Northern NSW, October 2019 by seniors

October, 2019 FREE

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Embracing Ageing

Touring

COOK ISLANDS

Travel & Cruise Specialists Call our friendly, experienced team to book your next cruise or touring holiday or to join one of Go See Touring’s special group departures.

1300 551 997 (07) 5513 1086

E: info@goseetouring.com www.goseetouring.com

TERMS & CONDITIONS CONDITIONS *Price *Price isis per per person person Twin Share. Single Supplement Supplement applies. applies. Credit Credit card surcharges apply. Deposit Deposit of of AUD$500-$800 AUD$500-$800 per person is required to secure tour. tour. Tour Tour requires requires a minimum number number of of passengers passengers to to depart. depart. Prices Prices may ﬂuctuate if surcharges, fee, taxes or currency change. Prices current as at 25th July 2019. 20 January 2019. Go See Touring in conjunction with Norfolk Select Marketing ABN: 93 367 366 822 ATAS Accreditation A10619 Accr

From

1 - 9 November 2019

Join Country Music celebrity Graeme Hugo for an entertaining & cultural tour to the magical Cook Islands.

$3,995*

*pp share twin ex Brisbane. Includes return flights, 6 nights Edgewater Resort, 1-night Sydney, Daily tours, Daily Breakfast & Dinner and 3 lunches. Spaces are strictly limited.

Singapore Recitial

WITH JENNY LIU

$4,125*

*pp share twin ex BNE Single Supp $890

28 April - 2 May 2020

Join celebrity host, Jenny Liu, one of Australia’s premier Sopranos, on this wonderful tour to Singapore. Jenny is an award-winning Opera and Musical Theatre performer, best known for her roles in The King and I and The Marriage of Figaro: “When her cut-glass cords echoed around that supersonic theatre no one dared to breathe lest they break the magic spell.” You will delight in her 3 special recitals as well as exploring all the must-see attractions of this amazing City. Singapore is a melting pot of culture with fabulous shopping, delicious food, and a fascinating history.

English Blossoms Tour NEW TOUR From

$6,495*

13 - 25 May 2020

Highlights include Great Dixter House, Sissinghurst Castle, Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Bath, Cotswolds, Abbey House Malmesbury & much more! Fully Escorted from Brisbane

*Per person twin share ex Brisbane. Contact our office for Single Supplement. Includes return airfares, 10 nights quality accommodation, 10 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 5 dinners. All touring & entrance fees.

Tassie Croquet 14 - 22 March 2020 Join us on this escorted Tassie Croquet Devils Devils 9 day tour and visit beautiful TOUR

From

$3,695*

*pp share twin ex BNE Single Supp $770

Norfolk Island Pétanque

From

$2,085* *pp share twin $470

Tasmania where you can indulge in history, visit stunning wilderness areas and enjoy some delicious food and wines. Combine the fun and friendship of hitting through the hoops with some wonderful touring when we travel to Tasmania in 2020. Why not join the fun!

9 - 16 May 2020

Join us for Pétanque under the pines! We’ll play, we’ll dine, we’ll tour and we’ll make new friends when we spend the week on Norfolk. This beautiful island only a couple of hours flying time from Sydney or Brisbane offers relaxation, culture, indulgence and history and in May 2020 will also ring once again with the sound of Pétanque boules. We’ll play on a beautiful private clifftop property, plus plenty of time to enjoy the best that Norfolk has to offer. Book now to secure your spot! Coming very soon our exciting launch of more 2020 touring.

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Cook Island Explorer New tour,

WELCOME

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

INDEX 3 4 6 8 10 12 14 15 21 22 24 27

News - It’s just part of his life Cover Story - Sarah Jane Adams News - Trees give surprise windfall News - New voice on the blog Profile Story - Erica Holmes News - Free music at Ballina What’s on Wanderlust Money Wellbeing Community group guide Puzzles

Blog & attract like-minded people

Turn the pages to meet the bold and adventurous Gail Forrer Seniors Group Editor SERENDIPITY – the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance. That’s the meaning assigned to this lovely word by the Cambridge dictionary. For me it means receiving an email from 98-year-old Erica Holmes who skillfully put together words describing how she was living through her ninth decade of life. A little more communication revealed a woman who lived her life with intelligence and high adventure (seriously, to date sword-swallowing has not entered my life). Our reporter Alison Houston went on to speak with Erica and produced a fascinating two-page feature. Begone ageing stereotypes! Our front cover personality Sarah Jane Adams challenges the idea of frumpy, invisible older women as she expresses her fearless fashion choices, ethos and ideas to the world through various social media channels. I love her motto – Wrinkles Are My Stripes. Think you might like to do the same, then check out our blogging feature and prepare to send your ideas into the blogosphere. Senior’s living

accommodation is also benefiting from fresh and innovate thinking. Woollams Construction GM Danny Hammon has contributed a column talking about the great new architectural angles that are redesigning the world of retirement living. To complement this article you will find a list of the latest moves in retirement villages. This month another global adventurer Paul Coffey leads us through the French countryside and over to England. I love reading these first-hand accounts detailing the real deal without fuss or fanfare. As always, special thanks to all of the people who contributed to our community news pages. It’s a pleasure to publish your articles and pictures. Find us online at seniorsnews.com.au

CONTACT US General Manager Geoff Crockett – 0413 988 333 geoff.crockett@news.com.au Editor Gail Forrer – 1300 880 265 gail.forrer@seniorsnewspaper.com.au Media Sales Executive Sue Germany – 0408 286 539 sue.germany@seniorsnewspaper.com.au Online Get your news online at www.seniorsnews.com.au Advertising, editorial and distribution enquiries Phone: 1300 880 265 Email: advertising@seniorsnewspaper.com.au or editor@seniorsnewspaper.com.au Website: www.seniorsnews.com.au Subscriptions Only $39.90 for one year (12 editions) including GST and postage anywhere in Australia. Please call our circulations services on 1300 361 604 and quote “Northern NSW Seniors Newspaper”. The Seniors Newspaper is published monthly and distributed free in northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland. The Seniors newspaper stable includes Toowoomba, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Northern NSW, Coffs and Clarence and Central Coast publications. Published by News Corp Australia. Printed by News Corp Australia, Yandina. Opinions expressed by contributors to Seniors Newspapers are not necessarily those of the editor or the owner/publisher and publication of advertisements implies no endorsement by the owner/publisher. Responsibility for election material in this paper is taken by Gail Forrer, cnr Mayne Road & Campbell Street, Bowen Hills, QLD 4006.

Community events and local clubs

Sequel with no equal

One great smash show SENIOR Moments 2? No, it’s not déjà vu, you are having another “Senior Moment”! The smash hit revue returns in a sequel without equal: Senior Moments 2: Remember, Remember. Yes, once again the senior sensation will be sweeping the nation with all new jokes and all old performers. Australian TV icon Tony Barber (Sale of the Century), master satirist Max Gillies (The Gillies Report) and original rock legend Normie Rowe (Les Miserables) head the classic cast for another

90 minutes of comedy sketches, songs and inspired senior silliness. Return Fire Productions is proud to announce Senior Moments 2 will be touring the nation from February 2020, to theatres in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra, and regionally to Wyong, Newcastle, Wollongong and Port Macquarie. Tickets on sale now! After two sell out national tours of the original hit, the Senior Moments gang are back for another comedy revue about ‘old’ people (and what they still remember).

BETTER THAN EVER: Senior Moments 2: Remember, Remember with Max Gillies, Tony Barber, Normie Rowe, Kim Lewis, David Callan and Dave Gibson with Mitchell Price-Norgaard on piano. SEASON DETAILS Senior Moments 2: The Senior Moments 2 Performance Dates: 4 - 8 WYONG Remember, Remember is cast also includes Kim March 2020; Performance Venue: The Art House more riotous fun for those Lewis (Sons & Times: Wed 1pm, Thurs Performance Date: 31 old enough to know better. Daughters), David Callan 1pm, Fri 1pm & 7.30pm, Jan - 1 February 2020 “The show is suitable (The Goon Show Live) and Sat 2pm & 7.30pm, Sun Performance Times: Fri for all ages,” says Max Dave Gibson (Andrew 12.30pm & 4.30pm; 7.30pm, Sat 2pm & Gillies. “As long as that Denton Breakfast Show) Ticket Prices: $55-$75. 7.30pm age is in the high double with the shockingly young Performance Run Time: digits or you can virtuoso Mitchell For bookings, go to 90 minutes/no interval remember when we still Price-Norgaard dazzling on qpac.com.au, phone Ticket Prices: $55-$75 used pound notes and piano. 13 62 46 or go to Bookings: thearthousemilk came in a glass Venue: QPAC seniormomentsshow. wyong.com.au or 02 4335 bottles.” Playhouse, Brisbane; com.au. 1485

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

NEWS

It’s just a part of his life Age has made little difference to Ron’s support for the shows Tania Phillips

BACK in 1975 when Ron Weir came to Lismore to judge the trotting at the local show he didn’t realise what he was starting. Toda, Ron who had already been heavily involved in the Bangalow event, is still an important member of the North Coast National committee today. Now closing in on his 84th birthday, Ron, a retired farmer who’s son owns and runs the family dairy farm near Lismore, is still on the event’s committee, runs the working dog contest and is licensee of the bar at the event to be held this year on October 17-19 in Lismore. And of course he still involved in his beloved Bangalow show, the last on the Far North Coast show circuit, November 15 and 16. It gives him something to do he says but it’s probably more just

what he was born into. Ron is a farmer from way back, starting milking back on his family farm at Eureka when he was four, milking “three or four” cows a day by hand. He says it’s all automated now and laments that the price of

‘‘

I was on the Bangalow Show Committee for 63 years. milk in supermarkets makes it hard on farmers (as does the drought -which he fears will affect some of the ring events on the show circuit this year). But it’s clear he still loves the country life and the local shows. “I was on the Bangalow Show Committee for 63 years, 27 years as

TRADITION AND HISTORY: Show president John Gibson with Ron Weir at the North Coast National in Lismore.

Photo: Liana Turner

president,” he said. “It gets in your blood, I’m in the habit of it and I like helping young people.” He said while the Bangalow show is very much still a much loved

local event that sees everyone come to town, the National relies on entertainment and excitement which the committee works hard to source. The National, which started life as the

Lismore show 132 years ago, is now one of the largest shows in NSW and Queensland outside of a capital cityand relies on a few loyal staff members and a large number of volunteers.

Info: northcoastnational. com.au/ and for Bangalow, go to bangalowshow.com.au/ and watch out for Ron, he’s a bit of a fixture at both events!

COTA welcomes Retirement Incomes Review COTA Australia has welcomed the announcement of an independent Retirement Incomes Review, which promises an examination of the current policy framework in terms of the

outcomes it produces for all retirees and the long-term sustainability of the system. COTA Australia Chief Executive, Ian Yates,said he has been calling for a review of retirement incomes

for the past five years, maintaining that current policies do not produce optimum outcomes for enough older Australians. Ian Yates commended the review’s focus on the interaction between

different retirement income sources and the long-term viability of the system. “Our current system is failing too many and has not evolved with our changing economy and demographics, as well as being unsustainable. “This review isn’t simply about one or two issues, like whether 12% superannuation guarantee is adequate or excessive, or whether the pension asset test taper is correct. These

individual issues need to be viewed within a more comprehensive, outcomes focused framework. “The retirement incomes system is complex. Many older Australians do not rely on a single income source but draw on a variety of resources to support themselves. This is an opportunity to step back and examine the system holistically and ensure that government policies are helping the greatest

number of Australians achieve a comfortable retirement at a reasonable cost to taxpayers. “I’m pleased to see a specific focus on the distributional impacts of retirement incomes policy. We need to build a policy framework that is fair to all over the long term, producing adequate incomes for all those it is intended to help. The review will present its findings by 30 June, 2020.

A FUN & FREE INFORMATION DAY FOR SENIORS Wednesday 30 October 2019 | 10.30am to 2pm Lismore Workers Club, 231 Keen Street

ABN 98 052 960862 | ACN 626 676 533

7071616aa

To book call 02 6621 1070 or 1800 424 079 Email - gdunlop@seniorsrightsservice.org.au

6832177aa

Seniors Rights Service invites you to come to our event. A fun day of FREE bingo, games and information. Win Prizes! We are fortunate to have the Honorable Susan Ryan AO (Former Age Discrimination Commissioner) attending to give a short talk about rights for seniors and the valuable contributions older Australians make to our communities.

