Dad found after 52 years

Kim Abraham and Bill Mcdonald have been spending time with family and making up for lost years.

Sailor didn’t know his tryst in 1960 had produced a daughter.

A Kiwi woman's life-long quest to find her sailor father has ended in an emotional meeting on the other side of the world.

Three weeks ago mum-of-one Kim Abraham put her arms around her father Bill Mcdonald for the first time.

The Scotsman and former merchant seaman spent two weeks with Abraham's mother while docked in Auckland in 1960.

But the 75-year-old didn't know the union had produced a daughter until last year, when Perth-based Abraham's long search for the man she ached to call dad came to an end.

Abraham, 52, spoke to the Herald on Sunday in April last year about her dream of finding her father, and this week shared her joy at meeting him. "I greeted dad with a big hug and a little cry," she said of their long-awaited meeting in the British city of Manchester.

"I look at dad and I can see myself.

"For the first time in my life I feel complete, and for the first time in my life I can call someone dad."

The last three weeks have been spent meeting family, including her younger half-sister, exploring her father's favourite haunts, travelling to the Greek island of Crete and indulging in retail therapy, Abraham said.

Mcdonald said his first-born was even more beautiful in real life. "I love her more and more each day and we feel like we have known each other forever. We wish we could have found each other a lot sooner but we are certainly making up for lost time."

The next big family event will likely be a trip to New Zealand in March so Mcdonald can meet his granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

"I'm not looking forward to Kim leaving at all, but we will always be in each others lives forever from now on."

Have you been reunited with someone special? Send us your stories to news@hos.co.nz