Some of you who have been my regular subscribers through the years might be wondering why you havent seen any contributions from me for around 3 years. Yes, covid has been a significant factor (fortunately neither of us has succumbed to it yet), but there has been a more significant reason. My wife, Joan, suffers from Stargardts Disease (or AMD – macular degeneration) which means she is rapidly losing her sight and sadly there is currently no cure or even part cure for it. It is not as though it has taken her by surprise, as it is hereditary and a number of her family members had/have it also, so she knew it I guess that is the key word as it was manageable up until about 5 years ago. The first major impact was around that time when Joan had to relinquish her driving licence (and thus a fair degree of her independence). Since then, sadly, her eyesight has gone downhill quickly to the point where she hardly recognises faces any more and can only read very large print with some difficulty.
a year ago we decided to move out of lifestyle on the very busy northern beaches of Sydney and relocate to a sleepy little town on the NSW south coast called Broulee (population less than 2,000), which is about 4 hours drive south of Sydney. Why Broulee you might say? Well, apart from the fact that it is a very pretty area and relatively isolated, we have in fact been visiting it regularly over the last 10 years as Joans sister and her husband live here. And her sister also has Stargardts, although so far to a lesser degree than Joan, so in effect the two sisters now have two drivers and potentially, down the line, two carers. Problems are much easier if you share!
The other change is that with my need to be around all the time to provide some ‘assistant eyes, I am going to have to give up my regular solo travels to some of the out of the way spots I have traditionally visited over the last few years. While I will miss these sorties, I was starting to find some of them more difficult as I get older and the knees
get weaker, and Im thankful I have been able to get in visits to the Stans, the Caucasus, Africa and South America before I got grounded. Joan and I will still continue to make our annual visits to the US each July/August to see our eldest son and grandkiddies (something we have really missed for the last two cycles) and we will continue our tradition of arranging a side visit for all the family on each trip, as we have done the past two years with Bermuda and Costa Rica respectively. This year we are scheduled to visit Belize with the plan for some time to be spent on beaches, coral reef snorkelling, trekking rain forests and checking out Mayan ruins, so stay tuned for a blog on these.
Before you go feeling too sorry for us, Ive got to tell you that Broulee and its immediate environment is no hardship posting. Apart from the natural beauty of the whole coastline in this region, it is a very relaxed lifestyle and the natives here have been incredibly and friendly, so weve lost nothing in our social lives. Houses down here cost around a third of the equivalent property
in Sydney, so weve bought a home and added a few luxuries. And I can absolutely assure you, I dont miss driving in Sydneys traffic one bit. Also, as distinct from Sydney, where dogs arent allowed to go onto any beaches, they are down here on all beaches except in the very small areas that are patrolled. But on any given day that Freshwater (our old beach) might have over a hundred board riders in the surf and that number again of bathers on the beaches, youd be lucky to find half a dozen of each on a coastline here that spreads 5 kilometres in one direction and 2 kilometres in the other. So even the blind lady and our aging dog are able to enjoy long beach walks with the latter frisking in and out of the surf.
