Jade King’s story is proof that you can find a romantic match anywhere — even in a car park after abseiling down a mountain.
The road to true love can be hard enough to navigate in a big city, but for this farmer the dirt track to a new relationship was threatening to be a dead end.
Ms King leads a hectic life as a native finger lime grower, cattle and sheep producer, agricultural science teacher, agronomist, Nuffield scholar and mum.
With her first marriage behind her, friends had joked she should go on Farmer Wants a Wife.
“Look, it was scary — being a farmer, I can’t relocate,” Ms King said.
“So, to be honest, I figured I was scraping at the bottom of the barrel, because that’s all that would be left at this point and so I’d given up.”
The 45-year-old, who lives near the Glass House Mountains, began climbing at least one mountain a day for fitness, finding peace of mind and a new circle of friends.
“I find it really hard when I don’t get up a mountain now on a daily basis because it’s so much pressure otherwise,” Ms King said.
“I am fast-paced — I am on the go constantly, but I was able to fit this in.
“It just makes me more capable of handling everything, the daily stresses, everything that comes my way.”
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‘Jade the legend’
After taking on a challenge to climb 52 peaks in a year, Ms King met Joel Abbot in a car park.
They had completed the strenuous Three Peaks Challenge at Mount Barney with different climbing groups.
“I was trying to be really healthy and fit and I kept hearing about this person who was doing all this crazy stuff as well,” Mr Abbot said.
“To the point of ‘this Jade chick’ became a bit of a legend in the hiking community and everyone keeps saying, ‘You should meet Jade, she’s crazy like you.'”
A mutual friend introduced her as “Jade the legend” and that was how the data technician with a CCTV and surveillance systems business in Brisbane added Ms King’s number to his phone.
One hike led to another and, after two years of dating, working and climbing, a cheeky proposal came at the top of their special place, Coongara Rock, near Biggenden.
“The sun was setting, it was just a perfect spot, perfect time, but I pretended that I tripped over and injured my knee,” Mr Abbot said.
“So she’s come over, being the beautiful soul that she is, going “Oh, are you OK?”
As the 49-year-old went down on one knee, Ms King fell for his ruse.
“I was thinking, ‘How on earth am I going to get him off this rock if he’s hurt?'” she laughed.
One perfect day
In early May the couple married at the base of Mount Tibrogargan.
“Because my dad couldn’t quite climb it and he’s not well … I really wanted my dad there,” Ms King said.
Weeks of rain cleared for a sunny afternoon, perfect for a wedding and a climb.
“It was also 29 degrees and I’m climbing in a full suit, long-sleeve shirt, Jade’s in her wedding dress,” Mr Abbott said,
“So it was quite a hot climb in the end.”
Friends set up ropes, and helped the newlyweds into harnesses before they rappelled down to the mouth of a cave, with their equally adventurous wedding photographer.
“She was abseiling, so she was capturing photos as we were abseiling. Some friends down below were capturing photos from inside the cave out and others were doing drone work,” Ms King said.
Back at the fingerlime farm, friends and family pitched in to prepare the party.
“A climbing mate, he did the whole hangi thing, then we had another climbing mate that did the sweets,” friend Hanna Brandli said.
“Nothing was missing — it was just beautiful.”
Ms King said the event got good reviews.
“We’ve been told that it was the best wedding and it set a new standard,” she said.
‘It’s just uncanny’
Chloe Fletcher from the University of South Australia works to improve farmers’ wellbeing through the free online toolkit ifarmwell and says the couple’s love story is a great example for others on the land.
“Farmers in particular often work really long hours, they’re often tied to the farm because it’s not only their workplace, but usually it’s their home too,” she said.
“Something important for particularly farmers to recognise is that without prioritising their own wellbeing, they’re not going to be able to look after the wellbeing of their farm.”
Mr Abbot now does a lot more commuting, but he says making a farmer his wife has made his life whole.
“You don’t understand it — I’ve been married before, as Jade has as well,” he said.
“To find someone that has the same drive, ambition, goals, passion for life, especially at this age — it’s just uncanny, it’s unbelievable and we are just so perfect for each other it’s ridiculous.”
Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday.