Fun in the Sun

Sandra had a body of a Greek Goddess, amply buxom, long legs, auburn hair and those eyes, drawing every male to her. At the age of 17, the only daughter of Christiaan and Martha was carefree under the Australian sun. She loved the water, the grainy sand under her toes and the wavy surf.

She loved to tease me on the water. Our surf boards always within reach; the summers were spent eternally on the beaches of Northern Australia. Cairns is on the edge of the Coral sea and the Great Barrier Reef. The place is carnivorous for its appetite for the salty expanse of water. Like all respectable sea going Queenslanders, our webbed feet always preferred the water.

Our early morning exercise was a run on our boards where the receding tides created the best waves. With our “Mobley” surf boards, we chased the waves, rodeo rode them and laughed to many a wipe out. The sky turned rusty gold with the morning sun from the pacific side. The land lived up to its alias of the “Goldcoast” with just that golden bronze sun. The land had three hundred days of sun in a year, popular with beach bums from all over the world. But for Sandra and me, this was our backyard. Before the sun was up, we were back into our houses, without ever hinting at our absence to our parents.

School days were skipped on regularity for that afternoon sun. Like sweat on skin, we were inseparable. On those vacations in the early 80s, all blistering afternoons were spent on the sandy dunes. Beach volleyball, snorkeling and gazing at those cute university boys from down south was all we laboured in. With no summer jobs at that small economy, we spent all our waking time on the water

But that was all more than seven years ago. Things had changed now. We had survived the stone fish, the jelly fish, the salt water crocs and the legendary sharks we hear about and yet one of us dying. The sun that beat relentlessly on our supple bodies overcame. It was in summer that Sandra succumbed to Melanoma. I learnt that it was the most common variant of skin cancer.

Nobody told us that SPF below 15 did not work to the ever increasing radiation levels of the sun. I survived, sadly to now aim to educate the people on their skin. Nobody should suffer due to ignorance. We aimed that we will take Brisbane by storm and raise this presently skinny issue.

As we bunched together on a late office morning, the heat on the road bit into our exposed organs. I will never stop, I thought, however dark this road maybe. For Sandra’s sake, I will aim to try to keep the fun in your sun forever.