COVER STORY

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

‘Wrinkles are Think again: Sarah Jane Adams is challenging Gail Forrer

‘‘

For the elders who can accept themselves, there comes freedom. — Sarah Jane Adams

various business opportunities, Sarah-Jane Adams is not likely to come out as a champion for fads in fitness, weight loss, super foods or cosmetic surgery. Indeed, just because she has a certain amount of notoriety doesn’t mean

she is suddenly going to lose herself in a pile of superficial endorsements. Nevertheless, she’s keen to say she’s quite happy if that’s what you want to do. She recently declined a job to model “under’’ garments – which would have meant baring much of her body (which by the way has not changed size since her youth). “You will rarely see me show more than my ankle or down from my elbow,” she declared. “As an older woman I can’t see how you can be empowered by stripping to your underwear. “I see it as tokenism.” And she’s not falling for any revamped sexual image of the older woman. “I am not sexual, I am post-menopausal – I am not over 60 and sexy,” she emphatically states. “And it is a great relief not to be burdened by desires of the flesh.” Sarah-Jane reveals that she is sticking to the same style of sensible CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

THE KING OF TALKBACK RADIO JOHN LAWS ON 2HC AND 2GF With over sixty years of commercial broadcast experience, John Laws asks the hard questions – and cuts through the political spin. For unmissable news, information, entertainment and talkback, Australia relies on John Laws.

Don’t miss the host who calls it like he sees it. Listen every weekday from 9am – midday.

Coffs Coast 100.5 FM | 639 AM www.radio639am.info

Clarence Valley 1206 AM | 103.9 FM www.radio2gf.com.au

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NEW WOMAN: Sixty-four-year-old Sarah Jane Adams shapes her image through personality, a little defiance and plenty of colour.

IN SOME ways Sarah Jane Adams is in line with myriad mature-age role models who are defying ageing stereotypes, but in other ways she steps way out of line. Sarah Jane uses the phrase “My wrinkles are my stripes” as a sub-heading to her flourishing Instagram account @saramaijewels that boasts more than 180,000 followers and counting. Her naturally grey hair, her vibrant sense of offbeat fashion – think Adidas mixed with styles ranging from colourful Indian fabrics to op-shop cast-offs and defiant poses – blows her out of the average demographic. And so does her penchant for living life her own way. The English born, 64-year-old antique jewellery dealer and jewellery designer has been happily married for more than a couple of decades, and while the couple live in the same Sydney street, they live in

separate houses at opposite ends of the street. Among other things, she says it’s a great way to stay fit. “I’ll sometimes walk 20 kilometres a day, going up and down,” Sarah-Jane said. The thing is, although she has been offered

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

COVER STORY

my stripes’ stereotypes of the older woman underwear, including the “passion killer’’ cotton knickers that she has worn her entire life. But the no-frills underwear is in line with her desire for a lifestyle of simplicity. “I have downsized,” she says. This means the assortment of products sent to her by various businesses looking for her endorsement are very simply not wanted or accepted. “What do I want them for? “At this stage of life, I’m giving things away.” Sarah Jane’s Instagram fame started with one of her adult twin daughters posting a photo of her that went viral. She has kept it up and especially enjoys the connection she has made with people around the world including Ari Seth Cohen, the photographer who has famously snapped unique ageing fashionistas in various global destinations. Sarah Jane grew up in

England and was well-groomed in conservative English traditions, but her natural independence, outspoken personality and desire for adventure led her to discover rock bands, second-hand clothing markets, obscure pieces of jewellery and the joy of overseas travel. In her youth, she describes herself as “bolshie’’ and “out there’’. A young woman determined to run her own race, which has meant creating her own work. “I have always made my own way and been self-employed,” she said. Her travels have led her to the place she calls her spiritual home – India. “I have been to India more times than I can count,” she says. India is the home of yoga and Sarah Jane, who has been a daily practitioner since her late 50s, says she lives her life from a yogic perspective. “Only a small aspect of yoga is physical exercise.” Her overall philosophy incorporates living

consciously and being able to say: “This is me and it’s OK.” “For the elders who can accept themselves, there comes freedom,” she said. “Acceptance is freedom.” These days she said she would rather grow old gracefully than disgracefully, and that means there are no disguises. She explained that one day, while walking along a city street, a sales assistant accosted her and brought her into a store to put the latest miracle facial cream on her. “Once the salesgirl mentioned anti-ageing cream, I was out of there,” Sarah Jane said. And of course, that’s why she says: “My wrinkles are my stripes.” Instagram: @saramaijewels Facebook: Search for saramai.jewels Pinterest: Search for sarah-jane-adams

Sarah Jane Adams peeling back the layers.

NORTHERN RIVERS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROUDLY PRESENTS

Conductor - Camillio Manricks Soloist - Vicky Hong

OVERTURE: Coriolan: Ludwig Van Beethoven PIANO CONCERTO No.20: W.A. Mozart SYMPHONY No.3 “Eroica“: Ludwig Van Beethoven Date:

Sunday 27th October 2019

Time:

2:30pm NSW / 1:30pm QLD

Venue:

Tweed Heads Civic Centre, Brett Street, Tweed Heads NSW

Tickets:

Adults: $45 - Concession $40 Students $20 - Children under 18 years free of charge (Must be accompanied by an adult)

Tickets can be purchased at: Online at www.nrso.com.au Murwillumbah Music 02 6672 5404 (credit card facility) Box Office at Tweed Heads Civic Centre Mon 21st - Fri 25th October 10am-3pm (cash only please) Tickets also available at the door if not sold out. (cash only please)

Enquiries & Bookings 0478 012 324 NORTHERN RIVERS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA www.nrso.com.au

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FROM PAGE 4

NEWS

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

RICH PICKINGS: Friends of the Koalas Mark Wilson, Corena Wynd of Upper Tucki Tucki Creek Landcare, and Dr Kristin Den Exter of Wilsons River Landcarers and Lismore Theatre Company members Elyse Knowles and Luke Kane meet to discuss just how to use the LTC's compensation money.

Trees give surprise windfall

Tania Phillips VOLUNTEER Landcare groups around Lismore have received an unexpected windfall after trees were mistakenly removed from the grounds of the Lismore Theatre Company’s (LTC) Rochdale Theatre earlier this year. LTC president Sharon Brodie said contractors installing a new fence around Goonellabah Public school removed several trees from the Theatre’s land.

However, she said fortunately the NSW Department of Education accepted responsibility for the error paying compensation for the loss under the local tree protection arrangements for native species. The compensation not only allows LTC to plant replacement trees but the committee also decided to provide some of the funds to the Upper Tucki Tucki Creek Landcare and Wilson’s River Landcarers. Sharon said each group would receive $500 to buy

plants most of which will come from the nearby Northern Rivers Friends of the Koalas Nursery. “Lismore Theatre Company is delighted that the distress of losing some mature koala food trees early this year has turned to joy in that we are able to provide more trees for the wider community and our native wildlife to enjoy,” Sharon explained. “The compensation we received will be multiplied in the community by the volunteer groups that do so much to enhance our

natural environment.” LTC and Friends of The Koala member Luke Kane said when koala habitat was lost it was important to recognise it’s importance and “replace like-for-like”. “This will considerably boost our efforts to rehabilitate the creek and nearby bushland and restore habitat for wildlife,” Luke said. Upper Tucki Tucki Creek landcare spokesperson Corena Wynd said thanked the LTC donation which she said would help

the group achieve a long-held goal while the Wilson’s River “Our goal is to improve and establish koala corridors and we are focused on planting along degraded riparian zones to help our struggling platypus and other wildlife,” Corena said. Meanwhile the Wilson’s River Landcarers are actively replanting the riverbank – focusing on public land in Lismore. “This money will ensure more trees are planted contributing to the

re-creation of lowland rainforest on the floodplain - an endangered ecological community,” Dr Kristin den Exter of the Wilson’s River Group explained. Wanting to become involved in any of these groups? Phone Friends of the Koala on 02 6621 4664, Goonellabah Tucki Creek Landcare 02 6624 7383, Wilson’s River Landcare 0414 223 139 or Lismore Theatre Company on 0402 651 394.

He climbed mountains just to film the fungi

A MAGICAL fungi journey through the Eastern Himalayas is the feature of one of the films at this year’s Byron Bay Film Festival at venues around the town from October 18-27. Featuring the work of North Coast locals Stephen Axford and Catherine Marciniak, who live in the Byron Hinterland, the film Planet Fungi – North East India will have it’s International launch at the festival. The duo describe the fascinating documentary as a “a pioneering fungi adventure in the remote Eastern Himalayas”. Retiring out of a career in IT in his late 50s and

taking up photography as a hobby, Axford, now 68, said he had no wish to be a “wedding photographer” or “take pictures of trucks” instead he turned his eye to the forests around their property and fungi. Almost accidentally since then he has become an internationally acclaimed fungi photographer whose timelapse photos of the luminous fungi, Mycena chlorophos, caught the eye of the BBC and snapped them up to feature in David Attenborough’s award-winning Planet Earth 2. The rest, as they say, is

history. He is presenter and special effects photographer for the documentary while his partner Catherine Marciniak, a well-known senior features reporter at ABC North Coast, is the film’s director, writer, editor and cinematographer. “Fungi is a huge obsession that has changed our lives,” Catherine said. “We love the forms, colours and the endlessly fascinating diversity of fungi. We love being in the forest. And, we love that we are helping to document one of the largest kingdoms of life on the planet. This is a new

MOVIE MAGIC: Stephen Axford with Dr Samantha Chandranath Karunarathna. frontier of scientific discovery.” The duo describe the film as a “fun fungi safari in remote northeast India that will show you more about wild and wonderful mushrooms than you most likely ever imagined existed.”.

The Byron Bay Film Festival is a platform for outstanding independent film talent showcasing a uniquely rich and diverse program of entertaining, inspiring and thought provoking films. It’s a festival that fuses artistry, education and

innovation, enhancing our worldview and collective social dialogue through the power and storytelling of film. It is the largest regional film festival in Australia. Go to bbff.com.au for more information.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

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OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

New voice on the blog

Seniors have taken to social media to have their say Gail Forrer IF YOU want to widen your world, stretch your thinking and perhaps pick up a tip or two from like-minded folk, then check out the world wide web’s blogs and Instagram. The word blog is short for web-log which is an online journal or newsletter that is updated regularly and is posted on a website for people to read. Primarily blogs focus on sharing information with photos as an additional item. Instagram focuses on photos/pictures with words as a secondary offering. Blog sites and Instagram accounts are not places to make friends (yes, perhaps acquaintances), rather they are like a book with a page being written daily and put out for you to read. The author is there to talk to you about their own experiences, observations, opinions and maybe hand out a list of practical hints. After the blogs articles/posts, there is usually a place for readers to reply. These days hundreds (if not thousands) of seniors are revealing and sharing their lives in social media. They cover all sorts of topics from humour to finance and fashion together with caregiving. ■ IRIS Apfelt, a 98-year-old New Yorker, was among the first older women to be introduced to the world stage through electronic media. The

BLOGGING STORIES: Be yourself and attract like-minded people. respected interior designer, discovered by a famous street photographer, has been embraced by a global audience (she has 1.3 million Instagram followers and counting) for her colourful, wild, individual, I-dress-how-I-want, not how-you-tell-me style. Her in-your-face dressing exemplifies a dynamic visibility. Additionally, it reveals a bridging of the digital divide by a woman born in an era long before the development of electronic mediums. (Instagram: /www.instagram.com › iris) On the other hand America’s Pat Taub, creator and author of the WOW (women of wisdom) blog, appears to challenge the effects of

older women’s fashion Instagram accounts. Writing about the purpose of her blog, Taub says: “I want to fill a gap in the blogosphere for blogs addressed to women past 60, bucking the current trend where blogs for older women consist largely of fashion and beauty tips, as if successful ageing depended on looking young! “I refuse to buy into our culture’s demeaning prescription for how to age as a woman.” In her August 2019 blog post, Don’t let your thinking block you in, she speaks frankly: “Ageing can be so challenging for the older woman that it’s a wonder any of us enjoy a happy old age, but it’s within reach provided we adjust

our mindset. We all can benefit from strategies to overcome the cultural negatives. (Women’s older wisdom: wwblog.me) Jane Giddan and Ellen Cole are two septuagenarians whose blog 70candles.com aims to pass on their experiences to upcoming 70-year-olds. The introduction to their blog 70candles.com describes the purpose of their blog: “We hope this exchange will be a source of inspiration for the next generation of seventy-year-olds. “Those baby boomers are hot on our heels, and want to know more about what lies ahead. Nobody gave us a guidebook or shared what this path might be like. “As we burn those seventy candles, we can

Photo: Deagreez

help shed some light on the trail for them.” (70candles.com). Lastly, I will mention elder-blogger, American 78-year-old Ronni Bennett and her blog timegoesby.com. In 2018, Bennett published an interview discussing the beginning and end of her professional working life. She said her career began in the 1960s when she produced a successful radio program. She went on to spend 25 years as a television network producer and/or writer. In 1996 she became the managing editor of the first CBS News website. “For three years I got to help invent the commercial internet, as small as my part was,” Bennett said. She followed up with

similar positions at several other websites until, along with others, she was laid off in 2004. “As my younger colleagues found new jobs within a few weeks, I could get only two interviews in an entire year. It became obvious that 20-something managers would not hire a woman in her 60s,” she said. Bennett attributes her anger about this to fuelling the creation of her blog. It also prompted her research into ageing and she found the media presenting a certain view, which she described as “three Ds – disease, decline and decay leading to a fourth, death.’’ Bennett’s blog, Time Goes By, what it’s really like to get old, has seen her become an elder activist encouraging, supporting and promoting older people by giving them a voice on her blog. timegoesby .net/weblog/elderblogs .html ) BUT it’s not all about women. Here is a list of a few blogs that may interest you. Your best bet is to ‘do the google’ and find out what’s available to suit your interestes. ■ MEN hartofmanliness.com greyfoxblog.com/ ■ FINANCE squaredawayblog.bc. edu/ theretirementcafe.com/ ■ TRAVEL gypsynester.com/tag/ baby-boomers/ seniornomads.com/ theroamingboomers. com/ ■ RETIREMENT kathysretirementblog. com/ organisedcastle.com/ 2019/07/25 /newly-retired/

