Activities and outings
Our Activities and Outings Officer, Megan, is tireless in organising a wide range of activities and outings.
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December 2024Christmas function Thirty seven members enjoyed a very festive Christmas function. The day featured lots of fun with a Christmas joke competition and lucky door prizes. |
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November 2024"Horizon of Khufu" Experience With Virtual Reality headsets on, the immersive experience transported us back to ancient Egypt. Afterwards, we enjoyed discussion over lunch at UrbnSurf, an inland man-made surfing venue at Olympic Park. |
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October 2024Probus Month BBQ brunch We celebrated Probus Month with a BBQ brunch at the Quarantine Reserve. Members enjoyed a sunny day and a delicious brunch with egg, sausage and bacon rolls, as well as fruit, muffins, tea and coffee. A lovely morning recognising the value and importance of our Club in celebrating community and companionship. |
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September 2024Newcastle trip Our group met at Strathfield station and travelled by train to Newcastle. We visited Fort Scratchley, a former coastal defence installation and Newcastle Museum which provided a fascinating look at the life and working conditions at the time of the BHP steel-making in the area. We walked along the waterfront and had lunch at the Honeysuckle Hotel. At around 3pm we caught the Sydney bound train home. |
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September 2024Riverboat Postman Once on board, we were greeted with morning tea, including an Anzac Biscuit. Then followed an entertaining description by the vessel’s skipper of key natural and historical features along the River, including the beached remains of the “Parramatta”, the Australian Navy’s first ship and the unique features on the different settlements. Mail was delivered and collected at most stops. The cruise concluded with an excellent Ploughman’s Lunch. |
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July 2024Hyde Park Barracks Museum What a wonderful experience to learn about Australian convict history! Built between 1817 and 1819,the Barracks are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They were commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and designed by convict architect Francis Greenaway. |
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June 2024Nutcote ‘Nutcote’ is the home of celebrated Australian children’s author, May Gibbs (1877-1969) at Neutral Bay. Our group enjoyed a guided tour followed by relaxing conversation over a delicious Devonshire tea.
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May 2024North Head After taking the ferry to Manly and exploring there for a while we continued our journey to North Head by bus where we followed the Fairfax Walk. The rich history of the area truly came alive as we strolled through the historic fortifications and listened to stories of bravery and sacrifice. Then it was time for lunch with great food and even better company. |
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May 2024Probus Art Tour of White Bay Power Station Our tour of the revamped former White Bay Power Station coincided with the 24th Biennale of Sydney. The theme of this Biennale is "Ten Thousand Suns". There was an amazing array of artwork, surrounded by remnants of the old Power Station. |
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April 2024Parramatta History Tour Members participated in the Inland Port Walking Tour to the area east of the Parramatta CBD and a guided tour of Hambleton Cottage. Lunch was enjoyed at the 100 year old Albion Hotel. The walking tour along the river explored connections between the local Aboriginals and settlers, how Parramatta was established and how it was the main connection between the town and Sydney. |
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March 2024Tour of North Head - to be rescheduled Our planned tour of North Head was cancelled due to extreme temperatures and will be rescheduled |
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February 2024Quarantine Park Brunch Brunch at the Abbotsford Quarantine Park was extremely well supported. Quarantine Park has become a favourite for members to socialise informally. |
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January 2024State Parliament Visit An excellent lunch in the Strangers Restaurant was followed by a tour of both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, with special access to the floors of both chambers as Parliament was in recess. With separate guides for each chamber, both guides were outstanding in sharing the history, symbolism and functioning of the Parliament. |
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December 2023Christmas function Thirty three member enjoyed the spirit of friendship, fellowship and fun at our annual Christmas function. |
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November 2023Everything old is new again This tour took in of some of the ‘new’ features of the Sydney urban landscape. Our first stop was the Goods Line, originally part of the freight railway line that connected the Sydney railway terminus and the Darling Harbour port. The remodelled Goods Line is now a shared pedestrian/cycleway but several historical rail artefacts have been preserved. On to Central Railway where we explored the areas that have been refurbished to accommodate further extensions of the Metro Rail Line. We then travelled by train to Marrickville to see the new Marrickville Library that is built around the former Marrickille Hospital and after stopping for lunch many continued to explore the suburb. |
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November 2023Jacaranda cruise with Graham Ross Our cruise on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River allowed us to view Sydney’s spectacular jacaranda trees, in full bloom. Graham Ross, horticulturist, TV and radio presenter, author and garden tour escort gave a non-stop in-depth description of everything from indigenous history to the founding of Sydney to the colourful celebrities of the city, and shared the wealth of knowledge he has of the flora of Sydney.
