Seniors Today Central Queensland - 2nd March 2021

Wednesday, 2 March, 2022

SeniorsToday.com.au

Simply magical

Season of bounty

PAGE 7

PAGE 23

Journey through time PAGES 10-11

Eager volunteers a hard act to follow The Friends of the Pilbeam Theatre - volunteers and theatre lovers who offer invaluable help at the Rockhampton Theatre including working as ushers and on the candy bar - all for the love of theatre.

See page 4 for more

Delights of the ‘deep south’ PAGE 14

Hidden health cost The cost of Alzheimer’s disease is expected to rise by more than 70 per cent to around $26.6 billion over the next 20 years according to a new report released earlier this month.

The Economic and Societal Cost of Alzheimer’s Disease in Australia, 20212041, from the University of Canberra’s National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM).

The report, commissioned by Biogen Australia and New Zealand, builds on NATSEM and Dementia Australia’s Economic Cost of Dementia in Australia 2016-2056 Report, released in 2017.

Dementia Australia CEO Maree McCabe AM said with almost half a million Australians living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease the most com-

mon form, this report reinforces that dementia will have a staggering future economic cost without urgent action.

“Dementia is the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of death of women in Australia. It is the major chronic disease of this century,” Ms McCabe said.

“We acknowledge the Australian

Government’s significant 2021 five-year investment in dementia and aged care reforms and in order to reduce costs in the longer term, there needs to be a bi-partisan long-commitment to improved services, research and increasing our understanding about dementia risk reduction.”

STORY PAGE 3

INSIDE

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VOLUNTEERING ....................page 4

The editor’s desk

OUT AND ABOUT ........ pages 10-15 RECIPES ...........................page 17 HEALTH ..................... pages 18-19 WHAT’S ON .......................page 21 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT .... page 22 GARDENING ......................page 23 ACTIVE OUTDOORS ............page 24

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2 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Well-known local stalwart Norma Mansfield celebrated her 90th birthday late last month.

Going strong

By Tania Phillips Norma Mansfield knows a lot about the history of Rockhampton – she should do, she has lived a fair chunk of it including during World War II when American soldiers used her family’s property for night training.

The much-loved former sports woman has lived in the town pretty much all her life – 90 years on February 28th.

She still lives in the house she and her husband raised their three children in, not far from the location where her father had his dairy farm back in the 1930s when Norma was born.

“I have always lived here, where I live now is where I played as a child,” she said.

“This was dad’s paddock. We used to live up on the corner of Alexander and main street when we were kids, and we had all down to the highway. We had a dairy farm. There was plenty of work.”

Norma was number six in a family of thirteen seven brothers and six sisters.

“There was one girl, four boys and then me,” she said.

“I didn’t go out to work until I was 17.

I left school at 13 and I had to stay home and help mum with the younger ones.

When I was 17, I got my first job at the Majestic Cafe – a waitress.”

From there she became a housemaid and took on the cooking for the hospital at 18 until it closed down before going to Bertram’s cakemaking and then back to the hospital when it reopened as St Johns.

“Then dad bought a shop, and I went and helped him with the shop and from there I got married,” she explained.

Her husband Harry Mansfield lived across the lane from the hospital.

“We were married 47 years and had three children; he’s been gone just on 22. We lived at Depot Hill for about 12 months and then the flood came so dad used to shift houses. Our house came from Fitzroy Street and we’ve here since 1966.”

Norma played a lot of sport over the years excelling at Cricko and Tennis.

Representing the region in Cricko.

“It’s the same as cricket only thing is you had to run if you hit it,” she said.

“Our cricko team was more or less a family affair – Harry’s nieces and my sister-in-laws. We got together and built up a team, they used to play cricko here in Rocky so we put a team together and went in.

“Tennis – we had a tennis court across the road. Dad built one – a bitumen one. If the teams were short, they’d come across and say, “Norma you want a game of tennis?” I played tennis nearly seven days a week sometimes. I loved my sport, but I paid for it with sunspots.”

Norma still lives in the house she and Harry lived in and still loves her garden – though ill health has meant it’s been a little harder to get out to look after her frangipanis and her orchid house.

Norma and Harry had three children, eight grand children and currently has 13 great grand children with another on the way and everyone was due to come together for a big open house on her birthday.

Norma said she attributes her long life to “not sitting around like I am at present”.

Welcome to a new year Welcome to a new year and a new edition of Seniors Today Central Queensland.

While Omicron has sent a lot of us back to the doctors for a booster or back into our houses the borders are finally opening up again (well some of them) and our travel pages reflect that.

For the first time we have travel stories from NSW and Victoria.

Travel writer Kylie Mitchell-Smith (check out her blog Travelling Senorita if you get a chance) heads off to Melbourne for the first time in a long time and finds out what’s new while enjoying some old favourites. Proving there is more than just a dish in a sheep paddock, there is a story on the annual Elvis festival in Parkes, NSW. Closer to home there is a camping festival in Northern NSW and Erle Levey takes a ride on the Mary River Rattler.

This month there are also two long-term Rockhampton residents – Norma and Joyce celebrating milestone birthdays as well as an article on Yeppoon’s new favourite sport Pickleball and stories on Friends of the Theatre, U3A and the Mens Shed.

Fingers crossed Omicron will settle down enough to allow us all to go out to the theatre again but if not then there is a new album by Lee Kernaghan to keep us going – celebrating his thirty year’s of recording while garden Kevin Redd celebrates his favourite and most productive season - Autumn.

Thanks for joining us for a new issue and year.

Tania Phillips Editorial Coordinator “I can’t do much, I used to do all my gardening and walk, when my husband retired, we went on bus trips, but he only had four years and he had a stroke,” she said sadly.

“I nursed him for 10 years – he was a seven-24 I had to be at his beck and call he was paralyzed all down one side.”

She still loves where she lives, has “lovely neighbours” and has seen every house in her part of Rockhampton built.

“The whole town has changed,” she said.

“When I was young mum and all us kids had to walk to town – we’d go across Alexander bridge. We went to Sunday school every Sunday. We grew all the crops – corn – we used to eat the corn off the plants – pick the cos off dad used to wonder where it all went to. If there was a storm coming up, we’d all have to go out and cut the lucerne – we had to go out with lanterns, no electricity back then, it was lanterns, and we’d have to get the lucerne in before it all went.

“We had two sheds full of lucerne once and it all went up in flame.

“I can remember the Americans, they used to crawl through our cattle of a nighttime on maneuvers – you’d go to go down the back yard to the toilet and you’d fall over one of them.

“There’s a lot of history.”

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Alzheimer’s cost to grow The cost of Alzheimer’s disease is expected to rise by more than 70 per cent to around $26.6 billion over the next 20 years according to a new report released earlier this month, The Economic and Societal Cost of Alzheimer’s Disease in Australia, 2021-2041, from the University of Canberra’s National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM).

The report, commissioned by Biogen Australia and New Zealand, builds on NATSEM and Dementia Australia’s Economic Cost of Dementia in Australia 2016-2056 Report, released in 2017.

Dementia Australia CEO Maree Mc-

Cabe AM said with almost half a million Australians living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease the most common form, this report reinforces that dementia will have a staggering future economic cost without urgent action.

“Dementia is the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of death of women in Australia. It is the major chronic disease of this century,” Ms McCabe said.

“We acknowledge the Australian Government’s significant 2021 five-year investment in dementia and aged care reforms and in order to reduce costs in the longer term, there needs to be a

bi-partisan long-commitment to improved services, research and increasing our understanding about dementia risk reduction.”

The report indicated costs could significantly be reduced if a disease modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease was to become available. The result would mean fewer people having moderate to severe symptoms which would in turn, over time, reduce the impact on the health, aged care and disability systems.

“The introduction of a disease modifying therapy has the potential to lower the economic impact but is only part

Patrick Connor (b. 1971), Landscape with traditional horizon 2014, oil on linen, 79 x 149 cm Purchased with funds provided by Rockhampton Regional Council. © Courtesy of Patrick Connor.

of the solution.

“The time for a holistic, sustained and coordinated approach is now,” Ms McCabe said.

Dementia Australia was one of a number of stakeholders consulted by Biogen throughout the report’s development.

Ms McCabe said Dementia Australia was the source of trusted information, education and services for the estimated half a million Australians living with dementia, and the almost 1.6 million people involved in their care.

For more information contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500.

Ben Quilty (b. 1973), The Evo project, Sheep Wash Road 2012, oil on canvas. Purchased with funds from Rockhampton Art Gallery Trust, the Kele family and public donations 2012. Rockhampton Museum. © Courtesy of the artist and Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane.

Welcome Home is early exhibition at new gallery “We are proud to display our collection and officially welcome it to its new home.

“The collection has been unable to be displayed due to limited room in the previous museum, but that is no longer the case, with the new museum having the capacity to display the collection permanently.

“The exhibition is drawn from

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of October 2022.”

Communities and Heritage Councillor Drew Wickerson said the Rockhampton Museum of Art is a place to come home to.

“Placed alongside Tunuba (Fitzroy River), with Nurim (Mount Archer) in the distance, these landmarks shape Darumbal Country which our museum stands on today,” Cr Wickerson said.

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The new Rockhampton Museum of Art has opened with one of its first exhibitions titled ‘Welcome Home’.

Mayor Tony Williams said he is excited to see the exquisite artwork on display in the museum.

“This exhibition, which is one of three that will open the new Rockhampton Museum of Art, celebrates our rich and vibrant collection,” Mayor Williams said.

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Theatre’s hidden treasures Pilbeam Theatre is an important part of the Rockhampton community and while it hosts both National and International acts and artist it has a strong connection to the local community.

While local groups perform on the stage there is also a group of keen local theatre lovers working behind the scenes and making sure the things run smoothly.

Friends of the Theatre are very recognisable part of a visit to the theatre.

They’re probably some of the first people patrons see when they arrive at the theatre.

Friends, operating for more than thirty years now, is a group of people who have come together to support the Pilbeam Theatre to foster the use of the venue by more local groups and to encourage more people to attend theatre productions. Along the way they ensure that theatre going is more enjoyable to all concerned and are making many new friends. The group also supports the development of local young people who show a keen interest in the performing arts, through an annual bursary programme.

Rockhampton Regional Council Communities and Heritage spokesperson, Cr Drew Wickerson, said the group played an important role in the running of the theatre.

“Volunteers are very important not only to the theatre but it is also rewarding for the volunteers themselves,” he said.

“Of course, they help the venue and community by volunteering, like any organisation that has strong volunteer support, but we are sure the individual Friends of the Theatre take something away personally.

“They get the change to socially interact with like-minded people; the camaraderie that comes with a group of people with a common interest or goal. Rockhampton Regional Council is happy to provide this opportunity whenever it can.”

Friends of the Theatre is a separate organisation to Rockhampton Regional Council; it is an incorporated association with its own office bearers and members. It operates under a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with

Rockhampton Regional Council.

After training, members of the Friends of the Theatre volunteer to work in a variety of roles in the theatre’s ‘Front of House’ operations such as in the bar and candy bar, ushering, and program and merchandise selling.

Members receive discounts on tickets to many performances at the theatre, invitations to special Friends functions during the course of the year, advance information on forthcoming shows and receive the bi-monthly ‘Spotlight’ newsletter mailed to them. They also receive a discount on purchases at the Bar and Candy Bar. For each show that they volunteer, members receive a performance voucher which can be exchanged for tickets to shows.

“We have a volunteer program for many reasons,” the councillor said.

“One of the main ones is to enable the community to have some direct involvement in the venue. “For example, being onstage in a community production may not be for everyone, so volunteering as a Friend of the Theatre in the Front of House areas is one way that

people can give back to the community and support local performing arts. The Friends of the Theatre, as an organisation, advocates for the performing arts, in particular supports local young people through their bursary program.”

Having a strong volunteer base is also helpful to Rockhampton Regional Council by ensuring this vital service is sustainable and connected to the community it serves.

