Cambell Priest and Tiana Storm met as nine-year-olds on the day his family moved from Auckland to the Gold Coast. They lost contact at 13 but never forgot each other.
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Cambell: My parents moved to Australia for a fresh start. They found a place in Labrador [on the Gold Coast]. The first night we were there, right around dinner time, the entire complex worth of kids, about 10 children, all came knocking at the door insisting we come outside to meet everyone. I don’t remember if me and Tiana talked that night, but I spotted her and was stunned at her beauty. I was kind of in love from that moment, to be honest.
Tiana and Cambell shared a close bond as children after Cambell’s family moved to the Gold Coast. (Supplied: Tiana Storm)
Tiana: I grew up in a single-parent household and I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house in Labrador. I always enjoyed being around [the other kids there] playing spotlight and those sorts of things.
There were lots of siblings in that place so I had lots of friends, but was also a bit of an outsider. When Cambell moved in everything changed for me because we had this unspoken familiarity with each other and connected so deeply. I had somebody who I felt safe with, and I didn’t feel like an outsider in the same way I had before.
Cambell never partook in peer pressure or indulged in any nasty behaviour for the sake of fitting in with other kids and I really appreciated that. I felt like there was a deep understanding of what it felt like to be an outsider.
Losing touch and finding each other again
Cambell: When we were starting high school I’d made it into the rugby excellence program. I grew up in New Zealand and wanted to be an All Black. I used to be very good at rugby and believed that’s what my future career would be, so I was fixated on that. I ended up shifting schools because they had a rugby program at a different school, so we moved and I lost touch with Tiana.
Tiana (left) and Cambell (right) at the Infinity funhouse attraction on the Gold Coast as children. (Supplied: Tiana Storm)
Tiana: It was a time before every 13-year-old had a mobile phone and social media so we went many years without speaking. One night in 2022 I had a dream about Cambell. He was in my apartment, sitting on the couch, and we’d just been talking. I didn’t know what we had been speaking about but it felt warm and familiar, just like when we were kids. It reminded me how special it was to be connected with him. So after 12 years of not seeing each other I found his very inactive Facebook account and sent him a message.
Tiana and Cambell recreate their childhood photo at the same venue on their first anniversary as a couple. (Supplied: Tiana Storm)
Cambell: I was talking with my boxing coach one day about how it’s difficult to find someone who you have that deep emotional connection with. I was like, “there is this one person that I’ve been deeply in love with since I was nine years old.” Then three days later she had that dream and messaged me, and a week later we finally got to re-meet each other.
Tiana: Cambell came to my apartment with pizza and red wine. It was like we were meeting each other for the first time, kind of a blind date [because] we were seeing each other for the first time as adults. But it was beautiful, and we instantly fell into this warmth and safety. We planned to have our second date a couple of days later and after 12 years of being apart we kind of couldn’t let go of each other.
Tiana and Cambell a month after they reunited. (Supplied: Tiana Storm)
Cambell: We were hanging out all the time, so much so that we ended up moving in together after about a month and a half. It felt like we’d never spent time apart and like we were already in a 10-year-long relationship at that point.
A decent proposal
Tiana: Earlier this year we moved to Batemans Bay. We put the dog and the cat in the car, drove 12 hours, and a couple of days later I had to fly back to the Gold Coast because I still had some work commitments up there. Cambell was going to stay with the animals.
Mum told me she had organised [a catch-up] with a family friend who still lives in the housing complex where Cambell and I met. I was like, “OK, sounds good.”
Cambell created an elaborate trail of candles to propose to Tiana at the housing complex where they met as children. (Supplied: Tiana Storm)
Cambell: I came up with a plan to [propose at the complex]. I basically lined the whole complex with tealight candles, and then in specific spots where we had core memories together, a bigger, coloured candle with a rose that would have a note attached to it.
I spoke to all the people in the complex and thankfully there were still a few I knew from when I was there, because I was setting up 480 candles. I pretty much got everyone in on it.
Tiana: I definitely think [being engaged] has [strengthened our bond]. There’s a part of me that wants to be the best version of myself because we’re in it together now.