First reduction in Home Care wait lists is good LAST month Australia’s peak advocacy body for older Australians, COTA Australia, welcomed the first ever reduction in numbers of people waiting for Home Care Packages (HCP) but said there are still far too many older Australians waiting more than 18 months for care, while around 43 per day die while waiting. COTA Chief Executive, Ian Yates, said the government data report showed the number of older Australians waiting for their approved level of

Home Care Package fell from 129,038 to 119,524 in one quarter. The government also advised that at 30 June 125,117 people had access to a HCP, up 25,185 over the year. “After watching the number of people waiting for home care packages increase year after year a downward trajectory is good news but the waiting list and waiting times are still unacceptably long,” Mr Yates said. “Official waiting times for Level 2, Level 3 and

Level 4 HCPs are still more than 12 months and in reality the wait is often longer than 18 months. This is totally unacceptable. No one should have to wait more than three months for the support which government has assessed them as needing. That includes time spent waiting for the assessment, which is not reported and should be in future.” COTA is concerned at the implication in the data report that approval for

services through the Commonwealth Home Support Program services is a substitute for a Home Care Package. “The level of support provided by CHSP is nowhere near what’s needed by people who have more complex needs that would be supported by a Home Care Package,” he said. “We are also receiving a burgeoning number of reports that people who have been approved for CHSP support aren’t able to find the services

because services are full.” The government knows this is the case and we acknowledge some additional CHSP funding was recently announced.” Mr Yates said COTA is calling for announcements in the MYEFO statement in December for more HCPs, and a timetable on the rollout of new HCPs to ensure that no one waits longer than three months for care. The Health Department told the Aged Care Royal

Commission it would cost between $2 billion and $2.5 billion per year to bring wait times down to three months, but Mr Yates said it could be less than this if government finally acted, following several delays, to create a single, streamlined home care program with individually planned packages. “We welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment that extra Home Care Packages are one of his government’s highest Budget priorities,”

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

NEWS

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PROFILE STORY

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

Erica greets Incredible magical memories and still making more Alison Houston

MAGICAL STORIES: Ready to perform in Singapore 1969, Erica and her husband look as exotic as their location.

“AS I write this, I am already past 98 – I know of no one older, which makes me feel at once isolated and alone. “At 80, I gave myself a licence to do what I liked: I had the ready-made excuse that I was old; I would be automatically excused. “But after 90, a subtle change begins to take shape; it’s as though you have become invisible … “People around you are moving on with the times, and you are being left behind.” These are the words penned by Burleigh Heads woman Erica Holmes, 99 next week, as part of her 6600 word treatise on being Beyond 90, which led Seniors newspapers to seek her out for a chat. Still with a sparkle in her blue eyes, her own home, cooking all her own meals, gardening, sewing and researching her beloved Vedic astrology, she encourages other Seniors to stay healthy, positive and keep challenging themselves. ✰Setting Goals “YOU have to have a goal – somewhere you want to get to or something you want to achieve, otherwise you’re just hanging around waiting to die,” Erica said. That goal doesn’t have to be big but gives you a reason to get up in the morning. Write it down, if only to remind yourself, and try and achieve one goal or piece of a plan each day.

‘‘

It is much better to rely on yourself for your happiness than to expect others to create it for you. — Erica Holmes

“If you have nothing to look forward to, then there is nothing to strive for – all that is ahead of you is

emptiness,” Erica writes. Everyone, she says, should have something pleasant to look forward to every day – a walk, a cup of tea and a good book, time in the garden – because it is too easy in old age to become “too involved with yourself … magnifying every little pain” and allowing time to drag. “It is much better to rely on yourself for your happiness than to expect others to create it for you; after all, they are busy with their own lives,” she wrote. Having run the City to Surf at 69, Erica is currently doing hand strength exercises, with the aim of indoor rock

Congratulations to our Winners

Congratulations to the winners of our October, Ride Like a Girl Screening giveaway.

Richard Ryan

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Stay tuned to the paper and our website for the latest Seniors News Giveaways 6947124cj

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SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

PROFILE STORY

life over 90 with a smile

Erica looks every bit the starlet as she poses in her swimmers. A newspaper cutting of What's On in London from November 1964 featured Aly Kabah and Enrica at the Astor. climbing with her grandson next year. “It’s amazing what you can do once you get started … but you have to do it yourself,” she said. ✰A Life Less Ordinary ERICA’S life has indeed been amazing – reading like a romance adventure novel. Growing up in Melbourne, and forced to start earning her own living at 15, she married young and unhappily. “When you’re young, you haven’t got much sense really, but you don’t know how stupid you are yet,” she laughed. After 13 years, she had had enough, and spurred on by the words of an astrologer, ran away.

Dyeing her hair blonde and assuming an alias, despite no previous experience, she talked her way into work as a cook for 30 people on a remote cattle station outside Charleville, where she said “everyone was using an assumed name”. It was just one of the decisions which she said “have led me away from an ordinary life” – a wonderful segue into her 17 years touring the world as a magician’s assistant. Having met and married a mystic magician who was a snake-handler, hypnotist and sword, fire and glass-swallower, the pair toured the world as “Aly Kabah and Enrica” through the 1950-70s.

The name Enrica was originally the result of a printing mistake, but the couple liked it, and it stuck. They performed in London, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa, climaxing in a performance at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden. ✰Memories “WHEN I look back on everything I did, I just laugh,” Erica said. But she sees being able to look back on those memories which we’ve spent a lifetime gathering as “our most precious asset”. And if your memory isn’t what it once was, short of a medical condition, find a way around it, she

A WONDERFUL LIFE: Erica Holmes, 99 next week, smiles as she looks back on an extraordinary life, but still sets goals and makes plans for the future. Photo: Alison Houston

advises, by writing yourself notes or using other tricks. “People forget things at all ages, but they only make a big deal of it in old age,” she writes. ✰Acceptance TODAY, she said, after initial frustration at not being able to do all she used to, she has accepted that her body has slowed down and that everything takes longer than it used to. “Even the simplest of chores, as in washing up, can throw up a hundred challenges – you can’t see to clean properly … you break things because your grip is not so strong … even standing at the sink is too much,” Erica

writes. But that doesn’t mean you give up, or accept that sickness and old age go hand-in-hand. Alongside eating well and keeping active, thinking positively is incredibly powerful, she said. “We should always be on our guard to avoid negative thoughts. “If we do stumble over one, then we should immediately replace it with a positive one,” she writes. “The easiest way to avoid thinking negatively is to keep the mind occupied with other things: listening to music is a good diversion… Not only, she says, will

lack of exercise lead to being out of condition and subject to illness, it’s also boring, and leaves you with nothing to talk about. ✰Final Thought HAVING started with Erica’s written word, we will finish with it, because with 99 years of experience behind her, she has earned the final say. “Deep inside us we are the same person at six as we were at 60, or at any age. “What has changed mostly is the body. “But the body is only the vehicle we are using in this world; the real you is that wonderful thing inside you called the life force.”

Australia’s richest schools revealed. How does your grandchild’s school compare? Find out at www.education.news.com.au THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO YOUR CHILD’S FUTURE

NEWS

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

Don’t miss free music at Ballina

It’s time for your annual country music date Tania Phillips THREE days, six venues and more than a 100 artists providing free entertainment on seven stages throughout Ballina, the Ballina Country Music Festival is something a little different from norm. The event, now in it’s eighth year, will be held from Friday, November 1 through to Sunday, November 3 across the town. This year’s festival kicks off with a “Festival Free Concert” while Saturday will see the major ticketed concert Travellin’ Still – The Songs of Slim Dusty. “Travellin’ Still features the original members of Slim’s band and has been sanctioned by Slim’s wife Joy McKean,” event spokesman Garry Lavercombe said. “Both shows will be staged in a special marquee to be erected at Cherry Street Sports Club and there will be only one show to have a nominal cover charge with all other acts over the weekend

Drummer and Lavercombe.

music

presented free to the public.” He said the free shows were possible thanks to the support of local businesses and sponsors. The festival is a labor of love for festival organiser and originator Carol Stacey and musical journeyman Garry – part of an original bigger committee when the event started almost a decade ago but are now, according to Gary “the chief cook and bottlewashers”. “Carol has a great love of country music and

industry

stalwart

Garry

Photos: Contributed

knows a lot the artists, she goes to Tamworth every year,” he said. For Garry, 70, who started in bands in the 60s and has done all sorts of jobs in the music industry, this is a way to keep doing what he loves even though he officially hung up his drum sticks and played in his last band, Fossil Rock, last year. But when you have had a career as diverse as Garry’s which has seen him work as muso, tour manager, entertainment agent and everything in between it’s hard to let go

MUSIC MAKERS: Ready to bring country to the coast are Ballina Country Music Festival organizer Carol Stacey, Ben Franklin MLC and Tere Sheehan manager of the event's major venue the Cherry Street Sports Club. altogether. “The most surprising thing I did was working with the Bolshoi Ballet,” he said of his job as production-coordinator with Michael Edgley from

89-95 across seven countries. And while he admits the Ballina Country Music Festival is small by comparison to the Moscow Circus and

Bolshoi Ballet it is still important to his home-town bringing 8000 visitors into the town over the three days. ballinacountrymusic.com.

Outside images pulled inside for the viewing

SHE was guest judge at this year’s Olive Cotton Award and now North Coast patrons can see just what makes Brisbane-based photo-media artist Marian Drew such an authority in her field thanks to her exhibition “Borrowed Landscapes” now on at the Tweed Regional Gallery. The Olive Cotton Award, held at the Murwillumbah-based gallery since it’s inception in 2005, is generously funded by the family of Olive Cotton, one of Australia’s leading twentieth century photographers, and aims to show new portraits by professional and emerging artists. The Award, recognises excellence in

photographic portraiture, and is run biennially, with a major prize of $20,000. Drew, Adjunct Associate Professor, Queensland College of Art. is one of Australia’s most influential and significant photo-media artists with an art practice spanning 35 years and a natural choice to judge the 11th running of the Olive Cotton. Her artistic career is highlighted by innovative photo-media explorations and a distinct use of painterly light and long exposure. In Drew’s world landscape is a connective thread across her career from 1983 to now – which this exhibition traces. Drew said “Borrowed landscape”, or “borrowed

scenery”, was a term derived from architecture, where a structure was designed to strategically frame elements of the surrounding landscape. Similarly, the landscape makes appearances throughout Drew’s work like vignettes. She said throughout her work, she acknowledges the pictorial relationships of landscape and history to cultural identity. “I am interested in the idea of landscape as something we are a part of, not something ‘out there’ but something we carry in our heads, shaped by culture and experience,” Drew said. In perhaps her most well-known series of work influenced by 17th Century Dutch still life painting, Drew

IMAGE OF POWER: Judge of the prestigious Olive Cotton prize Marian Drew (with this year's Olive Cotton winning photograph) has her own exhibition on at the Tweed Regional Gallery through until next year. photographs native Australian road kill lying on starched white tablecloths alongside a cornucopia of fruit, vegetables and utensils. She photographs in the dark, then paints the scene with a torch. The landscape appears in this

series almost as a two-dimensional backdrop in theatrical scenery. The work serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the impact that people have had on our natural environment. “I drag the ‘landscape’ into the home, using the

‘still life’ table as a site that links history and present, public and private, outside and inside,” she said. Catch her distinctive work at the Tweed River Regional Gallery until Sunday, January 26.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

NEWS

How do old lovers relate

Bette Guy explores relationships in new play Tania Phillips NOT all 70-year-olds react the same way to their past, present and future – that’s the story Lismore writer Bette Guy is hoping to get across with her latest play The Last Party. Bette, an award-winning writer, is one of two Lismore Theatre Company members to have works selected for Hot Shorts, The Drill Hall Theatre Company Mullumbimby’s biennial short play competition. Lisa Walmsley’s Tertiary has also been selected as a finalist in the competition which opens in Mullumbimby on Friday, November 1. Writers were invited to submit original plays, not previously performed, that were no longer than 10 minutes long and had simple staging requirements with eight selected for the final.