“Rockhampton Regional Council sees the Pilbeam Theatre as a very important resource for the local community,” Cr Wickerson said.

“Not only do we have touring national and international shows coming to the theatre but the venue is very well utilised by local community groups such as dance studios, schools and other local organisations. Having a vibrant performing arts scene is a big part of enhancing the liveability of our region.”

The Friends of the Theatre motto is ‘To make theatregoing a more enjoyable event for our patrons’ and it is that passion that portrays what they do as volunteers to the general public.

People of Pilbeam: Karen is a true friend of the theatre

By Tania Phillips Karen Capon has always loved the theatre – performing on the Pilbeam stage when she was younger – but with a little time on her hands a few years back she decided it was time to give back to the community.

Karen is now the president of the Friends of the Theatre in Rockhampton and can often be found helping out. It’s clear the volunteer role is a love job and something she loves dearly.

“I personally have been involved for 14 years – I’ve been president of friends of the theatre for the past six years,” she explained.

“I just had some time on my hands, I’ve always loved the theatre, I’ve always gone to the theatre and I found I had time on my hands and asked if I could volunteer and I’ve been doing it ever since.

“I do love it, absolutely.

“I was always a frequent user of the theatre, I enjoy multiple different genres of theatre but especially dance and ballet. So I’ve been to the theatre for many years and I knew that friends of the theatre volunteer for all front of house positions. Apart from the box office, who sell the tickets, we do everything else. We do the pre-performance which is the sales at the candy bar and the bar and the ushering. And I always knew that the friends of the theatre did all those things and when I had some time on my hands and I thought why not put it into something like that to put back into something I’ve always loved.”

Karen said she slots in where she is needed at the theatre including acting as an usher, making coffees, sales, candy bar and programs and that sort of things.

“They are all important in their own right but of course getting the patrons seated is a major thing that we do,” 4 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Karen and some of the volunteers from Friends of the Theatre. she said.

The social aspect of the volunteer work is a bonus too. “It’s a great way of meeting people and we do meet all types, all sorts of people volunteer and all sorts of ages,” she said.

“We have had, in the past, people from the age of 16 through to – we have one member at the moment who is 90.

And she’s very sprightly and able to do what she loves which is the ushering.”

Karen said the group is a little dif-

ferent from other volunteer groups.

“We are a slightly different volunteer organization than is usual in that we’re an incorporated body and the Rockhampton City Council pay friends of the theatre a fee for us providing out services,” she explained.

“That fee we put back into the theatre in buying things that the theatre needs. For example we bought music stands and chairs for the orchestras to the tune of $5,400, we’ve got six lapel microphones for $3000, we’ve bought

portable bar and two function tables for $1,000, we bought six new moving lights for the stage productions $11,000. Recently we bought an advertising sign for $20,000.

“I would say in the past 25 years we would have put nearly half a million dollars back into the theatre.”

The group had it’s 30th anniversary last year after being formed in 1991, starting off with 10 people while they currently have 76 people on their books.

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Gladstone animal in spotlight

Nashos recognition Labor is calling on the Morrison-Joyce Government to formally recognise thousands of National Servicemen who fought in Vietnam with a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (RVCM), which was originally awarded by the former government of South Vietnam.

The call came on National Servicemen’s Day on February 14 and ahead of Anzac Day. Some 3000 National Servicemen were not able to complete the qualifying period of 181 days that Australia requires for veterans to receive the RVCM, due solely to the conditions of their National Service.

These veterans sincerely believe they fought just as gallantly in defence of Australia’s national interests and our ally, the Republic of Vietnam, as those who completed 181 days of service, and deserve to be honoured in the same way.

The proposal to extend the RVCM to these former ‘Nashos’ has strong bipartisan and community support, including among Government MPs and Senators, veterans and ex-service organisations.

Labor has asked the Government to give these men the recognition they deserve and finally allow them to proudly wear the RVCM when they march alongside their mates on Anzac Day this year.

National Servicemen’s Day is held to remember more than 290,000 men who served Australia through compulsory military service between 1951 and 1972.

Australia’s National Servicemen, affectionately known as ‘Nashos’, played a unique and invaluable role in serving our country.

Shayne Neumann, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel with the late Brian Hall, who served on the Ipswich and West Moreton National Servicemen’s Association for more than a decade and was a passionate advocate for his fellow Nashos I Qld. Each year, on the 14th of February, they are honoured on National Servicemen’s Day. Most Australian men who turned 20 years of age were required to register in the National Service scheme of 1964-72.

Twice a year, some of these men were called to serve through a random selection system depending on their birth date, known as the ‘birthday ballot’.

More than 804,000 men registered, with more than 63,000 called to serve.

More than 15,000 of them served in the Vietnam War, where some 200 lost their lives and more than 1,200 were wounded.

National Servicemen’s day is held to honour and thank all those National Servicemen who served and to especially remember those who lost their lives in conflict.

JP services offered differently, for safety Justice of the Peace (JP) services have been offered differently across the Central Highlands to ensure this service can continue supporting the community safely through the current restrictions.

These changes have been made to ensure staff and community members can maintain social distancing measures to help reduce the risk of Covid-19 spread during interactions.

All JP services will be provided through an inbox tray or behind a per-

spex safety screen. Customers are required to wear masks at all times when visiting council facilities.

See the list below to find out about services available at each council facility.

Blackwater, Gemfields and Rolleston Libraries Services are restricted to: Certified copies, Statutory declarations.

Emerald Library: All JP services can

be provided Springsure and Capella Area Offices: JP services available depending on staff availability, please contact offices directly on 1300242 686 to plan your visit.

Queensland Government online services: The Queensland Government also offers online Justice of the Peace services for a range of Queensland documents. For more information on this service please contact directly on 1300 301 147.

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Gladstone Regional Council officers have begun Council’s annual Animal Inspection Program, which will run until 30 July.

The program will target the premises of owners that had an animal registered in 2020/21 but have not made a registration renewal for the 2021/22 period.

It will also target anyone who has failed to correctly register any new animal not previously registered.

Gladstone Region Councillor Glenn Churchill said Council would always encourage residents to do the right thing around animal ownership.

“Our continued priority in this area is informing and educating people to be responsible for their pets,” Councillor Churchill said.

“However, we will enforce action if animals are not registered with an initial penalty of $275. “If owners continue to fail to register after this, Council will impose a further charge of $689.”

Gladstone suburbs would be the first areas to be inspected as well as animal owners whose dogs are required to be microchipped.

Cr Churchill said Council would also ensure animal owners are fully complying with the microchipping requirements of the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008.

He said council sends two reminder notices about registration, advising it is the animal owner’s responsibility to notify Council of any change of address or animal details.

“House to house visits will be conducted to determine if animals are being kept and if these animals are registered,” Cr Churchill said.

“All Council officers and workers, who need to enter a property, are required to display identification and advise the property owner of the reason for the inspection.

“Council encourages all animal owners within the region to ensure all dogs and cats kept on their properties are always registered and microchipped in accordance with the Act. “This is the easiest way to ensure any lost animal can be reunited with their owners.

“If your animals were born after 10 April 2009, they must be implanted with a Prescribed Permanent Identification Device (PPID), otherwise known as a microchip, with those details provided to Council.”

Inspections of properties and yards of properties will occur in the several urban and rural areas.

For details visit www.gladstone. qld.gov.au/registration or contact Council on (07) 4970 0700 for more information.

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Tool aims to match pets Australia has launched a new tool to assess whether individual pets can safely be accommodated in aged care homes, easing the stress for many older people moving into residential care.

A team of academics, veterinarians, health and consumer representatives has devised a process to assess different risks for both people and pets, focusing on dogs, cats, small mammals, birds, and fish.

Project leader, University of South Australia pet researcher Dr Janette Young, says the tool assesses a wide range of risks, including allergies, bites/ scratches, falls, transmission of diseases and animal stress.

“We want to support older people to keep their pets at an extremely stressful life stage and also reduce the number of pets who become homeless or need to be euthanised when their owner is no longer able to live independently,” Dr Young says.

“But we need to do this in a responsible way, ensuring the safety and health of both animals and people is paramount.”

The Companion Animal Multi-Species Risk Management Tool (CAMSRMT) documents three main risks: from humans to animals and vice versa, and risks from animals to animals.

Levels of risks for individual species are rated high to low, assuming pets will be kept in their owners’ rooms, or on a leash when outside or in a communal setting.

“Good hygiene is essential, and most risks can be managed in an aged care home if scrupulous cleaning practices are followed,” Dr Young said.

“However, there are other considerations, including the likelihood of an animal causing a fall or biting/scratching a resident, and human allergies to different species.

New tool helps assess pets for nursing homes.

“Some people fear animals in general or just don’t like them. Others have a history of mistreating animals. We have to consider a whole range of risks in an aged care home.”

Veterinarian advice includes assessing the risks of residents inappropriately or over feeding pets, animals gaining access to residents’ medication and even the possibility of animals being injured by other pets on the premises.

Although considered low risk, there is also the possibility of disease and infections spreading from humans to pets

(rabies, anthrax) and vice versa.

The tool proposes steps to address all these risks, including the following: Individual care plans for pets, noting staff and resident animal allergies or fears, and pet alert signs; Veterinarian checks pre-admission for health and behaviour; Assessing how pets should be kept or moved around the premises; Maintenance of an infection control program and a pet care plan; Processes for managing pet medication; Regular cleaning of litter and cages and Microchipping or identification tags “Dogs and cats will have different

risks compared to rabbits, birds and fish so we have developed scenarios for each species,” Dr Young says.

“The tool is not about guaranteeing that people can bring their loved pets into aged care; this may not be the best option in the end for people or their pets. However, it enables people to work through this as a realistic option and gives advice and tips on how to make this more likely.”

Although developed in Australia, the project was funded by the Society for Companion Animal Studies in the UK and is intended to be used worldwide.

A Rocky gal through and through, Joyce joins the 100 club A Rockhampton woman who lived independently until the age of 99 years and 50 weeks is Queensland’s newest centenarian!

A new resident of the Carinity Shalom aged care community, Joyce Marler joined the exclusive ‘100 club’ last weekend.

Joyce is a Rockhampton girl, through and through, having lived in the town for all but four of her 100 years.

She was born Joyce Sarah Lilian Ewings in Rockhampton on 13 February 1922, the second child of Tom and Nellie Ewings.

Joyce had a happy childhood growing up in Rockhampton, enjoying long bike rides, picnics with friends and weekly dances at Palais Royal Hall.

She was a very bright student.

Whilst attending Rockhampton High School, she was ranked in the top 10 in Queensland in her junior year, despite being a year younger than the other students.

After leaving school, she worked as a public servant with the Queensland Taxation Department in Brisbane but 6 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Joyce Marler with her Carinity Home Care lifestyle carer, Bronwyn McLean, at Christmas.

Joyce Marler celebrated her 100th birthday on 13 February.

two years later transferred home to work at the same school at which she studied.

At Rockhampton High’s 100th anniversary celebrations held in 2019, Joyce was recognised as both the school’s oldest living former student and its oldest living former employee.

Joyce ceased working at the school in 1946 when she married returned serviceman Cecil Marler.

The couple had three children and spent all their married life in Rockhampton, except for two years when Cecil was transferred to rural New South Wales for his job with an irrigation firm.

Following the end of World War II, Joyce volunteered for ex-servicemen and women’s groups. She enjoyed playing tennis and later enjoyed lawn bowls, gardening, crosswords, reading, needlework, and playing cards.

Joyce has seen many changes during her life, with technology having advanced at an astounding rate.

She notes that, “Where my husband worked, they had a big computer that would have been the size of a room.”

Cecil passed away in 2002.

Joyce lived in the family home her husband built until she moved into Carinity Shalom retirement village.

She lived there independently for 18 years with support from Carinity Home Care then moved into Carinity Shalom aged care – two weeks shy of her 100th birthday.

Joyce says her pride and joy in life has been her family of three children, three grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. Her recipe for a long life is to take one day at a time, not hold grudges, and have support from family and friends. Joyce says: “Don’t worry about what might not happen”.

