#24 An Ocean Apart, A Perfect Match | Anthony & Bella

What happens when you take a chance on love... with someone on the other side of the world?

In this heartwarming episode of Burning Bridges, Anthony and Bella share their incredible journey from meeting online—Anthony in America and Bella in Australia—to building a beautiful life together on the Gold Coast with Bella's two children.

Their story is filled with laughter, honesty, and valuable lessons about modern relationships. They open up about navigating long-distance love, recognising red flags, staying true to their values, and the intentional steps they took to create a strong and lasting marriage.

Anthony also shares his experience of leaving the United States to start a new life in Australia, the culture shock, and why he believes Australians embrace a more relaxed, friendly, and carefree way of life.

Add in their shared love of fishing, boating, and adventure, and it's easy to see why these two are a perfect match.

This episode is a celebration of taking a leap of faith, trusting the process, and discovering that sometimes your soulmate is waiting for you on the other side of the world.

If you've ever believed in love, wondered whether online dating really works, or needed a reminder that the best stories often begin with one simple message—this episode is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Hi, I'm Time Manner.

SPEAKER_03 0:04

And I'm Renee. And we're Burning Bridges Podcasts.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

We started this podcast through my own life experiences and a journey to healing. I've always been curious about what others have gone through and the moments that have defined them.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Here we believe in the power of storytelling through raw, unfiltered conversations with high-profile to everyday people. Like, follow, subscribe, and turn your notifications on.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Let's get into this episode.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

The following episode may contain discussions of sensitive and potentially distressing topics. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. This content is intended for mature audiences and may not be suitable for all listeners for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

My name's Bella.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

My name's Anthony. And you're listening to Burning Creatures Podcast. Anthony and Bella, thank you for being here. We're so excited to have you guys here with us. Welcome. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah, I reached out to you, Anthony, a while ago last year, sometime, and I saw you on TikTok and what you're doing with um how you and Bella met. Yeah. And coming from America. Correct. And you've got a beautiful love story there to share with everyone. Yeah, so we want to talk to you about the journey it took for for you from moving over from the US over to Australia, the challenges you faced along the way, and a bit of your background, both of you, Bella. So we'll start with you, Bella.

SPEAKER_06 1:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Yeah, a bit of your background, how you grew up just in general with your childhood, and then what the moment was. Because there's going to be two different stories on how you met, correct?

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Yeah, this is true. Yeah. We always thought two different versions of a very funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Is that what you think, what I thought?

SPEAKER_04 1:47

Yeah, yeah. It's good to see it through someone else's eyes. Yeah. Um, so I was born in Melbourne and I left there when I was about six years old with my mum and my sister, and we grew up in Byron Bay. So I had like the full surfy beach life until I was about 17. Um, and then I moved to the Gold Coast with a couple of my friends when I was 17 years old. I flew the coup. It was like I'd never been to the Gold Coast before either. So that was like a bit of a shock to the system going from Byron, this small tiny like tiny town, to the big city. Um and yeah, I just I grew up doing a million different jobs and things. I've done fashion, I've done um qualified as a dermal therapist. So I do things like skin needling and laser and stuff like that. And then I went on to do cosmetic tattooing. I've been a childcare worker. So yeah, so I moved when I was 17. And then I met my kid's dad when I was like 14 years old. So we're together for a little bit and then um I moved to the Gold Coast and we re-reignited. And then yeah, I went on to have two beautiful boys and did that for about 17 years with him and had a house and all of the things. COVID happened and I decided to sell my house and move back to Melbourne just to like be around family and I just I guess reconnect just with a different environment. I'd been up here my whole life, so it was really nice to just try something different. However, I was there for two weeks and COVID struck and it was pretty devastating. Um, so yeah, I had to homeschool the kids and it was just really tough, you know. I don't know if you guys know much about what happened in Melbourne, but it was like a pretty, pretty tough time. So yeah, I did that, and then I just was desperate to get home because I was like Queensland was just thriving, right? Everyone was just still out and doing their thing. And so yeah, I just packed my stuff back up and moved all the way back to Queensland. I had to do the whole quarantine with two kids for two weeks in a high-rise building with no windows. It was pretty grim. And then yeah, I just reset my life back up here and I um owned a salon, like a like a spa. I did facials and things like that. And then I moved back into childcare for a little while. And yeah, that's when I met Anthony. I'd been on my own for probably like five years at this point, and I wasn't really like looking for a relationship of any sort. I was just happy doing my thing and focusing on my kids and working really hard. And then I was on social media, and next minute, this very handsome man came into my live that I was on, and yeah, he just was asking me actual questions about myself and about Australia and saying how much he loved Australia. He's they call him the black crocodile hunter at home.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

That's cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

Because he loves reptiles and stuff like that, and he loves Steve Irwin, and then you know, there was other guys in there saying sleazy, just shallow things, and I'm just not really about that, you know. So it really stood out to me that he was just being a gentleman and asking nice things, and yeah, that was it. We kind of just went about um life and then next minute. He's a way better storyteller than I am, by the way. But do not do that pressure in the end. He's a way, way, way better storyteller than I am. But yeah, he I can't remember the the you know small details apart from I think then I had noted in my head who he was. And so I saw his live came up, came up. I think it was like a week later or something. So I jumped in and I was just like watching him, you know, just like who's this guy? I didn't stay for long. I didn't I don't even think I said anything, and I just popped out and and he must have saw that my name had came up and he messaged me straight after the live and he was like, Hey, you know, next time you come in, don't be shy, like say say hi, what's up or whatever. And then I said, Yes, sir, no problem, I can do that. And then that was really it. I just kept popping in on his lives, and then after I think it was probably like a week or two, he's like, Oh, can we can we have a chat, like a phone conversation? And like, oh, I was like, I am not falling in love with someone overseas. I was not into Jim Bros just because of my past. I was like, oh my god, everything that was presenting itself was like a repeat of like what I'd just been through, and I was like, No. Well, we had like a like a 45-minute phone conversation and uh like a video chat, and it was just beautiful. It was just we just connected straight away, and then from there we just we talked every single day, every single night we'd say goodnight, and we literally were just inseparable, and I don't think we really had a choice. I think it was just something that was supposed to happen.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

And what year was this?

SPEAKER_04 6:27

So this was back in so we were 26, so 223?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah, it was 2002. It was uh March 14th, 2023. Yeah, even though the particular date T feel good.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Yeah, we went we went back, we went back a few times to like try to figure out when I first messaged her. Yeah. Um yeah, that was it.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

So yeah, but it just kind of all we were just friends for a bit. Yeah. Even though we really liked each other, we're trying to, he'd just come out of well, he can tell the story, but he'd come out of something pretty toxic, so he wasn't really ready to be doing anything as such. And then I think it was like a month later, we're like, yeah, we really like each other and made it official. And then yeah, he decided we decided to wait six months just to like make sure everything was everything. And he planned a trip to come over to Australia in September of that year, and we spent three weeks together.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

Yeah, a little over three weeks, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

About three weeks together.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

It's good. So when you say on lives, do you mean TikTok lives?

SPEAKER_04 7:24

Yeah, TikTok live. So he was doing it way more than I was. Um I would just jump on, I'm not like huge on social media, like I'll post random things and I'll I used to go on live every now and then, but I was kind of just because I was a single parent, I was at home a lot and I was like, it's a good way for me to like connect with people I owned a salon, so I only really ever I worked a lot, so I only really connected with the people that I was treating. So it was just another way for me to like be social, I guess, at the time. So yeah. And then the rest is history, but he can explain that because he's uh he's good. That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

But you turned it off. No, I accidentally turned it off. I wasn't supposed to, sorry, that's my bad.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Okay, we're right.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Okay, yeah, we're right now. He's like so Anthony, let us know. Tell us about how you grew up and where you grew up and what your childhood was like.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

So my name's Anthony. I grew up in Florida, and uh the city I grew up in Florida was uh Fort Lauderdale. Yeah, my childhood was my childhood was pretty awesome. My folks divorced when I was eight, so it was really my mom who raised me, but they got back together when I was 12. So they got remarried. Um, but yeah, man, my childhood was my childhood was awesome. I grew up in church. I was really big in church. Um really didn't have an option. My mom was like, get up, we're going. For real. Yeah, for real. Um, and yeah, so I grew up in church, um, had a lot of had a lot of cool friends, a lot of cool experiences.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

Grew up fishing?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, I grew up. I grew up fishing. Uh one of the guys from church, um, he's the one who actually got me into fishing and got me into all the reptiles and stuff like that. So that's that's when I turned into like the crocodile hunter. He used to teach me all the different things, the names and how to catch them. So I took that with me, and I was just a huge thing. So I was always into like people go to like, oh, they would call my mom and be like, hey, can you call Anthony over to catch these lizards or get these snakes out the house? Dead serious. So I used to do that. Um avid fisherman, love fishing, catching largemouth bass. Um, spent most of my summers out fishing. Yeah, uh, what I did for what I did for work was really um, am I getting off topic or no? No, no, okay. Because I know you said about the chocolate.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Yeah, I know you asked me about the chocolate. I give you a full rundown from start to finish.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, so I do I do have one sister and then one half sister. And yeah, shout out to them, my fam. But uh, yeah, I mean, that's really it. As far as as far as uh work and stuff, I grew up in um customer service. So I was doing that for a little bit. Then I went off to automotive school so I can get my trade working on cars. And then uh for 10 years I was working on trains, and that's that's really it. About that's really about that.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Can I just ask about in Fort Lauderdale? There's no crocodiles. Use it's the alligators.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah, so we do um in Florida, we do have saltwater crocodiles, they're not like the ones here, but we do have them in captivity. I think in the Everglades we might have some, but it's mostly alligators.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

Okay, yeah, yeah. And so it's just weird that you'll be into like all of that sort of thing just because somebody told you about it, like taught you about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah, well, I've always had like a I've always had like a knack for that, like seeing like lizards around the house and always like getting in the stuff young. And um, yeah, I was like You've got like the big iguanas over there too.

