A taste for travel

Darren has broadened his horizons recently and hopes to expand them even more in the year ahead.

“Iwent to the Blue Mountains to see me cousin who lives in Hazelbrook, near Katoomba. I caught a train down and they picked me up from Hornsby Station. We attended a concert of 80’s music up there which I enjoyed as the last concert I went to was when I was about 17 or 18! I think it was The Angels I saw at a pub. The Blue Mountains themselves were pretty good.

Earlier this year I went to Queensland with my best friend Craig, his wife and their son and daughter. We stayed at Ashmore Palms Holiday Village on the Gold Coast near the fun parks. I went to all of the parks - it’s hard to pick a favourite, they were all a lot of fun!

We went to Ripley’s Believe It or Not and plenty of other theme parks. I enjoyed Wahlburgers at Surfers Paradise (Mark Wahlberg’s restaurant) which was good. I’d never been past Taree until this trip!

Next year Craig and his family are planning on taking me to New Zealand, and I will have to get my first passport for that. But I don’t get excited about things in life until they happen. I didn’t want to get excited about the Queensland trip until it actually happened. That’s my approach to life because it could backfire.

I like going for walks, playing on my PS4, and watching YouTube. Apart from these I enjoy the Rec group BBQ’s. I like it when my support workers come take me out on a drive around Newcastle. I have support four times a week and it’s a time that I really look forward to. Headstart gives me friends and people I can talk to, I ring them up and they help me with things I don’t understand. My time with Headstart is whatever I choose, sometimes we might just go to the movies.

I live with my Mum and I’ve got another cousin who lives up the road from me. I’ve never had a Dad, and my Mum moved up here from Sydney where I grew up.

I was hit by a car when I was nine. I walked out of the school gate on Great Western Highway and it happened right in front of my mate who I went to Queensland with. Craig said I flew through the air. I don’t remember anything about the accident, but ever since then I’ve had a brain injury and epilepsy. I went back to school after the accident but never finished as I couldn’t handle high school because of all the teasing about my epilepsy.

My goals for the future are to get my drivers license and I want to try and get a job.”

We wish you all the best and every success Darren! - Ed

If anyone had an appropriate name, it’s Joy who takes on each new day with a laugh and a zest for life!