Bus trip to Riverside Gardens

It was a bright sunny day and the sky was a brilliant blue. We all piled into the bus, provided by BBARV, and were quickly whisked away on a journey of discovery. This journey was to take us all the way to North Richmond to visit a retirement village called Riverside Gardens. The name comes from the village's location near to the meandering Hawkesbury River.

The residents of Riverside Gardens were very welcoming and put on a lovely morning tea for us. We traded stories and asked many questions about how their village operates. The discussion on the differences between our respective villages was fascinating, and I'm sure encouraged everyone to think about things in a new light. After morning tea had been cleaned up, we were taken on a guided tour of the village. We were impressed with how spacious and new it all was (though what can you expect of a village still in the process of being built with lots of land to spread out into?).

After the tour had built up an appetite, we decided upon lunch. We had planned to go to the North Richmond Panthers Club across the road, but their kitchen renovation was behind schedule and they couldn’t accommodate us. So we jumped back on the bus and headed into Richmond for some lunch. Having been fed and watered again, it was time to make the journey home. We compared notes of our experience at Riverside Gardens. One thing we did agree upon is that it was all so different to Bondi. There was no high-rise, no traffic and the country air was fresh – There’s no place like home!