MINI HOLIDAY TO THE HUNTER VALLEY

Our village manager, owner and past owner organised a trip for the villagers to The Hunter Valley. The Hunter Valley is a famous wine region in the state of New South Wales. It is also the area where our new owners live and own hotels. 

Early one morning a coach arrived at our village where 29 of us with our manager Dana and our previous owner Chiou See boarded for a six day holiday. We set off south. After two hours we stopped at Warwick for morning tea.

We passed lots of cattle farms. We don't have high mountains in Australia because we are the oldest continent and they have all worn down. 

All meals were included in the price we paid for the trip.

We continued on to Tenterfield for lunch, after which we drove on to Armidale where we stopped for the night at Ridges Hotel. We had a very nice meal there of steak or fish. After breakfast there the next morning we boarded the coach again for an hour and a half to Tamworth. A town famous for its Country and Western festival. There is a huge guitar in town, where we stopped for a break and a coffee.

                                     Bill                                      Mandy

Back in the coach for another hour to Scone where we stopped for lunch at the local Lawn Bowls Club.

You know that you are close when there is one vineyard after another all along the way.

Finally we arrived at our destination.

SILVIA'S ORCHID GARDEN

 One of our residents, named Silvia, is a keen gardener and she is often seen pushing a wheelbarrow around the village. She has developed a mini orchard of Rozella trees. She cares for them and then makes jam with the fruit, which she sells on Market Day. Her other hobby is orchids. She has developed an orchid garden in the village next to our Workshop. The orchids are hanging on trees and they are all flowering now.

BLACK AND WHITE DINNER

 Our last bimonthly dinner theme was 'Black and White' so most people turned up in black and white outfits. One of our newer younger residents came in a penguin blow up outfit, which had us in stitches. The meal was delicious brisket so soft and tender with a decadent dessert, I think it was black forest cake.

Ian, Bill, Clover and Penguin

The village singers entertained us while waiting for dinner.

The tables looked good all in black and white. My American readers may be interested to know that the guy on the right is American and I taught with his daughter before I retired.

The Rochdale High School students do a good job at serving and cleaning up.

It was the students' last time here as it is the end of the school year now and they are sitting exams soon. They were all awarded with a certificate for their participation.

QUEENSLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE (QPAC)

We went to QPAC to see the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" with daughter Sonya and husband Bernie. It was a great performance and we all enjoyed it very much. Sonya works at QPAC as Head Workplace Health and Safety Officer. So she gets free tickets for her and Bernie. She always gets good seats for us. 

QPAC is an amazing complex. In 1976 architect Robin Gibson was commissioned for an ambitious project that would bring together a performing arts centre, art gallery, museum and library on the river edge at South Bank. There are five theatres, the Lyric Theatre, the Concert Hall, The Playhouse, The Cremorne Theatre and the new Glasshouse Theatre, which is where we saw 'Fiddler on the Roof'.

The Lyric Theatre

The Concert Hall

The Playhouse

The Cremorne Theatre

The new Glasshouse Theatre

BEN'S 80TH BIRTHDAY

 Ben and Bill migrated from Switzerland together in 1967. They planned to stay for the obligatory two years just to learn to speak English. However, the plan changed once they arrived and fell in love with Australia and the girls who became their soul partners. They have remained friends since then even though their lives led them to live in far away places. Bill and I lived in PNG for quite a few years and Ben and Lyn lived in NT for some time. Now Ben and Lyn live in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. Ben turned 80 last week and the celebration was held on last Sunday at Flaxton Gardens. So I had a two hour drive to Flaxton. I decided to book into a guesthouse nearby to stay overnight so not to be driving home late in the evening. It was a lovely celebration with a delicious lunch and set in a beautiful place. 

Lyn and Ben

Two old mates Bill and Ben 

Friends forever

Lunch was delicious, I had salmon and Bill had chicken. There were three long tables filled with relatives and friends. 

Ben and Lyn had three children, Natalie, Yolande and Jason. They all have children who have children so Ben has a big family. These three used to be playmates with our two girls when we all lived close together.

Flaxton Gardens was a beautiful venue with a stunning view. Bill and a friend, Ken.

The view.

The venue.

Bill crashed after the party in our guest house. We had a lounge, bed and bathroom with a garden view.

The next day was a long drive home but we had a good weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELEMENTS RETIREMENT LIVING

 Our retirement village turned sixteen years old this month. So we had a party dinner and it was free, put on by the owners. Lots of residents turned up and it was a Spanish theme with Spanish guitarists and Paella for dinner. Many residents turned up in Spanish dress and we had a nice time. The students were not able to come because it is their examinations time. So the staff served us.

My table. 

There were a lot of us there probably because it was free.

There was a video showing events over the last 16 years. Most of them were made by my Bill but he didn't come to the dinner to see his work.