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Yeah, like those and they're like invasive, so they're they're everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, massive iguanas. But um, yeah, I always had a knack for that, just to wanting to catch things, and then he actually took me out, showed me how to do it, perfect it. And you know, ever since I was just going out 25 years old, catching iguanas, taking pictures, letting them go, putting them in his mom's car, putting them in my mom's car, bringing them in. I actually lost the iguana in the house one time. Six foot iguana. I just had it like chilling on the dining table, and then I went to the bathroom, came back, and it was gone. And then my mom, she came home. I told my sister, I was like, hey, don't tell mommy anything, we're gonna catch it. She's like, Ah don't it was on her bed sunbathing. Bro, I got I got to up after that, but um, yeah, that's um, yeah, that's that's really it.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Have you been to the Australian Zoo? Surely you've been. She took me.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

We actually we went the water dragons.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

The first thing I came in because I've never seen them, I've never seen them in real life. We don't have them there like that, yeah, unless they're in captivity, but you can't catch them in captivity. So the first I told her, I was like, hey, when I get here, first water dragon I see, I'm catching it.

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Yeah, and catch it he did.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

And I the second we walked into the park, I was like, Oh, there it go.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

He got it that fast too, and he's holding it up. He's like, Take a picture, take it that fast.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

We walked into the park, I'm like, hey, there's one right there. Yeah, she's like, Where? Bro, got him. She was like, No way.

SPEAKER_06 12:14

People are just looking at him like, what the hell?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

But um, uh yeah, that's um that's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah, because that's right in our back door here. Yeah, it's a lot just up the road. Yeah, you're in a good spot.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah, it's it's nice, man. It's I would say it's a lot better than our zoos back home. Yeah, like there, there's a lot of pride taken into it as far as like the um natural kind of habitat, right? The the habitat and just I guess like the integrity of the animals too. Yeah, they look happy. I'm not saying you've got the Florida zoos, but I'm just saying, I'm just saying like this is true because I went to the was it the Everglades. No, um the it was similar to the Everglades, but it would be a good one.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

I went to a zoo over there and I I was sh I'm I was shocked. The the yeah the habitats that they were in were less undesirable and small and yeah, the animals looked a little stressed. And I think we just weren't, we do take heaps of pride. It's such a good perspective, honestly, going there and just seeing even just like the litter. Like, we don't, I mean, you know, people litter here and stuff like that, for but for the most part, like our country is just so clean and so well kept.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yeah, yeah. That was one of the first things I said. I was like, we don't see no trash on the road when I first came here. When I first came to visit her, I was like, Man, it's so cool.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

Yeah, we look up, we look up.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

This is like so weird in a way, because we're getting the American, you know, terminologies, yeah, trash. Oh, rubbish, yeah. Oh, we crack rubbish.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

We crack up all the time about his and or he'll be like, What is what is that? Like, I'll say something and he's like, What is that? What are you talking about? And then I'll tell him and he's like, I'm done with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

When I first came here, like when I first uh when I first got here after my travel visa was expired and I was able to get a job, um, I went to be get I went to go get my forklift ticket. And you know, as I'm in class, they're calling everybody's name, and then he's like explaining to us how the class is gonna go. And I was like, all right, I'm listening, he was like, all right, and you know, at this time we're gonna go take smoke okay and then da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, I'm like, I'm looking and I'm like, I'm like trying to, I'm like, smoke okay. I was like, like a smoke break? And in my head, I'm like, like a smoke break? And I was like, you know what? I'm new here. If I don't know, I'ma ask. I don't care if they laugh or whatever. So I was like, he was like, Tony. And I was like, hey, just a quick question, what's a smoke-o? And then everybody just started cracking up. He was like, oh, it's a 15-minute break, mate. And I was like, I was like, all right, who smoke oh, right? But there's definitely a bunch of terminology and stuff that she says where I'm like, what's that? Oh, that means this. I'm like, see y'all playing.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

Yeah, there's a lot, yeah. It made me learn a lot about Australia as well, like how practical we are with just so many things.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Yeah, it's like it's it's almost like we have a lazy talk, people say. We do, but we're very like cut in half, yeah, yeah, like and we're very literal, aren't we?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, we we were looking at like because uh just the way my brain works, it's like kind of like a compare and contrast. So, like if I say uh the sidewalk, like, oh let's just walk on the sidewalk and then Australian say footpath. And I was like, Well, I mean, um it makes sense because it's a path you're walking. I mean, I understand that. And then like there was there were so many, I can't think of any uh any right now, but just like that one and spinning. I was like, Australians are very literal, like whatever. What's another one?

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Well, it's like the takeout and the oh like we say we say takeout.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Like, oh, let's go grab some tickets.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

We say takeaway.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

You say takeaway, and I was like, Well, we're taking it out of the restaurant, but you're also taking it away, like different things like that. And I was like, it's just very literal. Because the sidewalk, if you're thinking about it, is like, why do you call it a sidewalk? Well, it's on the side of the road and that's where you're walking at, but you're not walking sideways, but you're but see, but that's where I mean literal. Like if you say sidewalk, you think you're walking sideways. Yeah, yeah. So like little things like that. And then um, when she uh when she I asked her, one of the guys at my job, his name is Darren, and they all they're like, Oh, Dasha. And I was like, What's Dasher? I asked her, I was like, What's Dasher? And I was like, Where'd you get Dasher from? He's like, I don't know, that's what they just call me. And then I went to one of the guys and I was like, What's Dasher? Where'd that come from? He was like, I don't know. I just hear people saying it. And I was like, and then I asked Morphe, I was like, What's Dasa?

SPEAKER_04 16:36

Yeah, like you could like Kaza, Shazza, like we just do that, or we put an O on every like bottle O or servo, or like we just and he just served.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

And I was just, and it's there was nothing wrong with it. It was just so new to me. Cause I was like, I was like, ah, and then one of the guys from my job, he's like, Hey mate, can you pass me that torch? And then I brought him a propane torch, but he meant the flashlight. He was looking at me like I was stupid. Yeah, and he was like, What are you doing? I was like, You said the torch. He was like, Oh, you Americans. And I was like, What did you want? He was like, Can you pass me the flashlight? Yeah, like making fun of me. Um, but yeah, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Never a dull moment, hey? Yeah, that's actually used. How long have you been here?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

It's been uh a little over two years.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

Two years, yeah. We've been together about three.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, two years in April, uh two years in April. April 9th. It's not that long, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

No, no, it's pretty fresh. But you know what's so actually funny is that now, especially recently, I've noticed him saying like some things in like an Australian accent-ish. Like there's a little twang, but then I find myself sometimes saying things with a little bit of an American, yeah. And I don't realize I'm saying it, but some of you that's not really American, and I was like, oh my god, I don't know. I hang out with him every other second that I'm not at work, so I don't doubt that. Yeah, it's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

So, why did you start going on TikTok lives? Is there something that you're doing at home for work or just um that's actually a really good question?

