(UPI) A New Zealand surfer who dropped his wedding ring into the ocean was reunited with the precious possession with help from a stranger with a metal detector.

Craig Hudson of Auckland said he was surfing at Orewa Beach when his wedding ring fell from his finger and splashed into the ocean.

Hudson said he dove underwater to search for the ring, but was unable to find it.

"I spent ages trying to find it with no luck and that dreaded feeling that I was going to have to tell my wife," Hudson told Stuff.co.nz.

Hudson's wife, Bronwyn, posted in a Facebook group dedicated to the Hibiscus Coast in the hopes that someone had found the ring, but there were no leads.

She saw a post from Oliver Trottier of Snells Beach, who had used his metal detector to find someone else's lost ring.

Bronwyn Hudson enlisted Trottier's help to search for her husband's lost ring.

Trottier said an electrical storm caused too much interference for him to have any luck Sunday, but after several hours of searching Monday he found the ring in a deep hole.

"Gold rings have good conductors. The machine just freaks out when it goes over that kind of thing," Trottier said.

Hudson said he was surprised that Trottier found his lost item.

"It's pretty special that someone would give up their time to find it," he said.

Hudson said the incident wasn't even the first time he had lost the ring -- he once lost it during a trip to the lake with some friends, and it turned up 11 years later in a picnic bag that had been in his garage ever since the trip.

"The fact I've lost it for a second time and someone else found it it's incredible. It must be a sign my marriage will last," he told the New Zealand Herald.

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