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October 2023Barefoot Bowls After a rudimentary ‘lesson’ from Bowling Club stalwart Henry, it was time for the four teams, including two guests of members, to hit the greens. This was when a new vocabulary was introduced to the teams, including ‘jack’, ‘bias’, ‘lead’, ‘second’, ‘skip’ etc, as well as learning that bowls is usually accompanied by a drink, preferably alcoholic. Some players were naturals at the game, while for others a few more lessons would be beneficial. |
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October 2023Cooper Park A gorgeous sunny day saw members embark on a delightful walk through Cooper Park in the eastern suburbs. Cooper Park is an area of abundant trees, ferns and gullies accessible via laid out paths. Whilst some paths are a little rocky in places, this only added to the feeling of being out in the bush. Birdsong was evident as well as a long-necked tortoise and eel, discovered in Cooper Creek. This walk was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we finished our time together with coffee and a chat at the kiosk. |
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September 2023Probus Month celebrations To celebrate Probus Month, an informal meeting and barbecue brunch was held at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in West Concord. Whilst our emphasis was on socialising, those who experienced the Kokoda Track in WWII were also remembered. |
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September 2023Day trip to Rydal Our bus trip took us to the amazing little town of Rydal, known for their spectacular displays of daffodils. On the way we stopped at the Hydro Majestic in Katoomba for morning tea, with lunch at The Tin Shed in Lithgow. On our way home, we took a short walk at Mount York to take in the beautiful views. |
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August 2023Sydney Zoo Sydney's new zoo is home to over 4,000 animals, including endangered species from around the world. It is also the only combined zoo and aquarium in NSW. Sixteen Russell Lea Probus members spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around in sunny but chilly weather.
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July 2023Metro Northwest Our outing on the new driverless Sydney Metro train from Chatswood to Tallawong was a great experience. The train is easily accessible to all, with great signage, comfortable seats and a clear view of the journey no matter where you are seated. We were able to stand at the front where the driver normally would be and watch the tracks ahead, which was fun.
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July 2023Hunters Hill walk The Jeanneret Walk is one of several in the Guide “Hunters Hill Heritage Walks” and features a number of grand historic buildings, many with beautiful gardens. The walk is named after Charles Jeanneret (1834-1898), who was responsible for at least 16 sandstone buildings in Hunters Hill. By chance we met one of the authors of the Guide and she shared her considerable knowledge of the area we were about to explore.
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June 2023State Theatre The inconspicuous façade of the State Theatre in Market St, City belies what hides behind! For 16 members, our visit to the State Theatre provided two hours of fascinating history about this iconic building as well as opportunity to discover hidden parts of the theatre otherwise not accessible to the general public.
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May 2023Concord Oval Recreation Centre We were guided around the newly opened state-of-the-art sports centre by the Recreation Centre Manager. This well-equipped sports centre houses the Zurich Centre, a centre of excellence for the Wests Tigers rugby league team and other local clubs. The sportsfield has the tallest goal posts in the southern hemisphere. |
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May 2023Western Sydney International Experience Centre Our group met for morning tea at Warragamba Dam, prior to driving on to the Experience Centre. The Centre is a space age looking building, a community engagement and education hub designed to showcase the developments and future possibilities associated with the airport. |
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