All roads lead to Point Cook

Scenically located on Port Phillip Bay’s coastal plain on the western fringe of Melbourne, Point Cook is surrounded by lakes, public parklands, wetlands, popular tourist destinations, reserves and a marine sanctuary. Up for the occasional day trip? The city of Geelong and the magnificent beaches and mountain ranges of the Bellarine Peninsula are within easy reach.

Almost a straight trajectory across the bay from Brighton, Point Cook is less than a half hour drive on the freeway to Melbourne’s CBD, 35 minutes to Geelong, a half hour to Tullamarine Airport and 20 minutes from Avalon Airport. Access to and from Point Cook is easily found via the Princes Freeway, Westgate Freeway, Western Ring Rd, Western Freeway, Deer Park Bypass and the Geelong Ring Road.

Fresh produce and retail therapy aplenty

Supported by the City of Wyndham – one of the quickest growing municipalities in Victoria– Point Cook is serviced well by its own Point Cook Town Centre including a community Learning Centre, food courts, commercial spaces, major retailers including Coles, Target, Aldi, Harris Scarfe and plenty of specialty shops.  Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre is conveniently located just across the road from Point Cook Village and is currently undergoing extensive refurbishments and extensions, all due to be completed by the end of this year.

The two major retail precincts of Werribee and Hoppers Crossing are both less than a quarter hour drive and easily accessible by car or public transport.

Continuing its legacy from its recent rural past, Werribee South is a green hub of fresh produce supplies from market gardens and grazing lands. Point Cook’s broad range of services and facilities supports a mix of residents from families to empty nesters and retirees.

Entertain your visitors with parklands and tourist hot spots

Graced by iconic tourist destinations such as the original and majestic 1870s  Italianate masterpiece that is Werribee Mansion and its beautiful garden setting, the Victoria State Rose Garden, the tranquility of Werribee River, Shadowfax Winery. Werribee Open Range Zoo, You Yangs Regional Park, Skeleton Creek Wetlands, RAAF Museum and Point Cook Coastal Park and Homestead, the area is popular year round with visitors. What better way to entertain family and friends than packing a picnic for the day and exploring, all within a comfortable, half hour drive? Don’t forget to keep an eye on Seniors Card discounts directory and check for any discounts that may be available to you throughout the Wyndham area.

Golf, walking, cycling, boating? Flutter at the horses anyone?

If golf is a treasured pastime, the well regarded, multi-award winning Sanctuary Lakes Resort and Golf Club is a great place to take on 18 challenging holes in a Greg Norman designed picturesque course. Werribee Park Golf Club is another option, offering nearly four decades of history and 18 holes set alongside the Werribee River.

Vast public parklands, coastal plains and wetlands mean that there are infinite options for packing a day pack and heading off for a walk or a meander on a bike. Federation Trail, Lollypop Creek Trail, Werribee River Trail, Heathdale Glen Ordern Wetlands Trail and Skeleton Creek Trail are just a handful of options. Point Cook Coastal Park and You Yangs Regional Park provide a range of walking challenges from easy to difficult.

Wyndham Harbour Marina is a new marina development currently under construction for boating and cafe enthusiasts to enjoy equally. The Marina has also developed two new beaches for local residents and visitors to indulge in.

Polo events are often hosted at Werribee Park Mansion. And if horse racing is more your thing, Werribee Racecourse is only a 15 minute drive away.

Or is arts and culture more your thing?

Wyndham City Council boasts four public libraries, the Wyndham Cultural Centre, including Performing Arts auditorium, Tattersall’s Theatre and Wyndham Art Gallery and lots of art and cultural community events. The Gallery at Werribee South is an art gallery run by artists for artists. You can’t go past Werribee Mansion for a day of history and culture. Werribee Park Sculpture Walk hosts a changing collection of work by Australia’s leading sculptors all year round.

And the essentials – hospital, medical and vet clinics

Werribee Mercy Hospital services the south western residents of Melbourne. Located on the Princes Freeway, Werribee, it is less than 10 minutes drive from Point Cook. It offers the full suite of hospital services.  There are also too many medical centres and veterinary clinics in close proximity to mention. The University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic is located in Werribee if you want some of the best pet care in Australia for your other family members.

The larger medical centres include Point Cook Medical Centre, Werribee Family and Children Medical Centre and Hoppers Crossing Medical Centre, all of which are within a quarter hour drive from Point Cook.

The commuting to and from anywhere is easy

Our residents at Point Cook Village have use of the Village Bus to get to local shopping precincts, local points of interest or public transport stations to travel further afield. Because Point Cook and its surrounds provides a broad range of services, any travel beyond the Village Bus tends to be for leisure, visiting, a day out with friends or family or holidays.

Travelling to and from Point Cook by car

To get to Melbourne’s CBD, the entrance to the Princes Freeway M1 from Point Cook Road is merely a hop, step and a jump away and will take you straight over the Westgate bridge and across to the spoils of the city just 23 kilometres away, or less than a half hour toll-free drive.

