A retired Botanist and Environmental Scientist, Beverley and John find “planning the next holiday” motivates them to stay fit, active and ready to take on new adventures in their retirement. They also join a bike riding group once a week, and even though they now need longer to recover from these activities they still get great enjoyment out of them, and manage to avoid the blackhole that is - “daytime TV”.

Read Beverley and John’s full conversation below or watch the video.

John: “Well I’m retired. I was a senior research scientist with Alcoa doing mine rehabilitation work.”

Beverley: “And I’m kind of, nearly retired. I’m a botanist so I do maybe, one day a month, but it’s in like a laboratory, so it’s not outdoor work. In the earlier days I did do a lot of bush work and I would spend the whole day walking through the forest; up and down dale, over rocks and everything, over logs. I actually kept quite fit doing that. I found that since I’m not doing it, I do need to practice now walking all day through the bush.”

Beverley: “Also, about ten years ago I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. That did…um… slow me down a bit for a while. And it did take some years to actually get medications correct to get me back to the activity level I used to do and what I was very happy doing. I like to stay fit because I do like to do all these outdoor activities.”

John: “People are more aware of being fit, saying “50 is the new 40,” and things like that. I think people are staying fitter for longer in our generation.”

Beverley: “It’s the recovery time from an activity now that is greater and that you probably didn’t factor that in in your life… like I do need to go and have a little nanna nap if I’ve been very very active in the morning.”

John: “My advice, if you can, is don’t watch daytime TV.” Laughs.

Beverley: “Holidays!” Laughing. “Going away on holidays motivates me.”

John: “Yeah and planning ahead for something. Planning something enjoyable is always good, keeps you thinking positively, keeps you thinking forward.”

Beverley: “We’ve got a bike ride on Tuesday, you know, where are we going to ride? It’s like a big thing now is to plan those activities that we want to do. To have a couple of days to plan those activities and get a lot out of it.”