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Proving ‘never too old to learn something new’

Moving Moments VIP Jenny and children from C and K Coo-Inda Community Kindergarten give their ‘stamp of approval’ to the Moving Moments program.

Just magical A program designed to connect the young and old across Biloela is nearing its 1000th hour milestone of friendships created and social connections strengthened, as it continues to reach new regions and touch new hearts.

Lutheran Services’ Moving Moments Program unites seniors from across Biloela with local children and also provides social activities to enjoy together.

One year on and 957 hours of quality time later, the Biloela Moving Moments Program has connected 16 senior participants with five local early learning centres, kindergartens and schools in the region.

From arts and crafts to music and picnics, no two sessions are the same.

In addition to the intergenerational aspect of the program, participants also engage in social activities, taking in galleries, cafes and local attractions or trying their hand at yoga, cycling, tech talks and art classes – all in the name of connection.

It is funded through the Australian Government’s Public Health Network.

Moving Moments provides an opportunity to create meaningful friendships and lasting memories – for both the young and old participants.

Moving Moments also runs in Buderim, Caloundra and Gympie.

Biloela Moving Moments Program Coordinator Judy Mazzer says the program’s growth in popularity has allowed senior participants to be a grandparent to more than their own family.

“Our Moving Moments program continues to reach new regions and impact lives in meaningful ways,” she said.

“The popular program brings seniors

together. This has the wonderful effect of alleviating loneliness and bringing the community together.”

“Queensland-wide, the Moving Moments program brought together more than 100 seniors and more than 200 children from some 15 kindergartens, play-groups and early learning centres,” she added.

The program is well supported in the local community. Health workers and local businesses have been provding wonderful feedback.

“What a fabulous program for the seniors in our community and it’s a fabulous benefit to the kindy children being able to interact with the aging generation,” is a typical response.

The senior participants especially enjoy activities that feature the energy of young people.

“I am soon to be 70 and have no children. My husband passed away suddenly in 2021 and I am retired so do have some time on my hands,” said one Moving Moments participant.

“I saw the program on the ABC (Old People’s Homes for four Year Olds) at the start of the year and thought what a good idea that would be. I wanted to be a part of it. It keeps me busy, it uplifts me and it’s fun. It teaches children respect and I have great conversations with them.”

The Moving Moments program is open to Biloela seniors who are 65 or older and First Nations people who are 55 or older. To create a new connection or find out more, reach out to Judy Mazzer on 0439 549 241 or go to lutheranservices.org.au/moving-moments/

University is a loose term, and the third age is the age of active retirement, following on from the age of childhood and the age of a working life.

U3A is a worldwide organisation which began in France in 1973.

The organisation began in Australia in 1984.

According to U3A Rockhampton and District president Pete Riddle the group is a self-funded not-for-profit association formed in 1988.

“Management, tutors and coordinators are all volunteers,” he explained.

“You can contact us to see how U3A can help you remain active, physically and mentally, and continue your learning years.

“The group brings together people who have retired from full-time work but not from living an active and fulfilling lifestyle.

“We provide courses and activities covering a wide variety of interests including physical exercise, health, lunch groups, discussion groups, music, craft, writing, poetry, history, drama and much more.

“A complete list of our activities can be found on our website. U3A requires no prior learning or qualifications and there are no exams.

“We provide learning without stress in an environment of fun and friendship. We encourage our members to keep youthful and enthusiastic.

“U3A Rockhampton has a close relationship with CQUniversity whereby both parties engage in a number of ways for their mutual benefit.

“If you wish to meet our members personally, you are welcome to at-

tend any of our general meetings as a visitor. There is no entry fee”.

U3A Rockhampton and District Inc hold a monthly general meeting at the Frenchville Sports Club, 105 Clifton St North Rockhampton.

Doors open for the meeting at 9am, for a 9:30am start.

“You can find our future meeting dates on our website,” Pete said.

“Our website lists all of our activities, newsletters, membership enquiries, and other links to important items, to assist our members and anyone interested in joining U3A.” More information is available on the website at u3arockhampton.org. au Contact can be made through the Secretary at u3arockhamptondistrict@gmail.com, or P O Box 8160 Allenstown 4700.

“One of our activities that is very well supported is the ukulele group,” he said.

“Rockhampton U3A ukulele group meet each Wednesday afternoon for a practice session,” he said.

“Currently there are 37 active members including the last intake of beginners.

“The group promote U3A by performances at retirement villages, aged care homes, charity fund raising events etc., in the Rockhampton area.

“Being able to perform for others and seeing their enjoyment is gratifying to our group.

“The group is open for bookings!

“Three outdoor activities are The Bird Appreciation Group, The Saturday Walking Group and The Garden Lovers Group.”

The ukulele group.

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More women are needed The Ladies Auxiliary of the Rockhampton Men’s Shed is looking for new members, according to group spokeswoman Marion Lawler.

“Our new shed is situated on Darumbal Road at CQ University on the opposite side to the sports oval) and we are open from Monday to Thursday 8am until 12 noon,” she said.

“It is shed number two at the rear.

“While we are a part of the Men’s Shed we do not actually go into the workshop or encroach on the Men’s part of the Association.

“Our main function is dabbling in Arts and Crafts and making items which we sell to raise funds for the Association along with the men at a monthly Market Day which it is hoped will commence in either February or March.

“You may like to present your ideas for new project which the ladies can learn or just come along for a chat and a cuppa.”

Marion explained it was a great place to learn new things and meet new people.

Shed two - where the Women’s Auxilliary meet.

“So, what about it?” she said.

“Do you have a few hours to fill in?

Do you want to form new friendships?

Are you suffering from social isolation and need some help to overcome this?

Would you like to learn some new skills?

“If you have answered “Yes” to any of these questions, why not come along and give it a go. Who knows you might enjoy the company and in doing so create a whole new part of your life.”

For more information contact Marion Lawler on 0411 230 234.

Plenty to do and new friends to meet at the new shed.

Two sheds up and one to go at Rocky

Two sheds up and one to go.

The second men’s shed is now up and operational.

Bob McKinnon Presents

It’s all go at the Rockhampton Men’s Shed with the first two sheds now up and operational according to group president Jim Lawler.

“We are still waiting for the builder to put up shed 3 and we are sourcing grants for the electrical and plumbing,” he said.

“We have hooked up with a local transport company Gladrock Transport who have sponsored our shirts and also donated one of their utilities for use to pick up goods we may require doing some of our projects as well as delivering the finished article.

“We have also been donated some very useful equipment by a guy who used to be a grazier and has now moved to Rockhampton and has joined the shed.

“These include a Wood Lathe, 14 inch Band Saws, Bench Saw, Router, Thicknesser plus jigs and blanks to fit the Router.”

He said the ladies auxilliary have all but fitted out their section.

The latest addition to the men’s shed at Rockhampton.

“The next steps will be to fund the power and start the fit-out to put up the dividing walls, build our First Aid Room, and Storeroom as well as our Gym, Office, 3D room, and a Meeting room,” Jim said.

“Shed two was donated by the Bushfire Recovery Grant and is offered as a hub for VOAD Training. When not in use for the training, the Ladies Aux-

in concert

iliary uses the area for Arts and Crafts also for Community Health and Wellbeing there will be a First Aid Room and Small Gym.” VOAD (Volunteers Organisations in Active Disaster) is a Pilot Program set up by the Rocky Regional Council’s Disaster Management Group it involves quite a number of organisations in the Rockhampton community.

Don’t miss the chance to relive all the great memories and all the great songs when these three music legends come together!

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AUTUMN: MARCH 2022 SENIORS TODAY 9

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Gympie’s rich railway history a valuable asset for today, as well as into the future, as ERLE LEVEY discovered.

A journey through time I didn’t expect it to be such an interesting journey.

History is a matter of taking lessons from the past, telling them today, for the benefit of the future.

Gympie’s railway history is a valuable asset for today and the journey ahead.

It leads you through the rich history of the area, puts it into a modern context and gives clues to the shape of things to come.

That is why I was in the car park of the old Gympie Railway Station in Tozer St early last Saturday.

The Mary Valley Rattler is back on track ... and we had a ticket booked to experience again the charm of steam travel.

As the carriages are shunted into place at the platform the sense of excitement and expectation builds.

It took me back to train journeys of my childhood. To holidays with uncles and aunties at their farms.

To take the train into the city to see the Christmas lights and the department store windows - to hand your letter to Santa Claus.

Snapping back to the present, it’s important to remember that on an adventure such as this you don’t want to be rushing. Instead, relax, take it easy, step back in time.

Once on the platform of the historic railway station there’s time to talk to some of the Valley Rattler crew, also to enjoy breakfast or a tea, a coffee.

The Rattler is a not-for-profit organisation ensuring the public has access to a historic rail experience.

It operates with assistance from a large group of volunteers and is administered by a voluntary board.

Just recently the group was awarded gold at the Queensland Tourism Awards for Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer or Volunteer Group.

Officer in charge of the train on the day Tanis Fulcher’s involvement with the Rattler started a couple of years ago but he has “trained” since he was about four or five years old.

“It’s a great place to volunteer,” he said.

“You make a lot of good friends.

“I enjoy this chance of playing trains.

“My grandfather was in the Royal Australian Air Force and came through here by train in the Second World War. “Then in 1997 he took me on my first steam train trip. That was from Brisbane to Toowoomba.

“From then on I was hooked.

“This is good work and what you get out of it is just that sense of fulfilment.”

Emma Allen, who was to be in charge of our carriage for the day, found it hard to contain her excitement about her role - providing information about the journey and ensuring the safety and welfare of those on board.

“I like trains,” she said. “Trains and history.

“I think it’s a great social space and you get to meet a lot of great people.”

Emma’s brother George started off with the Rattler right at the beginning.

10 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Engine driver Darrell McCulloch at Gympie. 259914

The river played an important part in the transportation of the timber down the river to where it could be used or exported. The river, today, reflects the land use changes that have occurred in its catchment.”

“When I got home and got to hear more about what he did, it really piqued my interest.

“My whole family have loved to train.

“When George was on the train my family used to go chase the train from Gympie to the other stations.

“I just wanted to be a part of that and ended up becoming involved on Halloween.”

And, yes, Emma agrees, it helps having been a huge Harry Potter fan and the way trains are involved in the book series.

Indeed, there is a sense of magic as the 80-tonne steam engine moves into place at the head of the train.

A living creature breathing fire and smoke as it prepares to pull the 290-tonne train through the Mary Valley, out to Amamoor and back.

The trees at the station are dropping their blossoms onto empty goods carriages - like a fall of golden snow.

I speak with another passenger for the day, Roger Pilling from the Brisbane suburb of Runcorn.

He had made the two-hours drive to have breakfast and catch the train.

For him, train travel means freedom.

“The freedom to go where you want to.

“You can go on a walk around on the train. Not just sit in one spot.

“You get to see the countryside at a sedate pace.”

That reminded me of a journey I once took on the Ghan - the old Ghan that ran from Pt Augusta to Alice Springs on a narrow gauge railway line.

Then there was the rock and roll of the train as it heads from Emerald to Longreach.

“I’ve just come back from Long-

reach,” Roger said. “And from Cairns.

Just think, 24 hours on the train with that experience.”

Gympie is regarded as the largest timber railway building in Queensland and one of the most stylish and elaborate.

Plans for the Maryborough to Gympie railway line started in the late 1860’s, after the discovery of gold.

Maryborough was the nearest port and there was no railway connection between Brisbane and Gympie until 1891.

History is right there in front of you.

Not only that, the Railway Hotel is opposite and I remember stories of the way the hotel staff used to drop food parcels from the footbridge into the open carriages below for the troops heading north in World War II. As the train eases out of the station you are reminded of the smell of the smoke and soot from the engine.

Then there is the meeting of time as the historic steam train passes the contemporary street art and graffiti on buildings and goods carriages.

You are also surprised at the lovely relaxed feel as the carriages glide through the old gold mining suburbs of Red Hill and Monkland.