Travelling to and from Point Cook by rail

If you are eligible, your Seniors Card is your ticket to inexpensive travel by public transport.

Metlink trains run every 20 minutes, 7 days a week to and from Werribee station to the Melbourne CBD. Werribee station is situated in the heart of Werribee’s retail shopping precinct.

The nearest railway stations for Point Cook residents on the Werribee line include Werribee, Laverton and Aircraft stations and are all no more than 8 minutes drive from the centre of Point Cook. It is approximately 40 minutes to commute to Melbourne’s CBD by rail.

For more detailed information on rail transport, visit www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au.

Travelling to and from Point Cook by bus

Westrans Werribee Bus Service Blue’s routes 413 (Werribee Plaza to Laverton) and 416 (Laverton Rail to Hoppers Crossing) service the Point Cook township and access to the broader municipality.

Gull Airport Services provide a shuttle bus service to and from Tullamarine Airport and Werribee (16 Synnot Street).

Taking a flying holiday? Picking up interstate guests?

Avalon Airport provides connecting flights to most major Australian cities and is just a 20 minute drive along the Princes Freeway M1 to Point Cook.

Point Cook is a half hour drive north east from Tullamarine Airport via the Western Ring Road and the Princes Freeway M1.

Interested in continuing to learn, or learn something new?

There are a number of options available for study. Victoria University is located in Hoppers Crossing. University of the Third Age (U3A) popular with knowledge hungry seniors and retirees  is less than 15 minutes away in Werribee.  Wyndham Cultural Centre also run community classes on topics of interest. For more information, Wynlearn is a web site designed by the Wyndham Library Service to bring together information about local learning opportunities.

Like to know more about living in Point Cook?

If you’d like to find out more about retiring in, or visiting Point Cook here are some websites you may find helpful:

Point Cook Village – book a time to come and visit our award winning retirement village today!

Wyndham City Council

Wyndham transport options

Point Cook Town Centre

Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre

Bus timetables

If only being Sun Smart was cool back then

It was only as recently as 1980 that Australia’s Cancer Council launched one of the most successful awareness campaigns in health prevention/promotion history, “Slip Slop Slap, tad da, in the sun this summer say, Slip, Slop, Slap”. For many of us, this raising of awareness of the potential damage that UVA and UVB rays could cause to our body’s largest and most exposed organ, our skin, was simply too late. Our attitudes and behaviours were habitual around ‘soaking up some rays’, making the most of our home ‘girt by sea’ and comfortably sitting south enough of the equator to welcome our solar friend with open arms (pardon the pun).

I know that I’m still sometimes taken aback when I see toddlers on the beach with zinc cream, rash vest (sometimes long sleeves), hat (in and out of the water) and sunglasses! Then I take a glimpse at my ageing skin, clearly accelerated by years of sun damage in harsh Queensland sun, and wonder what my skin might be like now had I been a sunglass wearing toddler. Touch wood, I’ve been fortunate enough not to have a skin cancer diagnosis or even a scare – but the fear is always there knowing what I know now.

Know your skin ‘like the back of your hand’

Almost 2,000 Australians die as a direct result of skin cancer every year. Two thirds of Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer before they’ve reached 70 years of age. According to the Cancer Council’s website, between 95 and 99% of skin cancers are caused by exposure to sun.

To avoid surgery, obvious scarring or disfigurement or death, early detection of skin cancer is absolutely vital. So if the damage is already done, it’s not too late. Adopt Sun Smart strategies whenever you are exposing yourself to sun.

‘I know it like the back of my hand’ is a good saying to keep in mind for early detection of skin cancer. Get to know every square centimetre of your skin (with a friend, partner of professionals help) and keep an eye out for any changes. Any change in size, shape, texture or colour should see you booking yourself into your local GP or skin clinic for a check up.

What do I need to be looking out for and how often?

Here are the Australian Cancer Council’s three key recommendations for early detection of skin cancer:

• “The general public, particularly those aged 40 and over, should be encouraged to check all areas of their skin, including skin not normally exposed to the sun. Look for changes in shape, colour or size of a pigmented lesion or a new lesion regularly (every three months). Individuals should seek assistance from others to check difficult to see areas such as their back.
• Individuals who are concerned about skin cancer risk or skin changes should seek advice from a medical practitioner and discuss their skin cancer risk and need for medical checks or self examination.
• Outdoor workers should be encouraged to regularly check their skin for suspicious spots. It is important that workers know what their skin looks like normally so changes will be noticed.”

Sunsmart’s website has some really clear images and examples of the different types of sun spots and lesions you should be looking out for and seeing a doctor about.

Steps for self-examination is also a very useful Sunsmart reference to help you get into the practice of regularly checking your skin. There are also many skin clinics around that specialise in ‘mapping’ your skin and keeping a record on file, and then checking regularly for any changes. Sunsmart has a skin clinic consumer guide available to help you choose a reputable skin clinic.

