Love Stories: A stolen passport and a 120-hour bus trip led Julie and Cameron to 14 years of marriage
"I normally wouldn't respond to male attention of that sort, you know, you just put your head down and keep walking," says Julie Muir, explaining how she first met her now husband.
"But I looked over and he had red hair."
It was 2007 in Banos, a city in Ecuador. Julie was on a six-month trip travelling solo around South America from her home in Ireland and she'd reached the point where the homesickness was starting to set in.?
Walking down the street, she passed a bar with a group of men sitting on stools outside who also seemed to be backpacking.
READ MORE: Zara's husband reveals truth about 'One Pint Willy'
"They were, like, kind of up to no good," Julie laughs, explaining that the boys were 'hollering' at passers by.
As she walked past, they continue to try to get her attention, and when she turned around one of them caught her eye.
"I was a little bit homesick," she tells 9Honey. "This was like quite far into my trip, and just in that split second, I thought, 'Oh, I think he's Irish', because of the red hair.
"It might be kind of a silly assumption, obviously could be red haired folks in lots of different nationalities.?
"Butกญ I don't know. I just thought, 'I think he's Irish'. And I thought, 'Oh, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'll go over and have a chat to him'."
So, Julie crossed the street to enter the bar, unaware she was about to meet the love of her life.?
"Some of the other guys were Irish, I guess it doesn't really matter, but Cameron was Aussie," she explains.
"We hit it off straight away. Instant connection. Like sparks, fireworks, chemistry, the whole shebang."
It turns out Cameron was also on a trip around South America, however he'd encountered a rather large issue right before meeting Julie - his passport had been stolen.?
With Cameron stuck in Ecuador, he and Julie spent another two days in Banos before she continued on her trip.
A short while later, Julie found herself in Quito, Ecuador, where she was able to meet up with Cameron.
"We're in South America, there's a bit of a backpacker circuit, so it's not uncommon to kind of meet up again at other hostels.
"Facebook had just started around that time, and we swapped Facebooks and then we were sort of saying, 'Oh, I'm going this direction you're going that direction.' So we were happy to get to meet up."
READ MORE: Only the biggest and best (early) Boxing Day deals as they drop
But still, Cameron was stranded without his passport in a foreign country with no Australian embassy and a language that he couldn't speak or understand.?
But lucky for him, he quickly learnt that Julie could speak Spanish.?
"She helped me figure out how I could get a passport," says Cameron. "I had to go back down to Peru [where the embassy was]."
"During my travels in Peru, Jules went up to Colombia," he continues. "Then she found a flight for me back to Australia out of Colombia.
"So, I went down to Peru, and then went all the way back up to Colombia which is about 120 hours on a bus."
While Cameron could have gotten his passport in Peru and flown out, he explains that he wanted to see Julie again before going home, so he took the trip back to Colombia to spend a few more days together.?
It was during those few days that Julie decided their story wasn't meant to end there and she would go with Cameron back to Australia.
"I went home for a week," she says. "Got some new clothes and then went to Australia.
"It was a bit of a shock for my family because they probably thought I was going to go home. And then I was like, 'No, I'm off again'. And I'm sort of chasing a guy around the world."
She says that although her family knew of Cameron, they had never met him, but nothing was stopping Julie from getting on a plane to the other side of the world.?
The couple ended up moving in together in Sydney within a time frame that Julie laughingly referred to as 'super quickly'.
READ MORE: Kate Hudson announces shock career change
Within nine months, they found themselves on a picnic in The Riverina in New South Wales.?
"They call it a beach, but it was far from a beach," she explains. "More like a river, swampy. It's big, but not what I would describe as a beach."
She continues to share that they sat down for a picnic when Cameron pulled out a ring and proposed.?
The couple set a date to get married in Ireland, Julie explaining that she wanted her family to meet her new fiancจฆ before they were married.?
"We went home [to Ireland], like, I think two months before the wedding so that literally all my friends and family could meet Cameron before the wedding," she said.
She says that her family was shocked by the proposal, explaining that they were, "probably nervous just based on previous boyfriends."
"They were, I'd say, they were all holding their breath until they actually met him.
"At that point, I mean, the wheels were moving, the train had already left the station like, we weren't really seeking their approval.?
"But when they met him and they talked to him, they all really liked him."
READ MORE: George Clooney says Perry 'wasn't happy' with Friends success
The wedding was officiated by a registry worker, since the couple wanted a civil ceremony and wedding celebrants didn't yet exist in Ireland.?
Julie had assured her mum that despite not being married in a Catholic church, the ceremony would still be meaningful, so she decided to write the whole ceremony herself.?
"That sort of inspired me, our whole love story and writing are my own wedding ceremony," she says.
READ MORE: Star's plea to millions ahead of wife's skull surgery
"It inspired me to become a celebrant. So now, I'm a full time celebrant, and I tell other people's love stories."
Julie and Cameron spent two years together in Ireland, before moving back to Australia.
Now, the couple have been happily married for 14 years now, all thanks to a homesick encounter, a stolen passport, and a 120-hour bus trip.
For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here
