"This one impressed me with its space. Since I have been here, I have made a whole new heap of friends, a whole new social scene."
"I have complete freedom and security."
Bruce: "I was living in Dubbo with a substantial home. When my wife passed away, I downsized into a villa we owned, but while I played bowls there is only so many days that you can stand out the front and watch the traffic go by. Being a widower, there was only the local club and you don't want to turn into a barfly. I decided to speak to some people that lived in a village up there and they said they were happy with the lifestyle. I decided that I wanted a sea change and started checking out quite a few places."
"This one impressed me with its space. Since I have been here, I have made a whole new heap of friends, a whole new social scene. I just turned 70 and they gave two surprise birthday parties. The first on the Friday night, everyone in the village turned up - it was wonderful. But the next day they staged another one for me; they had sneaked into my garage and got my phone book and contacted my 94-year-old mum and got in contact with all my old friends, about 50 people. A real shock but a wonderful day. I like a party; I like good food and music and good people. The day we arrived here my son and I went down to the local tavern for some tucker to discover it has the best jazz band every second Saturday. It's now a regular for us."
"Around the lake are some great eating houses and at times we charter a boat to get to them. Every morning, about 6 or 8 of us walk to a different spot - along the beach or to Readhead. These are things you would never get in Dubbo. If I had been living in my little terrace house I would have been on my own. The thing is the people here have the same interests and are the same age. We men play snooker every day at 1.30 and laugh. The ladies have their craft. We have the big screen for State Of Origin. We do things."
"I am still travelling - I can just walk out the door. I usually go overseas, but I try to do things a bit different, like going to America by container ship (good but a bit boring towards the end). I have been to Vietnam, China, Japan. Next month I head out to Europe. All I have to do is close the door."
"I like going on my own and meeting people. I have my business card and that normally gets things going. And you meet people who become friends. I do most of those things on the card but the uprising business is a bit slow; not many of those around. I worked for 20 years as an Area Manager for an animal health care company out west and I used to reckon they were the best 20 years of my life. Then I had to retire to be a carer for my wife for her last nine years. Now I reckon it can't get much better than this."
"I love my home and the village, and I have complete freedom and security. There is no reason to ever leave."