Make ‘slip, slop, slap, seek and slide’ a habit

Just because you spent your youth radiant in golden brown, or in my case rosy red, it doesn’t mean that it’s too late to prevent any further damage. Use the children at your local playground or beach as role models, and follow their lead:

• Slip on clothing that covers as much skin as possible, particularly when the UV rating is high. The Bureau of Meteorology and the Sunsmart website provide a UV index forecasts and alerts.
• Slop on sunscreen 20 minutes before you head outside. Ideally it should be SPF30+, water resistant and reapplied every 2 hours.
• Slap on a hat. Make sure it shades your face, neck, top of your head and ears.
• Seek shade wherever possible.
• Slide on sunglasses that meet Australian Standards for sun protection.

If you’re concerned about recent reports about getting enough Vitamin D, the Cancer Council advises that you only need a few minutes of mid-morning sun for your body to produce sufficient Vitamin D.

Look after your skin and glow with health instead of melanin damage. Your skin is after all, your body’s largest organ.

Here are four easy-to-kick-off tips you can start putting into action from today to keep your living costs down.

1. Shop around online

One of the largest costs facing retail stores is commercial real estate ̶  including the cost of having a shop front in a convenient location as well as space for offices, storage and parking spaces for staff and customers. Naturally, the retailer needs to pass on these costs to the consumer.

By shopping around on the internet, not only can you compare prices from the comfort of your home or office, the online retailer can afford to be more competitive in price than their shopping strip or shopping centre competitor.

If you enter in the words ‘compare prices for [product/service]’ on any internet search engine, you’ll come across websites that will do the comparison price research for you at no cost to you.

Services such as cash savings accounts can be sourced online. Online savings accounts more often than not offer a higher cash interest rate than a bricks and mortar bank. Keep the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Online Shoppers Checklist handy whenever you start exploring buying something online.

2. Power in numbers

Buying products in bulk yourself, or better still, getting a group of friends and colleagues together to be able to negotiate a good price on a product or service by buying in bulk is a great way to keep prices down. If you live in a community setting, such as a retirement village, you potentially have a significant number of potential buyers of products or services with which to negotiate a ‘bulk buy’ deal with a supplier.

A good example of this may be planning a trip to a bulk retailer where basic, everyday non-perishable grocery items such as toilet paper, tissues, cleaning products or even batteries could be bought in bulk and the costs split amongst the group. This does require some organisation and coordination but is well worth the investment of time and effort in achieving mutual cost savings.

A more formal way of organising this may be to form a cooperative or ‘co-op’. In transitioning from busy lifestyles, many retirees may welcome the opportunity to take on a proactive role in sharing the running of a co-op.  Business Victoria’s website provides information in their ‘How to Start a Business’ section on how to formally establish a co-operative. A formal set up is a sensible way to protect everyone’s rights and clarify roles and responsibilities to make it work effectively.

Online, there are a number of group buying websites that offer special deals on products and services as part of marketing business offerings. Just enter the words ‘group buying sites’ and you’ll find a number of options, if you prefer to buy locally in Australia, just add the words ‘in Australia’.  Before buying goods and services online make sure you are familiar with how to manage any risk. The consumers section of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) website dedicates a whole section on staying safe when shopping online. Keep their Online Shoppers Checklist handy whenever you start exploring buying something online.

3. Fresh is always best – buy seasonally

When planning your weekly meal plan, always consider what fruit and vegetables are in season before you start shopping. If you commit to only buying seasonal produce, you’ll not only benefit from fresher, better quality, better tasting, more nutritious dishes, but you’ll also pay a lot less. Just take a look at the cost of a vegetable such as Australian garlic out of season, as compared to late summer/early autumn when it is in season. The price differential can be substantial!

There are plenty of ‘farm gate’ produce suppliers that will package up a weekly or fortnightly seasonal box and deliver to your door for a great price. Invest in a cookbook that enables you to search for recipes based on ingredients, or do a search for recipes on the internet and you’ll be surprised how easy and enjoyable it can be to cook seasonally and save money.

4. Save energy, save money and save the environment

There are many newspaper, magazine and online articles and resources about how to reduce your energy use, minimise your footprint on the environment and save money. Simple habits such as turning off light switches as soon as you walk out of a room, turning off power at the switch not just the appliance and using other modes of transport other than your car where possible are a few examples of where you can start to reduce the cost of your energy use.

Victoria’s Save Energy website is a great resource for tips on what you can do to reduce your energy use.

Try any one or all four of the above and look at what you can save. Then spread the word. Inspiring friends and family with stories of how you’ve managed to reduce your cost of living always makes for great barbeque conversation!

I, on the other hand, look forward to indulging in some much yearned for time to finally write that novel or two. I may even go and fulfill a dream of volunteering at an orphanage in Tibet or Rwanda for a year provided my health is in good check. On a ‘glass half empty’ day, I do feel trepidation at the thought of managing financially. Fear kicks in when I think about maintaining the lifestyle I enjoy now.

Everyone has their own definition of what it means to retire. For some, the very thought of retirement sends shudders through their very being. For others, they’re counting down the years, months and days to finally be free of the commitment of the daily grind that is work, or running a business.