SPEAKER_01 18:11

So before I never even wanted to do TikTok, I was like more or less forced. One of my friends I kept saying, they're like, You need to do TikTok, you'll be really good. I was like, I thought TikTok was for like 15-year-old girls. Yeah, this is before like it like turned into this massive thing. And I was like, I was like, man, TikTok's not, I'm cool, man. And then I just kept saying it, oh TikTok, TikTok. I was like, all right, make me a TikTok. Or show me how to make a TikTok. So I finally did it. And then um I didn't know what to post, so I was like trying to find like I was trying to be funny, but I wasn't funny, and I was trying to do uh fitness stuff, but I wasn't, you know, wasn't catching, and then I was just doing other things, and then I found what worked. And then yeah, I was I followed a bunch of other content creators um that had really big followings, and I was asking, I was like, hey, how do you get your following so big? And they said the key was to go live as much as you can. And it gives people like even though they fall in love with your content, it gives them something to actually see, like, ah, well, we see his content, but what is he like as a person? Yeah, and they get a chance to fall in love with you or fall in love with you that way. So once they said that, I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna just go live. I don't care how awkward it is. And then I went live for the first time, and it was on for like 30 seconds, and I'm on there with one of my homegirls from work, my homegirl Willie. And I was like, Is this are we live? I'm like, is this on? Like we go, yeah, and then everybody's like, Yeah, we can see you.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I'm like, oh, we're live. I was like, yo, we're live. We can hear you too.

unknown 19:40

I was like, oh, we're live.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

And um, yeah, so I just my thing was I just wanted to get my numbers up, right? Like, just to I felt like if I got you know enough followers, then like Gymshark or these other fitness brands, they'd be able to pick me up and be like, hey, this guy has a great physique, or you know, whatever. So I was just like, I want to get as many followers as I can so that um these fitness companies can you know reach out to me. And then it just went on from there. And that's really what started making me go live. And then um, I was battling on there as I was battering battling on there as well, like um battling other people. You know, you can like gift you and whoever has the most points. Yeah, so I was doing that for a little bit. Um, yeah, and that's that's really why I was going live, getting my following up, and it's a whole world.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Hey, TikTok live because we're not really social media people, and we we only just joined TikTok just recently. Anyway, we done a you done a battle, yeah. This battle, and so no, I didn't know. This is like, what is that? A donut, like because you know how they give it. Yeah, they do baby, and I'm like, uh I don't know, like don't ask me. And it was just oh just yeah. We haven't done it again, have we?

SPEAKER_04 20:51

No, no, it is such a weird kind of concept because like people there'll be like 700 people in there, like if it's going well, right? We've had a few like really good ones, and you're just thinking to yourself, right? I'm just sitting here and imagining like 700 people just like watching you. It's it's kind of weird, really. Like, it took me ages to even like even still, like if I was to go live, I'd it just is so awkward for me because I'm like, I don't know, like I it it was it was awkward for me a little bit, but I like talking shit.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

I can just kick this shit.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

So, like if you just like talking, really yeah, um but you do it at work too.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So yeah, so I was doing it, I was doing it while I was working at my last job, so I was just doing live just literally I was doing it on the clock, but um, yeah, I was just I was just doing her, just talking shit, and we would um, you know, after I stopped battling and then I kind of did like relationship content, like the difference between or like why do women do this, why do men do this? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

That was really popular though, that got a lot of people on talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

It it triggers some people, and then it it's like food for thought for other people, so it's really engaging. So like the relationship thing worked really well.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

So tell us about your first experience meeting Bella. Online.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Okay. Yeah. Honestly, she did a really good job. So my first experience meeting her was so normally my my the the order of operations is before I go live. I'll just scroll a little bit on TikTok and then I happen to see her live on my for you page. And I was like, man, she's bad. I was like, damn, she's bad. And what I just kind of watched out because you know, for lives, you have like two options. You can watch from the outside and it doesn't show that you're watching the live, or you could tap the screen and then go into the live. So I was watching on the outside like a weirdo for a little bit. Stoolka. I got a prophet. I was like, man, let me see if she's just, you know, if she's one of these type of girls or if she actually got some substance. Um, and then, you know, she was holding pretty decent conversations. So I was like, man, let me just let me just see. So I got in, I went ahead, tapped in, and then I'm just reading all these like weird comments that these guys are writing.

SPEAKER_06 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

And I was like, oh, I got them beat, because I'm gonna just bring some substance.

SPEAKER_06 22:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

So I was like, hey, how you doing? My name's Anthony. Um no, no, I was like, hey, I'm I want to come to Australia. Where should I go? And then she happens to look up, she's like, Oh, hey, Hunter, oh well, what part of Australia? And I was like, Oh, got them. I was like, I got them beat. And then um, she was like, Oh, what part of Australia? I was like, I don't know, like, you know, well, where's the good part to go? Where are you located? And then she was like, Oh, well, we got this and this. And then I don't know if I asked about like fishing or anything.

SPEAKER_04 23:25

Yeah, you did. I said, like, what do you like to do? Whatever. So I gave you like a few options. It wasn't just where I was at.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

No, no, it was more obviously.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

Also, by the way, when you're in a live and you see someone comment, like all you can see is this tiny little picture of them. Like, I didn't know what it who he was or what he looked like, really. Like, I could see his minute picture of his face, but you don't really know who you're talking to unless you like tap out and try and like look at their profile or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

So yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, um, I asked her, I asked her a few things just to try to bring some substance, and then she uh she you know she answered everything, and you know, she was really pleasant, and then I was like, oh that Aussie accent.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Of all the accents you'd think Australian's definitely not the one that you would think you would think's nice, but that is it is, but yeah, and that that was really it.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Uh and then I ended up going live. Um, I don't know if you followed me or not or whatever, I can't remember, but I do remember right after that I ended up going live. Um, and then once I went live, um, I did see her pop in real quick, and I saw say 84 Mia Bella, and I was like, oh crap. I was like, man, this in my mind, I'm like, oh, this hottie just popped in, she's watching me now. And then I like scrolled through the feed of the numbers of the people that are in your chat, and I didn't see her there. So then I was like, all right, well, I'm already live. And when I got off live, I just messaged her and I was like, hey man, next time you pop in, make sure you say what's up. Yeah, don't be shy. And then she messaged me back, and then literally after that, the next live, she was in the whole time, and then every live after that, and then yeah, I want to say we like messaged back and forth, and then I asked her for her social media, other social media, whatever, and then she gave it to me and we just started talking. And then I she's right. I was like, hey, uh, let's do a video call. Yeah, I was making sure I'm not getting catfished either. Like, you can be bad on social media, but then like that. So I just I did want to um, you know, I did want to just talk to her, and it was more than so nervous both of us. I knew I knew that she was who she was, but you know, there's always that 1%, you know.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Um, I don't know if every y'all, if y'all ever been catfished before, but I have. So and um, but anyways, yeah, we um we ended up doing that, and I was so nervous, man. I called her, and then it was like uh I felt like I was consciously telling myself, like, Anthony, slow down.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

Oh yeah, like you're gonna be like I felt like I was like, hey bella, how you doing?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

My name's Anthony. I felt like it's how and I was like, dude, slow down.

SPEAKER_05 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

And I was actually talking, like, hey, you know, how's you doing? You know, how's your day going? XYZ, but I just felt like because I was so nervous, and I was like, she's even hotter on the camera, and I was just I was so nervous. But we talked for about an hour.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

Yeah, I was equally as nervous, and I'm like a little bit socially awkward like that. So I was just like, and I had my dress and I was like spinning it like this, but trying to like keep my composure like and everything's cool, like I'm I'm chill. I was not at all so nervous, but I kind of happen effortlessly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

It was it was it was I I think after like the first you know, like 15 minutes, it was just like you know, I've been I knew her for the whole time, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

And uh yeah, that was because let's talk about meeting online and the the fears that you have. Obviously, catfish, right? Obviously, you hear these things, these stories, Tinder swindler, yeah, people extorting money from yeah, like it's it's there's so much to it. There is, and it's like obviously when you meet someone online, it's the look first. It is, but then you do have to connect on different levels, and obviously that's what you guys did in your first conversation.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Yeah, and I think the biggest thing is too that a lot of people can have multiple other interests, so it's they can act like they're into you, but then they'll have five other people that they're also talking to. Because like when you're exposed to I know all these people, I guess you end up having a lot of people interested in you.

SPEAKER_06 27:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

So, and I I was healed at this point, so I was like, I knew exactly what I wanted, and I was totally cool just to be by myself. I wasn't actually looking for anyone because I was just working hard and I was looking after my kids. And so I was being very picky, very picky, but something about him just really was so reassuring straight away. I was like, Yeah, you very transparent, even just like he was single, right? But the way he was like conducting himself and like talking to other women and just people in general, like he just it wasn't like he was there for attention, he was just chopping it up, you know, and I really could appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

But you talk about on the lives when I was talking to you.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Yeah, it just made me, I could understand who you were a bit better, but you definitely have to be careful because it's yeah, it can go down a whole rabbit hole and you hear it all the time. And you know, we would go live on our couples page and we'd have other women, mainly women, right? A couple of men, but mainly women come in saying, Hey, I've been talking to this guy for the last 12 months. We've had like two video calls and da-da-da-da. What do you think about that? Like, is that like legitimate? And the amount of people that were getting taken for a ride was just crazy. It was and like they were like sending us inbox messages like, hey, this is going on, like, can you give us some advice? And like, we are what do you call it? Like the anon an anomaly?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Uh the anomaly as far as like um being able to me moving from the US to coming in Australia, but but just everything, just like yeah, prior to that, being able to do long distance for that long and then take the leap to come visit, and then take the leap to come move.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Um, and it's just people can't make it work in the same state or in the same city.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

And we made it happen internationally. So I more or less tell, I'm like, you know, we're the anomaly. It doesn't happen, it doesn't happen like this for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