Bette, is in her 70s, said she was thrilled about having her play chosen and has not only written it but is also directing the Mullumbimby performance. “It is great to have two outstanding actors, Linda Rutledge and John Rado, to bring my story to life,’ said she said. The Last Party is a powerful short play that reveals how a couple of older ex-lovers cope differently with the mistakes they have made in the past. As one character says “Life is full of if only’s”. “It came out of something I heard – a woman saying to a man “I would do anything for you, Bette said. She said she wanted to explore how different people react to a situation “you can’t put people in a box” and “and not every story has a Hollywood ending”. Lisa Walmsley said her

selection was a surprise. “I was quite startled (in a good way) when Tertiary was selected to be in this year’s Hot Shorts. Then I was excited, proud and very grateful that the judges had liked it’,” she said. Tertiary is a absurdist political satire set in a local fictional university. Four cash prizes totalling $1500 will be awarded at the festival with a $100 prize to each play selected for performance that has been written by a high school student. In addition to the award for the best script as selected by the Byron Writers Centre, there are three prizes ($500, $300 and $200) based on the nightly audience votes. Hot Shorts runs for six performances over the first two weekends in November. To book, go to drillhalltheatre.org.au.

Werner cleans up at 91 AT 91, Werner Meinhold can’t help but impress those that meet him. The German immigrant cleans homes in Canberra two days a week, working up to four hours each day. And he reckons he has another couple of years’ work in him. It’s not that he has to work, it’s that he wants to, and it keeps him fit. “When I got married the second time to an Asian lady, she started cleaning,” Werner said. “It was stupid that I would drive her there, so from that day on we cleaned together.” When the marriage ended, Werner kept cleaning. Werner says people don’t believe he is in his 90s. He puts his good health down to working hard all his life. Left without parents by the age of 10, he lived in an orphanage and then in a foster home. He learnt cabinetmaking in Germany in his early teens, before he was sent to fight in World War II at age 16. When he arrived home from the war, Hamburg was bombed out. There were few jobs to be found

HARD WORKER: Werner Meinhold at 91 is still happily employed. Photo:

Tracey Johnstone

and only his grandparents were still alive, that he knew of. At 18 he got a job in a coal mine in southern Germany, working 1000m below ground. Then an advertisement in a Hamburg newspaper piqued his interest. “Sunny Australia,” it read. At 23 he set off with nine other young Germans on the free transport to Australia to work as a cabinetmaker for two years with the Snowy Mountains Scheme. “We were the ones that built the camp for all the other contractors,” Werner said.

He landed in Melbourne on November 13, 1951 and stayed on the job for about 18 months. He said the living conditions were awful: no water and no toilets. “And when it rained or snowed, we didn’t get paid.” Werner went to Cooma where he found more cabinetmaking work with a Norwegian team. Finally, in 1955 he settled in Canberra and never left. He established his family there after marrying a Latvian woman, and set up a thriving house construction business. Unfortunately, the “broken-down builder” was then on the wrong end of a tough divorce and a nasty lawyer, and had to start all over again. “It happens to a lot people, but you have to pick yourself up,” Werner said. He’s made a good life in Canberra and was eventually was able to find and connect with his other siblings in Germany. His approach to every aspect of his life has been and still is, “if you want something, you have to work for it”. — Tracey Johnstone

ON STAGE: Bette Guy with Kylie Fuad in a recent Lismore Theatre Company production.

25TH ANNUAL TWEED ORCHID

Show & Fair TWEED CIVIC CENTRE

Cnr Wharf & Brett St, Tweed heads Saturday 2nd November 8:30am to 4:00pm (NSW Time) Sunday 3rd November 8:30 am to 2:00pm (NSW Time)

FULLY JUDGED ORCHID SHOW Top Queensland, interstate and local vendors with orchids, bromeliads, African violets, ferns, rhododendrons, potting mixes and fertilisers etc for sale. Light refreshments Admission $3.00 Enquiries 0438 582 890 Presented by Tweed District Orchid Society And proudly Supported by

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

What's on

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA COLLECTIVE

THE Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective presents Serenade for Strings on Friday, October 25 from 7:30pm. The orchestra will present a romantic program of the finest classical music from Beethoven to Mendelssohn mixed with an exciting new Australian work; composer Paul Stanhope’s Dancing on Clouds from the Hush 18 Collective Wisdom album. Tickets $20 - $59. NORPA at Lismore City Hall. Go to norpa.org.au

GET ON-LINE WEEK

GET On-Line Week will be celebrated across the Richmond-Tweed Libraries with Trivia at the Library at the Goonellabah, Tweed Heads, Byron and Ballina Libraries on Thursday, October 17 from 5pm. To celebrate get on-line week, the Libraries will hold literary-themed trivia. Bookings are essential and can be made at your local Library branch. Light refreshments, tea and coffee will be served -bring your own device or use one of the Library’s

and join in the fun. A Samsung Galaxy tablet will be up for grabs as lucky door prize. Registration from 5pm and trivia from 5.30pm.

THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA

CELEBRATING their 82nd anniversary is The Glenn Miller Orchestra. The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, also featuring 24 musicians, singers and dancers – this concert highlights the great Big Band hits, the original Glenn Miller arrangements, the music of Legends such as The Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and the romantic World War II melodies made famous by Dame Vera Lynn – music which captivated millions of people worldwide - are all brought together on stage in a nostalgic concert spectacular. The Concert will also feature sensational dance routines by the Broadway Swing Dancers. Saturday, October 19 at the Twin Towns Auditorium, Tweed Heads. Bookings on 1300 014 014.

STICKS AND STONES EXHIBITION

SERENADE FOR STRINGS: Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective featuring ACO principal violin Helena Rathbone. Photo: Simon Davidson THE Nimbin Community Centre is proud to host our 2nd annual Sticks n’ Stones sculpture exhibition in their very own ‘Quad’ from October 19-27. Artists, young and old are invited to submit works for an outdoor sculpture exhibition, using all natural materials. Join the fun for opening day on Saturday, October 19 with a traditional maypole dance to weave new visions for the planet on the grass behind the Rainbow building. This is a free event at the Nimbin Community Centre, 81 Cullen St, Nimbin, phone 02 6689 0000.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW - WITH SHADOWCAST THE Rocky Horror Picture Show gets the shadowcast treatment at the Star Court Theatre,

Lismore, October 25. The campy cultural 1975 phenomenon starring Tim Curry as Dr. Frank N. Furter, Susan Sarandon as Janet (dammit!) Fan rituals will be in full effect, as will the Star Court Theatre Players Shadow cast. Held from 7pm, Fixed Price: Adult $18, Concession $15. Phone 02 6622 5005 or go to starcourt theatre.com.au.

brac, local produce, woodwork, leathercraft and support stalls for local community groups. To book a stall or for any inquiries, phone Sandii on 0457 471 583, email bazaar@kyogle together.org.au or go to Facebook.

KYOGLE BAZAAR

ENJOY a four-course gourmet dinner, designed and prepared by Ballina RSL Executive Chef, using the finest of the regions local produce as part of the Ballina Food and Wine opening gala dinner on Friday, October 18 from 6pm. Complimentary drinks served between 6-7pm. Available for purchase during the evening are premium beers and wines provided by Asahi Premium

KYOGLE Bazaar is supported by Kyogle Together a non profit organisation where all proceeds are returned to local community programs. It will be held on October 27 from 8am to 2pm at the Ampitheatre in the heart of Kyogle, (behind the information centre). Stalls are centred around handmade but also include plants, bric a

BALLINA FOOD AND WINE OPENING GALA DINNER

Beverages and De Bortoli Wines. International singing sensation Rachael Beck accompanied by renowned pianist David Cameron are the feature entertainers. Then dance the night away to Jed Zarb and Rachael. Tickers are $95, go to ballinafood andwine.com.au.

ALSTONVILLE SHOW

ALSTONVILLE Agricultural Society holds an annual agricultural show on Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26, promoting local produce as well as horses, stud beef, poultry, working dog trials and campdraft. It offers two jam packed days and nights with activities the whole family will enjoy - great food, entertainment, music, rides and animal displays!

An Aussie tenor and the voice of Ireland throughout each show backed by some of Australia’s best musicians. Aussie fans will have the rare opportunity to enjoy powerful and unique arrangements of songs ranging from classical crossover to contemporary classics such as Nessun Dorma, Danny Boy, You Raise Me Up and Hallelujah to name a few.

Singing from the age of 15, Mark Vincent has released nine consecutive #1 ARIA Classical Crossover Albums, and earned accolades both nationally and internationally as one of the world’s most talented tenor performers. Tommy Fleming is regarded as one of the finest singers worldwide and is currently enjoying a

hugely successful career having sold over three million albums worldwide and 10 million YouTube hits, earning multiplatinum sales. Thursday, November 7 at The Events Centre Caloundra and Friday, November 8 at Toowoomba Empire Theatre. For more, go to theevents centre.com.au.

7026570ab

DYNAMIC DUO: Mark Vincent and Tommy Fleming are together in concert in November.

ARTIST Network Australia is proud to announce Australia’s beloved tenor, Mark Vincent and the Voice of Ireland, Tommy Fleming will share the stage in November. As two of the most talented and popular singers of their time, these great friends will perform a smorgasbord of favourites both together and individually

Live events staged at 1000 seat historic heritage theatre with wonderfuL acoustics, air conditioning, comfortabLe seating and superb Line of sight.

Home of the

Big Live Shows

An Afternoon At the Proms

the mcClymonts

sunday 27th october 2019

thursday 31st october 2019

Tickets on Sale Now.

CArl BArron

2nd show - sunday 3rd november 2019

Tickets on Sale Now. 1st Show (Sat 2/11/19) SOLD OUT!

tenorI

friday 22nd november 2019 Tickets on Sale Now.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

French traditions Taste the Great Houses of Cognac

PAGES 26 & 27

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

TRAVEL BRIEFS

TASMANIA IN SPRING

THERE’S the Devonport Food and Wine Festival on from October 1–31 (see the website devonportfoodandwine. com.au), Bicheno Food and Wine Festival from November 15–17 (see bichenofestivals .com.au), Effervescence across the island from November 1–17 (see effervescencetasmania .com), and the 39th FIPS Mouche 2019 World Fly Fishing Championships Tasmania from November 30–December 8 (see wffc2019.com).

SLEEP UNDERWATER

IMAGINE floor-to-ceiling views of the spectacular underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef, all from the comfort of your bed. Reefsuites is Australia’s first underwater accommodation. Arrive at your unique accommodation after a scenic cruise through the Whitsunday Islands to the outer reef. Two private underwater rooms are available, all meals and beverages, spectacular dining experience under the stars, activities at the reef including a private guided snorkelling tour and semi-submarine tour, from $749 a person. Visit cruisewhitsundays.com.

FOODIES’ TOUR OF THAILAND AND CAMBODIA

FEATURING cool bars, great restaurants, food walks and a great cooking class with a twist – that takes care of Bangkok. The Spirit House 11-day tour then goes back in time to the serenity and charm of the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya, just outside Bangkok. Then fly to Cambodia and take some offbeat tours through the stunning temples of Angkor Wat. The tour dates are February 18-28. Cost is $4500 a person, twin share for all accommodation, meals, flight to Cambodia, transport and entrances. Visit spirithouse.com.au/ foodtours.

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA

GET the best seats in the house for New Zealand’s Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow in Queenstown over Easter 2020. Grand Pacific Tours travellers will have exclusive access into the marquee where closed circuit TV will be available.

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA: Get the best seats in the house for New Zealand's Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow in Queenstown.

Photo: Steve Zimmermann

Also included is a souvenir pack containing a gold cap and badge; collector’s program; voucher for entry to the Warbirds and Wheels Museum and a complimentary drink voucher. Prices from $4084 a person twin share. Visit gptnz.com/aviation or call 1800 622 768.

inspired by traditional Thai fish motifs. Each race is 40 0m with 4 teams per heat. On the land spectators are treated to entertainment including, concerts, arts and crafts, fun fair attractions and a wide selection of delicious food and beverages. Info: bangkokriverfestival.com.

BARRIER REEF STORYTELLERS

LOVE travelling and love writing? Learn a specialised toolkit of writing and pitching techniques plus get detailed feedback on your writing. Join students who’ve been published in The Australian, Traveller, Escape, National Geographic Traveller, International Traveller and many more. On in Melbourne on October 13, 10am-5pm. Cost $399. Only 12 places available. Info: robmcfarland.org.

THERE are now 26 Master Reef Guides ready to educate visitors about the diversity and complexities of the world’s largest coral reef system. The Master Reef Guide Program is led by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Every person visiting the Great Barrier Reef takes part in its future by paying the $6.50 Environmental Management Charge which is applied directly to the management, research, protection and preservation of the Marine Park. Visit tropicalnorth queensland.org.au.

VISIT JAPAN’S ASAKUSA

IT’S home to Senso-ji, Tokyo’s oldest and most significant Buddhist temple and it’s where you can rent a kimono, try traditional foods and explore the historical attractions of the area. Make your very own Edo Koriko glass as a special keepsake and wind down at the end of the day at Asakusa’s Hoppy Street, check out the new commercial complex showcasing Tokyo’s downtown charm experience. Tobu Railway which is one of Japan’s largest

TRAVEL WRITING WORKSHOP

Ocean Invaders opens at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium in December. railway networks that extends through Tokyo as well as in the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Saitama, Gunma, and Tochigi. Visit tobu.co.jp/foreign/en.

