Queensland Holiday

Experiences
slipping through our being
like particles of beach
cascading between our fingers
or gathered together
into castles
dreams becoming reality
ever-changing
structures
of creativity

~ Linda de Haen




It's been a couple of days already since we got back from a lovely 10 day holiday in Queensland. It was great. Warmer and it was lovely to have a holiday that was unrelated to cancer and where I had a break from my twice weekly 5 hour infusions. The other bonus was that my energy levels were really good so I got to do things that I would not have been able to manage in the last couple of years. All in all it was a great way to celebrate surviving at the 2 year anniversary of my diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer.

We flew to Brisbane, hired a car and drove to Bribie Island about an hour or so north of Brisbane. The apartment was onthe 5th floor right on the beach and we saw dolphins passing by every day we were there. Lots of cargo ships went by as well. Two of the days we were there we went to the Abbey Medieval Festival which was about 15 minutes away. It was fabulous, much better than I had thought. The medieval period spans quite a long time and there were groups from different times within that period. Lots of people dressed up, not just participants but also lots of the visitiors. We managed a cape each and a gold head band. My favourite event was the jousting. The horses were amazing and the jousters were in full armour. Very skillful event. They had jousting poles with wooden ends which they had to strike, at full gallop, onto a small shield attached to the opponent between the shoulder and hip. If the pole broke they would get 1 point and if it shattered 2 points. They had men vs women and individual points. The women won by a rather large margin. There were jousters from France and New Zealand as well as Australia. The festival was very entertaining and lots of fun.

We then headed up to Noosa to spend 5 days with some friends who have an apartment at Noosaville. On the way up we stopped to climb up one of the Glass House Mountains. It was only a 700meter climb on a very good track but it was very steep so I was extremely pleased that I was able to do it, with lots of little rests. The view from the top was excellent. We then visited Australia Zoo of Steve Irwin fame. It is not a very large zoo and we were able to see pretty well all the exhibits and have lunch in about 4 hours. There were tigers and elephants as well as the native Australian koalas, wombats, kangaroos, echidnas and of course crocodiles. The bird show was impressive with free flying groups of parrots, very spectacular and amazing that they all returned back to their handlers when they could have just flown off.

While at Noosa we did a day trip to Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world. We were very lucky with the tides so that we were able to go along the beaches to get to the island ferry rather than along the road and we saw some whales on their migration north. The Island is very beautiful with several lakes and rainforested areas as well as beautiful beaches. The freshwater lakes and creeks had crystal clear water and despite the heavy tourism looked pristine. Goannas were hanging around at lunch time and just when we had given up seeing any dingoes we saw some just before getting back on the ferry to leave the Island. We did a short bush walk along a creek in the rainforest - gorgeous.

Now home again and back on the straight and narrow as far as food is concerned. I have had an infusion and am doing yoga again in the mornings. I am feeling optimistic with my energy levels being so good and hope to get fitter and stronger over the next few months. Need to stop the weight gain now in spite of it being a side effect of the drugs.

Now off to walk the dogs in the bush. The sun is shining despite a forecast of rain and all is well.

Surviving and thriving

Linda