Historic photos of the railway line being built adorn the walls of the carriages, as well as copies of old newspaper clippings detailing the growth of the region - right from the time it was known as Nashville in honour of the founder of gold, James Nash.

Our carriage was built in 1910 and served on the Kuranda line, north of Cairns, for some time.

“No way!” a colleague exclaims. “I’ve probably been in it.

“I have been on that Kuranda train

several times - as a child when I lived in Cairns and later as an adult.”

We pass over Deep Creek, the bridge is 33m above the water where fossicking for gold is still carried out.

Then we are running near the main North Coast line from Brisbane to Cairns.

This stretch carries Australia’s fastest train, which travels at more than 200kmh, and here we are travelling at a very sedate pace.

There’s a carriage called Elvis ... because of the way it rocks and rolls. I suppose there could be another one ... Rattle and Hum, after the U2 album title.

Once out in the country you realise how much fresh air there is from the open windows.

You get the smoke and some specs of soot … but it’s the fresh air that gets you.

That and the beautiful timber work inside the carriages.

At Lagoon Pocket siding there is a staff change - not of the train staff but the one handed from one train to the station master to show the line is clear ahead.

It is then handed back to the next train going up the line. It’s a far cry from the electronic track and train management of today.

You cannot help but be taken by the exceptionally good scenery through Kybong, Lagoon Pocket, Dagun and Gilldora, which was known as Haystack Flats in the early days due to the amount of farming carried out there.

The Mary River stretches from the Bellthorpe-Maleny region in the south and flows north entering the Great Sandy Strait at River Heads, north-east of Maryborough.

Before Europeans ventured into the region a very large population of Aborigines occupied the area.

In May 1842, Andrew Petrie and a small crew sailed for three days up the Moonoboola, as it was then known, as far as Tiaro.

Petrie named the stream the Wide Bay River and it was known by this name until 1847 when it was named the Mary after the wife of Governor Fitzroy.

By the late 1840’s both the upper and the lower Mary were under pastoral occupation.

The Mary Valley Catchment Committee describes the condition of the river at the time.

“The vegetation that covered the Mary River catchment before European settlement ranged from dense rainforest in the upper reaches to open eucalypt forest in the lower valley and to the north.

“The tall rainforest cover of Maleny and the surrounding region grew many large trees including beech, maple, black bean, silky oak, both white and red cedar, and many other valuable timbers.

“Timber was a major industry in the region with mills being set up from the upper reaches of the Mary to the lower.

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“The river played an important part in the transportation of the timber down the river to where it could be used or exported. The river, today, reflects the land use changes that have occurred in its catchment.

“In the words of historian Stan Tutt, ‘Trees went, sand came’.

“This statement simplifies, yet, to many, sums up the changes that have occurred in the river system.”

The discovery of gold in 1867 had an enormous impact on the Mary Valley as well as Queensland.

It brought excitement, adventure and many settlers to the clear creeks and lonely bush of Gympie and the surrounding country-side.

The valley landscape and vegetation have changed through the years. Towns have grown, connected by roads and railways.

According to the Mary Valley Catchment Committee, about 75,000 people now live in the 9595 square-kilometre area.

Many of those outside the catchment also rely on it for agricultural products, water supply and building materials timber, sand and gravel - and for recreational opportunities.

And farming has changed once again, away from the larger holdings of dairying to more sustainable methods for growing of exotic fruits and vegetables as well as the more common varieties.

Cattle and horse studs are flourishing among the fertile hills and valleys.

The river is home to the Mary River Cod, one of Australia’s most endangered fish.

The Mary Valley Rattler prior to departure from the old Gympie Railway Station. 259914 The Australian lungfish is native only to the Mary and Burnett River systems in south-eastern Queensland, but has been successfully distributed to other, more southerly rivers.

At Brayer Park siding we are reminded of the importance of the dairying industry in the area.

The milk train would stop at all the cream boxes along the line, taking the cream and milk to the Wide Bay Cooperative Dairy Company which was located on Tozer Street.

In 1925 the co-op built one of Australia’s largest butter factories, a reflection of the region’s prominence in dairying.

The Mary Valley railway served the valley well through the years but in 1993 it was announced the Gympie Sta-

tion would no longer function in that capacity.

A new railway line was built to bypass Gympie in 1989 and the last train arrived from the valley in mid 1995.

As the line itself was not closed it allowed an organisation known as the Mary Valley Heritage Railway to operate as a tourist steam train service.

Forming in 1996, the organisation became custodians of the line and on May 23, 1998, the Mary Valley again welcomed the Rattler which carried upwards of 33,000 guests annually.

At that time it ran to Kandanga and Imbil yet a restructuring has seen it cut back to Amamoor due to the condition of the line and the financial costs of maintaining it.

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Amamoor is bordered by Amamoor State Forest which is home to more than 120 species of birds and also the annual Gympie Music Muster.

Here, the train engine is driven onto the restored turntable for the return journey to Gympie.

The town takes on a market atmosphere with musicians, a cafe and stalls.

Then it is time for the run back home.

“The day was so much better than expected. Absorbing “I feel the track itself contributed to the intrigue ... the clickety-clack instead of the grinding of steel against steel on the main line.

We cannot lose this train again. It is a benefit to the whole region, not just as a tourist train but a reminder of what we have here in the way of horticulture and agriculture.

The lifestyle and what we need to celebrate.

A friend writes: “The day we went on the Rattler it was the most magical spring day.

“Fresh crispness to the air and blue skies.

“We took some snacks and when the train got to the end of the line we all sat on a rug and had a magical little picnic.

“The train ride was like something out of one of the kids’ books.

“Thomas the Tank engine was big in our house.

“I still have so many train sets in the cupboards waiting for the grandkids one day.

“So when we got to go on a real train, it was very, very cool and special.”

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Elvises in the building The King may have left the building for a short while, but things are revving up in Central West NSW with borders opening and ever-popular Parkes Elvis Festival set to return 20-24 April 2022.

The King-sized program is filled with more than 200 Elvis and speedway inspired events, including muchloved festival favourites Northparkes Mines Street Parade, Renewal of Vows Ceremony, Goodsell Machinery Miss Priscilla Dinner, free Cooke Park Main Stage Entertainment and Elvis Gospel Service.

The Festival will host new events, including a Speedway Exhibit of rare and classic race cars, meet-and-greet racing stars and virtual reality simulators.

A Pin-Up Pageant will be hosted over three days of the Festival for rockabilly and vintage fashion lovers. For the theatrical, Sons of Sun is a wild rock and roll play about Sun Records, Memphis, featuring songs from Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.

For the first time, fans will enjoy four days of free entertainment from the impressive new performance stage at Cooke Park.

Starting as a small get together between like-minded Elvis fans in 1993, the Festival has grown today into an internationally renowned phenomenon, recognised as one of the top events in Australia and attracting 24,000 fans.

According to Festival Director Cathy Treasure this year’s Festival theme is Speedway, dedicated to Elvis’ 1968 musical hit about a race car driver with a heart of gold. Festival attendees are encouraged to dress in theme. Think gogo dancing girls, overalls, racing suits and red, white and blue. Top Australian tribute artist Mark Anthony will also stage a one-off special Speedway Show to celebrate the Festival theme.

“The Festival is so excited to return next year, bigger and better than ever with a huge program of activities,” Cathy said.

“Although we can’t celebrate on Elvis’ birthday like we normally do, we’re planning a big party regardless and look forward to sharing this iconic festival experience with locals and visitors coming to Parkes.”

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the NSW 12 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Regional Events Acceleration Fund will help next year’s Parkes Elvis Festival deliver a bigger program of events.

“The multi-award-winning Parkes Elvis Festival will attract huge crowds of locals and visitors across five fabulous fun-filled days,” Mr Toole said.

“The Parkes Elvis Festival is considered one of Australia’s most iconic events and with a global media reach of more than 400 million people, this all helps to put a big spotlight on the region and bring welcome tourism dollars to local businesses Tickets to all events are on sale now, including the Feature Concert Series which will see the USA’s 2019 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Champion, Taylor Rodriguez, make his Australian debut with four shows performed across the Festival, backed by the dynamic ninepiece TIC band. Jeff Lewis host of the famous ‘Memphis After-Party’ at Graceland’s Elvis Week will MC. The Festival will welcome a host of other top American talent with links to Elvis and the Speedway movie, includ-

ing a virtual Q&A appearance by Speedway child star Victoria Paige Meyerink, and a chance to meet in person Charles Stone, tour producer for the Elvis Presley Tours in the 1970s.

Australian music legend, and Platinum artist Brian Cadd will be inducted to the Wall of Fame. The singer, songwriter, keyboard player and producer will be honoured as not only Australian music industry icon for over 50 years, but a continued force that is sure to set next year’s Festival off to a rockin’ start.

Adam Harvey joins the Festival lineup for Elvis Country Special, performing a tribute to Elvis’ many country music hits.

The Festival isn’t just about all things Elvis, Australia’s colourful rockabilly and vintage communities are also celebrated. There will be a host of workshops held where fans can discover vintage styling, revel in burlesque performance and even take a masterclass in drawing The King himself.

The preliminary round of the international Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist

Contest also returns in 2022, with leading Elvis tribute artists from Australia and abroad battling it out at Parkes Leagues Club. Officially endorsed by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc, the winner will represent Parkes in the Semi-Final round of the 2022 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis, USA, during Elvis Week in August.

Tickets to all Parkes Elvis Festival shows, across the many venues in the city, will be available to purchase online, making booking your entire fiveday Elvis extravaganza a breeze.

Accommodation options are available, including camping and caravanning, in Parkes and surrounding towns.

For all programming and ticketing information, visit parkeselvisfestival. com.au EVENT: Parkes Elvis Festival DATES: 20-24 April, 2022 THEME: Speedway WEBSITE: parkeselvisfestival.com.au LOCATION: Parkes, NSW, Australia

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Prepare for a cook off The seventh Clarence Valley Camp Oven Festival will run over the June long weekend at Nymboida Camping and Canoeing in Nymboida NSW. The entertainment program officially starts on the afternoon of Friday 10 June and winds up with a farewell breakfast on the holiday Monday 13 June. For early-bird arrivals, a camp oven meal will be served along with some light entertainment on the Thursday evening.

Festival Creative Director Laena Stephenson said that the event is considered unmissable by both experienced and amateur camp oven cooks, who grasp the opportunity to share recipes.

“The range of dishes that can be prepared in a cast iron camp oven is really quite incredible and next year, many more of those dishes will be available for purchase by festival goers,” she said.

The festival features several hotly contested competitions focussed on campfire cooking, including the Breads, Scones and Dampers section, the Evening Meal section and even a Billy Boiling contest.

The festival is also becoming more welcoming for younger families. Along-

side three days of live music, bush poetry and street theatre, families can participate in hilarious games, craft activities, bush survival skills workshops and guided nature walks.

Nymboida Camping and Canoeing board member Lyle Gilmore said improvements to the campground facilities, including a major kitchen upgrade in the Big Shed, have helped make the event an attractive entry-level camping experience for families.

“The centre is going from strength to strength. I can see that as a community, we’ve come a long way in the two years since bushfires devastated our area and announcing next year’s festival dates just adds to that sense of positivity.”

NSW Discover vouchers are valid for weekend camping and festival pass bookings. Call 02 6649 4155 or head to www.clarencevalleycampovenfestival. com for further information.

All the fun and colour of the festival.

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Take a trip way down south

By Kylie Mitchell-Smith Melbourne has endured the longest consecutive lockdown across the globe, with a total of 52 weeks its basically lost a whole year of life.

We venture south to welcome back and show our support to the city renowned for culture, this time we explore a new gentrified end of town.

Spencer St adjacent to one of the city’s major train stations, has reinvented itself as a destination and with new hotel and restaurants opening it’s quickly becoming the place to stay, play and eat.

Ideally located next to the Docklands precinct, Marvel Stadium and Southbank, Spencer Street is the perfect place to base yourself for a weekend of wandering the hidden bars and laneways of Melbourne.

