Book charts couple's Brazilian adventure (From Northwich Guardian)

Book charts Northwich couple's Brazilian adventure

8:30am Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in News

A COUPLE who left their jobs in Northwich to pursue a dream life in paradise feature in a new book about their Brazilian adventures.

Tony and Sue Fitzsimmons, who lived at Delamere Park, gave up their careers and moved to an island off the coast of Brazil several years ago. It was a move to paradise, but the title of Tony’s book ‘Paradise…my ass! Living the dream on an Island in Brazil’ suggests not everything went smoothly.

“With a scant knowledge of the local language and no previous experience in the hospitality business what could possibly go wrong?” said Tony, who was working as a sports consultant at Moss Farm when he left for sunnier climes.

“The truth is now revealed – was it a dream or a nightmare? One minute you’re relaxing by the pool in a luxury Thai resort and the next you’re a gringo with a donkey on an isolated island off Brazil!”

The couple decided to make a move after being caught up in the 2004 tsunami, which left thousands dead. After returning to Cheshire Tony and Sue, then a deputy headteacher at the Russett School in Weaverham, decided they wanted a change in lifestyle.

“We wanted more than to return to the repetition of suburban life,” said Tony, 60. “We wanted to ‘live the dream’ and after careful consideration, or possibly in a bout of insanity, we decided to open a guest house on a remote paradise island.”

What happened next is explained in the paperback and eBook, which is now available through Amazon and Waterstones. It is described as an ‘enchanting and humorous true story of one couple that dared to act upon a dream.’ In the book Tony, who has now sold the pousada, explains how the differences in lifestyle that the couple discovered such as no longer having a town like Northwich on the doorstep.

He writes: “In the past if we needed anything, we were safe in the knowledge that we could just jump in the car and head for town. This was not the case in Moreré – a visit to ‘town’ involved a 10km walk there and back, and often a boat ride to the mainland if what we needed stretched the limited facilities and shops available in Velha Boipeba.”