DRIVE ALONGSIDE THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

FOLLOW the 143 road signs featuring images of swaying palm trees as you hug the coast from Cairns city to Cape Tribulation. The two-hour, 140km drive on the Great Barrier Reef Drive leaves the Coral Sea to weave in and out of tropical rainforests and sugar cane fields. There is also a five-day itinerary which allows visitors to more fully explore the beaches, villages, rainforest, unique wildlife and Indigenous culture of Tropical North Queensland, as well as the colourful corals and marine life of the reef. Accommodation is at several places along the drive from secluded rainforest retreats near

Mossman, Daintree Village or Cape Tribulation, to the resorts and boutique apartments of Port Douglas and Palm Cove. Info: greatbarrierreefdrive.com.

BLUE MOUNTAINS BUSHWALKING

COME on a magnificent walk in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Explore spectacular locations and make delightful discoveries away from the highway and town centre. While wandering past spectacular lookouts your guide will share local secrets and interpret the uniq ue environment for you. Stunning scenery, astounding landforms, historical sites, unique wildlife and interesting vegetation: Come, see, walk, breathe. Info: bmac.com.au/ adventures/hiking.

MUSEUM OF UNDERWATER ART

GO north to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to experience the newly

installed Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA). It aims to increase awareness to the importance of the Reef. The partially and fully submerged sculptures are in locations such as Magnetic Island and Palm Island. The first, Ocean Siren, will be revealed this December at the Strand in Townsville and is modelled on a local Aboriginal girl that will change colour in response to changing water temperatures. A Coral Greenhouse sculpture is planned for the John Brewer Reef site offering a world-class dive and snorkel experience. Info: moua.com.au.

WHEN IN BANGKOK IN 2020

THE King’s Cup Elephant Boat Race and River Festival is again in Bangkok from February 28 to March 1, 2020. International teams paddle it out in specially commissioned boats decorated with artistic elephant heads and tails

OCEAN INVADERS

SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium opens its new Ocean Invaders $1.5 million jellyfish exhibit in December 2019. Guests can descend into the mysteriously fascinating world of jellyfish with three interactive zones pulsing with multiple species of stunning jellyfish. Ocean Invaders will also educate guests about the causes behind the increasing population – or invasion – of certain species of jellyfish in our oceans and the actions people can take to limit these exponential and sometimes problematic population increases. Info: melbourneaquarium. com.au/ ocean-invaders.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

The bush tucker delights include meats, nuts, seeds and sauces.

NATURALLY TASTY: The award-winning Seabelle Restaurant at Kingfisher Bay Resort offers an extraordinary culinary experience. Photos: Kingfisher Bay Resort

Bush tucker on the menu Shirley Sinclair BUNYA nut and macadamia pesto sauce with crocodile tail. Native rosella glaze paired with red emu meat. Bush tomato and kangaroo tenderloin steak. The dishes are enough to make any foodie worth their salt salivate at the combination of flavours and pique their curiosity about the origins. Few would expect to find them outside Central Australia, the Northern Territory or even Far North Queensland. But Kingfisher Bar Resort on Fraser Island can stake its claim as the nation’s bush tucker capital for not only spicing things up on the menu selection but also better educating visitors on making the most of using “the flavours of Australia” at home. At the heart of the cuisine are tens of thousands of years of valuable indigenous knowledge, wisdom and experience gleaned from the Butchulla Tribe, which first came to K’gari or “Paradise”, as they called it, to catch fish in the winter tailor season, as well as mainland groups. The resort’s signature Seabelle Restaurant delights in offering bush tucker-infused modern Australian cuisine, blending native ingredients with seasonal,

local produce and fresh seafood. Guests can savour the flavours on the restaurant menu (rose-infused watermelon, salt and pepper calamari and Northern Territory crocodile salad with seasoned feta and pepperberry aioli, anyone?) and even indulge in cocktails with added zing (perhaps a Lemon Myrtle Caprioska: vodka, lemon myrtle leaf, lime, lemonade and soda water). But the award-winning culinary staff’s curated five-course degustation menu, named by Queensland Uncovered as one of the Top 7 fine dining experiences in 2019, is where it excels in bringing bush tucker to the fore. It includes: lemon myrtle and aniseedpickled crocodile, grilled oyster mushroom, fish sauce, lime and pepper berry aioli; thyme-rubbed duck breast with kipfler potatoes in a melange of wild lime, lilly pilly salsa, coriander, wattle seed, tamarind and native honey glaze; medium-rare seared kangaroo loin, on a bed of roasted sweet potato, asparagus, apple mustard cream and rosella-raspberry caramalised onions; paperbark-wrapped barramundi with macadamia nuts and lemon myrtle, served with a crisp side salad,

tomato, lemon aspen, wild lime and munthari berry salsa; and Queensland mango and coconut panna cotta with lychees and petite salad of Maryborough gold pineapple. The five senses are tantalised further at the Bush Tucker Talk and Taste. Laid before each guest is a “clock-face platter” of bright colours and varying textures with dipping sauces and leaves in the middle. We first scrunch up a lemon myrtle leaf, which ranger Cassie Duncan says is good for sore throats with its anti-bacterial properties and lemony smell or can be used as an insect repellent with its 3 per cent citronella component. Chef Mark Samson adds that the leaf can be dehydrated and crushed with a mortar and pestle to create lemon myrtle-infused oil. A smaller leaf of the cinnamon myrtle can be used like lemongrass for flavouring, put into tea to settle stomachs, rubbed on sore joints to numb pain or chewed as a natural anaesthetic for toothache. The Bauple nut, more widely known as the Queensland nut and macadamia, is already popularly used in ice cream and cakes but Mark also uses it for

crumbing meats. Its shell was used to make jewellery and its oil to preserve body paint. The bunya nut is a long, white, moist nut found inside a much larger oval kernel. Mark says its texture and flavour are very different to macadamias and it is used in the kitchen to create creamier sauces without affecting delicate flavours. A bunya nut and macadamia pesto is a scrumptious addition to the succulent barbecued croc tails he serves up. Mark admits that crocs, like humans, are what they eat and as the 13 croc farms in Australia serve them chicken carcasses, the crocs do taste like chicken. Next up, the pepperberry – that looks like a tiny blueberry but with more antioxidants – starts off sweet on the palate but ends with a distinctly hot kick. Mark dehydrates the berry and uses it as a peppercorn substitute, mixed with salt for a seasoning. But beware: one teaspoon of the dehydrated pepperberry in a large takeaway food container of salt adds plenty of “lift”. Cassie calls the lemon aspen “nature’s Powerade”. Its bitter taste makes it more flavoursome than regular lemon juice on fish, for example, and was

carried in dilly bags by the Aborigines because it was good for salivation and was much lighter than water. Mark likes to add the lemon aspen to sweet pickle to balance the flavour. Finger limes’ “pink pearl” seeds are like a citrus caviar and ideal with fresh seafood. The desert or bush lime, however, looks like a small sweet grape but is bitter to taste and much better when made into marmalade. Bush tomatoes are toxic if eaten straight off the tree but the Butchulla people watched how mammals waited for the fruit to fall and shrivel into raisins before eating them. With the red quandong, Aborigines would strip the flesh from the large seed using a bone or large rock to savour the sour, fruity, salty taste that Mark says goes well with goose, duck, kangaroo and emu and can be thrown in raw in a salad. Native rosellas are like native hibiscus flowers – very sweet but great for making into a glaze to pair with barbecued emu breast, as we discover. The small pink creek lilly pilly is often made into jam, a sauce for fish dishes, or added to salads. But a discerning wine connoisseur can pick up a bottle of creek lilly pilly wine for about

$1500. The seasonal munthary berry also can be used in salads or desserts. And wattleseed can be made into a powder and toasted for a coffee/ mocha or even burnt toast smell and taste, which can be mixed into bread, pasta and tiramisu (Seabelle Restaurant also makes it into ice cream). On the resort’s Bush Tucker Walk, ranger Tess Schreck is a wealth of knowledge of Aboriginal ingenuity in food, medicine and bush “technology”. We learn such tidbits as: the piccabeen or bangalow palm fruit can be eaten raw once it turns red/orange and that the sweet and herbal-tasting white berries of the midyim bush are a snack that can be picked and eaten straight off the bush. The bush tucker education we receive on Fraser island shows the Aborigines certainly knew a thing or two about sustainability, self-sufficiency and understanding how to make use of what they had growing in their own backyard. But above all, they undeniably were Australia’s first “masterchefs”. *The writer was a guest of the Kingfisher Bay Resort Group. info: kingfisherbay.com.

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

‘‘

The town of Cognac and great cognac houses of Hennessy, Martell, Courvoisier

HISTORICAL BEAUTY; The magnificent architecture inside the cognac castle is open for the public viewing.

All photos by Paul Coffey

The Coffeys - cricket, Aussie couple Anne and Paul continue their European journey and visit Anne’s relatives in France and then onto England.

HI CRICKET lovers, and others. We’ve had a few days staying with relatives of my wife Anne at their holiday house in yet another French village, not that far from our first week’s stay. Here we were definitely in wine country, in fact cognac country, with vineyards everywhere and not far from the town of Cognac and the great cognac houses of Hennessy, Martell, Courvoisier and the like. To my enormous disappointment, I didn’t really take to cognac: I found it overly spiritous and even burning (I’m not a spirits drinker), and couldn’t detect anything much of the fruity flavours that the publicity trumpeted. The local reds were much more to my liking. Oh well, c’est la vie. The countryside was beautiful around this area even though the village we stayed in was less than photogenic and looking as if it had seen its heyday some time ago. The towns along the main river, the Charente,

were very pretty, and we had the advantage that Anne’s relatives, Barbara and Brian, knew where to take us for coffees, a couple of cognac distillery tours (and tastings), and a gorgeous lunch spot with beautiful views for a three-course lunch – pretty standard for the French!. And Barbara is a wonderful cook, so we had three-course dinners at home too. Barbara and Brian confirmed that the British seem quite welcomed here in the French villages. They do complain that the French tradesmen are not totally hard-working – but what do you expect after three-course lunches and a couple of wines? I think the French have got the priorities right! The thing is that I’ve felt so comfortable in France. My French language is still pretty ordinary but it’s good fun trying it out. Nevertheless, it’s as if France is in my blood. Perhaps it is: although my ancestry is all Irish as far as I know, that’s only a few generations back.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll know more after we get to Ireland. The cognac distilleries are interesting. The tours show you how the distilling process takes place and then lead you down into the cellars where barrels are stored for decades. The cognac breathes in the long dark corridors of oak barrels, and a portion naturally evaporates. Moulds feed off this evaporation and coat the walls inside and out of the storage rooms black, giving them a very forbidding, grungy feel. Apparently spiders feed off this mould and keep it down a little, thus the spiders are tolerated; Besides reducing the mould their webs go along way to enhancing the sinister, dark atmosphere and the spiritous scent of the cognac pervades all through the cellar. Barbara and Brian took us to one local distiller in a nearby village for an impromptu tour of the relatively small scale and somewhat untidy facilities, and then booked us in for a grander

At the understated Lascaux Cave building.

The new London skyline. tour in a big cognac house in Cognac itself. This was in a historic – though much reconstructed – castle complex that had been the birthplace of a King of France, Francois 1st, in the 15th century. I enjoyed all this history,

and the French spend an awful lot of money on preserving their monuments and historic buildings. I visited the Lascaux Cave complex, the site of probably the most famous Palaeolithic European cave paintings, that when

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Paul at Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Cognac distilling equipment.

Inside the dark cognac cellars.

cognac and castles

Anne and Pauyl at The Couvoisier cognac house. discovered shook up the then-conventional view of stone-age humans as savages totally unlike modern humans. The cave is long closed to protect it from the damaging effects of mass tourism. The tour is of a replica,

which could turn some people off, but is a realistic necessity. The cave paintings are strenuously, faithfully reproduced, first for a guided walk-through that mimics the cave experience, and a second time in a separate

museum setting where individual tablet devices provide audio and visual explanations and backgrounding to the visuals. There’s also a virtual reality room, some hands-on displays, and a series of films – and

above all an intelligent, scientifically-oriented presentation. The building in which it’s all housed has no branding, no breathless exhortations to enter, and minimal signage altogether. This is another thing

reversed! We haven’t got a GPS in our own car at home in Australia, but do have it in the hire cars we’ve been using. You have to credit the new technology at times: not only is GPS indispensable on these

mazes of country roads, it substantially reduces navigation domestics in the car. And so to England, where fortunately Australia has already won the Ashes so I don’t have to endure any English jubilation (and I’m able to half-whisper “Don’t mention the Ashes!” from time to time – particular fun at the tour of Lord’s cricket ground). (Apologies to readers who know nothing of cricket.) Our first stop is with friends that we made in Myanmar, who live in Kent south of London, in a very small village near Royal Tunbridge Wells. The pubs nearby are old-world wonderful: small, very low ceilings, big old dark-stained timber beams, and some lovely hospitality. One featured a local eccentric, just to complete this very English tapestry, who claimed to have played cricket with Ian Botham, and wandered around the bar practising forward defensive strokes. (Apologies again).

