Australian
Heart Foundation.
Living in latitude
43degrees south, you become used to the piecing winds that inhabit this part of
the world. Winds that wander around the world due no doubt to the lack of any
major landmass to impede their journey. Other than South America it is plain
sailing. A fact much appreciated in the age of sail when sailing vessels
followed the forties latitude. It is little wonder that this region became
known as the roaring forties.
Local walking groups, sponsored the Australian Heart
Foundation in Southern Tasmania have in recent years been encouraging people to
undertake regular daily exercise in an attempt to enable everyone to seriously
take their physical and dietary responsibility to healthy living seriously. The
never ending march of inactivity in the modern world needs to be countered. The
Kettering Walkers as our local group is called is one such group, ex-heart attack victims among others
who confront the roaring forties on their twice weekly walk. Not that the wind
presents a daily problem, but on occasions the members have learnt to put their
heads down and plod into the occasional wall of hail and rain.
Some found their way into the group from the Royal Hobart
Hospital heart rehab programme, where valiant nursing staff attempt to correct
a life time of bad habits. Others join simply for the disciplined walking
programme that takes them to more distant corners of our island. New comers to
the district also have the opportunity to make new friends.
My own introduction occurred after a minor heart attack on a
steep local mountain caused by a blocked artery. This required the insert of a
u shaped hoop to hopefully hold it open.
I would highly recommend that anyone wishing to join such a
group do so, after all we only live once.
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