Open Writing

Contrary to what some people in the Northern Hemisphere think, New Zealand is not attached to Australia by the Sydney Harbour Bridge! It is a separate country 1200 miles away at the closet point.

My husband and I recently took the three hour flight across the Tasman Sea to Sydney where we joined the P&O cruise ship, Pacific Princess for a two week cruise up Australia's eastern seaboard. We enjoy cruising as you only have to unpack once. All meals and entertainment are laid on and best of all, your bed is there if you feel like a nap.

We have another cruise planned for December to celebrate my 60th birthday, or as I like to call it, my coming of age - with emphasis on the age. Despite the New Zealand Government determining I don't warrant a pension for another five years, I have always seen sixty as being officially old. Sixty has always stirred up visions of cataracts, arthritis, deafness, memory loss, walking sticks and false teeth. Sixty was when you started to sit and wait for God. It meant boredom, loneliness and no fun at all.

To give credence to this stance, I'd tell those who contradicted me about the elderly people who lined the walls of the geriatric hospital I worked in when I was younger and how dementia locked each of them into a lonely world of their own. The memory of the vacant stares on their faces still haunts me. I'd shudder as I'd remember how they could no longer shuffle to the bathroom unaided, let alone feed themselves and I'd whisper, "Please, God, "don't let me get like that."

That was until my recent cruise, however. This shone a very different light on how one's golden years can be. The majority of the passengers, who were in their late 70s or older, certainly didn't let their age slow them down. For many this was just one of a number of overseas holidays they had taken since their retirement. Moreover, for them a cruise wasn't an excuse to chill out and relax. From the time the sun came up until the bars closed down at night they revelled in having fun. No doddery old faggots that lot.

However, Flora and Victor stood out from the rest.

Flora was a trim, neatly coiffured lady of 87. Even at that age she had a complexion to die for!

"It's because I've never exposed it to the sun," she explained. "I've always, without fail, worn a hat when I've gone outdoors."

Always chic, but dressed befitting her age, she could certainly have given lessons on style to some of today youngsters. "I've always loved to travel," she told me. "Last year, I went to Singapore, Malaysia and Rarotonga. Oh, yes! That's right, I also managed to fit a quick shopping trip to Norfolk Island in, towards the end of the year."

The cruise was her first holiday for 2005. Later in the year she's off to England to visit her daughter and she's planning on calling into Canada on the way home, as she's always wanted to see the Niagara Falls from the Maid of the Mists. She used to travel with her husband Fred, until he died five years ago. Now she travels alone. "It's more expensive," she explained, "but I really can't be bothered having to fit in with other people's timetables."

"Are you enjoying the cruise?" I asked.

"Yes, I am." she replied, "but I'd rather join in the dancing at night, than just sit there watching. Fred and I used to be ballroom champions."

Then there was Victor. He was 94. Yes 94! He told me he'd started going on cruises when he was 21 and since then he'd been on over forty. His stamina was amazing. He was thirty five years my senior, yet I found it difficult to keep up with him! Not only did he spend all day on the sundeck, making frequent trips to the pool, he went to the see the show in the cabaret lounge every night and went ashore unaided at every port. Often if I'd had a particularly busy day in port, I'd give the show a miss and have an early night. But not Victor. He never missed a show.

I'd stagger from my bed in the morning, to find him already in his bathing suit, ensconced on a lounger in the blazing sun.

"How are you this morning?" I'd call from whatever shady position I'd managed to find. He would see this as an opportunity to chat. As the cruise progressed, I found that Victor liked to chat. On one occasion he stood in the heat for a good 20 minutes, telling me about the cruises he'd taken when he was much younger and the girls he'd met on them.

I began to get a bit worried about him standing for so long in the sun "Why don't you come and sit in the shade?" I asked.

"No, I think I'll go and take a swim," he said and off he trotted to the pool.

By the time the ship reached Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday group, the daily temperatures were well above 30 degrees centigrade. The ship anchored at bay and passengers were taken ashore by tender. Not wanting to be there in the heat of the day, I endeavoured to be one of the first ashore, so I could have a look around and then make my escape back to the air conditioned comfort of the ship.

As I stepped onto the Hamilton Island jetty there was Victor strolling along the main street. He'd stolen a march on me again!

In Cairns the ship docked beside the wharf. Due to customs regulations and security requirements it is not just a matter of walking off the ship. Every passenger has to be checked off individually.

When the call came to say passengers could go ashore, my husband and I strolled down to the deck where the gangway had been erected. By the time we got there, the queue was horrendous. It went all the way up the staircase to the next deck. "I'm not standing in that," I scoffed, knowing after five minutes standing I'd be complaining of aching legs, "I'm going to sit down until the queue clears."

After I'd waited 20 minutes or so, I went to check and there standing in line completely unperturbed about the length of the queue was Victor!

Thank you Flora and Victor for showing me that age is really just a number. Enjoying life has nothing to do with how old you are. It's what you do with your life that's the important factor.