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LUNCH AT THE MONIER HOTEL, DARRA - 13th FEBRUARY 2024 

17 of our members enjoyed Fun, Friendship and Fellowship (and Food!) with a luncheon at The Monier, Darra. It was good to see members from both amalgamated clubs sharing in this activity.

Xmas Luncheon at The Jindalee, December 2023

Past President and Joint Speaker Coordinator Brendan delivered a Trivia Quiz that had many guessing, and Gill delivered a novelty Pass-the-Parcel which produced laughs and merriment all round.
This event also completed an exciting year for all members as the process of Amalgamation of the Probus Club of Mt Coot-tha Kenmore and the Probus Club of Kenmore Gardens had occurred earlier in the year. 
Over 90 members of the new Club attended the function and the atmosphere was the same as if the Club had been meeting for a decade. Happiness and energetic conversation was the theme of this wonderful Christmas Function. 
The Club was also appreciative of a special grant from the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Seniors Christmas Party Fund which was used to good effect for a memorable event. Our thanks go to Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Brisbane City Council for their support.

Lightning Ridge Bus Tour August 21-25, 2023

18 members and 5 friends arrived back in Brisbane at 6pm last Friday after an extremely enjoyable tour to Lightning Ridge. Everyone got on very well and I am unaware of any problems and complaints during the trip. There were no health issues.

The tour was well organized and we enjoyed visiting places to and from Lightning Ridge – Pittsworth Museum for morning tea, lunch at Railway Hotel, Goondiwindi, had a beer at the Nindigully Hotel, out in the middle of nowhere, established 1864, near St George, where we stayed overnight. We had a conducted tour of the Riversands Vineyard and sampled their many wines, lunch at Dirranbandi Hotel and then to Lightning Ridge for 2 nights. We had a conducted tour of the town and its many attractions, swim in the spa pool, 2 dinners at Lightning Ridge Bowls Club, climbed down and up 81 steps to view underground opal mining operations and on our 4th day departed Lightning Ridge for morning tea at Collarenabri Hotel, lunch at Moree Golf Club, then to Goondiwindi Gunsyd Motel and dinner at the Railway Hotel. Day 5 was on the road to Brisbane, morning tea tour of Coolmunda Olive Farm, lunch at Glengallen Homestead, Warwick.

We awarded Eugene, our tour operator and bus driver, 10 out of 10 for being a very pleasant and skillful operator and driver – nothing was too much trouble to him to make us happy. All up, we travelled just over 2,000 kms.

Members indicated that they would like to do a similar tour next year and I have asked them to put in requests for places and length of tour. If we go for more than 5 days, we would need to have more rest days at an interesting location. Something to ponder!

 

Christmas in July at the Canungra Hotel 26th July, 2023

We all met at Cubberla Park for a 9:30 am bus pick-up. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control the bus had to cancel at the last minute. Members decided to car pool and drive to Canungra Village. We had time to wander around the village to buy a cup of coffee, visit some interesting stores, including the Antiques shop, Op Shop, book shop, country gift shop, and a popular shoe store.

We then had a tour of the the historic St Luke’s Anglican Church. Built in 1936 with local timbers (The walls are made of rosewood, the floor is rose gum and the furniture is red cedar). On 18 October 1936 the Church was officially opened and dedicated by Archbishop William Wand. The building was designed by architect Raymond Clare Nowland and the contractor was Gordon Rhodes, supervised by architect Thomas Percy. It was built in the Old English Gothic style using rose cedar.Also gives other historical information - example tramway construction.

We then had a delicious xmas lunch at the Canungra Hotel.

 

Celebrating Seniors Month October 2022

General Meeting - October 10th

Members continue to celebrate Probus Day by dressing up in Probus colours for our October 10 meeting.

Celebrating Probus Day - Saturday 1st October

Members enjoyed a twilight river cruise to see the river bridges and buildings that were lit up in Probus colours of blue and yellow to celebrate Probus Day. Nine members of our Club sailed on the MV Mirimar with about 42 members of the Indooroopilly Probus Club. There was substantial finger food refreshments served as we proceeded up and down the river with a cash bar in operation for the occasional drink!


A Brisbane River Cruise including lunch at the Breakfast Creek Hotel

Date: Wednesday 14th of September 2022

A “Cruise to Lunch” on the M.V. Neptune - rivercitycruises.com.au/cruise-to-lunch/ - cruise the Brisbane River to Breakfast Creek, enjoy a leisurely walk to the Breakfast Creek Hotel for an included lunch and then cruise back. 

 

Members enjoying lunch at the Breakfast Hotel before re-boarding the Neptune for the return trip.