Retirement means facing into change and exploring opportunities

The reality is, transitioning from full or part time employment directly challenges our sense of identity, financial security and perceived social status. “What do you do for a living?” becomes a question you want to avoid being confronted with at any cost. The routine you’ve lived for decades is about to feel like a lesser known, lesser defined entity. Your sense of status in the community suddenly feels diminished – note the emphasis on feels. Financially, there are many of us stuck in the ‘not sure I’ve enough money to be a self-funded retiree but too much to receive a pension’. On the health front regular skin checks, colonoscopies, breast checks, prostate checks, eye checks, hearing checks all start to become a reality of our annual schedule.

According to Australian government’s Seniors website, ‘on average, people are spending around 20 years at school, technical colleges or other education institutions; 35 years working; and 20 years in retirement.’

This means retirement is far from being an end to your career years, but the beginning of a new phase of your life. You’ve worked hard to reach the right to choose when to transition to retirement, it’s worth investing some time in planning ahead for a fulfilling few decades.

What are the opportunities ahead of you that retirement could open up?

Write your retirement story

It is never too early to start planning for retirement. A great starting point for planning a fulfilling transition to retirement is to write your own retirement story. What do you want from your retirement years? Some of the questions to help you create your own story, may include:

• How will I transition from my work/business? Will I reduce my hours gradually? Can I afford to stop work completely? Do I want to stop work completely? What options are available to me for reducing my hours? What would an ideal timeline look like? What is my succession plan?
• Where do I want to live? Is the neighbourhood I live in now going to be suitable for me in my retirement years?
• Will my wife/partner/husband be retiring at the same time as me? How will this affect our roles and responsibilities as a couple?
• Will I be responsible for the care of my grandchildren on a regular basis? Do I need to factor this in to my plan?
• How much money do I need to achieve the lifestyle I want?
• Do I need to start improving my health and fitness now for better health and wellbeing in my retirement? What will I do in my retirement years to make sure my health and wellbeing is a priority?
• Who will be my social and/or peer network? Do I need to consider moving from my current accommodation to be closer to friends, peers or family?
• What would a typical week look like for me?
• What are the activities, hobbies or interests that I’ve always wanted to be involved in, that I will now have time for?
• Do I feel safe, comfortable and secure living out my retirement years in the location I live in now? In 10 years time? In 20 years time?
• How do I want to holiday? Do I need to consider a caravan, holiday rental scheme, overseas house swap or beach shack? Can I go away regularly and feel that my home and contents are secure?
• Do I know what my retirement finance and accommodation choices are, or do I need to start researching into what options are available to me?
• Will my pet/s still be around by the time I retire? Will I want to take on the responsibility of another pet? What does this mean for my accommodation needs, financial needs and/or plans for regular trips away?
• What financial benefits will be available to me as a senior? What will my annual budget look like?
• Do I want to continue the upkeep and maintenance on the property I live in now? What about 10 years into my retirement? What about 15 years into my retirement? Do I need to consider my accommodation options to free up more time to live a fulfilling retirement?

What can you do to maintain the network of people you are used to having around you?

One of the biggest changes you will experience in transitioning to retirement is a diminished regular network of people. If you’re someone who thrives on social interaction, you may want to consider how you will fill the void of not having work colleagues, friends and your customers easily accessible to you for interaction, conversation and sharing common interests.

A retirement village lifestyle is an attractive option for many Australian’s approaching retirement. It is akin to: redeveloping the street you live in right now; updating and refurbishing every house in the street; adding some shared facilities such as a swimming pool; library; community centre and tennis court; moving out those neighbours you don’t feel you’ve much in common with and replacing them all with good friends; hiring a communal gardener/handyperson and popping a security gate at either end of the street. Suddenly you’ve a network of peers living alongside each other, a sense of safety and security in knowing your neighbours well, meaning you can head off on a holiday or a weekend away and your property will be safe and secure. At any time you can step across to the swimming pool and share a few laps with a neighbor.

If part of your retirement story is to take up a new interest, or study a new discipline or interest, then you will develop a new network of peers and perhaps influence some old friends to join you!

Next step: plan, plan and plan some more

Once you’ve written your retirement story, it’s time to bring in the experts for advice. If you are an employee, your first stop may be a Human Resources or Organisational Development consultant that can advise you on your transition to retirement options. If you run a business, you may want to book into speak to a consultant or specialist in succession planning.

The other experts you should think about consulting once you are clear on your retirement goals include:

• A financial planner  ̶   experienced in planning for retirement.
• A retirement village  ̶  to start considering your lifestyle options. Some local retirement villages to explore include Beleura Village Mornington, Cardinia Waters Village in Pakenham or Point Cook Village.
• Your family and friends  ̶  test your retirement story with people you trust and that know you well. Hear from your friends and family about their thoughts, concerns and wishes for you in your retirement.
• Your general practitioner or health and fitness professional ̶  to help you assess and plan your future health.
• A life counsellor or life coach  ̶  to seek independent advice on your retirement story and planning.
• The internet for a wealth of information on retirement planning and all things retirement. Seniors.gov.au is a great starting point for a national view and information on retirement in Australia. This website also hosts a wealth of information on retirement related topics.
• Business mentors or work colleagues that have already retired  ̶  learn from the learned, ask what has worked well, and what hasn’t.
• Your local real estate agent or valuer to assess your current property value and improvements that may be needed to appeal to the market.
• A building assessor, such as Archicentre  ̶   to provide you with a thorough appraisal of your property and the maintenance required, along with associated costs over the next decade.

