past 5 years & bali was his last stop before heading back to SA. He invited me to sunset drinks that evening at Surya cafe on the beach (which is no longer there). My girlfriend's holiday was over & she was busy trying to extend her stay whilst I met up with David for drinks. I still had 5 days to go. Well thank goodness she couldn't change her flight because David & I ended up having this wonderful 5 romantic days together.
The time had come when I had to leave. David came to the airport with me to say goodbye. I gave him my Melbourne contact details. I was very sad. He said goodbye as I sat & watched him walk away. I thought to myself if he turns around to look back at me, then I know he is feeling the same as me. And yes, it was just like in the movies, it all seemed as if it was in slow motion but as I watched him go at the last minute he slowly turned & looked back at me. That was it, I think I cried all the way home on the plane.
Once I got home I couldn't stop thinking about him. I remembered where he was staying & tried calling, but the reception staff answered and said "no, no David here". What?? He must be... A friend suggested I try again later, perhaps a different staff member knew of him. I did call again & yes, he was there, but he was sleeping I was told! I got the fax number & began to write a note to David about how much I enjoyed our time together & how I couldn't stop thinking about him & was missing him.
Goodness, I know I am really crapping on here, sorry...
I had been home from Bali nearly a week now and I just had a gut feeling I was gonna see him again. I started ringing the airlines to find out their flight arrival schedules on the weekend. Went to bed on the Friday night only to be woken up on Saturday morning to the sound of my apartment buzzer. I flew out of bed & pressed the buzzer to hear who was there. Then I just heard this accent on the other end & ran out the door & down the stairs to see my knight in shining armour standing on the doorstep.
Well, he has been here in the land of oz since that day. Wasn't easy for a while there either as he legally wasn't allowed to work for a while & then we had to go through the whole defacto thing with the Dept of Immigration.
A couple of years later we got engaged and then we had our wedding back in Bali in 2001. 35 guests came to Bali including David's family from South Africa - Mum, Dad & 2 brothers who I then met for the very first time. Our wedding was fantastic - the ceremony was held in the gardens of the Oberoi hotel & our reception was held next door at Ku De Ta, followed by an after party held back in our villa at the Oberoi.
Aaaah, memories :))))
Sorry for the long winded story.