And for it to connect on all of all the levels, not just like, you know, you can have a really good emotional connection with someone, but then like, you know, the physical connection and the that your lifestyles actually meet up. And yeah, I guess people can say what you want to hear sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Just with what we've been on TikTok, a lot of fakeness there for who they portray themselves to be, they're definitely not that person in real life. Yeah, like the lies and the bullshit that they put out there to portray them to be this type of person, yeah. It's so not them.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

It's not, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

They just know what people want to hear, so they play into that.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

And I think too, it's timing because I like what you said how you waited like six months, you know, you visited first. Yeah. I think a lot of people just kind of jump in and they take everything for face value, but you really need to allow time.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Yeah. I think the biggest thing for us too was we we after we first met, we kind of got all of these questions off these um sites on TikTok. So they post like questions for couples and stuff like that. So every day we'd send multiple to each other. Um, and then we would video the messages back to each other of the answers that we had to these questions. So we were talking about like really deep stuff, like super deep stuff, like life goals and you know, our experiences and things like that. So that gave us like a huge understanding of like, I guess, who we were to each other, and made sure we aligned, I guess, because that definitely helped us a lot. And we've told other people to try and, you know, do the same thing because it's harder to be got if you know more about somebody, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yes, yes, and no. She's saying 100% right. And we did have a lot of people messaging us um about like international relationships or long distance relationships. And um, it's I was so surprised because for me, I feel like I would know, I'm like, hey, I'm trying to see you in the next few months, right? Like, at least for me. If they're like, oh no, you know, we gotta wait, let's wait a year, bro. Why am I waiting a year to come see you? Yeah, like how come you're only calling me once every three months?

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Yeah, at the same time every day. It's because I got a whole family, bro.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

You're asking me to send you money, and it's like, bro, y'all not, and it I mean, at the end of the day, everybody's looking for love, right? Some people are looking for it really hard, and some people are more cautious about it, but like I would definitely say, like you said, is it it is time, like you do need time, but you also need to use your brain as well. Because like I think sometimes people will just be so like just looking for love that you'll ignore everything else. Yeah, well, they said they love me, so yeah, you miss all the other red flags. Yeah, amen to that.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

Yeah, well, there's 20 red flags, but but there's only there's one green, that's cool. They're all green. One red flag.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

If there's one red flag, you need to be like, Yeah, that's you can't ignore that.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

And I think too having those deep conversations, because when you're at a point in your life, especially you've gone through things, you know, ex-partners and stuff, those are the conversations you need to have. If you really are serious about somebody, yeah, you need to have those deep conversations because values need to align.

SPEAKER_04 31:59

They do, and like at this point, we've had like a whole life. Well, not a whole life, but a whole life, really, I've experienced a lot of things that you would in life. And so you need to make sure that those things are aligned or no one's perfect, right? Like we, you know, everyone has baggage or things, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

You know, conversation that you want to avoid is a conversation you need to have. Yeah, and we we done that, they we spoke about our goals educating and teaching each other about this is how I do it, how do you do it? Yeah, you know, and then you take the best option on that.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

Yeah, and then you end up in this direction together rather than it causing like some issues down the track for sure.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

But I like how you said too, like if somebody really wants to be with you, they will make the effort, they will see that they will. Yeah, like they won't wait a year or whatever. It's just like, hey, what are you doing in two months?

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Yeah, like why? I I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait because initially I wanted to come see you in three months, but we said we were gonna wait.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

Well, because I had because I have children and I'm a full-time mum. Obviously, like I trusted who he was. I wasn't scared that he was some scary dude or anything, but I also wanted to have this experience on my own because I don't just like bring people around my kids, you know, unless I know who you are, sort of thing. So it was a mixture of both. I wanted to make sure that I had time with him so we could proper ex like properly experience time together. And plus, he's coming a long way, like he deserves my undivided time. So I knew at that point, that six-month mark, my kids would have been on holidays with their dad. Um, and then I knew they were gonna return after we'd been together for some time, like a couple of weeks, and then he was gonna be able to spend some time with my kids. So I made sure I checked both boxes so make sure they got along and that that he they were okay having him in the house and around and things like that. So I mean, it went amazingly well. So we were very blessed.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

But yeah, it was it was um you're 100% right. The the waiting forever, man, like, oh I just wanna like if you care about this person, though. Yeah, I understand waiting a little bit and stuff like that, but I I was I got some personal messages um where people were like, Oh, I haven't talked to them, um, I haven't seen them in three weeks. But you're in a long distance, you haven't talked to them.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

And that's all you've got is a phone call.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

That's that's literally it. All you got is a phone call. There's no physical touch, there's no, you know, you have the motion, the emotional connection, but yeah, like that's all you got. So if that's not happening, what's happening?

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Red flag.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

And Bella, how was it for you with your family and friends? Were they like protective of you of this man coming over? It doesn't matter where how far you're coming from.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

It could be just the next suburb or the same suburb, but yeah, it's always that very much so, but at the same time, like my family and friends know I'm like a pretty strong woman, and I'm very like calculated with the things that I do, not calculated in a bad way, but just like again, I I've never like brought people around my kids unless and they all know that, and I'm very um picky. So they knew if I was entertaining this, it was for a good reason. And I guess I was still a little bit skeptical, but I don't really listen to that. I'm a bit stubborn, I'm my own person, and I've had to look after myself from a very young age, so I drive my own train, and then I I appreciate you know opinions and stuff like that, but ultimately if I'm gonna do something, that's what I'm gonna do. But yeah, they just I guess ask the questions. My mum was like, Are you sure you know him? Like, do you feel safe? I think my sisters, because I've got two sisters, they messaged me like not long after he got there, and they're like, Is he is everything all right? Is he all right? Like, is it is it amazing? Is it yeah, you know? They were a bit skeptical, but I think too because like especially with my family and friends, because I'm a little bit older and most of them don't um have social media like that. So they didn't really understand the whole TikTok thing and meeting online kind of seemed a bit lame, and they were just like, Um, how do you really know this person? So they didn't see this journey that we had witnessed or we'd have been going through. So they were a little bit like yeah, but they were definitely like it just a bit skeptical about it. But once they met him, yeah, that all went away.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

What do you think about people who think meeting online is lame? Because there is this, there is this thing around it all, right? Like, oh, you guys met online.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

Yeah. I mean, I used to think that. But this is when social media first started, and it used to be like Instagram, you know, you'd get picked up on Instagram or whatever, and I went down that path. So I was guilty of that. But I thought it was kind of lame. I guess with Instagram too, it's like face value because you like mostly everything's a post or it's a video, but not a lot, a lot of it's talking, or you don't really get to know someone's personality. So it's a little bit different. TikTok, you can like really share a lot about yourself and actually be seen as who you are rather than. I mean, there are a lot of fake people that can make sure they do the other thing. But I think it's a new way of meeting people. And honestly, I've my opinion's always been like your person might not just be in the town next door or in the same state. Like you're really like shrinking your pool of potential to meet someone that you really connect with by saying, and now we have this yeah, amazing access to people all over the world. So I definitely don't think it's lame anymore. I think it's lame if you don't do your due diligence. I think you really need to like be have your wits about you, but other than that, yeah, a lot of people do it. It's more common than you think. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

And Anthony, how was it for you with your family and friends?

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Um, oh yeah, they were 10 out of 10. So I got I got mudded out pretty bad in two relationships back to back. It was partially my fault as well for choosing those individuals, but um, yeah, I got I got put through the ringer twice. And um, so my family was definitely skeptical, and you know, my close friends were definitely skeptical about it as well, especially it being international.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

And so so far, international.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Yeah, um and yeah, I'm I'm I'm the same exact as her as far as like yeah, I hear what you're saying, but I'm my own man. Yeah, but nobody's gonna sway me unless I want to get swayed, and I'm really big on that. Your nays, your nay, your yees, your yeah. So for me, I was like, Yeah, you know, this and that, and I was like, Yeah, but who's who's talking to her? Me or you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

So like you you said I want to touch on what you're just saying before. So you've had like two previous relationships that you met online?