As with any major life change, planning ahead is worth the investment of time. You deserve to enjoy your retirement years and live them as you want to, not as a caricature of what a retiree should be!

Perhaps this is unfair, the family tree botanist is a necessary and much valued resource however maybe it’s time to propagate your own family sapling. Or maybe your family is in need of someone that wants to take the reins on all things ancestral.

Here are some tips on how to get started:

1.      Gather everything you have together (and then copy it)

Start by booking in coffee catch ups or telephone calls with relatives that you know will be able to share some family names and history with you. If you are fortunate enough to have your parents available to you, start with them and then branch out to other relatives. Take along either a copy of the family tree you already have, or kick off a fresh one. Here’s a family tree template from the Genealogical Society of Victoria that you could print out and use as a guide.

Once you have as much information as you want to gather by this means, take a deep breath, pick up the phone and give your family’s ‘ancestral botanist’ a call. See what information they are willing to share. Ask if you can arrange a copy of what they have (at your own cost given the time the person has dedicated to research to date). There’s no point in doubling up on hard work that has already been done.  Chances are they will be flattered that you’ve taken an interest in what they’ve researched. And don’t forget the power of negotiation, you may have information they don’t have and vice versa – work in partnership and you may unlock more than you realised possible.

If you do arrange to photocopy and/or scan any ancestral archives, make sure that you photocopy onto acid-free paper and back it up on a USB for safe-keeping.

As you collect information, store all hardcopies in an acid-free box  ̶  and get into the practice of keeping duplicates of everything. We’ll talk more about storage later.

2.      Start researching based on what you already have

This is where the fun really starts. Now that you have some foundational information, it’s time to dig deeper.

Firstly, fill in any blanks on dates, contact the relevant state’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The Victorian registry has an online search function available for births, deaths and marriages recorded in Victoria enabling you to get an uncertified image of the original register record.

Now you’ve got a wealth of information to base deeper research on. Here is a list of valuable family history research resources that you can explore further to build your family’s story:

• The Genealogical Society for the relevant state or local area. Victoria’s Genealogical Society provides some great pointers on getting started.
• Local, State and National Libraries – in Australia, the electoral rolls are held in the National and State Libraries and can provide a valuable source of information for names and places of residence.
• Local, State and National Historical Societies
• National Archives – in Australia, the National Archives of Australia enables you to search for online digital copies of archives, as well as order them for your own records. This is a really rich source of research for Australian family historians.
• For Australian history, National Library of Australia’s Trove website is a massive repository of Australian material from music to audio archives to photographs, diaries and letters. There is no cost to use this treasure Trove.

• For Australian history, the National Library of Australia provides a list of Australian websites related to family history and genealogy as well as helpful links to other informative sites, including overseas resources.
• For those with an Australian military background, the Australian War Memorial website has online family research available.
• For a broader, global search of archival documents related to family history, Ancestry.com is a popular, user pays research tool. This is one of many, but more popular, online genealogy tools available to help you research your family history.

3.      Protect your research for the benefit of generations to come

With such a wealth of digital archives available via the internet, it may be possible to research a lot of your ancestral history without leaving home or even speaking to anyone. Whether you choose the route of speaking with as many relatives as possible, or spend many late nights researching online, or both, you want to make sure that the information you find is available for many generations to come.

Here are some tips on storing your family archives:

• For hardcopies of archives it is best to store in a central part of your home, where the temperature, light and humidity are all mild.
• 40-45% humidity is the level that curators of books and paper aim to achieve.
• Remove appendages that may corrode such as paper clips or staples.
• Use acid-free storage boxes to store your archives to protect them from light, dust and humidity.
• If you’re confident to do so, it is best to ask viewers of documents to use cotton gloves when handling them – the oil and perspiration from our hands can damage archives.
• Invest in buying acid-free paper for the purpose of separating archival documents from each other and photocopying or scanning original documents onto.
• If you can afford to, it is ideal to back up all scanned original documents to a USB, external hard drive or cloud storage (for example Dropbox, or Google Docs) so that if hardcopies are damaged, there is always an opportunity to retrieve electronic records. Storing documents via cloud storage also enables you to share valuable ancestral archives with the rest of your family.

Importantly have fun researching where you came from. You’ll soon discover why your family’s historian is so passionate about their research. You never know what family secrets or treasures you might dig up!

RCA’s Summer Edition of Evolve magazine profiles some summer holiday destinations that are near enough to take the stress out of travel, but diverse enough to meet most tastes and budgets.

