Olive Eather may have just turned 79, but she organises all the linen for the family farm stay business, works in the cattle yards and walks 3 kilometres every morning.
She also has dementia.
"I'm still capable of doing all the things that I want to do," Olive says.
"I feel if I can keep going the way I am, life will be no different."
Thanks to a relatively early diagnosis, Olive has been on medication that stabilises most of her symptoms.
That has allowed her to live an almost normal life on her central Queensland property.
But daughter Lyn Eather says the family could easily have ignored the warning signs for a much longer time.
The family hopes talking about Olive's disease can help reduce stigma and encourage others to seek help early.
Don't be afraid to talk
The family has made peace with a life alongside dementia, but four years after her mother's diagnosis Lyn admits the period just before they learned of her mother's condition was tough.
One of the first warning signs came about six years ago during a card game when Olive said she couldn't remember how to play.
Lyn was shocked.
Olive was known as the family's card game champion.
The next day, Olive was back to normal.
These momentary lapses in ability, along with emotional highs and lows and some paranoia, culminated in a doctor's appointment – but not until a year later.
Then there was another year waiting to see a specialist before receiving the diagnosis.
"There's a change and you're like, 'Well, is that old age or is that normal?'" Lyn says.
"We're a very close family and we talk, I think, quite well but how do you broach that topic?
"We made an attempt, and we were a bit tentative, and we lost a year of medication that she could have been on."
What made the situation more emotional for Olive was that she had watched her mother succumb to dementia.
"I knew it was in the family, but I was hoping that I wouldn't get it," she says.
"Unfortunately, I got it, but then the medication came in and that's where I was saved."
Approach health chat with respect
Dementia Australia's Leanne Emerson says getting diagnosed as early as possible allows for extended treatment options with certain medication.
The Eather family isn't alone in avoiding the fraught subject of mental decline.
Ms Emerson says a reluctance to discuss the issue can come from the person experiencing symptoms, as well as their family.
"I think when someone's experiencing changes ... they're reluctant to mention it because they're afraid of how people will react, if they'll be treated differently, and if they're going to have their independence taken away," she says.
"Quite often the person who's experiencing the symptoms knows that there's something going on and needs an invitation really, or support and encouragement, to be able to talk about it."
Ms Emerson says family can bring up the topic by asking how the family member feels, what changes have been noticed and offering to talk to a doctor together.
"It's just a matter of opening up the conversation in a way that says, 'You know, I'm here with you, let's work on this together', without any labelling or imposing judgement on what it might or might not mean," Ms Emerson says.
"I think for a lot of people, there is actually a relief in getting to the bottom of whatever's going on."
Daily routine keeps Olive going
The Eather family property has hosted hundreds of tourists in the 29 years since they started offering rural experiences through Myella Farm Stay.
The property is just outside Baralaba, 150 kilometres west of Rockhampton.
It's only the second place Olive has ever lived — the other being a farm 16 kilometres up the road.
"As long as I've got horses and cattle and animals around me, I'll be happy," Olive says.
Olive's daily routine remains unchanged since her diagnosis.
It starts with a walk down the property's dirt road drive and onto the highway — she wears a safety vest but rarely sees a passing car this far out of town.
After breakfast there's work to do for the farm stay.
Although the family has closed for holiday bookings, they still host workers in the region.
Olive oversees linen cleaning and will even share the secret to folding a fitted sheet, an art she's perfected after all these years.
"I love ironing the pillowcases, doing the washing, making beds," she says.
"The only thing I don't like doing is cleaning showers because they're too far down."
And when there's work to be done with the 400 head of cattle on the property, Olive is down there alongside Lyn and husband Carl.
"And that helps me with the dementia because I don't sit," Olive says.
"If I retired, I would sit in the house and do nothing … I'm still very busy with my life."
No shortage of support
They may live in the bush, but Lyn says she was "blown away" by the amount of care and support services available.
They're even on board with Olive's plan to raise money for Dementia Australia through a public walk in Baralaba next month.
"One of the aged care support workers does massage, so we get mum to have a massage because she's in training and she's an athlete," Lyn says.
"Having the support of the aged care service is really making my life better and helping me be there for mum."
Olive's Walk for Dementia Awareness has already raised $4,000, but more importantly Lyn hopes it will encourage everyone to have conversations a little earlier.