Classic hotels such as The Savoy have adorned this end of town for some time, but with contemporary new kids on the block like the W Hotel, Ink Hotel and the recently opened Movenpick (chocolate) Hotel the region is a hive of activity.

We choose to stay at the Movenpick Hotel opposite Spencer Street Station, the mere mention of a chocolate happy hour and we’re hooked. The hotel is tastefully decorated with soft mint hues, symmetrical black and white walls, parquetry floors, high ceilings and decadent furnishings.

There’s an inside, outside pool that draws inspiration from the laneway buildings and trams below that scoot past dinging their iconic bells. The rooms are bright and spacious with impeccable touches throughout. An affordable option, Movenpick suits the whole family and with a complimentary chocolate hour daily, we find it hard to leave the lobby bar.

Alas Melbourne is all about exploring the plethora of shops, bars, and restaurants. A short stroll across the bridge to Southbank we dine at the world renowned Nobu Japanese eatery, located riverside in the Crown Casino complex.

Captivated by dishes like Black Cod Miso and Lobster Tempura with Tamari Honey, the menu is threaded with fresh, regional flavours.

14 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

We wander back across the river on the recently opened pedestrian bridge that connects South Bank to the CBD, complete with festoon lighting and illuminated sculptures- city life is back.

We catch Patricia Piccinini’s exhibition that has tastefully popped up in the stunning disused ballroom located above Flinders Street station. In typical Melbourne style the derelict building compliments the ethereal, life size artworks that Melbourne based Piccinini is revered for.

Time for a nightcap, the balmy summer weather leads us down Hosier Lane, widely known as Graffiti Lane, where we spot a Banksy along the way.

The Spanish Tapas bar Movida and Movida Next Door are hidden amongst the graffiti, step inside and there’s a hive of activity that goes well into the night.

The colourful venues offer an array of authentic tapas to complement the extensive European wine list.

Waking up at Movenpick to an Asian inspired breakfast by Borneo Chef Esca Khoo, we devour our fresh nasi goreng and take a tram to Richmond to scour the array of factory outlets the suburb is known for.

A visit to Melbourne town is not complete without a mid-morning espresso and pastry at the iconic Pelligrinis Espresso Bar. There has always been a European flavour to this city, inspired by the early Italian migration, from fashion designers to shoe shiners to pasta makers.

A weekender well spent in Melbourne and it’s time to head to the airport, but there’s one more stop on our 48-hour itinerary and its conveniently located adjacent to the airport. Urban Surf has taken up residency at Tullamarine and is one of Australia’s first human made wave parks.

We watch endless waves and impressive barrels from the finest seat in the house, Three Blue Ducks (hailing from Bronte and Byron Bay.) The Ducks have popped up beachside with their signature regional flavours, craft beers and natural wines.

Melbourne, the city where sport and art go seamlessly together, has a lot to offer from new precincts popping up to old favourites opening back up.

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

OUT AND ABOUT

New app unlocks regions A new tourism app with artificial intelligence technology unveiled by Southern Downs Regional Council this month aims to share the “good country life and encourage food and wine lovers to explore their stunning landscapes, wineries, attractions” according to Mayor Vic Pennisi.

Mayor Pennisi said the free digitally interactive travel guide is an exciting tool and resource to support the region’s tourism industry and enhance the visitor experience.

“Located just 90 minutes from Brisbane, we’ve seen a real upswing in fellow Aussies exploring our region,” he said.

“The new Southern Downs and Granite Belt tourism app provides an interactive platform for visitors to immerse themselves in the tourist experience and features an exciting artificial intelligence element, the new Dunny Dash Art Trail.

“Following on from the success of silo art trails across regional Australia, we thought we’d try something different and transform our public toilet blocks with painted murals by local artists and create the Dunny Dash Art Trail.

“Using the app, you just need to hold your smart phone up to one of the 12 art murals dotted across the Southern Downs and unique information on the artwork and the artist will be at your fingertips.

“We welcome nearly a million visi-

New app helps promote tourism on the Southern Downs. tors annually, which generates $177.4 million for our regional economy and we see the app as an integral way to enhance the visitor experience both before and during a trip to the Southern Downs with interactive maps, selfguided walking tours, events calendars and of course the unique Dunny Dash Art Trail.

“By building on visitor engagement, we want travellers to experience everything the Southern Downs has to offer and increase the average length-of-stay for the region.

“The app supports our tourism industry, improves the region’s visibility to visitors and grows Council’s existing destination marketing channels.”

The app can be used 100% offline and features up-to-date information on attractions, accommodation, events, restaurants, wineries, travel tips and more.

The Southern Downs and Granite Belt visitor app is proudly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

National Advance Care Planning Week 2 –2 March 202 You can learn more about advance care planning and how it can empower you to make your future health care wishes known.

What do you do now?

Discuss your wishes, values, beliefs and health care preferences with your family, friends and health care providers.

Make choices about your future health care and quality-of-life.

Download advance care planning documents from mycaremychoices.com.au and document your choices or order a free information pack k from the Statewide Office of Advance Care Planning (ACP). Your GP or family/friends can aass assist you.

Send copies of your completed documents to the Statewide Office of ACP: • Email: acp@health.qld.gov.au • Fax: 1300 008 227 • Post: PO Box 2274, Runcorn Qld 4113 Contact the Statewide Office of ACP for more information or support on 1300 007 227 .POEBZ 'SJEBZ BN QN * You can also upload your ACP documents to your My Health Record.

The Statewide Office of ACP – Queensland Health, provides a free and confidential service to all Queenslanders.

• The Office receives and reviews completed ACP documents from all care environments in Queensland.

• Effective documents are uploaded to the Queensland Health electronic medical record and accessed by doctors when needed.

Empower yourself to plan for your future health care.

mycaremychoices.com.au 12536126-SN09-22

AUTUMN: MARCH 2022 SENIORS TODAY 15

NEED TO BUY A GIFT FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS

EVERYTHING? BUY THEM A SUBSCRIPTION TO THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER Keep up to date & informed about local issues, local people & local news in the Central Queensland Region

CQToday Rockhampton & Capricorn Coast Region CQ TODAY is published each Wednesday & Saturday

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To arrange home delivery for that special someone, call our dedicated subscription team on 1300 170 885 12521760-AV49-21

16 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

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RECIPES

Five generations in making After the enduring heartbreak of the worst drought in Australian history, relief was on it’s way in the form of rain, but the storm turned to hail destroying 4 million avocados along with hopes and dreams.

When things seemed that they could not get any worse, bushfires struck and the real fight to save their farm in Northern NSW began - it’s a story repeated across Australia - a story that has seen farmers diversify to survive and led her to write a cookbook filled with recipes and the stories of five generations of a farming family.

Julia Foyster grew up in Germany.

Twelve years ago she decided to backpack through Australia with a friend.

She joined ‘Willing Workers on Organic Farms’ and worked and lived with farming families in exchange for board and accommodation.

She harvested coffee beans, picked, packed and sliced mangoes, worked on a horse riding farm, and eventually ended up on her now husband’s farm picking and packing avocados, mangoes and limes.

A decade later they are married with two kids. In the first few years, Julia drove tractors, helped run the packing facility, helped to establish new orchards and investigated new crops to grow.

“It wasn’t until my first of many floods that I realised the severe emotional toll on my new family,” she said.

“Witnessing the destruction of our watermelon crop revealed what it truly meant to be married to an Australian farmer.

“No one really talked about the financial loss or the emotional strain.

Everyone just threw themselves into working even harder to make up for the loss. We replaced our watermelon crop hoping that we would still be able to grow another but just before we could harvest, another flood hit.I realised it wasn’t enough for me to stand by and watch things unfold. I had to do my part to help my family financially and the idea for Tweed Real Food was born.”

Julia started Tweed Real Food, taking her connection between the land, who

SMOKEY CUE PORK RIBS Salmon on Lentils we are and what we eat into her passion for real food and created all natural flavours for Australians.

“My vision was to contribute to the joy families experience when sharing healthy, home-cooked meals around their dinner table. While creating an additional income stream to subsidise the ongoing losses.”

Julia experimented with flavours for seasonings and balsamic vinegars, inspired by the fresh produce the family grows on their farm.

Throughout the first year of Tweed Real Food being in business, the farms suffered their biggest disasters yet, well into the drought a severe hailstorm struck, followed by devastating bushfires.

“For two months we lived in a constant state of fear. Fire changed direction away from one farm only to move towards another,” she said.

“When the fires reached the farm, the bushfire app suddenly updated, showing the fires had ripped not only through our orchard but the entire area.

I was sure at the time that my family hadn’t survived.”

Tweed Real Food has received over 3000 5 star reviews from a very loyal customer base.

The recipe book ‘There is a story behind every meal’ featuring 65 delicious recipes, intertwined with untold farm stories and beautiful imagery, encapsulates the journey of overcoming hardship, providing heart-wrenching insight to the reality of farming in Australia. https://tweedrealfood.com/products/there-is-a-story-behind-everymeal-1

SMASHED AVO TOAST Serves: 2

Serves: 2 - 4 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

· 2 racks pork ribs · 3 tbsp brown sugar · 3 tbsp Smokey Cue Rub · 1 cup apple cider or beer · ¼ cup Bourbon Maple Splash Balsamic Vinegar · ¼ cup apple cider vinegar Smokey Cue Pork Ribs Method 1. Preheat oven to 160°C and line oven proof dish with baking paper.

2. Mix sugar and 2 tbsp of Smokey Cue Rub in a bowl. Rub the mixture over the fleshy surface of the ribs.

3. Place the ribs in the prepared baking dish. Pour apple cider or beer into the dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for approx 1-1.5 hours.

4. In the meantime, combine remaining tbsp of Smokey Cue Rub, Bourbon Maple Splash and apple cider vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat un-

LYCHEE DUCK CURRY Serves: 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

· 2 tbsp coconut oil · 4 duck breasts · 1 cup of lychees, fresh with seeds removed · · · · · · · · ·

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 2 minutes

Ingredients

· 4 slices of sourdough bread · 2 ripe avocados, stone removed, sliced diago-

til the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Set aside.

5. Once the ribs are cooked and the meat is tender, remove from the oven.

6. Increase the temperature of the oven to 200°C. 7. Brush half of the sauce over ribs and return the ribs to the oven, uncovered, to cook for 5 minutes.

8. Brush ribs again with remaining sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes.

9. Allow the ribs to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

10. Serve with coleslaw.

or tinned 1 cup of pineapple cubes, fresh or tinned ½ punnet of cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved 1 cup peas, fresh or frozen 2 handfuls of fresh green beans, rinsed with ends removed 1 cup fresh rinsed basil 2 tbsp Durban Earth Curry Rub 1 x 400ml tin of coconut cream Juice of one lime 1 cup jasmine rice

Lychee Duck Curry

nally

· 1 tbsp soft butter · 100g crumbly feta cheese · 2 tbsp Avo Smash Dukkah · 2 handfuls of fresh greens of your choice Method: 1. Lightly toast sourdough slices and spread with butter.

2. Top with avocado slices and crumbled feta.

3. Sprinkle Avo Smash Dukkah and garnish with favourite fresh greens.

Smashed Avo Toast

Method 1. Cook jasmine rice according to instructions on packet, whilst the rice is cooking make the curry.

2. In a frypan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tbsp coconut oil and cook duck breast skin side down for 3 minutes on each side. Set aside and cover to rest.

3. In a saucepan or cast-iron pot, heat remaining tbsp of coconut oil add Durban Earth Curry Rub, cooking until fragrant, approx. 60 seconds. Add coconut cream and bring to a simmer, stirring to com-

bine the curry rub.

4. Add tomatoes, peas, beans and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the lychees and pineapple, simmer for a further 3 minutes and squeeze in lime juice.

5. Meanwhile, thinly slice the duck breasts.

6. Serve rice into each bowl, ladle the vegetable curry on top, place the sliced duck breast portion into each bowl and pour a little juice on top. Garnish generously with basil.