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

Dozens of Tassie delights ‘‘ Tasmania boasts pristine environment, luxury accommodation and top adventures

THERE is plenty to see and do across the pristine Tasmania island, and new accommodation offerings from which to choose.

STORYTELLING GUEST HOUSE

AT THE base of The Nut, the Ship Inn Stanley on Tasmania’s North West Coast has been re-imagined as a storytelling guest house. It was built in 1849 by the grandfather of Australia’s only Tasmanian born Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Lyons. The new owners have restored the Inn offering seven suites, uniquely crafted with original artwork and artefacts, bespoke joinery and custom fittings. There is also a yoga studio and gym in the old stables and each stay includes continental breakfast at no extra cost. Info: shipinnstanley.com.au.

ARCHITECTURAL BEACHFRONT LUXE

THE Low Head Beach House is a minimalist, contemporary house that sits in the sand dunes of Lagoon Beach, 40 minutes north of Launceston. Each of the three king bedrooms has its own ensuite, making it ideal for three couples or friends. The open plan living area is spacious with large floor to ceiling windows framing panoramic views of Lagoon Beach and historic Low Head Pilot Station, Café and Museum. Local art adorns the walls and the stringybark dining table sits like a work of art in itself, in the centre of the room comfortably seating up to 10. The fridge is stocked with the basics and guests can also pre-order produce, local seafood, Tamar Valley wine, or a private chef experience. It’s also a great base for golfers with Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm golf links courses a 45minute drive away. Info:

lowheadbeachhouse .com.au.

HERITAGE ACCOMMODATION

a minimalist, contemporary house that sits in the sand dunes of Lagoon Beach

RAFFAH House is a historic home in Oatlands, one of Tasmania’s oldest settlements. It has the largest collection of sandstone buildings in Australia. The brand new kitchen is fully equipped and leads into the cosy sitting room complete with an open fire. Info: raffahhouse.com.au.

LUXURY APARTMENT

NOVO Luxury Apartment is a newly renovated three-bedroom apartment in Penguin, on Tasmania’s north west coast. It’s in a c.1912 heritage listed property, directly opposite Penguin Beach and the town’s foreshore area. The interior features exposed brick walls, contemporary artwork, natural timbers and luxe soft furnishings creating a comfortable retreat. The modern kitchen and living areas open out on to a large entertaining area with spectacular 180-degree views of Bass

TASSIE DELIGHTS: Low Head House a place of peace, quiet and beauty. Photo: Rachel

Vasicek

Strait, perfect for watching the sunrise and set from the timber daybed. Info: novoluxuryapartment .com.au.

GUIDED OYSTER FARM TOUR

FREYCINET Marine Farm is an oyster farm on the Freycinet Peninsula,

which is part of the Great Eastern Drive. Guests wear waders to walk out into the ocean and harvest oysters straight from the rack. Head guide Declan is a knowledgeable oyster farmer and will share how they grow and shuck

oysters.. Tours start from $95 per person and include a two-hour tour of the farm six natural oysters with matched dressings, steamed mussels and a glass of Freycinet Vineyard riesling Info: oysterbaytours.com.

Spread the Word With Seniors Think you’ve got news and information that needs to be shared? Whether an upcoming community event, heart-warming tale or an update on anything local we want to tell your story!

Opening Doors to the Seniors Lifestyle

Head online to seniorsnews.com.au today!

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

Money

MONEY ADVICE: Aim for finding a middle investment ground in the current economic situation.

Photo: katleho Seisa

Keep portfolio balanced Paul Clitheroe IT’S a sign of the remarkable times we live in that banks are offering home loans with negative interest rates. But in today’s low rate world it pays for investors to take a balanced approach. I was intrigued to read that Jyske Bank, Denmark’s third largest bank, is offering negative home loan rates. My Danish is not up to scratch so I can’t share the finer points of the deal. However, the main point

is that Jyske Bank has a 10-year fixed rate loan with an interest rate of -0.5%. How a lender can make money on negative rate loans is a story for another day. Nonetheless, it highlights that very low rates are a feature right across developed economies, and it’s something investors need to navigate. A growing number of InvestSMART clients have been in touch asking me what to do with term deposits that are approaching maturity. Understandably, many

are far from excited about rolling their money into another fixed interest account paying just 2% interest. The big concern though is that a number of these investors are thinking about switching all their cash over to shares in the hope of earning high dividend yields and decent capital growth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of shares. But suddenly going all out from cash to shares means jumping from one end of the investment spectrum to the other. Yes, shares have the potential to earn higher

long term returns. But they also carry a lot more risk than term deposits. We saw that recently when the local sharemarket reached new highs in July, only to dip by 4.5% in August. That’s why it makes more sense to aim for something of a middle ground. This typically means a balanced portfolio, which blends defensive assets such as cash and fixed income, with growth assets including Australian and international shares. The beauty of a

balanced portfolio is that you get the reliable, predictable income of cash and fixed interest, combined with the long term capital growth potential and tax-friendly dividends of equities and other asset classes like infrastructure. And it can be done without completely diving into the deep end. You can choose to build this type of portfolio yourself. Or opt for ready-made portfolios offered by the likes of InvestSMART. Whichever option you run with, having exposure to a broad spread of

investments is important. In these uncertain times, a diversified portfolio shelters your wealth from significant dips in any one market. Sure, a balanced portfolio is not a like-for-like to term deposits but it’s a better alternative than 100% equities unless you’re prepared to wear a marked increase in risk.

Paul Clitheroe is Chairman of InvestSMART, Chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and chief commentator for Money Magazine.

Manage risks with wise investment strategy FEW could have imagined, pre-GFC, that the crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market would morph into global issue affecting entire markets. Liquidity ceased in some markets leaving investors unable to access their money. In 2010, one year on from the GFC’s deepest days, there was $20 billion in Australian frozen funds’ across the mortgage, high yield, property and hedge fund spectrums.

What is Liquidity Management? This is the basic concept of access to readily available cash. It might be for income purposes or in order to fund short-term investments or cover debts. A number of scenarios could set off a market shock and potentially trigger liquidity issues. For example, Woodford Investment Management, founded by one of Britain’s best known investment managers,

recently found they couldn’t realise cash quickly enough to meet withdrawal requests. They held unusually big stakes in smaller and early stage unlisted companies, which are hard to sell quickly. Their response: withdrawals were gated, leaving investors angry and in the unknown. Unlisted assets, such as infrastructure, real estate, and private equity, as well as alternative investments, including hedge funds, have become larger parts

of many Australian portfolios post-GFC. Although a good investment they do need to be carefully managed within a portfolio to allow for adequate liquidity and cash flow when needed. Liquidity is an essential element of portfolio construction and needs to be inbuilt within an investment strategy particularly when planning income flow for retirees. Investment Managers also need to manage risk within their investment strategy.

Stress scenarios developed by the many Investment Managers operating in Australia may differ, but a good strategy would be the ability to sell assets without incurring large transaction costs or quickly enough to prevent or minimise a loss. Portfolios, particularly for retirees, need to be prepared for the inevitable unknown within investment markets. Currently we have the USA/China trade wars but there are many possibilities that can

cause contraction in global markets. As always it is wise to be guided by your Financial Adviser as to best investment strategies that include access to Cash when you need it. For more Information contact Mark Digby at Maher Digby Securities Pty Ltd - Financial Advisers – AFSL No. 230559 (see advert Page 3). Phone 07 5441 1266 or visit our website, go to maherdigby.com.au.

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

Wellbeing

A multilingual nun’s story

Could speaking multiple languages be the key to warding off dementia? A STRONG ability in languages may help reduce the risk of developing dementia, says a new University of Waterloo study. The research, led by Suzanne Tyas, a public health professor at Waterloo, examined the health outcomes of 325 Roman Catholic nuns who were members of the Sisters of Notre Dame in the USA. The data was drawn from a larger, internationally recognised study examining the Sisters, known as the Nun Study. The researchers found that six per cent of the nuns who spoke four or more languages developed dementia, compared to 31 per cent of those who only spoke one. However, knowing two or three languages did not significantly reduce the risk in this study, which differs from some previous research. “The Nun Study is unique,” Ms Tyas said. “It’s a natural

experiment, with very different lives in childhood and adolescence before entering the convent, contrasted with very similar adult lives in the convent. “This gives us the ability to look at early-life factors on health later in life without worrying about all the other factors, such as socioeconomic status and genetics, which usually vary from person to person during adulthood and can weaken other studies. “Language is a complex ability of the human brain, and switching between different languages takes cognitive flexibility. “So it makes sense that the extra mental exercise multilinguals would get from speaking four or more languages might help their brains be in better shape than monolinguals.” The researchers also examined 106 samples of the nuns’ written work and compared it to the broader findings.

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Language is a complex ability of the human brain, and switching between different languages takes cognitive flexibility

TALK THE TALK: Researchers found from a study of nuns tested whether multilingualism may be important in combating dementia. Photo: Mads land-Petersen They found that written linguistic ability affected whether the individuals were at greater risk of developing dementia. For example, idea density – the number of ideas expressed

succinctly in written work – helped reduce the risk even more than multilingualism. “This study shows that while multilingualism may be important, we should also be looking further

into other examples of linguistic ability,” Ms Tyas said. “In addition, we need to know more about multilingualism and what aspects are important, such as the age when a

language is first learned, how often each language is spoken, and how similar or different these languages are. “This knowledge can guide strategies to promote multilingualism and other linguistic training to reduce the risk of developing dementia.” The study, Multilingualism and Dementia Risk: Longitudinal Analysis of the Nun Study, was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

University seeks digital answers to home care FINDING digital answers to how older Australians can live safer and longer lives in their homes is never more important than now. Deakin University’s Digital Enhanced Living Hub is taking on the momentous task of finding how to utilise

technology to address the needs in home caring for older Australians and those people living with a disability. It is being funded through a $3 million grant from the Australian Research Council. The team has already started working on

solutions such as using smartphone technology to support the mental health of elderly people, avatar learning tools to improve care for people with dementia, and mental health solutions for younger generations. What the researchers find for each generational

No Gap Eye Surgery At The Eye Care Clinic, our eye surgeons and specialists care enough to see you as people, not just as someone with a problem. Dr. Svoboda and Dr. Lamont personally see you all the way through your procedure - right from the first visit till they are totally satisfied all is well. Nor does this high level of care mean that you are charged an arm and a leg. We actively work to keep the costs as low as possible, and provide services including age related macular degeneration, cataract surgery, glaucoma, lid tumours, diabetic eye disease, iritis, laser surgery, dry eyes and lid malpositions. Those who are insured also enjoy the cost saving benefit of our No Gap Policy. What’s more, there’s no need to travel out of the local area for the actual surgery as our surgeons operate in Tweed Heads. When you want someone that takes a sight better care of both you and your health, ask for The Eye Care Clinic. You’ll see we really do care.

Dr Emanuel Svoboda

(07) 5506 6777

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Servicing the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers 6 Scott Street, Coolangatta Qld 4225 Dr Meon Lamont

problem can well have a direct benefit across all generations. Its project partners — Uniting AgeWell, Dementia Australia, BlackDog Institute, ACH Group, goAct, Neo Products, Uniting (NSW and ACT), C-Born and iCetana — have particular needs, hub director Professor Kon Mouzakis explained. Those needs are forming the basis of the research and development being done by the collaborative hub. “The Uniting AgeWell people’s biggest criteria is fall detection,” Prof Mouzakis said. “Can we somehow have a mechanism in place to detect a fall is going to happen and has happened because falls happen for those that are living by themselves and they can’t get the help they need or a fall has happened in a residential care facility and sometimes it can be 7–10 minutes before someone comes through and

checks up on that individual. If they have a fall because of a stroke, it is paramount they are found as quickly as possible.” Another issue they are looking at is dementia and how to improve the skills of carers to manage the unique care requirements. “There are a number of areas, a number of different projects that we are looking at,” Prof Mouzakis added. “The themes will change as our partners come with other problems. This is our first year of a five-year program.” One project already being actioned is working to get seniors connected through Google Home. “We have just done a survey to work out how many older people, who are living by themselves, have an internet connection,” Prof Mouzakis said. “It showed that less than one per cent have a connection. We are now putting a dongle on the Google

Home so we can connect them. “If we are putting them into homes where the priority is to make sure if the power goes off there is some connectivity, we can run a small uninterrupted power supply that will keep the power going for that particular device.” A common problem for elderly people is urinary tract infections which can lead to hospitalisation. “We can reduce the number of people who need to go to hospital by having a couple of sensors that trigger at night to say, for example, ‘Kon got of bed the last three nights at 2am’,” Prof Mouzakis said. “When a carer comes in we can highlight to them that they can have a conversation with Kon about him getting out of bed. “From there a simple litmus test will show if Kon has a UTI and treatment can be applied.”

