DAVID and Linda George were celebrating today after winning a dream holiday to Australia, thanks to the Birmingham Mail , Birmingham International Airport and airline Emirates.

The couple, from Oakdale Road, Hodge Hill, were one of three sets of people who were shortlisted out of thousands of hopefuls who had entered the Mail's competition to win a dream holiday anywhere in the world.

Last month, we featured the stories of David and Linda and the other two shortlisted couples - Tracey and Jayne Cooper, of Castle Bromwich, and Peter and Doreen Brayley, of Kingshurst - and gave our readers the chance to vote for the couple they felt most deserved to win the trip.

Today, David and George said they were "shocked but thrilled" that they had clinched the prize, which will see them jetting off to Australia.

George, aged 57, said: "We're on cloud nine at the moment. We can't believe that we've actually won the competition.

"We are so grateful to everyone who voted for us and we are incredibly excited about the holiday, it really will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip."

David, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had nominated himself and his wife for the competition as he felt Linda, aged 54, deserved a holiday because she has stuck by him and nursed him through thick and thin ever since he was diagnosed with the illness in 2002.

"We've had a pretty hard time, but we just get on with it," said Linda, who has been plagued by pain since she developed a hip complaint at the age of 49.

She went on to have a hip replacement but it broke, leaving her in agony, and she had to have a third operation to replace it.

Linda said their trip to Australia would be "like a second honeymoon".

David, who also suffered a heart attack in 2006, said his wife had remained positive and deserved to be rewarded.

"She never complains and she'll never speak about how much she does herself so I like to speak out for her," said David, a former warehouse manager.

"She can't go out socialising because she has so much on her plate. She's helped me and we both take nothing for granted."

The Georges' prize includes two return tickets to their chosen destination, plus accommodation and spending money.