AUTUMN: MARCH 2022 SENIORS TODAY 17

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

Assessing diabetes risks member who had it, inactivity or living in a larger body and ethnicity also play a part.

“Often diabetes and prediabetes comes with the package of high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” she said.

“To that end you’re looking at healthy eating and regular exercise. But you need to be aware of how to manage your condition – which means having a health care team – it doesn’t mean going on crash diets because that’s a way to become malnourished and unwell and also when you lose weight really rapidly you lose both fat and muscle tissue.

Muscle is the powerhouse of our bodies we want to maintain as much muscle as we can, especially with very older people we want them to keep muscle, so they don’t have falls.

“So, we want to do slow weight reduction or just healthy eating and regular exercise to build muscle and over time with these new habits without even focusing on the scale they might even lose weight.

“That’s what we call the health at every size approach. Exercising every day and making sure your building muscular as well as cardio and a healthy diet, less fat more muscle.

“A lot of people will say to me I don’t like vegetables, I don’t like exercising but there are so many vegetables out there.

“There has to be something out there that they like they just haven’t found it yet so keep trying.”

“So, when you look at exercise it’s the same thing, you mightn’t like the exercise at there in the past but there must be something out there that you can do, and anything is better than nothing.

“The only way you will keep doing it is if you enjoy it, so it needs to be something that you really enjoy doing or is fun to do with your friends.”

She said when someone is diagnosed with diabetes, they can get a care plan from the doctor, and it means that Medicare will subsidize a set number of appointments with allied health professionals every calendar year including a exercise physiologist and dietician.

By Tania Phillips There are 1.43 million people in Australia living with diabetes it’s a scary statistic particularly since many may not even notice that they are developing it.

By the far the highest number of those living with diabetes have Type Two - 1.24 million to be exact which is about 86 pe r cent of people diagnosed with diabetes.

And the majority of those people are more than 60-years- old.

They are scary facts, sobering even but how can we tell if we are at risk and what can we do about it?

Diabetes Qld dietitian Dale Cooke said many of the early symptoms of diabetes can often be brushed off as old age, but it is worth having blood tests and asking questions about the results.

Dale is also an exponent of being ‘healthy at every size’, though she said there were currently trials in the UK that are seeing people who lose weight when they are in pre-diabetes range, going into remission.

“The symptoms of diabetes, if they haven’t got it but its developing, can start very slowly and fairly insidiously,” Dale explained.

“Because we’re older we start to see things like feeling just a bit more tired, going to the toilet a lot more to wee, when really it’s the start of insulin resistance. That’s where the body isn’t allowing the insulin that the body is naturally producing to work properly so the body is ramping up insulin production. But to get rid of the excess glucose in the bloodstream the body puts it into the urine.

“So then there’s a lot more urine passing through, so someone gets thirsty.

They are dehydrated so they might have a headache. Their eyeballs - because there is excess glucose in the fluid in the eyeball it might swell to try and dilute it.

So, you think, my vision is going, I need to go the optometrist.

“There is a cascade of symptoms that they have but because they’re older they attribute it all to getting older.”

She said doctors will often say “your glucose is fine, or your bloods are fine”,

Dietitian Dale Cooke. where they’re really, they’re starting to creep up into the pre-diabetes range.

“Some doctors will flag that with someone but won’t say this is the time you need to do something to prevent Type Two diabetes from occurring,” she said.

“They just wait for the inevitable diagnosis of – oh you’ve got diabetes.

“A lot of people tell us that the doctor never mentioned diabetes, or it’s been mentioned but the doctor never prompted them to take action.”

She said before you are diagnosed is when you can prevent it from occurring.

“Once you are newly diagnosed you can work really hard for example there is a bit of research in the UK which they are replicating in Australia just to see if it comes up with the same results,” Dale explained. “The research says that if you lose about 15 kilos in the first six or so years of diagnosis you might be able to go into remission. “There is no formal definition of remission but it’s basically saying you can manage the diabetes

without medication so it’s not progressing at a very fast rate.

“So, any of these strange symptoms, it might be going to the toilet to wee a lot more, often getting up at night – these are things that typically happen as we get older too. Feeling tired, getting tingling or numbness in the feet or hands and be wondering what it’s from and that’s the start of the long term affects of diabetes. A lot of gentlemen will start to have problems with impotence and wonder is it just because I’m getting old, it actually can be related to diabetes.

She said having a regular check up with the GP and then actually asking what does this blood test mean? Is there anything out of the normal range and what does it mean, is really quite helpful.

“They need to be aware of what their blood test result means, not just accept that it’s all fine.”

She said age is one of the biggest factors of type two – bodies just wear out as they get older – though other risk factors including having a parent or family

Friendly recipes Smoked salmon and chicken salad platter This is so easy to put together on the day! It’s fresh and light and full of zing. If you aren’t keen on smoked salmon you could use all chicken or replace with a baked salmon fillet, cooled and cut up – Dale Cooke.

Nutrition per serve

· Energy 1087kJ · Protein 19.8g · Total fat 11.8g · -Saturated fat 2.8g · Carbohydrate15.1g · Fibre 5.6g · Sodium 423.3mg Ingredients: 125g smoked salmon, cut or torn into pieces 200g cooked chicken breast, no skin, cut or torn into pieces 300g baked and cooked orange sweet potato, cut into 2cm cubes

· · ·

18 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

· 1 medium endive (witlof) or 100g baby spinach, washed and drained 60g rocket, washed and drained 60g sourdough bread 2 tablespoon extra light spreadable cream cheese 1 large avocado, cut into cubes or slices ½ small red (Spanish) onion, sliced 3 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar 1 ½ tablespoon reduced fat plain Greek style yoghurt 3 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon baby capers 1 lemon, cut into wedges Method: 1. Arrange endive or spinach and rocket on a platter.

2. Top with avocado and orange sweet potato cubes, then slices of red onion.

3. Toast the sourdough and allow to cool.

Spread with the extra light spreadable cream cheese. Cut into 2cm squares and

· · · · · · · · · ·

sprinkle over the salad.

4. Arrange the smoked salmon and chicken on top.

5. Whisk together the white balsamic vinegar, reduced fat plain Greek style yoghurt and lemon juice in a small bowl. Drizzle over the salad.

6. Sprinkle the capers over the salad.

7. Serve with the lemon wedges

Fancy fig, mozzarella and ham entre This recipe is similar to one you see in fancy magazines and restaurants, just a bit healthier.

It’s dead easy to make, arrange everything on the plates so they look pretty, for example curl the long cucumber slices around the wedge of cheese. – Dale Cooke

Nutrition per serve

· Energy 422.5kJ · Protein 5.8g · Total fat 5g · -Saturated fat 3g

· Carbohydrate 6.9g · Fibre 2.2g · Sodium 203.1mg Ingredients: 100g buffalo mozzarella (that’s the big round mozzarella you’ll see in the cheese section of the supermarket), cut into wedges, one for each plate 6 slices of shaved fresh leg ham 6 ripe figs, washed and dried, cut in half lengthwise 2 teaspoons of honey (optional) A few basil leaves, as many as you fancy, washed and shaken dry 1 medium Lebanese cucumber, washed and sliced lengthwise with a potato peeler Method: 1. Arrange the mozzarella wedge, shaved ham, fig halves and cucumber on each entree (small sized) plate.

2. Sprinkle with basil leaves and drizzle with a little honey (optional).

· · · · · ·

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Doc shocks Greg into gear Former electrical engineer Greg Packer got the shock of his life when he was diagnosed with diabetes at just 54.

While he had cholesterol problems more than a decade earlier, he didn’t expect his diagnosis.

But straight away he decided he wasn’t going to just sit and let his health deteriorate, already a keen cyclist, he threw himself into his riding.

Two decades later he still rides his bike every day and at almost 75 he is enjoying good health and fitness and his blood glucose levels are in a healthy range.

“I didn’t realise at the time there was a family history, the doctor asked me did I have any and I said no,” he said.

However he went home and made a few phone calls only too discover he wasn’t the first member of his family to be diagnosed.

“I don’t think I was ever really told it was type two – the doctor kind of said it was a little of both – type one and a half,” he laughed. “I haven’t got it from being overweight or anything like that.

It was a bit of a shock I was only 53-54 at the time.”

As well as checking in with family he looked for any information he could find on it.

“I had a good read about it – they give you the diabetes book and so I had a big read,” Greg said.

“One of the things they suggest is exercising. I was already riding about a hundred kilometres every week – mainly on the weekend with my friends.

“So what I decided to do was double that and start riding a lot more during the week.”

Living in a Western Brisbane suburb with nice quiet roads, he started getting up early – leaving home at 5.30am and going for long rides – coming back after 7am to get ready for work.

“I started doing that every day – I decided to do 200 a week and I’ve been doing that now for 21 years,” Greg explained.

“After I got my diagnosis, the specialists said to me in about two years you’ll be on tablets and on insulin in about eight,” Greg said.

“That really made me double-down and say well that’s not going to be me – I didn’t say that to him only to myself.

And now after 21 years I’m not on insulin. I am on tablets that help your body use its own insulin, make insulin.”

Greg said he had changed his eating about 15 years before that after test revealed high cholesterol.

“I changed my eating habits then,” he said.

“I cut down on cholesterol and then when I was diagnosed with diabetes low glycemic foods were coming out.

Twenty-one years ago there was quite a bit being written about it so a friend of mine gave me a book on it. Then I went low glycemic. When you change your eating habits you soon get very use to it. After changing bread I thought – how can I ever eat white bread again, but

they have sourdough now,” he laughed adding it was his experience that when you change your eating habits and you are strong about it then it becomes very easy to keep doing it.

So what’s his advice to someone who has just been diagnosed?

“I think the key thing I say to people – it’s a shock to everyone when they are diagnosed – but do a bit of reading on it, there are diabetic books out there,” he explained.

“There is quite a bit of stuff out there, if you read between the lines I believe, you should be eating low glycemic food and you should be doing a bit of exercise. What I’m positive about is that you’ve got to get your body into a rhythm of exercising every day at the same time.

“What happens when you don’t do it, you feel really bad. Like today I went for a ride but I didn’t get out until about 9 am because it had been raining a little bit earlier. But I don’t use that as an excuse not to ride – I look at the radar and wait for a period when I can get out and not get wet. I’m lucky now I live up on the Sunshine Coast and all the roads have cycle areas – there’s also a bike path all the way down the coast. But I like riding on the road, its got edges all the way and you can ride form Noosa to Caloundra. I don’t go far but I’m out every day doing 30 to 40 kilometres. You’ve got to get your body into a rhythm.”

12510424-SG40-21

By Tania Phillips

AUTUMN: MARCH 2022 SENIORS TODAY 19

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

Musicians like to mambo, and the crowds love it, too Be swept up in the ambience of an evening in Rome at April’s Morning Melodies, Mambo Italiano!

Mambo Italiano celebrates the influence of Italian American musicians on the golden age of 1950s jazz and swing.

In an energetic, romantic and passionate concert event, awardwinning cabaret artist Nadia Sunde, together with an all-star band, takes audiences on a journey into the music of Louis Prima, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Sophia Loren, Bobby Darin, Perry Como…and others.

An acclaimed cabaret artist, songwriter, theatre actress, comedienne and former ABC radio presenter, Nadia Sunde is a standout performer effortlessly engaging and delighting her audiences with warmth, wit and velvet voice.

To bring this show to life Nadia Sunde has joined forces with virtuoso jazz pianist and accordionist John Reeves. As musical director John has assembled some of Queensland’s finest jazz and swing musicians to help pay tribute to the great Italian American singers and songwriters of the 1950s.

Songs Buona Sera - Louis Prima,

Three legends one stage Dinah, Normie and Jade.

Former ABC radio presenter, Nadia Sunde.

Mambo Italiano – Rosemary Clooney, Accentuate the Positive - Perry Como, My Baby Just Cares For Me Tony Bennett and Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole.