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

WELLBEING

What is a DVO order? Carolyn Devries,

New Way Lawyers CEO

WE NOW reach the halfway point in our series about domestic violence myths. Myth 4: A domestic violence order only protects against physical violence A DOMESTIC violence order protects the victim of domestic violence by restraining the behaviour of the perpetrator. Section 54 of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 Qld provides for certain mandatory conditions to be included in all domestic violence orders. These mandatory conditions are that the perpetrator must be of good behaviour and must not commit domestic

violence towards the victim. In circumstances where another adult is named on the domestic violence order, the perpetrator must also be of good behaviour and not commit associated domestic violence against that person. If a child is named on the domestic violence order, then the perpetrator must be of good behaviour and not commit associated domestic violence or expose the child to domestic violence. In addition to the mandatory conditions, a domestic violence order can also include extra conditions if the court considers it necessary and desirable to protect the victim or a named person.

DISCUSSING THE MYTHS: If a domestic violence order is made, the perpetrator is not allowed to possess a weapon or a weapon's licence under the Weapons Act 1990 Qld. Examples of the types of additional conditions that can be included are: ■ prohibiting the perpetrator from approaching, contacting or locating the victim or a named person, or attempting to do any of these things; ■ prohibiting the perpetrator from being present at a certain location where the victim or a named person may be present or attend frequently (eg a

workplace, school or kindergarten); ■ prohibiting the perpetrator from remaining at a premises where the perpetrator and victim live or previously lived. If a domestic violence order is made, the perpetrator is not allowed to possess a weapon or a weapon’s licence under the Weapons Act 1990 Qld. The domestic violence order will note that any

licence held by the perpetrator is revoked and will provide information about the surrender of weapons – this applies even if the perpetrator has a profession that involves working with a weapon. Practical pointer: Supporting reasons IF YOU you are making an application for a protection order and are requesting that additional conditions be made, as well as the standard

conditions, you will need to outline reasons in support. Carefully read each of the additional conditions set out in the application form and provide the information and reasons that have been requested. Disclaimer: The above information is intended as general legal information only for people living in Queensland and is not a substitute for individual legal advice.

How you can use your property to retire Di Charman PROPERTY is a great asset to have when heading into retirement. When used correctly, it can help to fund the retirement lifestyle you have been aspiring to all these years. However, it is not an easy or simple decision, requiring careful consideration around the impacts on your superannuation, tax and age pension. Many pre-retirees or retirees will already own or have significantly paid off their family home, while others will have created a small portfolio of investment properties. Both have their own pros and cons, when it comes to leveraging them for retirement. It’s also worth noting that selling these properties can impact your age pension, superannuation or estate plan. The key then is in the planning. Knowing the different strategies for using property to fund your retirement is the first step. But, it is equally important to seek advice from a financial adviser on the tax and social security implications.

Downsizing family home A COMMON consideration when approaching retirement age is downsizing the family home. This is often because your children have long since fled the nest and you no longer require the space, or it might not be as practical as it once was. Selling the home can be a quick way to free up cash for retirement and give your nest egg a little boost as you hit your twilight years, particularly thanks to a new downsizing measure that came into effect from July 1, 2018. This new measure allows eligible individuals 65 years or older to contribute up to $300,000 (or $600,000 for couples) into their superannuation from the sale proceeds of a home they’ve owned for 10 or more years – even if they are no longer working. If you’re eligible to make a downsizer contribution (there are a number of criteria you must meet) and it fits into your retirement plans, it could be a good way to boost your super funds. But, it is not always simple or straightforward so it is best to seek

SEEK ADVICE: It’s important to talk to a financial adviser to understand the full implications of any decisions you make when it comes to selling property. Photo: DGLimages financial advice about the best way to proceed when selling investment assets. Reverse mortgage A REVERSE mortgage could be a consideration for those who need extra cash and have equity in their home. The Federal Government recently made changes to the Pensioners Loan Scheme, allowing retirees to boost their income through a reverse mortgage on the family home. The enhanced PLS will now be open to full aged

pensioners and self-funded retirees. Previously, only eligible pensioners were able to access the scheme. Essentially, what a reverse mortgage enables you to do is borrow money against the equity of your home, which doesn’t need to be paid back until you sell or move out of your home. However, like any other loan, it will accrue interest, compounding over time and added to your loan balance. As a result, when the

time comes that you need to leave the property, the loan could be significantly more than its original value, depending on interest rates. Rental income COMMON for investment properties and an option for owners of large homes looking to downsize, is renting out the property (or part of your home) to bolster your retirement income. However, this may have tax implications and may impact your age pension,

so, as always, it is best to seek financial advice before you proceed. It’s important to bear in mind that with any rental property, you will need to account for the expenses for the property, including interest, management fees and holding costs. Dianne Charman of Jade Financial Group, is an Authorised Representative of AMP Financial Planning Pty Ltd, ABN 89 051 208 327, AFS Licence No. 232706.

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

Community notes

Community group guide

WE welcome your neighbourhood news and events. If you would like to submit a photo with your notice, ensure it is at least 180dpi or 500kb to 1mb in size and of faces. Email editor@seniorsnewspaper.com.au.

LISMORE OVER 50S LEARNING CENTRE

WE OFFER a range of art and exercise classes for mature age people. Most classes are held at the Lismore Heights Bowling Club, 181 High St, Lismore Heights. New members are always welcome. Phone Barbara 02 6624 2237 or 0401 503 732 or see our facebook page: "Over 50s Learning Centre Lismore" for more information.

BALLINA COUNTRY MUSIC CLUB INC

WE WELCOME Country Music musos of all walks to perform 3 songs either by themselves or with the band (3 copies of Lyrics/Chords please). On Sunday, November 3 at the RSL Ballina Club *Level One Auditorium* 11am-5pm. "Free entry for Live Country Music" with Ann, Bill, Jill and Maurie. Showcase Artist John Lynch. The very popular Band "Smokehouse" attracted John to the sounds of Country Music in 1994, he just grabbed the guitar and just started singing and is now a permanent member of "Smokehouse". John was born in Tamworth so it was not surprising that Country genre was always popular and he embraces it today with great presentations of Alan Jackson, Troy Cassar-Daly and Garth Brooks. Plus a fantastic line up of Walk Up Artists. Come along on Sunday, December 1 from 11am-5pm for "Check 2 Country" Theme For The Day is White Christmas. Come dressed in White with Tinsel. For more, phone Vice President and Secretary Keith Holmes on 02 6686 7956 or 0400 867 956 holmeskm@bigpond.com.

TWIN TOWNS & DISTRICT GARDEN CLUB

WE WILL next meet on October 14 at 10am (NSW time). Doors open at 8.30am. Benching will be accepted until 9.15am. Trading, Cutting and Seed tables will commence selling at 8.45am.

Morning Tea (bring a mug), raffles, library, newsletter will be available at the meeting. Guest speaker will be: Michael De Good, Author of The Fragile Edge. His presentation will be, The Tweed: An Eden for Gardeners and Nature Lovers -but why? The book will be available for sale. New members and visitors welcome.

TACT

COME along to our friendly computer classes in a fully air conditioned atmosphere held Monday to Friday from 9.30am. There are a number of interesting useful information classes to benefit you when exploring your computer. Eg. Exploring Word, Photo Management, Android Tablets, Smart Phones, Basic Computer skills. TACT is located at South Tweed Sports Club, 4 Minjungbal Drive, Tweed Heads South. For information, phone 07 55249 212 or go to tact.org.au. Sign-on days are the last Friday of each month but students can sign in any day they wish.

ART SHOW AT TINTENBAR HALL

ONCE again the Tintenbar Community Aid Network(TinCAN) is gearing up for its Art Show, October 18,19 and 20 at the heritage Tintenbar Hall. We are really pleased to say that a number of local businesses, as well as our main donor Boral, have again supported us with donations and vouchers to cover prizes, and we thank them for their involvement in our community. And special thanks to local artist David Lane who has donated one of his beautiful landscapes to be raffled on the weekend of the Art Show. Artists who wish to enter can obtain further information and entry forms from Tina Farrow on 0409 827 094 or at tintenbarcommunity @gmail.com. You’ve probably heard that "medicine is an art" but sit̀also said that art can be good medicine. In

TIME TO CELEBRATE: Geoff Provest, NSW Member for Tweed; Carol Vimpani, president Pottsville Fun Croquet; Pat Curtis and Edwina Ryan, Secretary; celebrate the completion of the the club’s shelter with a morning tea. time for the 2019 Tintenbar Art show, the doctors and staff (and their children) at Tintenbar Medical are taking up their paintbrushes to complete their entries for this community event. All in all, at least four entries are in train and possibly more. The show is organised by the Tintenbar Community Aid Network(TinCAN) and takes place at the heritage Tintenbar Hall. The gala opening night is at 7pm Friday, October 18 - all tickets are $10 and include a complimentary drink,nibbles and musical entertainment. Winning entries will be announced on the night. Dr Lynne Davies, head of TinCAN said that "The funds raised from the Art Show go to TinCAN volunteer support and to local charities .We are really pleased to say that a number of local businesses, as well as our main donor Boral, have again supported us with donations and vouchers to cover prizes, and we thank them for their involvement in our community. And special thanks to local artist David Lane who has donated one of his beautiful landscapes to be raffled on the weekend of the Art Show. Located at the GC Community Centre on the hill behind the iron Eagle. All artwork will be for sale. Don't miss this opportunity to find a quality work of art in time for Xmas.

VIEW CLUBS

Coolangatta/Tweed NEXT luncheon will be held at the South Tweed Sports Club on Thursday, October 17. Join our friendly ladies for coffee at 11am-11.30am start DST. October is Anti -Poverty month and our guest speaker will be Brenda Tripp from OZ Harvest an organisation who delivers food to people in need. Donations of non perishable food would be appreciated. Bookings/Apologies

phone Dianne 07 5590 9119. Twin Towns JOIN us at 2pm QLD time on Thursday, October 17 to celebrate Get Online Week and improve your digital skills. Learn how to do a crossword online, find your childhood home on Google Maps, make a video call using WhatsApp and listen to a podcast. There will be a fun trivia quiz with some great prizes, lucky door prizes and a delicious afternoon tea. Everyone welcome. Bookings essential. Our office hours are 9am-12noon, Monday-Friday at 4 Boyd Street, Tugun. Phone 07 5534 7333 or email u3atwintowns@ gmail.com. Twin Towns Day OUR Annual Portofino fashion parade combined luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 7 at the South Tweed Sports Club commencing at 11am. The fashions come from a very well known fashion house who have up to the minute designs for all ages. The models are hand picked to suit the garments and all accessories will also be available. Sales will follow the parade and a percentage will be re-donated to our VIEW Club who then pass it on to The Smith Family. Our club was represented at the VIEW Clubs of Australia National Convention with 7 of our ladies returning home proudly with the knowledge that our contribution of supporting seven ‘Learning for Life’ students selected for us by The Smith Family is of great assistance. The Portofino Fashion Parade, followed by a two-course luncheon will cost $28 and again any excess profits go towards our ‘Learning for Life’ students. For more, phone Kathie on 0407 709 629 or Freda on 07 5524 1357.

SOUTHPORT EMBROIDERERS EXHIBITION

"STITCHING by the Ocean" is our Bi-annual exhibition on October 18-19 at Dr Corbett House, Owen Park, Mick Vievers Way (off Queen St, Southport). Morning and afternoon teas, trading table, raffle. Free entry.

SENIORS RIGHTS SERVICE

JOIN in and have some fun with bingo, games and information for seniors on Wednesday, October 30 from 10.30am-2pm at the Lismore Workers Club, 231 Keen Street. Free to participate, lunch provided and you might win some prizes. We are fortunate the have the Honourable Susan Ryan AO (former Age Discrimination Commissioner) attending to give a short talk about rights for seniors and the valuable contributions older Australian’s make to our communities. To register, phone 02 6621 1070 or 1800 424 079 or email gdunlop@seniorsright sservice.org.au. this event is supported by Lismore Workers Club.

TECH SAVVY SENIORS

TWIN Towns and ACE Community Colleges are offering a free course to help seniors unlock the mystery of smart phones, iPads and tablets, learn how to shop and bank online, and engage with family and friends via social media and skype. Delivered in partnership with the NSW Government and Telstra, Tech Savvy Seniors provides free training to help older people learn to make the most of the digital world. Training modules include an introduction to the internet, cyber safety, social media and online shopping. Courses commence on Friday, October 25 and run every Friday for four weeks in the ANZAC Room at Twin Towns. Contact Maria at ACE Community Colleges on 07 5520 3026 to book your spot.