Gold Towns

The Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850’s and 60’s has left a lasting legacy in the many historic and picturesque towns that lie within a couple of hours drive from Melbourne. Step back into yesteryear with a day trip or a stay in one of the many restored hotels or B&B’s the region is famous for. Choose from Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon or Clunes (to name a few).

Grampians

Discover grand mountain ranges, spectacular wildflowers, a wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities, and a wealth of Aboriginal rock art sites in the Grampians region. Treat yourself to one of Australia’s gastronomic destinations at the prize winning Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, take a day trip to the nearby Coonawarra or just soak up the walks, wine, and breath taking scenery of the Grampians themselves.

Beach Holiday

Victoria is blessed with a beautiful and varied coast line, featuring a beach holiday style for every taste and budget. Spend time on one of the nearby peninsulas enjoying the numerous seaside villages that come to life in summer, or take in the world heritage beauty of the Great Ocean Road. Or take the road less travelled to wander along the 90 Mile Beach on your way down the Wilderness Coast to Mallacoota and the Lakes District.

Crossing the Water

Tasmania

Board the Spirit of Tasmania and be transported to the Apple Isle. Tasmania is undoubtedly one of Australia’s finest holiday destinations offering five World Heritage Convict Sites, breathtaking mountain walks, wold renowned wilderness and wildlife, majestic rivers, pristine deserted beaches luxury of your resorts and spas. Tassie is also a fine food and wine destination, with produce renowned the world over – fresh, local. For a change of pace, take in the inspiring modern art at MONA.

Kangaroo Island

If you want extraordinary wildlife encounters, excellent local produce and warm hospitality, this large Island off the coast of South Australia is a destination without peer. With significant National Park and Conservation reserves (one third of the entire island) and very few introduced plants and animals, biologists refer to Kangaroo Island as “the closest to what temperate Australia was like at the time of European settlement.”

The Island’s diverse landscapes provide habitat for sea lions, fur seals, endemic kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, echidnas, platypus, goannas, 260 bird species (many rare or endangered), possums and bandicoots. There are a range of accommodation options available on the Island.

French Island

Visit an untouched wilderness in Melbourne’s backyard. Take a relaxing cruise to French Island, and learn about its rich history and abundant flora and flora. Undeveloped and isolated, the island is home to over 580 species of Flora including 100 species of orchids.  Learn about prison life at the former McLeod Prison Farm or visit the GPO for some local produce and handcrafts. Several operators conduct cruise and drive day trips. Enjoy a Devonshire tea before heading back to Melbourne.

If you’d like to subscribe to RCA’s printed magazine Evolve please email your name and postal address to editor@retirement-communities.com.au.

Australia’s well quoted ‘tyranny of distance’ extends beyond our coast line. According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s Emigration 2010-11 report approximately 166,000 Australian citizens (or 0.7% of our total population) emigrated via a ‘long-term or permanent departure’ over the last year. Internal migration in Australia is also constantly shifting. A trek to visit loved ones living in Adelaide from home in North Queensland requires more than a weekend away! For those of us holding the fort back in Australia or across states, it means finding ways of communicating effectively so that we can maintain and continue to enhance bonds with our loved ones.

Nothing quite compares to being able to regularly spend face to face time with grandchildren. This is just not a reality for many Australian grandparents. So how can you keep up with your grandchildren and play a familiar role in their lives if distance is getting in your way?

Technology has conquered distance for many decades now but never as rapidly as the last decade. The great news is, as the demand for communication across the globe by both audio and visual means becomes part of our social fabric, it’s becoming increasingly accessible and easier to use.

The basics are all you need to be well on your way to fulfilling catch ups

To get started, all you need is the basics. A computer with a current operating system, microphone, speakers, webcam (all of which are generally  built in), broadband connection, relevant software and an email address will have you well on your way to great conversations.

Impress your children and your grandchildren with your technical savvy while staying connected. Beyond email, the telephone and snail mail, the following communication technologies all enable you to enjoy rich interactions with your grandchildren, almost as good as being there. Better still most of these options are available for free.

1.  Voice and/or video chat applications

What is VoIP?

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a versatile software application for making telephone or videoconference calls live over the internet. Most VoIP services also enable video conferencing and instant messaging. Once you have a broadband connection, VoIP is often a very economical way to make telephone calls. In fact, most services offer free calls if the person you are calling is connected to the same VoIP service. Many VoIP applications also let you connect more than one other person – geographically scattered families can enjoy catching up on a video chat.

Tell me more about video chat or VoIP as a communication option

One of the most well known applications in this space is Skype. Skype enables instant messaging (more about that later), video or voice calls. Other popular VoIP software services include AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo! 7 Messenger and Google Talk. For Mac users, iChat is an instant messaging, text and video chat application that works with AIM.

2.  Social media

What is social media?