Mambo Italiano will be performed at Morning Melodies at the Pilbeam Theatre on Monday 4 April at 11am.

Tickets priced at $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and $17 for Friends of the Theatre, are on sale now from the Pilbeam Theatre Box Office, phone 4927 4111 or online at seeitlive.com. au

Can’t take your eyes off local Jersey Boys tribute Back in the early 1960s, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons created a sound that defined a generation.

Jersey Boys is their story.

Their hits, including as Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, December 1963 (Oh What A Night) and Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, endure to this day.

The musical, which has been a massive hit on Broadway and The West End, tells the story of the formation, success and eventual breakup of the group.

Rockhampton Regional Council’s production stars Jacob Goves (Frankie Valli), Matthew Dennis (Bob Gaudio), Lachlan Scheuber (Tommy DeVito) and Angelo Conway (Nick Massi).

The show also features Dean Netherwood, Grant Wolf Whitfield, Laura Sinclair, Anna Janes, Maddi Cullen, Cassidy Acutt, Aleah Dillon, Alicia Kyriazis, Justin Rodgers and David Maurer, along with a talented ensemble.

A great live band recreates the rock and roll sounds of the early 1960s, with more than 30 songs in the show.

Jersey Boys is directed by Joy Philippi, with Musical Director Stephanie Quinlan, Choreographer Lita Hegvold and Vocal Director Jacinta Delalande The show opens at the Pilbeam Theatre on Friday 18 March for a limited season. Tickets are on sale from the Pilbeam Theatre Box Office, phone 4927 4111 and www.seeitlive.com.au.

Tickets are $52 for adults, $48 for pensioners $37 for children and groups of 6 or more adults $45 each.

20 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Legends on the Road Billed as three Legends In Concert, ’60s stars Normie Rowe, Dinah Lee and Jade Hurley are on their way to Rockhampton and Gladstone in April. .

The trio will play the Pilbeam Theatre on 3 April and Gladstone Entertainment Centre on 4 April.

The group’s line-up includes Australia’s first King of Pop Normie Rowe, the Queen of the Mods Dinah Lee and Australia’s King of Country Rock Jade Hurley.

The trio bring back the energy and excitement from the Wonder Years of the Sixties aim to perfectly reflect the era.

Promoters Bob McKinnon and Brian Fogarty say the audience is guaranteed a sensational show of great music and wonderful memories.

Normie Rowe AM, was Australia’s first King of Pop with hits including “Shakin’ All Over”, “Ohh La La” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and starred in a myriad of stage shows including “Annie”, “Chess”, “Evita” and as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

Dinah Lee (who was considered the one and only Queen of the Mods) is a New Zealand born star with International Number One Hits including “Don’t You Know Yockomo”, “Reet Petite” and “Do the Blue Beat” and is acknowledged as New Zealand’s greatest musical import to Australia.

Jade Hurley OAM, dubbed by Johnny O’Keefe as “Australia’s King of Country Rock” is Australia’s very own “Piano Man” with the unique “record” that every record he has released has achieved Gold, Platinum or Double status in Australia and New Zealand.

Who: Three Legends Friday 1 April Pilbeam Theatre Rockhampton, 8pm bookings 0749274111.

Saturday 2 April, Gladstone Entertainment Centre, 8pm bookings 07 4972 2822.

Both shows were set to be held on these dates at time of press but due to the Covid situation, check with the venues.

· ·

Golden hits on the stage

Rockhampton’s own Jersey Boys from Left Angelo Conway, Matthew Dennis, Jacob Goves, Lachlan Scheuber.

See a promo video of the show here: seeitlive.com.au/JerseyBoys Jersey Boys is a Rockhampton Regional Council production, supported by the Friends of the Theatre, CQ Today and WIN Television.

PATRON ADVICE: Recommended for mature audiences as it contains “authentic Jersey” language (coarse language).

All that glitters is gold in this glistening musical mixtape from the awardwinning creators of Christmas Actually and There’s Something About Music – Morning Melodys at Pilbeam Theatre on May 30.

GOLDEN unites superstar vocalists Luke Kennedy (Swing On This, The Voice Australia) and Irena Lysiuk (Your Song, Are You Lonesome Tonight), with piano virtuoso Damian Sim, for a musical celebration of contemporary music’s golden hits.

It is a chance to journey through a treasure trove of Hollywood and Broadway’s most-loved soundtracks and relive iconic music moments from your favourite films and stage shows, including My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, An Officer and a Gentleman, A Star Is Born and many more.

Promising sparkling original arrangements, powerhouse vocals and a setlist that’s pure gold, The Little Red Company’s GOLDEN will dazzle and delight.

Morning Melodies is held at 11am at Pilbeam at Rockhampton.

Luke Kennedy (Swing On This, The Voice Australia) and Irena Lysiuk (Your Song, Are You Lonesome Tonight).

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

GRAEME CONNORS

Trivia Time 16. What chemical is absorbed by a hygroscopic substance?

17. What company, founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888, is a major diamond miner?

18. What common tool can be needle-nosed?

19. What is the correct spelling: vaccinne, vaccine, vacine?

20. In the nursery rhyme, Hickory Dickory Dock, what time did the mouse run down?

Answers: 1. Bolero (by Ravel) 2. Alaska 3. 19th Century 4. Oil 5. The stroke 6. Queensland (Fitzroy Island) 7. Semicolon 8. M*A*S*H 9. Japanese 10. Paintings 11. Blue and yellow 12. RAAF 13. Eleanor 14. Prince Charles 15. Mortar board 16. Water 17. De Beers 18. Pliers 19. Vaccine 20. One o’clock

Allan Blackburn 1. What music did Torvill and Dean use for their gold-medal performance at the 1984 Olympics?

2. What state of the USA has the lowest average temperatures?

3. In what Century did explorers Burke and Wills attempt to cross Australia?

4. What is Saudi Arabia’s most valuable export?

5. In a rowing eight, who sets the pace?

6. In which Australian state or territory is Nudey Beach?

7. What punctuation mark is a dot over a comma?

8. In what TV series did Hot Lips Houlihan appear?

9. What nationality was the winner of the 2021 US Masters golf?

10. Still life, landscape and portrait are all types of what?

11. What two colours feature on the national flag of Sweden?

12. What branch of Australia’s armed forces celebrated its centenary in March 2021?

13. What is Elle Macpherson’s real first name?

14. Which member of the Royal Family attended Timbertop campus in 1966?

15. What headwear is traditionally worn by university graduates?

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MAY 7, 7.30pm The best lessons from the last two years are:- Yesterday is yesterday. Tomorrow is uncertain. Life is a live performance - so says singer songwriter Graeme Connors who heads to Rockhampton Leagues Club with his band ‘In Concert’, to present classic hits, favourites, and new songs. Rockhampton Leagues Club, Cambridge St.

CAPELLA COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL 2022 MAY 3-8 23 Hibernia Rd, Capella QLD 4723 The 2022 Capella Country Music Festival will be a six-day extravaganza between Tuesday the 3 May and Sunday, 8 May. The headline acts include the Godfather of Australian Country Music and Country Music Awards of Australia Lifetime Achievement Recipient - Chad Morgan (OAM) as well as the cream of Australian Country Music - The Hill Billy Goats, Keith Jamieson, Jeff Brown, Roger Knox, Terry Gordon and Pixie Jenkins.

EMERALD LIBRARY - VINTAGE SESSIONS FRIDAY MARCH 4 10:30am - 11:30 am 44 Borilla St, Emerald QLD 4720 Vintage Sessions are an ongoing program for adults and seniors to relax, learn, connect and discover. Each session is different, enjoying activities such as craft, robotics, workshops, local history, and more. Other dates include: 1 April and 6 May.

TWILIGHT ON EGERTON MARCH 12 Egerton Street, Emerald QLD Markets are held under the fairy lights

WHAT’S ON

of Emerald’s main street. Interested stall holders can contact Tamara at Future Hope: Other dates: 11 June, 10 September.

EMERALD BBQ AND BEER FEST SATURDAY 26 March, 11am Capricorn Highway, Emerald The Emerald BBQ and Beer Fest is back!

Featuring the Low and Slow Cook Off, kids entertainment, great food, a huge craft beer and cider bar, music and markets.

New in 2022, we are introducing a range of food and drink masterclasses and a new section to our cooking competition Camp Oven Cooking!

Tickets: Adults - $10, Under 18s - FREE Skip the queue and pre-purchase your gate pass online now for fast entry.

EMERALD SHOW MAY 31-JUNE 1 Capricorn Highway, Emerald A community based event that showcases the local agriculture industry through entertainment, education and competitions. Children will love the Agventure Discovery Trail where they can get handson experiences of the local agriculture industries

ROCKYNATS APRIL 15-17 Get fired up for three-days of high-octane automotive awesomeness over the 2022 Easter long weekend 15-17 April.

The city of Rockhampton will take centre stage for a revving-good time at the second Rockynats car festival. Lovers of horsepower, show cars, burnouts and drifting will experience some of the wildest modified cars in the country. Details at rockynats.com.au/Home

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Discoveries by moonlight

By Tania Phillips There is life and love and adventure after retirement, as Perth writer Margaret Cameron discovered.

An ardent traveller Margaret fell in love twice, first with Venice and then with a Venetian called Rossano.

But in the process of journeying to discover the quirky stories and the real Venice off the tourist track, she made a lot of self discovery – which led to her first book Under A Venice Moon due out through Hachette this month.

Like many Australians, travel headed Margaret’s post retirement agenda, but what she never imagined was that one particular holiday would prompt a reassessment of life’s pathway.

Under A Venice Moon is the story of one woman’s journey to step outside her comfort zone to discover a new life in an old country but also to rediscover that her old life and her home country was something special too. It’s a story that showcases Margaret’s post retirement travel adventures which led to her next adventure of writing her first book. In

Margaret Cameron.

Picture: DAVID BROADWAY good health and now in her 70s, chatting with Margaret leaves you wondering just what is next on her horizon.

“I’ve been to Venice several times, the time when the book is based I was 66-years old from memory – it’s a few

years in the past and I’m now 73,” she said.

“I was well into retirement when I went to Venice. I went for a friend for a months holiday around Italy, we went to Venice and like so many people before me I fell under it’s spell and decided I would like to go back – I wanted to know more about the city. I was fascinated by it’s history. It just struck me as unique, I guess. That from marshy swamplands that were desolated, uninhabited, this mighty city developed, which at one stage in the early middle ages, the most prosperous, affluent and powerful city state in the world. And it started from nothing.

“And now when you go down the grand canal and you look at the palazzi and so forth it just blew me away. I came home determined to go back and determined also to find out more about Venice and the quirky stories that are more likely to appear in the footnotes of references rather than the main text.

“I always had the feeling that I wanted to go back and explore behind the tourist façade. I wanted to see how real Ve-

netians lived their lives, what there lives were like, their living circumstances – if at all possible to get to know some of them. I decided the best way to do that was to go back for a months holiday by myself. I always knew I would be going by myself – and rent an apartment away from the main tourist mecca.”

Stepping out from her comfort zone, Margaret found that friendships - unexpected and spontaneous - blossom within palazzi walls and she made a discovery: life can lead you along rewarding paths, if you let it.

As each day passes, Margaret said her time in Venice became more than just an interlude; soon, the city begins to feel like home and Margret she considered the prospect leaving Perth and starting anew in Venice. While you have to read the book to find out what happens – Margaret’s book proves that life doesn’t end when you retire for some it is just the beginning and being in your late sixties doesn’t mean you can’t have adventure, love and lovers in your life.

Under a Venice Moon is released by Hachette this month.

Thirty years in the ute for our Boy from the Bush

By Tania Phillips Lee Kernaghan may be in his late fifties now but he is still a “Boy From the Bush” and still one of Australia’s bestknown country music stars.

Still it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s thirty years since he released his debut album Outback Club, an album that went on to become a classic. An album recorded, after he learned his trade in the pubs and the clubs along the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers.

