For the two months we are at Marina Mirage during Chris’s continuing cancer treatment, it is action stations: we are getting back into shape, both physically and mentally!

The Milon Health Club complimentary membership with our marina berth has been fantastic for us. We figure we might as well use the facilities to the max and get ourselves fit. The mix of Yoga, Pilates and all round fitness workouts is good for the mind too. Our focus has shifted from ‘coping’ to actively getting better and stronger. We are making progress although our muscles are sore. It’s a different kind of soreness though. It feels good.

Most people we talk to think we normally get to do a lot of physical exercise just by sailing a yacht, but the reality is that we don’t, especially on a catamaran – and even less when you are convalescing on board, tied to a pontoon! We have become very sedentary over the past couple of years, and our previously trim selves are a bit on the flabby side! We are keen on remedying this. We have two months to get ourselves into a routine and we hope it will then be easier to keep doing yoga sessions on board, using our Asana Rebel app. It is all about creating new habits and being committed to moving our old bodies.

By the seaside

Being so close to the ocean, we have enjoyed a beach walk most evenings when the temperature gets a little cooler, and Wade goes for a surf early in the morning or a body surf with our friend Bill in the late afternoon. Here are a few seaside shots as promised.

Up to the Rainforest

And of course we use the ‘canary’ (yellow hire car) to get up to the Hinterland and go for progressively longer and harder walks. These are therapeutic too and social, as friends sometimes accompanies us. For this post our photos focus on a few botanical species. We hope you will find this interesting.

We saw lots of epiphytic ferns such as the Elkhorns, Staghorns and Bird’s Nest Ferns, which are non-parasitic plants growing attached to the trunks or branches of trees and other plants like climbers. They build habitat for a myriad of critters such as insects, birds and reptiles.

Palm trees with their tall straight trunks and beautiful swirling fronds are magnificent. We love looking up and seeing the dappled light through their fronds.

Their roots are interesting too. Rather than spreading far and wide like other trees, most palms produce shallow roots that stay quite close to the trunk. At its base the trunk seems to form a kind of skirt around a group of external roots just above the soil level. This is the palm’s secondary root system. The primary roots only go down some 90 cm (3 feet) and spread under the soil to about the width of the fronds at the top. Here is what the base of the trunk looks like:

The tallest rainforest trees we saw, although not able to identify them, were impressive because of their size, straightness and ability to reach right to the top of the canopy. Some were eucalypts, other broad-leaved hardwood evergreens and conifers, towering anywhere from 30 to 70m high.

Health Update

Two things we are learning on the medical front is that recovery is not a race, and that every cancer slog is an individual one. Each person experiences it differently.

We hear a lot of ‘be positive’ or ‘stay strong’ or ‘speedy recovery’ type of remarks, which we feel ambivalent about. The reality is that some days can be overwhelming and very challenging. When we first started to share our experience with cancer, we decided to continue being authentic and true to ourselves, as we have always been on our blog. So you read our ups and downs as we live them.

We are learning that you don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would to recover. You don’t have to feel like a failure if pain affects you more than the next person. You don’t have to apologise for feeling down or fearing the worst. So sometimes you will read negative thoughts because that’s where we are at. There are instances when a kick up the backside is needed do get you out of the rot, but in the main, a gentle supportive ear is what is best. Recovery is about progress, not perfection. Fighting cancer is a difficult, long slog.

Having said that, we are both feeling we are on an easier, more positive path now. The nerve pain in Chris’s armpit and shoulder is improving and the scar on her breast has healed well. Mentally we are also in a better place. We are just over 4 weeks after surgery and have 5 days to go before the daily radio therapy sessions start.

While we are based in Southport, we are also addressing other medical issues troubling us: a cyst at the back of Chris’s neck which has been getting bigger and needs to be excised, and a sore knee for Wade which is being investigated. Call us decrepit but we very much want to remain healthy and have everything in order by the time we resume our sea wanderers’ life.

Website issues

A few of you have experienced problems commenting on our website over the past few weeks – a frustrating waste of time. We value your comments directly on our blog, so we are annoyed too. These issues have been reported to WordPress. If you are having trouble and haven’t let us know, please send us a text or email (or use the Contact Us page) and include some screen dumps of what happens so we can get this fixed.

Talk to you next Friday, hopefully with less website hassles!