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Um one was online and then the other one, well, they actually were both online, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

And they failed for whatever reason. Are you able to like give us a bit information about that from what you learned from those experiences to keep pursuing it, is which is how you met Bella.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah, so I think what I learned from um from the first one is that you can't save you can't save somebody. Like as far as like if somebody's so broken down, it's it's not your job to save them, you know. And um I think I was at that point in my time where I was just trying to like you know be Captain America or whatever, and um I did that for a little bit, but in doing that you lose yourself as well. And then in the next one, um just my lack of boundaries. It was just like like internally, like fuck bro, I don't I don't stand for that shit, but I don't want to be like, uh, because then I look weak. Meanwhile inside I'm like you know, or like some stuff that you shouldn't have to say that's being done because it's like basic knowledge. Like, do I have to tell you not to do that? Do I have to tell you not to hang out with those people? And um, I just didn't do like firm boundaries like I should have. And anytime it came to do that, I was just like, I'll do it the next time, do it the next time. And then I just slowly like build a resentment, and then I the communication wasn't there. So long story short, um basically what I formulated was just like for my next relationship, I know exactly what I want. I know exactly how I'm gonna go about it. And in the talking stage, and this is exactly what we did. I didn't tell her what I was looking for because I didn't know that people could, I didn't know women. I know men do it too, but I'm in the women, so I didn't know women could shape shift. I didn't know that I'm like, oh, I'm looking for this, I'm looking for that. What do you know? It's right there. You're exactly what I was looking for. Man, that's crazy. I didn't know it was like that because I'm genuine. So what you see is what you get. What you see with Anthony is this is exactly what you get. Absolutely. Yeah, so for me, I'm thinking naively that everybody's like that. So I just came to the realization I was like, all right, well, I'm not going to say anything. I'm gonna just watch how you move. I still like you. I'm letting you know that hey, I'm into you. But I'm not gonna be like, hey, don't do that, don't do this, hey, don't go partying, don't do none of that stuff. I'm just gonna watch and see what you do. And if it aligns with my life, yeah, then we can go or I'll be like, hey, you know what? You go out too much, you know, you got too many of these kind of friends and this. Hey, you know, I I just think that we're better off, you know, as friends. So that's ultimately what I did. Not ultimately, that's what I did. And I didn't tell her what I don't expect, what I do expect. She just loved it.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

Neither did I. We both did that.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

We we literally just we vetted each other out that way, yeah, and it worked out perfectly because we aligned on everything. You know, and I know you didn't ask this, but what Bella brought in the beginning before like I even knew that I wanted to be with her was just a crazy amount of peace. Going from like crazy chaos, like those dopamine hits in a toxic relationship where you're like, Oh, it's good, it's good, and then it's bad for three months. You're like, Oh, it's good. She just brought this steady stream of like peace where I was just like, I love talking to her, man. It's just like it soothes my soul.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

It's yeah, very drama-free.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

No drama-free, no nothing, you know, even being long distance. I mean, we weren't even we weren't even together, we were just friends.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

Yeah, we're just friends, and I wasn't trying to pressure him because I'm like, I want someone to choose me when they're ready to do that. And I also was a very long distance, so I was like still uh figuring it out myself. So I'm like, you know what? I just thought to myself, if it's meant to be, it will happen and it'll happen in its own timing, not like you can't force something like that, especially not that far away. And honestly, I knew what the roadblocks ahead were, as in like him moving, and then you know, he had a dog, and like all of these other things had to like be put into place before I knew he could actually be mine and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

So I'm like, we'll just take it slow if it works out that way, then yeah, and yeah, that that was ultimately it that those two relationships prepped me for this to be like all right, this is what I'm looking for, and I'm not negotiating on anything. Yeah, it needs to be this way or the highway.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Yeah, it's so ironic and how you just talking before about how your previous relationship was so chaotic up and down, and then being with Bella was just peace. Yeah, but he did the same thing where I was too. Oh, yeah, so I had a massive big grin on my face as you're talking because I could really relate to it. Yeah, yeah. Then meeting Renee, I was a that was peace, exactly what you just said.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

He says it to me all the time. Yeah, he says it to people all the time.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Yeah, yeah, you calmed me. Asa was a calm me. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_04 43:18

The same thing happened to me. So I had had a relationship between my kid's dad and then meeting Anthony, and it was not long distance to start with, but then COVID meant he had to go back to New Zealand to New Zealand, so then it would have to be long distance, and it was toxic, just like he was saying it was very up, down, up, down, and that's why I chose to just be by myself because I was like, you know what, the next time around, I don't want to have to keep having I'm like a one person woman. I don't need to, you know, I know what I want, and unfortunately, I got stuck in a situation that I didn't want to be in. So I thought next time round, I'm either gonna just be by myself because I'm cool by myself, or I'll write wait for the right person that I know is not gonna be causing me any nervous break. Because I'm just not like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

And what you said, Anthony, too, about no, um, you're not gonna negotiate with things that you don't align with. Yeah. And when you go into a relationship with that mindset and those boundaries for yourself, it it works. It either either works or doesn't. It's not gonna work quick and sharp, like I'm not dealing with that to me on. Yeah, or you just align because you know you're not gonna accept anything that you don't align with. Yeah, because a lot of people will meet, for example, at a party in alcohol and drinking, and and that's and then the next week they're out partying and drinking again. So they're they're bonded through drinking. Yeah, and then one of those people may not be much of a drinker, but now they're trying to keep up with the other person, and then it's all fun, and then after a few months, it's just like this isn't me. I can't I don't want to be drinking every weekend. I don't want to be drinking.

SPEAKER_04 45:01

And now you're in deep because your emotions are involved. And I think this that's a good point, too, where you said, like one of his firm boundaries were that he didn't like girls that go out and party all the time. And if you tell someone in the very beginning that that's you know, you're looking for someone that doesn't go out too much in that, and then they could be like, they really want that him to pick them, so they'll be like, I don't go out too much, da-da-da. But then they can't maintain that, and so then you know, everyone's in feelings are involved now, and then five months down the track, they're like starting to go out a bit more and reverting back to who they really are, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

And yeah, to piggyback on that, the thing is that I don't want to change you. Like if you're a hardcore party or you like going out clubbing every weekend, that's cool. There's a guy who loves you for that.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

To do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

But don't trick me because you want to choose me, knowing that's not that's something I don't rock with. So that's why it's easier just to watch. Hey, so what do you got plan for the weekend? Oh, I think I'm gonna go out with the girls. Oh, your third weekend in a row. Yeah. Not keeping count, but then we can't. You don't even let them know. You don't even let it know. You just low-key, like, oh, again, cool, cool. Hope you all have fun. And that's letting you know everything. No, I think the major downfall for a lot of people missing these red flags um is that people don't want to lock in on the boundaries. You can tell them right now. Am I I'm more or less a yes or no guy, right? Yes. Yes or no, right? So for me, if I'm telling, like, if my boundaries is hey, you know, I don't really rock with the um, I don't really rock with the going out, that's for me. I'm I'm locked in on that. So I'm not gonna waver in that because I've already been there before. So if somebody was like, yeah, you know, well, I only go out every now and then and this, oh, that's cool, man. You know, well, enjoy that. But a lot of people are like, I really like this girl. And if she goes out, maybe I can bend a little bit, and that's how you lose, because then you lose a little good ground here. Oh, well, she's gonna hang out with her ex-boyfriend. Oh, we're gonna lose a little bit of ground here. Oh, well, she still keeps in contact with these friends that are toxic, and you just keep losing ground, and now you're in a deficit, and you're not getting that back because you already say yeah, yeah. And if you go back, hey, you're not a man of your word. You were you trying to control me? Yeah, you should have had that from the jump, Playboy. And that's a lot of people, and I've been told, like, in my life, oh, you're so extreme, you're controlling. No, I know what works for me. Yeah, and I'm not for everybody, and having that thought process limits your dating pool so much, and you have to be prepared for that. Like she was saying, she was perfectly happy being single. I was happy being single. I was just working on healing and doing damage control, but you have to be okay with losing out because if you're like, oh, well, no, this person has three green flags, but 20 red flags blows. Green flags are really big, but it's still got 20 red flags. So you're still in a deficit regardless. And I don't think people are willing to take that loss, the fear of missing out.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

And people uh people don't like to be on their own, I've found. Like people don't really like to be on their own. And the older you get, the more panic sets in, especially for women, I guess. Like, I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life, and then they end up settling for men that are really not. Well, I mean, men do it too. They settle for women that probably aren't everything they need, and it's just because you'd rather have somebody than have nobody. And that can be like really, yeah, take it down a bit of a slippery slope, I think. I've seen it with my own sister, unfortunately, doing that.

SPEAKER_03 48:09

I think the key that you both said, and what we both agree on is um you you need to be okay with yourself, you need to heal. Yeah, you need to have that space alone. Yeah, and a lot of people jump from one relationship to the next and they never give themselves that time to actually find out who they are or who they want. Yeah, and I think like your space, so you you were happy to be single, so were you. We all were, and I think that that creates this energy of oh, okay, so I'm gonna bring this person into your life now because you don't need them.

SPEAKER_04 48:48

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

You want them, but you don't need them, and they're just gonna add value to your life, yeah. And I think that's a beautiful thing about you know being in line with your frequencies and and good vibes and good energy, 100%, and that's what the universe brings around.

SPEAKER_04 49:02

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Yeah, yeah, it's the thing when you get into a relationship and and like you said, Anthony, you're shape shifting to meet the other person because you found out what what they're after, so you change your ways to meet that, so you're the chosen one. And then by doing that, you're losing yourself, you're losing a part of yourself each time you try to meet their needs that you don't really align with. And then when you're really locked in into that relationship, and you could be in that relationship for decades, yeah, and then it breaks down at some stage, and then you're by yourself, and then that's when people go, Oh, I need to find myself. Because you merge so much into the other person's needs, you have lost yourself.