The 4-Day Gympie Bus Tour included an adventure on the Gympie Rattler

The 4 day bus tour to Gympie from Monday 11th July, 2022 returning on 14th July, was organized by Allan Foster from Granite Highlands Maxi-Tours who has conducted previous trips for our club. The below itinerary is a great summary of the activities prepared for the members.

Photos of the trip can be found under the Photo Gallery section.

All aboard the Gympie Rattler.

Fish and Chips at Doug’s Seafood Cafe Sandgate 23 May

Train trip to Sandgate including a luncheon at Doug's Fish Cafe and a heritage walk around Sandgate.

Retired member Arthur joined us for lunch.

Stunning Three Dams Tour of South East Queensland – 30th March 2022

The Three Dams Tour was held on the 30th March with a total of 31 passengers, a combination of members from our club and from the Seniors’ club participating.

 

We departed at 9:00am from the Akuna Oval parking lot on the Cross Country Tours bus. Our driver and tour guide were very friendly and knowledgeable.  We enjoyed a catered morning tea at the Old Fernvale Bakery, with coffee/tea and scones,  before making our first stop at Atkinson's Dam. The dam is now at over 100% capacity, after being at very low levels for the past 7 years. This lake is a popular recreation spot for power boating, water skiing and jet skiing and is stocked with a variety of freshwater fish.

 

We then took a leisurely drive through Esk, checking out the old and the new.

 

We made our way to Somerset Dam for a delicious picnic lunch surrounded by unspoiled bushland and spectacular mountain views.

Wivenhoe Dam was our last on the list before returning to Brisbane. 

At Wivenhoe we drove across the dam wall and back again and then stopped at the Spillway Lookout.

We arrived home at 4:30 and all agreed that we had a great day filled with Fun, Friendship and Fellowship.

Lord Mayor's Seniors Christmas Party - 9th December 2021

The Lord Mayor’s Seniors Christmas Party was held at the City Hall on the 9th December and was attended by 7 of our members; unfortunately several members had to cancel at the last minute owing to health issues.

We met at 9am and were seated by 9:15 at tables of 10 in the Auditorium. There were also many guests also seated in the Balcony areas. In total, roughly 1000 people attended and the organization behind the scenes was very professional and everything went without a hitch.

Morning tea was the first on the agenda, each guest received a plate of refreshments and bottomless cups of tea & coffee. All agreed that the refreshments were plentiful, delicious and that the staff did an excellent job of distributing the refreshments and keeping our coffee topped up.

After the morning tea, the entertainment began capably led by Rachael Tiernan as the MC, with a speech from the Lord Mayor with his family, and a range of entertainers including Billy Bourchier, Adam Lopez, Renae Suttie, Judith Molnar, the Rako Pasefika Singers, Adam Robbins, Bridie Heron, Mia Fennessy, The Christmas Party Singers and the Seren8 Quartet.

2021 Christmas Luncheon - 6th December

Our Annual Christmas Luncheon was held as planned at the Jindalee Tavern on the 6th December with another great roll-up of members. The day started with a welcome by our President who gave a summary of our activities during the last year and extended a warm welcome to all present. Concluding with some appropriate quotes for the Season he introduced two new activities for the day. This included a Trivia Quiz, a “Pass the Parcel” event and a rolling series of lucky door prizes beautifully arranged and then Charades.

The noise levels increased immediately after President’s opening with discussion about the questions for Trivia. In which TV series was the phrase “Allo Allo”, a by-word? It seemed everyone had a contribution to make and memories were razor sharp.

Lunch was well prepared and plentiful and absolutely appropriate for the event. Staff were also very attentive and helpful.

Pass the Parcel was a great success with a novel theme of “passes” tied in with the words of a narrative. Differently, parcels were passed under and over tables as well as to the right and left. This interlude was very well received.

After the judging of the Trivial Pursuit and the conclusion of the Lucky Door Prizes, our President took to the stage to thank those in attendance, the Event Organizing Committee and the venue and staff for a wonderful day’s festive activities. It seemed that the change of venue had been a great success.

Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre – Wednesday 17 November


Members had a memorable morning at the Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre on the 17th November. It started off with a talk from Jocie, our assigned guide, who spoke about the Centre and then introduced us to a number of interesting residents. This was followed by a self-guided walk around the various animal/fish displays, a walk around the site and then lunch at their newly developed café.

Members attentively listening to Jocie, our guide, who kept us entertained with a history of the Centre and introduced us to several of their residents (most recovering from an injury or two).

