The couple had lost them in their first year of marriage in 1998, at a family BBQ. The couple had gone swimming and left their rings under a towel for safety. When the towel was folded and packed up without the rings, they seemed lost forever.

"We were newlyweds, so losing both rings we were like 'oh this isn't a good sign' ... we were so sad," said Mrs Taupeamuhu.

The rings were found in the Lake Wyangan picnicking area by Neville Garner and a metal detector. They were buried under 20cm of dirt, but only a few centimetres away from each other.

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Mr Garner's only been metal detecting for a few months, and said this was a huge find for him.

"I've been out there a couple times, found a few coins from the 1800s. I just stumbled upon them, they came out clean as ... it was certainly unexpected," he said.

He reached out to Mosese and Lesieli through facebook to try and return the rings, and found that they were only a few houses away from him.

"I could have thrown the rings, that's how close they were."

Mr Taupeamuhu mentioned that he had offered Mr Garner a bottle of wine and some money for the rings.

"I asked if he wanted to sell them to us. We gave him a bottle of wine and some money ... he came back later and returned the money. I just stood there, I didn't know what to say."

Mrs Taupeamuhu said the surprise couldn't have come at a better time.

"To return both rings, it's a miracle. The last few years were a downturn, I just came out of a surgery, we were in a car accident a few months ago. To have that and now this, this was a miracle."

The rings weren't as important as the relationship they represented though, and the Taupeamuhu's are still as in love as they day they married.

"I'm still lucky to have him," said Mrs Taupeamuhu.

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