SPEAKER_05 49:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

So that's when people go, Yeah, I need to find myself. So that's when you got to not go into another relationship, you've got to really do the work to start going back to what you were prior and even to who you are now, things change, but you've got to find that for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 50:04

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 50:05

And like you said, you you had healed and then you're ready to to move into a relationship if it was there.

SPEAKER_04 50:11

It was like a feeling I had inside that I was actually ready to give something to somebody else because like even uh when I was with my kids dad, I was with him for 17 years. So even though I was still myself, I didn't know who I was outside of being a mum and like in a long relationship. So I had to, and I was obviously much younger when I first was on my own. So then now I had to figure out what it was like to be this age and be single again and find myself, really.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:39

And I made some mistakes.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

Did you find that hard? Like what what's something that you helped you to kind of reconnect with yourself?

SPEAKER_04 50:47

I just I think I just spent a lot of time trying to find things that I love to do and reconnect with, like just having a bit more time for myself because we were sharing a little bit of custody at the time too. So I had a little bit more time on my hands to like I'm like really creative, so I was like really diving into some like creative projects and I guess reconnecting with just friends and other people and like socializing a bit more. And um, I was going to the gym and I was just looking after myself, but I think ultimately I was just giving myself some um some space mentally. Like I'd love to go to the beach by myself and just swim or just go for walks, and yeah, I think just doing stuff like that and really trying to figure out who I was at the time to figure it out, but I still didn't really know because then I waited a year and then I was in another relationship, and then that was a big learning curve for me.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

That's a good part though, learn from bad relationships.

SPEAKER_04 51:35

Yeah, well, you have to because then I feel like that's and we'll always say like the things that we've been through led us to where we are today, and we have the best version of ourselves now for each other, and it just kind of came up. I would have loved to met him meet him 10 years ago, but like it was perfect timing, really.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

I wouldn't have been she needed it 10 years ago. I was telling her that I was like, this everything that has brought me here, I needed that to be this to be this husband, to be the husband I am for you, because yeah, I definitely had a lot of growing and stuff to get to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Just going back, I really like your strategy on how you uh go into the relationship without saying, oh, this is what I'll this is what I'm after. Yeah, you you let the actions speak louder than words.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

You have to, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

Yeah, yeah. So the actions say it all. If you're like one that's oh what, you're going out with the girls, your third, fourth week, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

Because people talk a lot of shit, right? They do, they do, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:34

People, the reason why you have to let the action speak is because if you're a slick talker, you could convince anybody anything. But yeah, this is the third time. But the last time, you know, Casey's mom died and they they're really down this time. And next time you're like, you're like, you know, her mom did die, so I'm gonna, and you're gonna be empathetic. It's gonna be four months in. Well, you know, this her dog died, and then bro, you've been out four months in a row every day. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So if you if you're just able to just be like, all right, this is what it is, and just and lock it in. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with partying, everybody has their own thing, just for me, I just don't really rock with that. We'll go out, but just like if that's a lifestyle, I just know what comes with that lifestyle. Because I used to be in that lifestyle, so I know exactly what comes with that with the alcohol and the confusion and all that other stuff. So I just never really rocked with that. So that was always a big thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

The bad thing, I think, too, so if the if your partner's there going, yeah, it was Julie's birthday last week. And then the week before that, it was Mary's. Every year for the next for that month, you're gonna be going out drinking because it's their birthday. Yeah, let's go to the house.

SPEAKER_00 53:37

We can have that party here at the house. Yeah, bring Julie, Sally, all of them. And I'll make the cake, and I'll make the big cake. I'll do everything that they do at the club. I'm gonna really get into that. I've I've really wanted her, I'm like, all right, let's do this here.

SPEAKER_03 54:00

And so you're married? Yes. Tell us about your engagement, how the proposal, what what happened there?

SPEAKER_04 54:07

I'll let you I'll let you explain that a bit.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

So um initially I I had it planned where I was gonna take her to like this really beautiful field, but then the weather was just shitty. So um all I did was I got off work real early one day. Um, the rings had come in. I didn't tell her, I had hit them. And um, yeah, I went and I got a bunch of roses, and then I made petals from the garage. And then they stopped at like so from the garage to the dining table, and then it had like a little love letter I wrote there. And then from the dining table to like this uh you call it the bench. Yeah, and then I had another uh little poem there, and then I had from the bench uh with petals all the way to the living room. And then I was just waiting there in the living room uh with the ring. I had some music playing too and then yeah, I just I asked her, I was like, Hey, can you make me the happiest man in the world? I love you. And she said, Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:00

How long did you know each other when you at that point?

SPEAKER_04 55:04

Um, so we we got well, we knew we were gonna get married. This is the whole thing. Before he even proposed, we like were already planning that we wanted to get married. And obviously, because we're he's in a different country, we have to plan visas and stuff like that. Um, like we weren't gonna go through all of that if we didn't think that we were eventually gonna get married, right? So we knew it was on the cards to happen.

SPEAKER_03 55:25

Have you guys been married before?

SPEAKER_04 55:27

No, no, I haven't I was he has, but no, I wasn't, I wasn't married, surprisingly. In all that time, no, I was not. But um, so it was last was it June that we got engaged?

SPEAKER_06 55:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

So June we got engaged last year, and then we got married in November. So we'd already been together for like two and a year and a half, two years?

SPEAKER_01 55:49

No, it would be like, yeah, uh almost a year and a half, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:52

Yeah, about a year and a half, yeah. And then we got married in November, which was really beautiful. We just had like a really intimate small uh wedding. We obviously, well, originally we were gonna go to Thailand and have this big grand wedding and have everyone fly for a destination wedding and all of that, but like logistically trying to get family from Australia to Thailand and then have his American family come to Thailand, it was one going to be extremely expensive to accommodate that many people. And just um we thought, you know, it'd be nice to do that. But really, a wedding is about the two people getting married, right? And I've been pretty firm on that. My thoughts of that my whole life. But I thought if we have a more small intimate wedding, then we can spend what we would have spent on the whole wedding and take ourselves somewhere beautiful together because we really hadn't been able to travel together and have like a holiday. Like we had to everything had to kind of happen pretty fast with us. So yeah, we decided to get married down by the beach at um Carumbin, which was beautiful. Lovely. Yeah, we just had our intimate family, my kids, and um his mum flew from the States, which was beautiful. Um and yeah, we did that, and then in January we went to Thailand to have our honeymoon. So we spent three weeks um in some very amazing accommodation in Thailand, and we just had like the best time. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah, it was and it was his first time overseas apart from being in Australia. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Yeah, because I wanted to talk to you about that because um even flying over to Australia, the first time you came over to meet Bella. You've never been on a plane before. No, I've alright. No, no, I've been on a plane before international.

SPEAKER_04 57:25

I've never been international, international, especially 24 hours is a long way to come.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

And then you use both when you arrived in Australia, you had someone grab a random person grab a camera, and you had someone to film you've meet for the first time.

SPEAKER_04 57:39

Yeah, I just yeah, you gotta you gotta. No, no, I was just gonna say I was in the Brisbane airport, so I was trying to look for somebody and he was late, like late coming in because customs had nabbed him.

SPEAKER_05 57:50

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 57:51

And so, you know, I'm in the in the arrivals lounge. So who I thought I was gonna ask, like their family came through and they've left, and I'm like, oh no. And like we really wanted to capture this moment because it's like it was pretty a big deal. So I eventually found a staff member at the airport and convinced her to if she was like a security, she convinced her to film when he came through. Um, but yeah, you you tell them your side of the.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Yeah, I I was just about to head out to the thing and they were like, hey, you've been randomly selected for inspection or something. And I was like, I just looked at them like randomly. She's like, yeah, randomly. They were like scaring me, dude. Like they were opening up my luggage, ripping out my stuff, asking me all these questions, how much money I make a year. Um, why do I have so much cash on me? And like, I'm just giving them like all the answers they want, and they're just looking at me like he's telling the truth, but we don't believe him.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

Yeah. And um Then they even asked about us, like, who are you seeing?

SPEAKER_01 58:44

Yeah, and then I showed him, I was like, hey, this is our couple's TikTok page. We've been dating for six months long distance. This is my first time meeting her. Then the lady was like, How do you know if he's how do you know it's gonna work?

SPEAKER_00 58:53

I was like, Why do you care? The aimport stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:56

You just like I my mom, my mom specifically told me because I all I used to wear was my work uniform back at home. I don't matter where I went, I was at the gym, my work uniform, I went to dinner with my boys, work uniform, it don't matter. She was like, Boy, don't go up there in that damn work uniform. So I went and got some nice shoes. So I had three boxes of shoes. They're like, Why do you have all these new shoes? I was like, because my mom told me not to go in my work uniform. They were just, and then they like brought like the head manager out, and then she was real cool. She was real, she wasn't high strung at all. She was cool. She was like, all right, da-da-da-da-da. Uh everything's good. Um, and then she just watched me pack my stuff back up and gave me the green light. And as I was walking through, I just seen this random lady and I was like, hey, I'm about to meet my girl for the first time. You know, I just flew from um America to here. You know, do you mind recording me? And she's like, Yeah, yeah, that's fine. So I'm like talking to her and I'm like, you know how to use the iPhone? She's like, Yeah, I'm good. Just walk.

