Toowoomba

When Di and Terry Murtagh decided to move into Seachange Toowoomba to enjoy their retirement in “a safe community lifestyle”, they didn’t have far to travel. In fact, it may well have been one of the shortest moves they had made since meeting in Darwin in 1970, given it was literally “just on the other side of town”. The couple moved into the resort in March after attending an Open Day and viewing the “lovely villas, inviting facilities and friendly atmosphere”.

“We met in Darwin, when Terry was working for PMG (Postmaster-General’s Department) and I was at NT. Mines Branch, and we got married in 1972 in Toowoomba, where I was born,” Di said. “After being blown out of Darwin by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974, we moved with PMG to Mount Gambier, in South Australia, but returned to Darwin with our first son in 1976.” After their second son was born, Terry was promoted to Technical Instructor in the Telecom Training Schools, which saw them move to both Adelaide and later Brisbane. While in Brisbane, Di made a foray into the Brisbane fashion scene, owning her own boutique, and acting as a fashion parade compère and choreographer. She later studied at the Wal Scerri Pharmacy Academy and when the couple moved to Toowoomba in 1986, found work in a pharmacy while Terry enjoyed a promotion to Quality Assurance Inspector covering southwest Queensland.

After 35 years with the PMG/Telecom industry, Terry obtained a redundancy which set them on a new path. “We purchased Racecourse News Newsagency at Wyalla Plaza, Toowoomba, and although it was very long hours, it was seven years of very rewarding work,” Di said. “Then after a nice break, which included overseas and Australian travel, we embarked on a new venture and swapped ‘the news for the views’, building a lovely Colonial-style Bed & Breakfast and Cottages in the beautiful Steele Rudd scenic countryside of Mt Rascal south of Toowoomba. Our Mt Rascal B&B brought a lot of joy to the many of the interstate and international guests hosted there. We thoroughly enjoyed the accommodation and hospitality industry, and during this time Terry held the position as Chairman of The Toowoomba & Golden West Tourism Association. Plus, we both still worked part-time. Terry drove the school bus and I was a pharmacy manager.” Terry retired six years ago and Di, after the past 23 years at the pharmacy, in July last year.

“It’s now time for us to kick back and enjoy our lovely new home at Seachange,” she said. “Terry enjoys playing pool with his new friends and it was not hard to embrace the Friday night happy hours and movie nights. “I also love to help out the kitchen ladies at the functions and look forward to hitting the tennis court, pool and gym. “There’s lots more fun times ahead for us and we are very happy. Our grandchildren think it’s pretty cool we live here too.”

Peter and Brenda Quaife’s house on Tamborine Mountain wasn’t even on the market when they had an offer on it and sold it a day later. “We were approached and asked if we would sell it. We hadn’t really thought about it seriously but as we were thinking of moving the next year anyway, said ‘yes’ pretty much immediately,” Brenda said. The sale meant the couple quickly signed a contract for a home at Seachange Riverside Coomera after falling in love with the area and the facilities available in the resort.

However, plans changed when they were offered a house in Toowoomba by the team at Seachange. “We were told there was a house in Toowoomba which was only two weeks from being finished,” Peter said. “We came up to see it, we liked it and now here we are here. “We had decided a long time ago that if we had to move from Tamborine Mountain, we would probably go to Toowoomba but thought it might be a little cool for us. “When we looked at Riverside Coomera, we found it very appealing, however, after coming up here and seeing the facilities and the house, we were quite happy.”

The move to Toowoomba three months ago has brought them closer to their paramedic son, who lives an hour away in Dalby, and also means they are close to the hospital for Peter’s health needs. “I had a diagnosis that requires making regular trips to a hospital. On the Gold Coast it’s a good three-quarters of an hour drive but here the hospital is only five minutes away,” he said. While the couple have been busy unpacking and settling in to their two-bedroom plus multi-purpose room Kensington house, Brenda has already joined several groups at Seachange Toowoomba and is enjoying an active social life. This includes weekly ukulele jamming sessions, bowls, Qi Gong, and Sing Australia. “We also go to Friday get-togethers where we bring a plate, have a little wine and get to know everyone. It’s fantastic,” she said. “Peter is in remission and plays pool weekly. I’m also trying to get him into the gym.

