In July 1999 I bought my first home computer and decided to have a look in a chatroom to see what they were all about.

Logging on I didn't really know what to talk to anyone about. Having heard 'danger' stories of people lying and pretending to be someone they're not I was naturally apprehensive.

Renae waits for Paul in Sydney

I decided to look for someone English so I could find out more about a tv show I had been watching called 'Goodnight Sweetheart'. As I was watching other people talking in a general room I noticed someone saying they were from England. I messaged him straight away and we got chatting. He was the first person I spoke to online. We continued chatting almost every night for the next few months, him tell me about his life and me telling him about mine.

At the beginning of 2000, Paul mentioned going on holiday so I suggested Sydney, Australia with myself as his tour guide. At first we joked around about him coming but then we thought: why not?

As July came nearer I got more and more nervous, worried he might think me different to the pictures I had sent, or we might not get on as well in person as we did online.

It had to be 'roo: Paul in Australia

The day we met was nerve-wracking. Catching the train to town I kept thinking of all the warnings I had heard about meeting people off the internet. I had arranged for some friends and my mother to call me throughout the day to check that everything was okay. As soon as we met I knew everrything would be okay, he was exactly what I thought he would be.

His two week trip turned into a four week trip with a tearful goodbye at the airport (from me). He promised to come back for Christmas and take me back with him.

The four months that followed were really hard, with lots of parcels and long distance phone calls. When December finally came around I couldn't wait to get to the airport to meet him. He stayed with my family for a month, before we both left Sydney to go on our first holiday abroad together, travelling through Sri Lanka and Paris before finally arriving in Manchester.

We've been together now for four years and I couldn't be happier. Going online that day and meeting Paul was the best thing that's ever happened to me.