SPEAKER_04 59:49

Yeah, like you sure it's recording, you're like, you sure it's recording it? She's like, Yes. Yes, let's go, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 59:54

And she was able to capture that beautiful moment, man. And it's so cool because it'll like pop up on our memories.

SPEAKER_06 59:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

Or like if I'm scrolling through my phone to find something, it'll just be there, and then I'll send it to her. And just it's it's literally like it brings you right back to that time. Yeah. Like, like it's just like you're like, and you're just right there. I'm like, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

I think that's the most beautiful part about us like meeting online too, that we have so much documentation of even just like our phone calls back and forward to each other, or the things we recorded to send to each other, or yeah, just there's just been so many things.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:27

First time we said I love you.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:28

Yeah, there's just been so many things. And normally, if you're just like, I guess you meet someone in the same suburb or town, you don't really capture those moments as much. So yeah, we have yeah, some amazing memories.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

Yeah, if anyone wants to see it, jump on their TikTok page. Oh, yeah, and you can yeah, scroll down, find it somewhere. It's it's yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

It is okay for what challenges did you have personally being uh stepdad, coming into a new family, blended family, as we say?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

I wouldn't say it's any challenges. Um, I mean, it'd be it was a little difficult in the beginning just getting them to open up or me opening up to them because it's you know it is a different dynamic. Um, but yeah, what we do, I kind of just instilled in wifey was like, hey, we could just do like a little family time here and there. Um it's like our thing is like we play we. So we'll do like we as a family or like a we night.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:19

Yeah, they love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Uh like I'll kill them all in we bowling. I'm the best at the we bowling.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:24

Don't play with me. You know I win.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

Um and um and we'll do like a dinner together. So we'll sometimes we'll sit at the the uh the dinner table as a family. We'll do that sometimes.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:34

Like basketball or go out for dinner.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

Yeah, we'll go out for dinner, do things like that. Yeah, that's really it. But there I don't want to say there were any challenges, they were pretty accepting in the um in the beginning, you know, really early on.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:44

Yeah, I have a good co-parenting relationship too, so he didn't come into no baby daddy drama or nothing like that. Like we everything was cool and he was happy for us, and he, you know, he could see the the kids were adapting and everything was cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

So he's a he's a good dad too. He's a good guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:01

Yeah, he's a really good dad, but the kids are really shy, so it did take them like a little bit to warm up to him, but they absolutely adore him, like they love him now, and yeah, they've got their own little relationship, which is good about their teenagers, so it was always going to be like a little bit awkward. It's not you know, young kids are quite impressionable and it's different. You can kind of create like a relationship pretty fast with like small kids, but yeah, they love him.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:25

So you didn't get too much um backlash from your ex-part or the father about your boy your boys being around another man and things like that?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:35

No, and I think too, he like the rest of my family, he knows that I'm super picky and that I don't just like let anyone into my life or the kids' life. And um, I think probably the way I handled it was what gave him a little bit more peace um in that. I mean, it's like anything if you're um even though we we've we haven't been together for quite a few years, I think having somebody else around your kids is always like a little bit uh a bit awkward, a bit feeling like a bit. It's not a jealousy thing, it's just I don't know how to explain it. It's just like, oh, you know what I mean? Like someone else is gonna be doing that, and I think you know, you you don't want someone to replace you essentially. Um, but he never, yeah, he never made that awkward or anything. He was actually he he said, you know, he's a really nice guy and you know I'm really glad that you're happy and that was it. Yeah. And he never gave him a reason. Anthony never gave him a reason to think otherwise. Um I did tell him ahead of time too that when he first came to Australia that he would be meeting them. Um, but you know, I'd said look, he'll be here for a few weeks first and all going well. If not, then we'll change the arrangement.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:42

But that's very mature of your ex-partner to not resist it or cause any drama.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

Because a lot of relationships will uh other partner will cause it. I've got both sides of the coin, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:59

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he I he's he you know, I grew up with him. He was you know, we know each other very well, so I was happy for that because Anthony doesn't deserve that, you know, and he was doing everything he could to make sure everyone felt comfortable and the kids felt like yeah, at peace. And you know, he was you know, he went out and you know, met him and addressed him, and it was yeah, it was just the way you do it. Like I grew up in a household that didn't treat each other like that. So I was like, I'm not putting my kids through that same situation. That's just so you know, we've worked really hard to make sure that it's a really gentle co-parenting, you know, we respect each other and there's no drama. Because kids don't need that. They don't choose to grow up in that environment. So do you miss home?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:44

Uh I do miss home every now and then, but it's not like uh it's not like I miss home, I can't wait to go home. Um, I'm here, I'm here in Australia, I'm not going back. But I do miss my family, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

Yeah, do they come and visit Mark? Your I know you said your mom was here for your wedding.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

Yeah, we're gonna try to get her here more. I'm still trying to work on getting my dad here. Uh okay. Yeah, he doesn't fly. He's a work in progress, so we're gonna keep you know working on him. Um, but no, my mom's only been here once in the two years um for the wedding, but we're gonna try to get her here more. Yeah, as far as my friends, um I talked to them through video chat. That's about it. That's about it. It's a long flight, you know, it's it's a long flight.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:22

Really, to have things and it's expensive, it's really not cheap.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:25

Um, but yeah, I do I do miss home.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:27

The 24 hours that flight is it? Is that what you said? Pretty much. Well, it's it's it's a split.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:32

So um you fly to San Francisco, and then then you go, uh where did I go to Colorado and then to Tampa?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:42

So it's three flights, and that's a 24 hour. It's a lot, it's a really long haul. Like I don't like to fly anyway, but that was being on a three hour flight. So do I really I really love this man because that was a struggle for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

I'll just fall out. I'll just be on the plane lane.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:58

He can he can literally fly. Asleep anywhere, and I mean anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

I just fall out, wake up seven hours.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:06

We were on a boat fishing. We when he first came here, I took him on a charter because we both love to fish like we're like mad fishermen. He's a bit of a woman. Um depends on the day, but I love to fish. Anyway, but we were out on a fishing charter, and it was rough seas. And I only really just met him like a few weeks. Really in person, met him, so I was kind of like learning about him and stuff. And his mum had said to me, like, this man can sleep anywhere. And I was like, oh sure, whatever. Like, and we're in this rough seas, and the boat's doing this, and I'm getting lifted like this far off my seat to the point where I'm standing up. And this man is literally sitting there with his arms crossed and his head against the thing, snoring, not moving a muscle. And I was just like, very jealous, very jealous of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

Another thing I just before we sort of give our closing questions, just so I just thought of it too. I did see something that you put on your TikTok ages ago. But you're talking about how great it is being in Australia, how everyone's so you know welcoming. They say hi. When you go for walks, they say hi. Yeah. Compared to your home in the US. Whether that's because you're black, I don't know. Like, I think you'll go a lot of that because you're black.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:29

And the customer service at home is not like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:33

Um, I I I didn't, I was just wondering, I'm like, maybe it's because I'm not from here, so you're more inclined to be like, oh, he has a different accent. Oh, hey, or he just maybe looks different. Hey, how you going? You know, whatever the case is. Some people did say that because I was talking to some people in my job and they're like, I was like, maybe it's because I'm black. They're like, no, it's not because you're black, but you know, most most Australians there are they are friendly like that. You know, I'm not saying everybody out here is like that, but my first experience touching down, I'm like, man, y'all friendly out here.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:03

It's like in America, is it because like you're saying when you're walking around, people won't say hi.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

Um good morning. Yeah, not like that. They'll it'll more or less they'll probably just give you like a you know, keep it going, but it's not like that welcoming. And I'm not saying it's like I feel like welcome to Australia when they say that, but it's just like a it's like a a genuine, like, hey, how you going? Oh, hey, pretty much.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:26

It's definitely much more friendly here. Yeah, because even when I went to the States, people aren't just inclined to just say hi to you or anything. The only time the only difference I noticed was like within like the um, like if you go to a restaurant or something over there, they are so nice, like so nice, right? Whereas here you don't get that same customer service, but it's because they're paid differently. Yeah, you get the tips, exactly. You're on minimum wage over there and you're living off your tips. Whereas here, you're still gonna get your alley, right, regardless if you're root or not. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