PROBUS CLUBS

Banora Point RETIRED? looking to meet new people? We meet on the fourth Monday of each month at the South Tweed Sports Club at 10am. We are a mixed club and have interesting speakers, as well as an outing each month. Cost $5. This months speaker is Paul Murphy on Total Aged Care Solutions and be held on Monday, October 28. Phone Ron or Annette on 07 5523 4016 for further information. Coolangatta Tweed Heads WE WELCOMED Channel 9 News presenter Bruce Paige to their recent meeting where he met with members and gave an interesting talk on his many years in the TV industry. Probus aspires to provide Fun, Friendship and Fellowship for Active Retirees, the Coolangatta Tweed Heads club meets on the first Wednesday of each month (except January) at Tweed Heads Bowls Club. The club has regular guest speakers, monthly dine outs to local restaurants, theatre nights and other varied activities for the enjoyment of members and visitors. Anyone interested in joining, recently retired or new to the area seeking more information about the Club should contact Barbara on 07 5523 4840. Hastings Point/Tweed Coast OUR next meeting of the will be held on October 15 at 10am at Tricare Retirement Community, 87 Tweed Coast Road, Hastings Point. The main speaker will be Ingrid Steynberg who for 15 years was a vet and wildlife carer in Kruger National Park, South Africa, before moving to Australia. Earlier this year Ingrid entertained us with some amazing stories and she has more to tell! Visitors welcome. Inquiries on 02 6670 4072.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

COMMUNITY

Channel 9's Bruce Paige stopped in for a visit and a cuppa with Probus Club of Coolangatta Tweed Heads members. FROM PAGE 24

POTTSVILLE FUN CROQUET CLUB

WE HAD a wonderful day on Tuesday, September 10 to celebrate the completion of our 6m x 6m shelter. Many people came along including Geoff Provest (NSW Member for Tweed), Chris Cherry our Patron and Deputy Mayor Tweed Shire Council, Stuart Brawley Manager Parks and Active Communities, several employees from Council, members of the Men's Shed and last but not least our wonderful Club members. A wonderful morning tea was provided by our hard working members and enjoyed by all. A superb cake was there thanks to Steve and Julie. A fruit and vegetable basket donated by

Pottsville General Store/Greengrocer was won by a new member, Karen. Since 2016 we have been working towards establishing a local Croquet Club at Black Rocks Sports Ground with the help of Matt McCann Tweed Shire Council's Parks Operations Coordinator Recreation Services, Deputy Mayor, Chris Cherry and a dedicated team of volunteers. Our "Fun Croquet" Club is a great outdoor activity for all ages, currently we have over 40 members, ages ranging from late 50s to over 90. We currently play on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons with members coming from Mullumbimby, Mooball and Kingscliff and of course Pottsville. Our club has been

TALENT AT TBAR: Tintenbar Community Aid Network (TinCAN) Art show entrants from Bar T̀ Medical are Doctors Vrish Ker and James Williams.

VIEW club’s past National Councillor, Patricia; past National Vice President Lyn Gere and past National Councillor Kathie enjoying the National convention. successful in raising monies through donations from our members, local businesses, BBQ’s, volunteering at the local Enduro and raffles. Last year our club applied for lots of grants. We were successful

with NSW Government Community Building Partnership and with the help of Geoff Provest monies from Office of Sport and Ministry of Health. Our new 6m x 6m shelter was a team effort, built by Tweed Shire

Council. Our thanks to the Council for the use of their shed. As mentioned earlier play days are in Daylight Savings Time, 8.30am Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Visitors are most welcome. Bring your own cup, we provide tea, coffee etc. If you would like more information please look us up on facebook: Pottsville "Fun Croquet" Club Inc or phone 0413 335 941 or email secretary.pottsville croquet@gmail.com

NORTHERN RIVERS COMMUNITY GATEWAY

Be connected IF YOU know how to use a computer, a mobile device and know how to access the internet, you

could be a digital mentor for seniors in your community. Northern Rivers Community Gateway is providing free training now in Ballina, Byron Bay, Casino, Lismore and Murwillumbah to give you the skills. It’s fun, free, you can do it in a day and includes free morning tea and lunch. For more, phone 02 6621 7397. Community Visitors Scheme NORTHERN Rivers Community Gateway is looking for volunteer visitors to connect with elderly people in their homes, to reduce the social isolation that many elderly people experience. Who and when you visit is up to you. Become a community visitor, phone 02 6621 7397.

The sweet sounds of romance THE Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to present Romantic Landscapes, conducted by Camillio Manricks and featuring Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20, performed by Gold Coast soloist and piano teacher Vicky Hong. She was also the accompanist for the Australian Youth Choir and pianist for the Allegro Trio. Here, we ask Vicky to tell us a little bit about herself. How did you decide on the piano as your instrument, and do you play any other instruments? When I was 3 years old, my dad discovered that I had “perfect pitch” which means I could tell any note just by listening to it (Mozart had it too; it is supposed to be present in one per 20,000 people). Consequently, he started teaching me piano.

As I became older I appreciated this ability even more – it helps to speed my music learning and increases my musicality. I have always enjoyed playing the piano, and being a pianist was my only choice of career. I also learned guitar in high school and played it quite well because of my piano foundation, but it hurt my fingers so much that eventually I stopped. Please tell us about a memorable performance you’ve had - when and where was it, and what was special about it? It had to be when I was performing in Melba Hall at University of Melbourne. I was performing Schumann’s “Carnival”. There was a dark and intense moment in the music, and I was performing with my eyes closed (I do that a lot in my performance). As the music opened up, I also

opened my eyes, to find that the hall was really dark, and then it began to light up again. I thought I was dreaming because I was so involved in that musical moment. Later on at the post-concert reception, everyone came up and asked me how I had arranged the light effect during my performance. Eventually I found out it was due to a faulty light, but a really perfect one! Why did you choose to perform Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 with the NRSO, and what should we be listening out for? I won a Mozart competition performing his D minor Concerto when I was studying at Queensland Conservatorium of Music. It is one of my favourite concertos. I’d always be listening for the grace and drama in Mozart’s music. Program includes:

Beethoven - Coriolan Overture op62 Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 (KV 466). Featuring soloist Vicky Hong. Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 “The Eroica”. The last NRSO concert of the year features our very own Camillio Manricks as the conductor in this beautiful and romantic repertoire, and starring soloist Vicky Hong in the famous Mozart piano concerto - it is a delightful treat not to be missed. Romantic Landscapes will be performed on Sunday, October 27 at 2.30pm (NSW), Tweed Heads Civic Centre. To purchase tickets, phone Murwillumbah Music on 02 6672 5404 (credit card facility). Tickets (cash) will be available at the Tweed Heads Civic Centre Box Office. Phone 0478 012 324 or go to trybooking.com.

PIANO SOLOIST: Vicky Hong will perform in the last NRSO concert for the year on Sunday, October 27.

CLASSIFIEDS

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

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Riveting tale of trade war

IN AUGUST 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and forced him to establish in his richest provinces a new administration. It was run by English merchants who collected taxes through means of a ruthless private army; what we would now call an act of involuntary privatisation. The East India Company’s founding charter authorised it to ‘wage war’ and it had always used violence to gain its ends. But the creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to be a conventional international trading corporation dealing in silks and spices and became something much more unusual: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business. In less than four

decades it had trained up a security force of around 200,000 men – twice the size of the British army – and had subdued an entire subcontinent, conquering first Bengal and finally, in 1803, the Mughal capital of Delhi itself. The Company’s reach stretched until almost all of India south of the Himalayas was effectively ruled from a boardroom in London. William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide,

and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting book to date, Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before. Publisher: Bloomsbury, RRP $26.99 .

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The Heart of the Ritz

FOUR women join forces, with conviction, courage ... and style. It’s France in April 1940. Orphan Polly Hartford has been sent across oceans to her Aunt Marjorie, known only from letters. When Marjorie dies in suspicious circumstances, Polly is left with her aunt’s loaded pistol in a beautiful Hermès handbag and to the care of Marjorie’s three closest friends - an elegant Comtesse, a gutter-born film star and a big-hearted American heiress. Polly is taken to live at the Hôtel Ritz, where guests and staff believe wealth and prestige protect them from war. But when the Nazis invade, the illusion is shattered. As Paris deteriorates, Polly and her guardians face the horrors of the Occupation with daring, humour, style – even romance. Publisher: Simon & Schuster, RRP $32.99.

NEVE Connolly looks down at a murdered man. She doesn’t call the police. “You know, it’s funny,” Detective Inspector Hitching said. Whoever I see, they keep saying, talk to Neve Connolly, she’ll know. She’s the one people talk to, she’s the one people confide in.” A trusted colleague and friend. A mother. A wife. Neve Connolly is all these things. She has also made mistakes; some small, some unconsciously done, some large, some deliberate. She is only human, after all. But now one mistake is spiralling out of control and Neve is bringing those around her into immense danger. She can’t tell the truth. So how far is she prepared to go to protect those she loves? And who does she really know? And who can she trust? Could she be a murderer? Publisher: Simon & Schuster. RRP $29.99.

SENIORS \\OCTOBER, 2019

G E N E R A L K N O W L E D G E

8 9

10 11 12

13 14 15

17 18

ACROSS 1 What ﬁxed-wing aircraft is capable of landing and taking off vertically? (4,3) 4 What preparation of the leaves and ﬂowers of the hemp plant is much used in India? (5) 7 What is an informal Italian word for hello or goodbye? (4) 8 Which port in Mexico is the country’s largest? (8) 10 What were members of a radical faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party known as? (10) 12 Which port in Poland is the country’s largest? (6) 13 What is the French form of Peter? (6) 15 The court case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce features in which Dickens novel? (5,5) 18 What is the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba? (8) 19 Which island off Java became part of Indonesia in 1945? (4) 20 What is the revolving arm of the distributor of an internal- combustion engine? (5) 21 Where was Sir Harry Secombe born? (7)

PUZZLES

DOWN 1 In the Old Testament, who is Esau’s twin brother? (5) 2 Who had a hit with his album Bat out of Hell? (4,4) 3 In a pack of cards, how many jacks’ eyes can be seen? (6) 4 What is ultraviolet radiation also called? (5,5) 5 What hairstyle is characterised by thick, bushy curls standing out from the head? (4) 6 There are 12 species of what slender type of antelope throughout Africa and Asia? (7) 9 Which Rupert Brooke sonnet begins: “If I should die, think only this of me...”? (3,7) 11 What was the former name of the Chinese theatre on Hollywood Boulevard? (8) 12 Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait led to which 1991 conﬂict? (4,3) 14 What are the gravel-voiced robots in TV’s Dr Who? (6) 16 Heaths and some heathers belong to which plant genus? (5) 17 What is a unit of speed for a ship or aircraft? (4)

5/10

SUDOKU

Fill the grid so every column, every row and 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.

QUICK CROSSWORD 1

DOUBLECROSS 6

Find a ﬁnished crossword by deleting one of the two letters in each divided square.

21 22

Down 2. Undecided (10) 3. Concludes (4) 4. Reparation, expiation (6) 5. Parody (4-2) 6. Club (8) 7. Permits (4) 11. Remarkable person or thing (10) 13. Downplay (8) 16. Backﬁre (6) 17. Excavating (6) 18. Place a bet on (4) 20. Prophet (4)

Across 1. Wall (4) 8. Assumed name (3,2,5) 9. Well thought-out (8) 10. Goes down (4) 12. Universe (6) 14. Favour (6) 15. Artilleryman (6) 17. Minor player, small-timer (6) 18. Smile radiantly (4) 19. Tin (8) 21. Sense of right and wrong (10) 22. Pealed (4)

5x5

ALPHAGRAMS: BAIRN, CABLED, DELIVER, ELEVATOR, FASCINATE. GK CROSSWORD Across: 1 Jump jet, 4 Bhang, 7 Ciao, 8 Veracruz, 10 Bolsheviks, 12 Gdansk, 13 Pierre, 15 Bleak House, 18 Winnipeg, 19 Bali, 20 Rotor, 21 Swansea. Down: 1 Jacob, 2 Meat Loaf, 3 Twelve, 4 Black light, 5 Afro, 6 Gazelle, 9 The Soldier, 11 Grauman’s, 12 Gulf War, 14 Daleks, 16 Erica, 17 Knot. QUICK CROSSWORD Across: 1. Dike 8. Nom de plume 9. Reasoned 10. Dips 12. Cosmos 14. Prefer 15. Gunner 17. Minnow 18. Beam 19. Canister 21. Conscience 22. Rang. Down: 2. Irresolute 3. Ends 4. Amends 5. Send-up 6. Bludgeon 7. Lets 11. Phenomenon 13. Minimise 16. Recoil 17. Mining 18. Back 20. Seer.

BRAIN BE CLAD REVILED TO REVEAL I CAN FEAST

5x5

C G

E E

E T

Insert the missing letters to make ten words — ﬁve reading across the grid and ﬁve reading down.

Note: more than one solution may be possible.

A E

TODAY: Good 12 Very Good 14 Excellent 16

SOLUTION

E M

O A

SUDOKU

Solve the anagrams. Each solution is a one-word anagram of the letters beside it, and the ﬁve solutions are sequential. For example, if the ﬁve-letter solution starts with J, the six-letter solution starts with K, and so on.

among apogee game gape gene genome ghee gnome gone hang hogan homage mange mango mega MEGAPHONE omega page pang pong

S T A R S

P H

T E N E T

How many words of four letters or more can you make? Each letter must be used only once and all words must contain the centre letter. There is at least one nine-letter word. No words starting with a capital are allowed, no plurals ending in s unless the word is also a verb.

E N

C R E W S

WORD GO ROUND

A G R E E

DOUBLECROSS

F E A S T

SOLUTIONS

ALPHAGRAMS

NORTHERN NSW

OCTOBER, 2019// SENIORS

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