Life begins at 50-something

Words: Leone Greaney

Moving into a community designed for over 50s was something we’d always wanted to do and when we retired, we went up and down the east coast of Australia to find somewhere that fitted our needs and desires.

My partner John and I had a beautiful acreage up in Agnes Water, but as you get older you start to think about being so far away from medical facilities and who will look after the property if you can’t.

We wanted to live in a place that was located conveniently to shops and attractions, as well as having a huge range of activities and facilities onsite.

I’m a social butterfly and I love being able to simply walk outside my home and access a variety of active and creative pursuits without having to drive long distances or plan ahead, while John is more introverted and enjoys time to pursue his interests which include hiking and camping.

After travelling Australia, we bought at Stockland’s Halcyon Lakeside, where we lived for one year before selling our home in record time to move to Stockland’s Halcyon Greens to be closer to John’s mother in Coolangatta.

We came down to Greens and were amazed at how much it had progressed, so we returned to Lakeside and put our home on the market, thinking it would take a while, and then 45 minutes later - it was sold!

In order for the new owners to move in, we packed up our caravan and travelled clockwise around Australia for 10 months before moving into Greens last year.

The selling process was incredibly smooth with no exit fees, no stamp duty on purchase and an easy listing process.

Stockland Halcyon’s friendly team made the sales process and formalities an easy exercise.  We made a $100,000 capital gain from our Lakeside sale, which funded our 10-month trip around Australia.

We love living at Greens and we are incredibly active. We go to the gym five times a week, we play pickleball and tennis and I love singing in the music group.

We’re in our 50s and while we are at the younger end of the over-50s spectrum, I thoroughly recommend making the move as early as you can.

We’ve made lots of good friends here and there are a lot of people at Greens who are younger than us and still working.

It is the perfect lifestyle because everything is here - you can go to the gym or do arts and crafts all in the one place, so you are not wasting time with multiple memberships or having to drive to get to an activity.  That, to me, is a huge bonus.