We had the opportunity of taking two bus loads for a little one-night escapade to Port Macquarie prior to Easter.
The occasion was to see live Dion Pride the son of legendary Country music singer Charley Pride. Dion performed many of his father’s greatest hits including a couple of our favourites, ‘Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ and ‘Crystal Chandeliers’.
Dion was a very dynamic and captivating performer.
On the way to Port Macquarie, we synchronised our watches and had the two buses meet at the Old Bank in Gladstone, where we all met each other and enjoyed a lovely relaxing lunch.
Thank you, Tania and Alan, for your kind hospitality and always making us feel so welcome.
Of course, we always indulge in a bit of shopping therapy whilst in Port Macquarie!
On our return journey, we stopped for lunch at one of our favourites hidden gem, Hot Myrtle Kitchen at Grassy Head. The venue is unique, surrounded by bushland, and tall trees with a beautiful outlook, a real Oasis!
The lunch meals were delicious
Thank you Margii and staff, you’re amazing, we will be back!
We visited the Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens at the end of April.
Helen and her team of volunteers welcomed us with morning tea followed by a guided tour of the gardens.
Some of us use their wonderful buggy carts, where we can sit back, relax and enjoy their commentary whilst driven around, others take a leisurely stroll through the gardens. We always enjoy our morning garden visits; it is like a feast for the senses bringing back emotions and memories.
During May and June, we took a few groups on a unique experience to visit a heritage museum and working vineyard run totally by volunteers, the Douglas Vale Historic Homestead and Vineyard.
We had a lovely tour of the Homestead, oldest timber building in the Hastings region, built in 1862.
After the informative tour and talk, we enjoyed some cheese platters and wine tasting of the vineyard’s limited-release wines, followed by a superb lunch !
Thank you to all the volunteers for the marvellous job you are doing in keeping our history alive & keeping it maintained!
A delightful time was had by all. So popular was our destination, we ended up with 5 different visits.
Thank you again for your hospitality and looking after us so well.
We once again, visited Nana Glen, a small quaint historical village inland from Coffs.
Our main stop was the Idle Inn Café at Nana Glen, a charming place with a lot of character, we wanted to experience a High Tea, so we asked Alison and her team to indulge us.
What a wonderful job they did ! A fine selection of sweet and savory treats with a variety of teas
We paid a few visits and enjoyed their offerings
Thank you, Alison and Team, for your kind hospitality always!
In May we returned to the Granite Belt with our next group and fell in love with the romance of Autumn the rich colours of crimson and gold were just amazing, of course sunny days and crisp cool nights made it ideal.
Our first stop was Cold Brew Café in Grafton, were we had morning tea and picked up our picnic goodies which we enjoyed for lunch at the Australian Standing Stones.
Thank you Matty it was a very yummy spread.
We stayed one night in Glen Innes and the next morning we made our way to Tenterfield.
Morning tea awaited us on the platform of the Tenterfield Railway Museum, what a lovely experience!
Thank you, Lois and all the volunteers, for your warm hospitality, what a wonderful job you do!
We then explored new areas including the picturesque Mount Mackenzie and surrounding rocky area. It gave us the true feeling of the Granite Belt.
Whilst based in Stanthorpe, we spent the next 2 days exploring, once again tasting liqueurs at Glen Castle Distillery, where we ended up with quite a few bottles to carry home. Then there was the experience of cheese tasting at Stanthorpe Cheese Co and a visit to the magical Granite Christmas Farm, where we had afternoon tea. An absolute magical experience.
On our drive south from Stanthorpe we visited once again the Ballandean Estate Wines, the home to some of Australia’s oldest Shiraz vines, and rarest wine varieties. Robyn our host gave us a presentation of the history and run of the vineyard. We enjoyed some wine tasting and of course more shopping and more bottles!
Our last night we spent in Armidale at the Moore Park Inn, a charming country house motel, where we enjoyed a cozy in house dinner. Thank you, Hanneke and Dean, for a lovely stay.
The next morning before making our way home, we visited Saumarez Homestead, an historic Edwardian mansion dating back to the 1830’s. A wonderful place where we stepped back in time and learnt a bit of local history from the very knowledgeable volunteer tour guide, Sue.
We then said goodbye to Armidale and continued to Ebor, visited the amazing Ebor Falls and ended our 5 days adventure with lunch at Ebor Hotel.
Thank you, Chris and staff, you always look after us well!
We all had a grand time with perfect weather and marvellous company!
Once again, in May, we had the pleasure to attend the new musical by Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company, Monty Python's Spamalot.
What an entertaining experience, full of fun and laughter.
We are always in awe at the energy, the talent our local amateurs display to create an unforgettable afternoon!
We paid 3 visits over 3 weeks in May. Thank you CHMCC !
In June we were lucky to attend the only performance of The Sounds of Simon & Garfunkel at the Jetty Theatre.
The demand was so overwhelming, we ended up with 3 bus loads from different areas.
We were all captivated by the acoustic performance of the majestic hits of Simon and Garfunkel performed by Mark Shelley and Peter O’Regan.
It will be an afternoon to remember!
Gina and Cecily with 6 students from Newcastle Uni. Ally, Jess, Makayla, Ella, Ellie and another Jess, joined us in June for another fun and interactive morning.
They surprised us with a couple of games, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
And what a fun morning it was, not to mention the Mocktails the girls put together for us!
We enjoyed lots of laughter, morning tea and the best part, Socialising!
Thank you all for a wonderful experience!
Our other activities events in the last 3 months, Trivia, Games/Bingo and Movies keep on growing in numbers!
We have a lot of fun together at these events but most of all we enjoy the social interaction of catching up with and meeting new friends.
In June, a few of us were lucky to travel to Brisbane to see the special performance of Torvill and Dean: Our Last Dance.
It was an experience of a lifetime!
On the way to Brisbane, we decided to stop at the Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Gather Café for a light lunch.
For the next 2 nights we stayed at our much-loved Diana Hotel in Brisbane.
Whilst in Brisbane we again went exploring, less than an hour away we found Summer Land Camels, Australia's largest wild camel training centre and dairy operation.
Thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this unique farm, lots and lots of camels their Café was filled with Camel treats/food. For lunch, we all had the pleasure of tasting our first Camel pie and gelato.
Some of us even managed a Camel ride and had the wonderful experience of seeing a newborn camel.
A memorable experience was had by all.
On our way home, we decide to have yet another experience and visited the Harwood Hotel, a charming pub nestled on the banks of the mighty Clarence River in Harwood.
We were treated to an amazing Grazing Table lunch, and we enjoyed each other’s company for the last time on this trip.
Thank you, Cherry and staff for your hospitality, we shall return!