“We are both very, very happy here. The people are amazing and there is a lot of laughter and a lot of joy around. “It’s truly beautiful and the house is just gorgeous. We get all the northern sun in winter and it has ducted air conditioning for those cooler days.” She said the couple were enjoying spending more time with their son, looking forward to making new friends and making use of all the Seachange Toowoomba facilities which include a Summer House, Clubhouse, bowling green, woodwork shop, heated pool, gym and tennis court. “Everything we need, in terms of shops and the hospital, is only five to seven minutes’ drive away too,” Brenda said.

Peter said apart from taking part in all the activities the resort had to offer, he was looking forward to exploring the Toowoomba area. “We went to the annual Carnival of Flowers which was lovely. There are a lot of things around the area to do and we can use Toowoomba as our base,” he said.

Residents of Seachange Toowoomba may have thought they’d had one too many at the resort’s Happy Hour recently when they began to see triple! But, in fact, it was the resort’s three resident Outlook Girls – Chris Horne, Tracy Pukalis and Marilyn Schefe – who, thanks to a strange coincidence, were all wearing the same yellow top from designer TS (which stands for Taking Shape). The Outlook Girls earned their name because the three ladies reside side-by-side at the resort in Numbers 1, 2 and 3 on The Outlook.

While Marilyn was the first of the ladies to move into the resort, as soon as she met Chris (the second to do so) they discovered they both shared the same yellow shirt. Not long after, neighbour Tracy moved in and a day later was also spied wearing the same top … and the three realised they were on to something. “The following week we decided to all wear it to Happy Hour and everyone thought it was a new uniform,” Chris said. “Unfortunately, the weather turned too cold to make it a regular thing but once it warms up, we plan to all wear it again. “The funny thing is two of our husbands also have the same shirt, so we might have to get all three men involved in the fun. “And because it’s been winter, we really haven’t had a chance to explore each other’s wardrobes but there’s a good chance we might all have other tops the same as we all like the TS brand. They have nice, bright wearable clothes and we get lots of compliments on them.”

Chris said the Outlook Girls enjoy being involved in the many activities the resort has to offer including Trivia, Qigong classes, fundraising activities, singing, craft activities, bowls and lunches, and there’s a good chance the shirts will come in handy to create a nice team atmosphere for competitions. “It’s great living there. There’s always something on – that’s the beauty of this place. You are never bored so you can either do as much as you like or not do anything at all. I love it. “And as it’s a relatively young resort there’s people moving in every week so there’s always some new to meet.”

The tentacles of fun and fabric have spread throughout Seachange Toowoomba as the lifestyle resort readied for the city’s biggest event of the year, the annual Carnival of Flowers. Fingers have been busy knitting and knotting as the resort’s crafty ladies enjoyed creating a colourful display to showcase the gated over 50s community during what is the longest running floral event of its kind in Australia.

Craft group co-ordinator Anne Thessman said the group had worked hard to create an Octopus Garden at the front of the resort, all centred around a large bottle tree. “We wrapped the bottle tree in blue fabric which we tie-dyed to create cream circles and we also added eyes and turned the branches into tentacles,” Anne said. “The garden underneath has been filled with dozens of fish, shark fins and jellyfish all knitted in bright coloured wool. We also had a mermaid sitting next to a treasure chest.

“There’s about half a dozen of us in the craft group and we really wanted a project to get stuck into for the Carnival of Flowers that was also a lot of fun to put together.” She said the group set up the display in the first week of September to coincide with the carnival and also took part in helping create a special float for the Grand Central Floral Parade on September 18 alongside the resort’s gardening club. When the craft group was not busy preparing for the carnival, they were knitting beanies and scarves to help charities throughout the chilly Toowoomba winter.