Kim Cooper moved from Melbourne to Townsville by herself to study year 12, was an Australian Idol finalist and is now a full-time carer for her father in Ocean Grove.
After growing up in Glen Waverley with her mum, dad and sister, Kim eventually moved to North Queensland to complete her studies.
She fell in love with the ‘dry tropics’ of Townsville.
“I went there on a holiday and came home and said I was moving even if I had to hitchhike – I loved it,” she says.
After year 12, Kim moved out and lived in a backpackers hostel and sang full time for an acoustic duo.
“I even lived in a caravan park for a while,” she says.
“I just loved North Queensland and fell in love with it almost the minute I went there.
“It just felt like my native land. The heat felt right, the tropical landscape felt like home.
“Eventually I landed on my feet and found an apartment and started working in retail and fashion and then Idol happened. I was 21.”
Kim reached the final seven in Australian Idol, a feat that still surprises her to this day.
“Idol was an incredible experience. The best way I can sum it up is high highs and low lows,” she says.
“It’s a very extreme experience especially for someone so young.
“The highs are dizzyingly high and the lows were so intense because it was just so public.”
And then something happened that would change Kim’s life forever.
“I was working for the church as a part-time singing teacher in Townsville and my dad had two stroke-like episodes and he was deemed unable to live independently,” she says.
“The prognosis was that he would never come home.
“Dad had moved to Ocean Grove so I thought the right thing to do was to move back to Victoria.”
Kim was 27 at the time.
“Dad made a bit of a miraculous recovery,” she says.
“He needed 24/7 around-the-clock care. But I had a feeling deep down where he could get to a point where he could come home safely. I just knew.
“Within three months I picked him up and walked him out of there. The nurses called him Lazarus.”
Despite the daunting prospect of being her father’s full-time carer, Kim says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“He is the wittiest person I have ever met – he’s the funniest,” she says.
“I pity the man who tries to marry me because I have never met anyone as funny as my dad.
“Some people don’t get the privilege of caring for their dad. They might lose them in a heart attack or lose their parents really fast. I try to remember it is a privilege to care for dad because many aren’t given that.
“It keeps me out of the pity party.”
You can follow Kim on Instagram at @kimelisecooper
