STORY - ONLINE LOVE

Woman travels to Mackay to find true love

ASHARED love for camping and good conversation meant Patricia Smith and David Luckock were a match from the get-go.

Living in remote areas and working in isolation meant they felt a lack of social connections and opportunities to get out there to find “the one”.

After meeting on an online dating app the pair talked for nine months over the internet and the phone before meeting in person.

Being a 14-hour drive from the New South Wales-queensland border town of Thargomindah to Ilbilbie south of Mackay, they made their first date worthwhile and unusual. The approach proved to be a success for the couple that is now happily married.

School holidays had begun and Mrs Luckock packed the car and travelled all the way to Mr Luckock’s property near Ilbilbie.

There were nerves and excitement when Mrs Luckock drove to a foreign place to spend a week camping with a man she had never met in person.

“We met on the corner of the highway because I had not been up there,” Mrs Luckock said.

“I had phone reception the whole way. I took the risk and never looked back.”

Mr Luckock had the camp site on his property set up for her arrival.

“We knew beforehand that it was going to work, we just had to make it happen,” Mrs Luckock said.

“With online dating you are a bit nervous and dubious to take the risk.”

Mr Luckock decided to make the move to Thargomindah for a seachange and career change. A diesel fitter by trade he now runs his own canvassing and leather work business in the country town where Mrs Luckock works as a teacher.

The proposal happened spontaneously over a lunch at Flaxton Gardens in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

“He said ‘I don’t have the ring yet but will you marry me’ and I cried and he sat there laughing,” Mrs Luckock said.

The couple wedded at the same location eight months later on June 29, 2017 with an intimate ceremony.

“He is my yin and I am his yang, he calms me and I offer support when he needs it, our partnership works, when one is weak the other one is strong,” Mrs Luckock said.