The first resident we met was a Rain Forest Lizard, a species from the Daintree National Park where they live in the canopy to get the most of the sun. Our second resident was Donna, an Inland Bearded Dragon. This species inhabit arid woodland and desert environments. They have a “third eye”, called a parietal eye, that detects light conditions and allows them to change colour depending on light conditions.

Next we met a Spiny Tailed Monitor, a diurnal, long and lithe ground dwelling species that live in the Northern Territory. They prey mainly on arthropods. We were then introduced to Vader, a Shingleback from the Carnavon National Park; Vader was rescued by quarantine inspectors from being exported overseas.

Our final resident was mischievous Rocko, an Echidna who was rescued in Rockhampton, but then kept as a pet and now re-housed at the Centre to rehabilitate him back to the wild. Echidnas are found in almost all parts of Australia and prey mainly on ants, termites, grubs and worms.

After the talk we familiarised ourselves with various live displays.

We left the display area and we walked around the park, saw the lake and various water activities (from a distance!) and met Ozzie the free-ranging emu and Billy the wombat who is the most spoilt resident in the park with his own air-conditioned enclosure (and obviously enjoying it).

Lunch was served and we all went away agreeing we all had a great morning filled with Fun, Friendship, Fellowship and (Food)!

Roma St Parklands Gardens tour 13th September

The Roma St Parklands Gardens guided tour on the 13th September was attended by 11 members. We were split into two groups and each group had a volunteer guide. We enjoyed an hour and a half guide of the gardens full of colour with excellent commentary and many photographic opportunities.

We followed this with chatter over an enjoyable lunch at the Gardens Room cafe. Their signature dish is a Caesar salad with several of our members partaking of this dish.

Adult Learners Week Symposium 1st September 2021

The Adult Learners’ Week symposium on the 1st September was hosted by the Probus Club of Kenmore Village in the Kenmore Library meeting room.

 It was well attended by about 20 participants from various clubs including several from our club. The program included an opening address by the Chair, Professor Jack Greenwood. Peter Kearns AM addressed “The Growing Importance of Adult Learning in the Emerging Longevity Society”. This was followed by Councillor Greg Adermann whose subject was “Growing Older and Living Bolder”, he also talked about the Brisbane City Council’s GOLD initiative – Growing Old, Living Dangerously. Tanya, from the Kenmore Library, talked about the work of the Kenmore Library in providing adult learning materials and services. Dr Denise Kearns completed the talks with her presentation on “How Kenmore Village Probus looks at the wider benefits of continuing to learn”. All the speakers then mingled with the participants to answer questions and Peter Kearns had a fascinating display of literature on adult learning for us to peruse.

Commissariat Store Museum 14th July 2021

A visit to the Commissariat Store Museum, was held on the 14th July. The Commissariat Store is Queensland’s oldest habitable building and most significant heritage building. It was built in 1824 during the convict days. The Commissariat Store Museum website is https://commissariatstore.org.au/.  Fourteen of our Club members turned up for the tour. We met up in Queen Gardens around 10am and began the tour at 10.30am. It began on the lower level where we were told its history. It was built in 1829 by convicts during Captain Logan’s time and had only two levels at first but another level was added later. It is the oldest occupied building in Queensland. The stone came from Kangaroo Point Cliffs and the grouting is of ash from the eruption of Mt Tambourine 200 million years ago and shell from the aboriginal midden heaps. The great wooden beams were all cut from local timber using adze and cross cut saws. The only beast of burden was Logan’s horse for convicts had to move everything using man power including carts etc. In all it is a very impressive building. After a talk on the lower we were split into two groups for a tour of the rest of the building which proved very educational.

Goma European Masterpiece Exhibition 21st June 2021

The Goma European Masterpieces Exhibition was attended by about 25 members on the 21st June. Highlights of the exhibition included Fra Angelico’s finely painted altarpiece The Crucifixion of ca. 1420–23; Titian’s poetic Venus and Adonis of the 1550s; the immediacy and drama of Caravaggio’s The Musicians 1597; Rembrandt’s painterly Flora of c.1654; Vermeer’s beautifully observed Allegory of the Catholic Faith c.1670-72, and van Gogh’s idyllic The Flowering Orchard 1888.

Some members met for a light lunch afterwards at the GOMA outdoor café. All members reported a very worthwhile exhibition and an excellent day.

Putt-Putt at the St Lucia Golf Club on 17th May 2021

Eight of us participated in Putt-Putt on the 17th May at The St Lucia Golf Club. We had two teams of 4 players and successfully completed the expert level for each of the 12 holes (no lost balls, but a few ended in the rough and lots of laughter). After a very competitive game, we declared we were all winners and then enjoyed coffee, a light lunch and some banter.