Trish Waterfall put off moving to a retirement village for as long as she could.
Husband Wally was keen, but for Trish, after spending the past 30 years in Ocean Grove and Wandana Heights, it was a case of cold feet before eventually settling on Armstrong Green just off Barwon Heads Road.
“We actually held two units and then I got cold feet and then had to have a big talk to myself and say, ‘This is silly, it’s so practical’,” she says.
Wally and Trish are glad they made the move.
As we talk at Armstrong Green – in a doctor’s surgery office, next door to the hairdressing salon – Trish and Wally look fit, healthy, and, most importantly, happy.
“A lot of people think it’s aged care and they say, ‘Oh, you’re too young to be there’ but it’s a long way from that,” Trish says.
“We’re busier now than we were when we left Wandana Heights,” Wally says.
“It’s like we are living in a resort,” Trish adds.
“You’ve got everything at your fingertips. We call it village retirement.
“I can remember when we were leaving Wandana Heights, we got someone to put some tiles on the front steps prior to selling our house.
“When we told him we were moving to a retirement village he said, ‘You’re not old enough’. I said, ‘We’re not going to an aged-care facility – it’s independent living’.
“It’s lovely. We’ve got this little community here.”
So what does a normal day look like for Trish and Wally?
They are both involved with the social club committee and Wally proudly volunteers in the bar, which raises money for group activities such as bus trips and lunch dates.
“Tonight, we’ve got a card game that you see in the pubs,” Wally says.
“The Joker. If someone draws your number out, you get to choose a card and if it’s the Joker, you win the prize.”
Trish and Wally have four daughters and with that comes eight grandkids ranging in age from four to 20.
“We don’t miss out on any of the family stuff,” Wally says.
“We had two of the boys stay here last week. They love all the facilities.
“Our daughters know we’re happy and safe and they often joke and say that they have to make an appointment to see us.”
The village residents have organised plenty of groups to keep themselves occupied, ranging from mahjong to crafts, chat groups, coffee club, lawn bowls, snooker, and much more.
Trish and Wally love their villa and it was a big part of their decision to move to Armstrong Green.
“The supermarket is next door, it’s close to Geelong and not too far from Melbourne,” Trish says.
“The bus stops just out the front and the train station is just around the corner.”
Cathy Farmer moved to Armstrong Green from Bendigo for a change of lifestyle when she retired from her nursing career.
She has two daughters in Torquay and a son in Bendigo.
“I liked the idea of being close to my daughters and still not too far to go back to Bendigo to be with my son,” she says.
“It was perfect because the homes are exactly what I wanted. It’s perfect for having visitors because you’ve got a bathroom and a bedroom up one end and a bathroom and a bedroom up the other end.
“You can have your grandchildren come and stay and they enjoy when I take them to the pool.
“I’ve had the whole family here sitting outside of an evening playing bowls, having a barbecue.”
Cathy says she’s “certainly not lonely with all the different things I can do here”.
“I’m in a gardening club and I’m in a vegetable garden club and there are options to go on day trips and a group of us went to Bali a few months ago,” she says.
“You meet people who all want to do the same things. They want to travel, so you find travel buddies.”
It was important for Cathy to love where she lived.
“I love my home, that it’s new and there’s nothing to be done, and I’ve made myself the most beautiful garden out of much less space than I had before,” she says.
“Mine is facing north and in winter there’s constant sun all day in my windows in the living room and the kitchen’s perfect. It’s small, but it’s perfect for me and it’s really functional. Plenty of loungeroom space and a big table if I want the family there.
“And with my particular villa, it’s got a smaller outside area, but many villas have a much bigger outside area where I would say you could set up a big table and have a dinner outside that.
“If I wanted to do that, I would just come over to the clubrooms or there’s another barbecue place nearer to where my villa is that I could take them.”
One of Cathy’s daughters is a physiotherapist and runs water aerobics in the pool at the village once a week.
“There’s a walking group which I am involved in at 9am every Thursday morning,” she says.
“Off we go for an hour’s walk and then a coffee over to the Warralily shops. There’s two cafes there. We try to do a different walk and once a month we do a bus trip for our walk.”
And while Cathy is active, there is heaps to do for those who prefer a slower pace.
“There’s board games or the chat group and there’s a book club and a library,” she says.
“You can just tinker at home. The guys often have little sheds that they can do workshopping and there is a men’s group so they can get together and talk about whatever they talk about.
“The other thing is we play bowls and have happy hours.”
