Rosemary Forrester left England in 1947, when her parents bought a farm in South Africa, and later went farming in Rhodesia. She married Robert in 1968 and, six years later, they bought a camping Land Rover and travelled with a parrot through South America, finally settling in Rio de Janeiro, where they owned a day sailing boat. When Robert's brother died young of cancer, they decided life was too short, bought a yacht, and cruised the world on-and-off for the next 20 years, 10 of which they were joined by Tara, their Jack Russell terrier.