Social media is internet based spaces that allow groups of people to interact with one another, sharing information about their personal and professional interests, photos, videos and opinions on topics of interest. It is important to carefully manage your security settings on social media. Social media platforms enable you to limit the amount of information shared and who is able to access information and images that you publish online. The responsibility for protecting your privacy is yours and it is advisable to regularly check your security settings.

3.  Tell me more about social media as a communication option

Blogs are a popular way for families to communicate when they are scattered across the globe. A blog is a type of website that lets you update  and share content that you manage yourself, such as stories, opinions, photos, video and links to other content of interest with a group of people that you define. The blog platform allows visitors to comment on your content if you set it up that way. You can make a blog available to the public, or restrict it to just being accessible by family and friends. WordPress and Tumblr offer free blog sites, or you can pay to have a super slick bells and whistles blog.

YouTube and MySpace are examples of a popular user generated video sharing sites. By simply setting up a free account online, you can upload your own videos to share with family and friends. You control the security settings and who can view your video content. You may want
to record a Christmas greeting, or read your grandchild one of their favourite books. Or you may want to share some video footage of recent renovations, a holiday you’ve enjoyed or a snapshot of life in your new retirement village villa!

Google+ and Facebook are popular examples of social media interface sites hosted on the internet. By registering to set up a free account,  you can then invite friends and family to join your ‘circle’ or  ‘friends’ so that you can all share what’s on your mind, photos, videos, links to information of interest. You can group your family, friends and acquaintances so that what you share with family, may be different to what you share with other people – just in the way that you would usually manage your social life and connections. You can also join groups that share your interests, be it genealogy, retirement, antiques, films and book reviews just to name a few. You can then share these interests with your friends or family. Video chat is also increasingly becoming an additional service provided by social media sites. Social media sites are a great way of keeping your family and friends updated on your travels, new hobbies or viewing recent photos of your grandchildren!

3.     Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is having a real-time chat with someone by typing text using your computer or mobile device, sending it over the internet or telephone network and receiving typed messages back from the person or group of people you’re chatting with. As with all these communication technologies, increasingly instant messaging software also offers video chat.

MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Google Talk, Twitter (which is a ‘microblogging’, social network site), Trillian and Meebo are just a handful of the many real-time instant messaging options available.

Grandchildren in secondary school and beyond will love the ability to jump on and say a quick hello via instant messaging while they attend to their social and study demands.

4.     File sharing

What is a web based file hosting service?

A web based file hosting service or ‘cloud storage’ is like a giant online storage facility that gives you access to your very own filing cabinet drawers to upload, sort, store and share photos, videos, presentations, scanned documents and music. Some technologies even enable you to work with a person or group of people online to discuss or edit a document such as a Powerpoint presentation. Cloud storage is a great way to exchange photos and videos to stay up to date as your grandchildren grow.

Tell me more about file sharing as a communication option?

Flickr, Picasa, Google Docs and Dropbox are just some popular examples of free file sharing services. Some offer video chat as well as real-time sharing of documents.

If you love the idea of being able to read stories to your grandchildren, in a way that they can even see the pages of the book as your read, Readeo lets you and your grandchildren flip through the pages of a virtual book while seeing and talking to one another on-screen—almost like being in the same room. Readeo is just one of many examples of interactive, real-time file sharing.

You’re now just 4 simple steps away from connecting with your grandchildren

With most of the technologies, software and applications covered in this article, the process to kick off richer connections with your grandchildren from afar is very similar. Once you’ve taken some time to consider the options above, here are 4 steps to help you on your way:

1. Talk to your family and agree which technology is going to work for all of you.
2. Set up an account. This usually involves going to the website, registering your details as a new user, providing an active email address and being sent email instructions to get you started.
3. Once you’ve registered, test the application first with some peers – then you’re ready to impress your family with your technical savvy. In the case of a blog, it may take a little time to set it up and add some photos and stories.
4. Agree on a time to make the first connection with your family.

And most importantly, just enjoy being able to keep up with your grandchildren!

Retirement villages cater to the needs of this healthy, mobile and socially active demographic. A retirement village promotes independent living in a safe, secure and social peer setting, with shared recreational facilities and well maintained grounds to facilitate an active lifestyle. Minimal in-house daily personal care and support services are available and these are usually offered on a ‘fee for service’ basis.

Lifestyle versus need

Anyone over the age of 55 planning their retirement and seeking a safe, secure and social retirement lifestyle can move into a retirement village. RCA’s management team member Pat Hems – recently inducted as a Lifetime Member of the Retirement Village Association – is a pioneer of the retirement village industry in Victoria. She has personally observed a decrease in the average age of people looking to live in, or already living in, a retirement village. “Back in 1974 Victoria’s first retirement village opened and the average age of residents was between 75 to 78 years old.” shared Pat. “Now we are seeing people moving into retirement villages when they’re still working. There is definitely a more youthful community of retirement village residents compared to 30 years ago.”

Aged care facilities, on the other hand, receive funding from the Federal Government specifically for the purpose of providing support and care for frail older people that have been assessed as needing low to high level daily personal and medical care. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australian residents aged over 85 have increased five-fold over the past four decades. Aged care facility residents are more likely to be represented by this demographic as their health declines and daily personal care and health management becomes a challenge.