It was it was definitely that um not as friendly. And the one thing I noticed that um, you know, I was telling wifey is that like if we go to one of the malls or whatever, so you know you got woolies, you got coals, you got all these things in the mall, you could just take a basket and then go into you could take like if you're in Woolies' shopping cart, yeah. Yeah, you got your you got your uh shopping cart, so you got your woolly's groceries, and then you can go into Kohl's, but you already have your Woolies groceries, so now you're putting groceries you haven't bought yet in the same thing where stuff is bought. And for me, right, you automatically getting picked out back at home. Hey, what are you doing? Hey, what's that? I'm dead serious. Like, I'm watching her doing that, and I'm like, I'm like, yo, yo, what are you doing? She's like, oh no, I'm just putting, I was like, but we already paid for that, and that's not paid for. Yeah, and I'm like traumatized because I'm like, yo, security coming. Yeah, and uh I'm not even kidding. I finally just got used to it, like just watching stuff get stacked in and it's okay. But I'm like, I just never want to give nobody a reason to say nothing to me, right? Yeah, so um, that was another thing that was like like mixing the groceries. It seems small, but like that's that's really big, yeah. And then the other thing I was telling her, uh I even said in that video that you're talking about, was that um, you know, walking past um walking past like white women and stuff back in the States. Like if I if I was one of the malls that I used to go to, um, I remember it would happen like twice in this mall. I was walking past this white lady, and she literally looked these two white women, she looked at me, moved her purse over to this side and just looked at me as I was walking by. And I was like, I was like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, and um I have not had that happen once here.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

No, or even getting followed around, yeah in like big department stores, or like I went to the States to the Bass Pro fishing shop with him, and he said he'd never get customer service in there, but because he had someone with him, yeah. Whether it was I don't know what the difference was, but yeah, yeah, I don't even know.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

The Bass Pro Shop, they do have great customer service. We got them exceptional. We get sure because I love Bass Pro Shop, that's my shop, but I've never gotten um I've never gotten this exceptional customer service.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:14

Like he took us to the item, this guy, and he was so chatty and friendly. And Anthony's looking at me like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

I didn't understand until he explained to me that normally normally they'll just be like, I was like, hey, we're looking for this car heart wallet, and they're like, Oh, yeah, uh, you just go over to that end cap over there. My man was like, Hey, let me take you over there.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:33

Took us over there, he looked bell up and down, he's like, Yeah, let me take you over there. Take us over there. He couldn't find it, got on the walkie. Hey, do you guys know where this? They're like, another person comes. I was like, I ain't never getting this kind of customer service before.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:46

And she's like, Oh, they're so nice here. Yeah, I was like, it's not that nice.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:49

Yeah, it's normally not like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:51

But um, yeah, that was just uh that was just a few of the things that I've noticed um from the US to Australia. And they some people might think they're small, but that's pretty big for me, like coming over here and not really having to worry about that.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:03

And I was like, damn, I'm not, I'm not, I don't want to say I was in survival mode, but I'm definitely like, you know, kind of like you know, wound down a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:11

It definitely I can tell the difference. I'm still even the guy, like the whole because we don't have that same culture of having to have guns and it's a bit more dangerous and things like that. It's definitely he's definitely wound down a little bit because it's just an indifferent environment.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:27

For sure. Yeah, I'm I'm just definitely way more relaxed now. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:31

That's really interesting because you know, you hear you s we hear stuff on the news about America, the racism, the guns, the violence. Yeah. And it's pretty out of it. Like for us that have grown up in Australia, that that's not what it's like. Yeah, obviously there's racism. No, yeah, yeah, for sure. But like I feel over there it's like next level, and you just confirming those sorts of stories. Yeah. Yeah. That's like to live like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:57

Even for me, like knowing that he had them was weird. Like it took have like because you carried what you're doing. Oh, yeah, my concealed carry, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:06

Yeah, so you're allowed to have a gun. You carried a gun.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:10

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I had my conceal carry on me at all times.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:14

Your concealed carry, the gun. I don't know if you're trying to get monetized.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:20

If we can say gun, I had the 38th special on me.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:25

Wow, because you you carried that on you because you could, or you had to go.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:30

Yeah, so or both. Uh so what it was, check this out. So what it was was that anything could like anywhere, anything could happen. Somebody here could just, you know, pull something out, you know, whatever the case is. And ultimately what happened was uh after George Floyd had died, it was a bunch of crazy stuff going on, and my dad just encouraged me. He's like, hey, you might as well get your concealed weapons permit because I'm hearing some crazy stuff, and people are acting crazy out here. So better to have it not needed than need it and not have it. So I went ahead and I got it, and um, yeah, I just carry it on me because you don't know which bozo or which really like the wild wild box. I I could go to I can go to Walmart, next thing you know, somebody bring out an AK, and then you're just people are getting sawed down, and then you're next in line. And you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:18

And isn't that just so wild to hear that? Because it's just so foreign, it's so foreign. And and just being over there, you can feel it. I didn't even have to see the gun, and I could just feel like I don't know, it's not that I felt unsafe because I was with him, but there was just this level of um unsafety, like you just don't know, right? Like it's just a bit, it's like the wild, wild worse for real.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:39

And it was weird because when I moved here, I was like, because once you have it on you, you just you know I'm saying I was like, like you don't need to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:47

And he kept questioning things, like so. If this happens, then what do people even do? Like, how do you even defend yourself? Like he had so many questions as to like how do you live in this society and not defend yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:58

Like it was just yeah at home, you got the castle law. This right here is your castle. If anybody comes into your castle, now they're part of your castle. In Australia, if somebody comes into your castle, you need to ask them a million questions. Hey, how old are you? What are you doing here? What kind of weapon do you have? Yeah, because I need to match your force. No, no, if you come in my house back at home, then you're part of it until they come get you. So I was asking, I was like, so what happens if somebody and the most important part is knowing the law. So back at home, as long as you know the law and you know all the rules and regulations, you're protected. But if you don't know the rules and regulations and you do something you're not supposed to, now you could potentially lose your life because you didn't know. So she's right. I wanted to know all the laws here, in case something happened, because I'm still in survival mode coming from the US. It's what happens when somebody comes in. Not saying we live in a bad area, but like what happens if somebody comes in, what happens in this? What happens if they don't happen to make it out? Like what happens?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:50

And people are really empathetic towards him too, because I think he made a post about it. Someone had asked him, and so he did then did a uh post about it. And like the amount of comments from Australians saying like how sad they felt, like that people were actually living in that manner was just crazy. Hey, they were just like, I can't believe that. Like, that's just yeah, it's mind-blowing. But lucky we don't have to deal with that, you know what I mean? Web West in that way. In Australia now, mate. Oh, I'm chilling. I'm chilling.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:17

I'm chilling. Everybody's cool, I haven't had any issues being here, but it's been really nice. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:22

Yeah, we just call the police here.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:24

Yeah. No, you call the police back at home too.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:33

That was uh, yeah, whether something happens with that, but anyway, that's all we got. Literally, literally, yeah. Make a phone call. Yeah. My closing question is if you could describe what you admire about each other. So Bella, if you could go first. Yeah, okay. What would what do you admire most about your husband?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:55

I admire most about my husband. Probably just his his drive and dedication and his tenacity, like and he's a man of his word. That for me, that's a massive thing. So like that's one probably the highest thing I admire about him. And that he just takes care of his business. So like he he's very like accountable for his actions and like what he puts out in the world. And I think that's that's so lacking, you know, in partners and just people in general these days. So and that he's just super loving and super yeah, super loving, super thoughtful. And yeah, we mirror a lot of the same things, like, you know, when he chooses something, that's what he chooses, and yeah. That's what I love about you, as a moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:39

And for me, um, you know, what I admire most about uh Bella is her amazing big heart. I never witnessed anything like that before. I told you just how soft you are and your big heart and how empathetic she is for everything. And sometimes I'm like, I get too empathetic sometimes, but it's amazing. Like when you go, when you go back and look at it, it's just like man. And not only that, she puts herself before everybody. Even when I'm like, hey baby, you don't have to do that no matter what, she's still no matter what, you're still doing that, and taking care of making sure everybody's good and the resilience, even when you're on zero, you still keep going, baby, take a break. Oh no, I got it, I got it. And she just keeps going and keeps going no matter what. So I think those are the few a few of the core things that I really do admire about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:23

Thank you, Baba. I appreciate you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:29

And your social media. So if people wanna that uh following you, wanna follow you on your social media, Bella, what's your social media?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:35

Um, mine's 84 Mia Bella, and then we do have a couple's page uh which is tagged there. I think it's Pella. But you'll see it's on our on my page.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:48

And yours, Anthony. Mine is on TikTok Hunter 1989.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:53

Give them a follow. Pretty cool content that they've got going there. It's all real, genuine stuff, and thank you. Talks about uh what you've what the move was like and your experiences here in Australia compared to where you're from, and it's very eye-opening for a lot of Australians who aren't brought up and around that type of lifestyle. And so thank you both so much for being here with us on Burning Bridges Podcast. You can tell your family, absolutely watch it, yeah. Actually, say we've made it, we've cracked it, we're all good.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:26

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having us. So we really appreciate the opportunity to yeah, come and talk to you. You're both amazing people.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:33

So your stories, appreciate you, appreciate you too.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:37

We always go up with uh leaders, leaders, leaders, peace out, peace out.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:43

I love it.