To mark the occasion Queenslandbased Kernaghan has released a milestone album, “The Very Best of Lee Kernaghan – Three Decades of Hits”.

Curated by Lee himself, it marks the 30th anniversary of his 1992 classic debut album, “Outback Club”.

“There’s been quite a bit of water under the bridge, so to speak, since I stepped into the studio as a 27-yearold kid from Albury, from the Riverina and made that first album The Outback Club,” he said when we sat down for a phone chat. It was a strange experience for both of us – two Riverina kids who both moved north in our

Lee Kernaghan - still a boy from the bush. teens and first spoke more than 30 years ago.

“I don’t think I really ever stopped and smelt the roses all the way along and there were sometimes when I probably should have. But looking back it’s been a heck of a ride – three decades of touring and making records. I feel so grateful to everybody who helped make that possible. I’m talking about songwriters, musicians, record producers and record companies and that type of thing but ultimately it’s the people who came out to the shows and supported me from the early days all the way through to the Back Road Nations Tour, I owe a huge

debt of gratitude.”

Packed full of hits, fan favourites and some special treats, this 3-CD, 62 song set documents three decades of dedication to his craft - a decade per CD - a journey which has ensured Lee remains one of the biggest names in Australian country music.

But through all that Lee hasn’t lost sight of his country roots, of playing early gigs out west and driving in his ute.

“My inspiration for songs definitely comes from the people that I meet, often randomly and usually out West – there’s some incredible characters and it’s that odd turn of phrase – like “what do you do for a living – oh I milk cows”.

When those words are spoken to you, you just know it’s gotta be a song,” he laughed.

“So lots of inspiration from the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met.

“There’s been many circumnavigations of Australia and criss-crossing my way through a lot of it as well. I’ve got a ’79 series Landcruiser ute which

is my pride and joy. I love it. I just give it’s head and let it take me and you just never know where the next song is coming from.”

Though he doesn’t do circle work down the back paddock any more does he?

“No,” he laughed. “But if there’s a saltpan and a rush of blood, the burnouts and circle work – I’m a little more conservative than I used to be but once you put a Landcruiser up on two wheels, you learn restraint.”

With 14 studio albums under his belt, Kernaghan has sold over two million albums in Australia and had 40 number one hits on the Australian Country Charts. He has won 37 Golden Guitar Awards, four ARIA Awards and was a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement ARIA Award in 2015. In 2004 Lee received the Order of Australia Medal and in 2008 he was named Australian of the Year. Kernaghan has been nominated for Best Vocal Collaboration at the 2022 Toyota 50th Golden Guitar Awards, taking place in Tamworth on Wednesday, 20 April.

Together on the road and right on song Two of Australia’s most respected singers, musicians and songwriters - Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daley - are taking their guitars and songs on the road across 31 dates on the National ‘Together Alone Tour’ including Rockhampton on 8 April.

The ‘Together Alone Tour’ will be the first time these two powerhouse guitarists and vocalists have joined forces to tour together and shared a stage in such an intimate setting as they take the audience on a musical journey across their respective careers.

“I have been a big fan of Troy’s for so long so when this opportunity came up 22 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

to do a lap around Australia with him I was never going to say no,”Mossy said.

“These shows have been about 2 years in the planning, the set list will have everything plus a few surprises and I can’t wait to finally take it on the road and out to our fans.”

Troy said he was a long-time fan of the inspirational Ian Moss.

“From the first chord I heard Ian Moss play on guitar I was hooked, and then he sang!” Troy said.

“He has been a major source of inspiration for me for years and to play some shows with him across the country will be something very special. This will be

a great fun musical adventure, I’m so proud to blend what we do on stage for people to see, guitar heaven! See you out there. I can’t wait to play.”

VIP ticket holders will have the rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and watch Ian and Troy soundcheck, run a few songs on stage and have exclusive access to a meet and greet with Ian and Troy, have a chat and to grab a photo after soundcheck.

Together Alone Troy Cassar Daley, Ian Moss April 8 The Pilbeam Theatre.

· ·

Troy Cassar-Daley and Ian Moss.

SENIORSTODAY.COM.AU

GARDENING

Mmmm warm pasta with home made pesto, gorgeous basil lasts longer in autumn without bolting to seed.

Chillies.

A good time for both edible plants and beautiful ornamentals.

The most bountiful time of the year Hello gardeners- we find ourselves on the verge of what is often the best season of all for our warm climate gardens!

This time of year we can pretty much grow ANYTHING and set ourselves up for a wonderfully productive time of year and beyond- as the hottest time of the summer is passing and we enter the autumn.

So what should we be doing in the garden now?

First and foremost if you want to have a bountiful edible harvest through the autumn and winter, we still have warm soil and, after the excellent rains, most locations have perfectly moist soil conditions for planting new things and

germinating seeds for the next ‘crops’ of edibles and annuals.

What should we be planting now?

This is a great question and it depends upon what you like to have you your ‘patch’. For everyone north of Coffs Harbour, this is a brilliant time to put in things like tomatoes, basil, corn, beans, capsicums and those sorts of things.

More adventurous kitchen gardeners should try the ‘Asian’ greens like Bok Choi and Tatsoi which germinate quickly from seed or grow fast from seedlings at this time of year. The warm soil and sunshine will also kick start things like cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins if you have space for these sprawling plants.

You might even want to add some

fruit trees to your collection and this is a perfect time to put them in to the warm and moist soil at your place!

If you are more of an ‘ornamental’ gardener, there is a huge range of lovely plants that can go in now- and what a perfect time to check out your local nursery- their stock will be looking lush from the warm summer conditions and you can get inspiration from the staff and ideas for looking around at their plant displays.

It is still possible to plant bigger tropical ornamentals like Heliconias and ornamental gingers which should be looking amazing at your local nursery.

So make the most of the perfect days at this time of year and get out into the garden.

Sunflower season.

Coastal garden expo goes ahead at beautiful Wondai Garden lovers looking for a bit of a trip south can check out the Wondai Autumn Garden Expo from April 16-17.

After recording the second best-ever attendance at the 2021 Spring Expo, the committee feels justified in proceeding with its regular events in the face of trying and disappointing times as event after event was postponed or cancelled because of the restrictions due to the Covid virus retiring president Helen Young said.

“Yes, we know it is a famously convenient and trusted venue for the sale of plants and other exciting items but the team at Wondai Garden Expo believe it is much more than that,” Helen said.

“The curtailment of community events has a negative financial effect on commercial ventures especially those involved with tourism, but of

Weekend in the south? Wondai Autumn garden expo is back. real concern is the depressing effect on the mental health and well- being to many people, necessary as the rules may be.

“The team at Wondai Garden Expo Inc believes that our events have an increasingly important role to play in helping to ease a lot of this distress.

“Working in the soil among plants is proven to be one of the great healers we can utilise in our lives, and yes, you should talk to your plants – they are always glad to see you, will keep secrets, and never answer back!

“Garden Expo is perfectly situated to help people indulge in many aspects of this pastime. Whether you are

meeting with friends, having a family day out or just enjoying some wellearned solitude, time spent at the Expo may be just the ticket to feeling much happier about the world in general.

“Because we operate in a controlled outdoor venue with our Covid Safe precautions in place we are able to offer a safe place for you to spend a few enjoyable hours.

“If you want to become more personally involved, we invite you to bring some entries in to the Hanging Basket Competition, the Horticultural Show or the Photography section.”

Flyers and entry forms are available at many local outlets or they can be downloaded from the Garden Expo web site wondaigardenexpo.com. Or phone secretary Jodi on 0413 115 495.

AUTUMN: MARCH 2022 SENIORS TODAY 23

ACTIVE OUTDOORS

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Everyone’s in for ‘pickle’

By Tania Phillips It is named after a dog but that hasn’t stopped Pickleball – a tennis offshoot – from becoming one of the fastest growing sports in the world and Central Queensland in particular.

The Yeppoon Tennis club is a huge exponent of the sport – developed by an American family in the 60s and named after the families dog.

According to club secretary Karen Latinovic and her husband, club president John, Pickleball is growing fast with players of all age – though older players in particular are discovering it in large numbers “It’s part of the Yeppoon Tennis Club, John and myself introduced the game to the club as another racquet sport,” she said.

“Basically we started off playing on the hard court tennis courts and just adjusting the court to the appropriate size.

We used throw-down lines and adjusted the nets.”

The duo introduced Pickleball to the region a year and a half ago and it has gone from strength-to-strength.

“We started in July 2020 with just a handful of us getting down there and having a bit of a go,” she said.

“It’s basically taken off – we’ve probably got about 50 people on the books now. “ Karen said they knew it was going to take off so they applied to the council for some additional courts that were adjacent to their current tennis club courts that had been abandoned.

“We applied to get those and then that was approved and so we applied for grants and from there we built eight purpose-built courts which we have just

Yeppoon’s Pickleball crew. finalized back in October,” she said.

“We play Saturday mornings, social and we have new people and beginners coming along on Saturday morning to introduce them to the game. We play Wednesday fixtures night. It’s not a team fixtures night but you’re playing as yourself and we’ve now introduced a Friday night social night where you can come down with your family and bring some nibblies and drinks and just get out in the court. It’s very informal.

“A lot of people just come and hire the courts and get out and practice. A lot of our players now have their own paddles.

It’s just really grown.”

The club recently had Brendan Lee an international Pickleball coach come up and spend a week them, giving free coaching.

Because the Yeppoon courts are one of the very few dedicated Pickleball courts in Australia and “probably one of the largest and one of the better courts”

in the country Karen said the sports governing body are keen to hold a major tournament at Yeppoon.

The Classic Event will be held in July and is expected to bring some of the best players in Australia to the region.

She said Pickleball offered something for all age groups.

“We have a 16 year old, we have a 12 year old – usually around about 12 is a good age,” Karen said.

“We have young kids get out and muck around while we’re playing, we encourage it, the kids love it. We have a 75-year-old – probably coming up to 80 who is a very competitive player. It’s a game you can come and play at your own level and so we’ve got some players developing quite well and we’ve got a couple of good juniors as well.”

Of course it’s not as simple as just picking up a tennis racket and playing.

“You need Pickleball paddles – they are a smaller sized paddle – the game

is a combination of table tennis, tennis and badminton and you are playing on the quarter of the size of a tennis court,” she explained.

“So a smaller area to move around.

The balls are wiffle balls – plastic balls with holes in them so you don’t get a lot of bounce but the game is a very quick game because you try to get up to the Non-volley or kitchen line. It’s more of a volley game, more of a strategic game so with the better players it can be quite a quick, hard game. We’ve got thirty-yearold’s, 40, 50, 60 – its very hard for us to say what the average is because we are such a small community in Yeppoon but for such a small community we huge amount of interest and we have players continually coming through.”

And they are always looking for more players to come along, check out the sport and come and play. Those interested in having a look can check out the sport at the Yeppoon Tennis Club on Saturday mornings.

Silver fox out for gold After winning Gold in the Time Trial to become National Champion in the Maters Men Nine category in 2021, Ronnie is keen to repeat this performance at the up and coming 2022 National Masters Track Championships to be held in Brisbane at the Anna Meares velodrome on the 11 to 14 of April.

At the age of 74 years Ron will tell you cycling is for the young, and the old.

“Everyone in the family can be involved in cycling. It’s really a sport that

the whole family can do together”, Ron said.

Ron met his wife Denise at a cycling competition, all of his three children rode, and now his grandchildren are also riding.

Ronnie recently competed in the Masters State Track Championships bringing home seven Gold Medals.

Coming in first for his age division in the Keirin, Scratch, 500m Time Trial, Sprint, Omnium (four races), 2000m Individual Pursuit and Points race.

Ronnie Hickson (Masters 10) – seven Gold medals at Masters State Track Championships.

Ready to roll.

24 SENIORS TODAY AUTUMN: MARCH 2022

Ronnie (left) and some of his cycling family, Craig (son), Alex (grandson), Annalise (grand-daughter), Lachlan (grandson) and Riley (grandson).

Ron in action.