The only feature that an aged care facility has in common with a retirement village is a 24 hour emergency support service. That’s where any similarities end.

How does a retirement village differ from a residential aged care facility?

A retirement village is legally defined and governed by Victoria Government’s Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic). Retirement village operators include publicly listed companies, private operators and not-for-profit entities.

Residential Aged Care facilities, also known as Hostels (low level residential aged care) and Nursing Homes (high level residential aged care), is legally defined, governed and partly funded by the Commonwealth under the Aged Care Act 1997. Charities and not-for-profit organisations are more likely to operate a residential aged care facility although there are some publicly listed companies and private operators in the industry.

Aged care facilities generally operate on a much smaller scale than a retirement village. Fees and charges are regulated by the Commonwealth Aged Care Act 1997 and include fees to cover daily care needs as well as accommodation and meals. Retirement village fees cover maintenance costs such as gardening, external upkeep of buildings and administration of village operations, the right to use lifestyle enhancing facilities such as a swimming pool, community centre, internet lounge, library, lawn bowls and village bus. Daily personal care needs, if offered, are usually based on a fee for service when needed.

Anyone over 55 can buy into a retirement village lifestyle if they have the financial means to do so.  Whereas accessing most government-funded aged care requires formal assessment by health professionals called Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs). The assessment will determine the level of residential care needed.

A retirement village feels very different to an aged care facility

If you take a walk through a retirement village such as Cardinia Waters Village, Beleura Village Mornington or Point Cook Village, you will get a sense of a very independent and flexible retirement lifestyle. Some of the residents may even be enjoying a holiday away somewhere because they lead an active retirement lifestyle and know that they can leave their villa taking comfort in knowing that it is located in a secure setting.

Visiting a residential aged care facility has a very different feel about it. Meal times are scheduled, the average age is older, and there’s a lessened sense of mobility and independence due to the health care needs of the residents.

To summarise, a residential aged care facility is serving a specific need to provide supported care to people in our community for whom daily personal care and health management is a challenge. A retirement village is a lifestyle choice for retirees or those approaching retirement to enjoy an independent, active, social, safe and secure way of living amongst peers.

Here are some of the benefits of online shopping and some tips to help make your experience a good one.

The benefits of shopping online

Convenience: Our lives are busy! Convenience is one of the main reasons that people site as their reason for shopping online. Online shops give us the opportunity to shop 24/7 in our pyjamas, in bed or from an iPad or phone at the beach.

Better prices: Online prices are often better because products come to you direct from the manufacturer or seller without middlemen involved.

Variety: When you shop online, you can shop from retailers in other parts of the country or even the world without being limited by geographic area.

Gifts: Online Shopping makes sending gifts to relatives and friends easy, no matter where they live.

Fewer Expenses: Many times when we opt for conventional shopping we tend to spend a lot more than the required shopping expenses on things like eating out, traveling, impulsive shopping etc.

Comparison of Prices: Online shops make comparison and research of products and prices possible. Online stores also give you the ability to share information and reviews with other shoppers who have firsthand experience with a product or retailer.

Crowds: If you are like me, you would like to avoid the crowds when you do the shopping.

Tips for happy shopping

All reputable on line shops feature the following:

• A privacy policy
• Reviews from customers
• An email address and phone number
• A refund policy
• Secure payment methods including Credit cards and PayPal

Where to shop – some ideas

For toys: www.onlinetoys.com.au
For books: www.amazon.com
For cosmetics: www.strawberrynet.com
For giftware: www.petersofkensington.com.au
For the garden: www.gardensonline.com.au
For wine: www.cellarmasters.com.au

Vitamin D is key to good bone and teeth health, preventing rickets in children and guarding against osteoporosis and fractures in adulthood by aiding calcium and phosphorus absorption.

It is very difficult to get enough vitamin D from food sources alone, as very few foods naturally contain vitamin D — and those that do will not contain enough to optimize your levels.

Interestingly, the only vitamin not found in breast milk is vitamin D indicating we were designed to produce it by exposing our skin to natural sunlight rather than via food sources.

The best way to get enough vitamin D is from regular sun exposure. Occasional sunlight exposure to your face and hands is not sufficient for vitamin D nutrition for most people. During the Australian summer, a few minutes a day is enough for most people, however, in winter, the Australian Cancer Council indicates that two-three hours per week in required.

Contrary to popular belief, the best time to be in the sun for vitamin D production is actually as close to noon as possible. Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths — UVA and UVB. It’s important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.

UVB wavelengths help your skin produce vitamin D, while UVA penetrate your skin more deeply and cause more free radical damage. UVA rays are quite constant during hours of daylight, unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening and high at midday.

So to use the sun to maximize your vitamin D production and minimize your risk of skin damage, the middle of the day (roughly between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.) is the best and safest time. It is important to note that sensible sun protection will not reduce your uptake of vitamin D and that supplements should only be taken under your GP’s supervision.