Ray Johnstone, 85, finds a fishing mate in 22-year-old Mati Batsinilas

REMEMBER Ray Johnstone, the adorable pensioner who posed a Gumtree ad looking for a fishing mate? Well, he’s found one in 22-year-old Mati Batsinilas.

Ray and his new mate.

REMEMBER Ray Johnstone, the adorable 85-year-old from Adelaide who posted a Gumtree ad looking for a fishing mate?

The widower’s heartbreaking plea went viral last month and thousands of legends wanted to take up Mr Johnstone’s offer and take him on a fishing trip.

One of those people was 22-year-old Mati Batsinilas, from Brisbane.

Picture: Mati Batsinilas

“I commented on Facebook news article just saying ‘Hey mate, you’ve probably found your fishing buddy and you probably don’t need me. But if you see this message I’m more than happy to take you on a trip to Queensland’,” Mr Batsinilas told news.com.au.

“I went to sleep that night thinking nothing of it, then I woke up the next morning and my comment had 1000 likes and I had 200 messages from people saying ‘Take him on a fishing trip’, so I did.”

Mati Batsinilas (fifth from right) with his family and Ray Johnston (fourth from right). Picture: Mati Batsinilas

Local newspaper The Courier Mail put the pair in contact and Mr Batsinilas paid for Mr Johnstone’s flight up to Brisbane from Adelaide. Along with Mr Batsinilas’ younger brother and a couple of news crews, the pair left at 5am yesterday for Stradbroke Island, 45 minutes off the Queensland coast. They fished for four hours and then joined Mr Batsinilas’ family for a late breakfast.

“It was a really good day,” Mr Johnstone told The Courier Mail, while being driven in a four-wheel drive near Amity Point on North Stradbroke Island. “The highlight was being taken out fishing in the morning.”

Widowed pensioner Ray Johnstone, from Lewiston, put an ad on Gumtree seeking an mate to go fishing with. His plea went viral and he has now had more than 100 offers. Picture: Matt Turner.

Mr Batsinalis is a carpenter and his family run a local fishing group, so he took his own boat out and says they caught “whiting, squid and an 84cm mulloway.”

“The idea of this trip, it wasn’t just about fishing. It was about getting him up here to bring a smile on his face,” Mr Batsinalis said.

“It wasn’t until this trip that I realised how cool it is to see the smile on Ray’s face. He was very shocked but he reckons he feels about 30 years younger. He still can’t get over it.”

Ray Johnstone and his grandchildren. Picture: Matt Turner.

As for the expense, Mr Batsinalis says he’s unsure what the total cost of Ray’s flights and accommodation came to.

“I haven’t looked at the fees to be honest. I just paid for everything. It doesn’t bother me.

I paid for him and his grandson to fly up,” he said.

“I did it out of good will. Honestly, it touched me. I come from a family of four boys and we love fishing. We do it all the time. If something was to happen to us and our old man was left on his own, that’s just awful. There’s no way I would want that to happen to my old mate or my grandfather.”

Mr Batsinalis shared several photos of him and Mr Johnstone out fishing and the posts have been liked and shared hundreds of times on Facebook.

When asked if a happy side effect of his kindness was romantic attention from online admirers, Mr Batsinalis said: “I think the answer to that is probably pretty self explanatory.”

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