Paul Van Der Toorren proposed to his girlfriend of seven years, Elysia Simons, at Uluru, the place they first met as children. Photo: Instagram/@shotfromtheheart

Anyone who saw the Qantas ad featuring a choir of 100 Aussie children singing 'I still call Australia home,' could never easily forget it. It's one of those iconic adverts that imprinted itself on the collective imagination of the country. The ad is also responsible for a real-life romance that's about to become a marriage, with an emotional proposal involving two cast members occurring at Uluru; the place they first met as children.

Elysia Simons was just 9 when she met Paul Van Der Toorren; both were members of the respective Australian Girls Choir and National Boys Choir in 1999 when they were invited to take part in the filming of the Qantas ad. Elysia - now a wedding and family photographer - posted their story on Instagram. It all began when they were placed next to each other during filming.



"Paul stood to my right and in between takes we would chat and joke around. One of the things I remember most is Paul being this shy, smiley kid that looked away as he giggled at my (probably not funny) jokes."



With the friendly connection made before the existence of the social media networks we use today, further contact was difficult, she says.

"We saw each other a few times after at choir events but being nine-year-olds in an age where there was no Instagram, Facebook or mobile phones, it didn't even cross our minds to exchange details."

In high school, they made contact once more through mutual friends on MySpace and their close connection endured through the end of school and into uni, where romance blossomed.

"Not too long after, our friendship turned into mutual crushes and I soon realised that what we had was better than the best kind of love."

They have now been together for seven years and recently became engaged in the most adorable way. Paul concocted a plan to get Elysia back to Uluru for his big proposal, but she wasn't allowed to suspect anything was up. He contacted Qantas and Channel 9 and together, they flew the pair back under the guise of making a documentary about the Field of Light art installation by Bruce Monroe.

Elysia was contacted by Qantas so that she would think she was the one making the trip happen. With her best friend working with the company in marketing, Elysia thought she was the one responsible. She was told the one hurdle would be encouraging Paul to take part, but Elysia was confident Paul would love the idea.

"Qantas flew us in business class to central Australia where we were filmed arriving and exploring around one of the most incredible places on earth. We stopped at sunset at the most breathtaking spot near Uluru and as we were being interviewed Paul confessed that we were not actually there to view the field of light at all."


With cameras still rolling, the proposal took place with Uluru as the backdrop. The answer of course, was an enthusiastic 'Yes!'



Speaking to Put A Ring On It, she says she began planning the minute they got back from the trip.

"I'm in the wedding industry so I knew exactly what I wanted. We are getting married in January in the Yarra Valley at a beautiful venue called The Riverstone Estate. We can't wait!"