Looking for a day trip? Then check out Hinze Dam. The highly accessible walks and facilities make this the day out the stuff of legends.
Hinze Dam, in the Gold Coast hinterland, seems wildly far away, but in fact, it is just 30 minutes’ drive from Pacific Fair. Built across the Nerang River, it was originally constructed in 1976, and significantly upgraded in 2011.
The body of water the dam created is stunning. Of course, it is what we all drink here on the Gold Coast, so its purpose is originally functional. However as an accidental recreation area, it’s a great win for everyone who likes nature and fresh air.
Visually speaking, it quite the sight to behold. The vastness of Queensland’s mountains alongside man’s engineering expertise unite in perfect symmetry. You want to say things like, ‘Ah! The serenity!’ The architecture and landscaping, plus the sheer size of the lake and its shores make this a dam good day out (sorry I couldn’t help it).
It’s the accessibility here that is a winner. There are lots of disabled parks. Also, the paths are wide and flat, and super-smooth… everywhere. There’s a 2.5 kilometre walk over the dam that maintains this flatness and smoothness. Use a walker?
Easy Walking
This is a dream walk. Wheelchair? You’ll have the time of your life. Do you simply prefer no steps and a flat surface? You’ll love it. There are no steps, not even from the carpark, to the café, to the dam, to the toilet, across the grounds…no steps. None.
The visitor centre here has an interesting display, and they have informative talks on the dam. Well worth a drop-in. And the café next door has brilliant views and food.
We spent a couple of hours at the dam but you could spend all day if you have the time. By the time you have lunch, take a walk in the gardens, cross the dam and just enjoy the beauty of the place, you can easily smash through 3 hours.
The walk along the top of the dam wall is amazing, and it reminds us that we are small little beings who are unimportant entirely. There’s no shade though, so don’t forget your hat! There are well-placed explanatory plaques and information stands detailing the method of construction, the points of interest, the geology and specific types of flora and fauna. And look out for the sign explaining the “climbing eels.” It reminds us all that the natural world can be dam weird.
Hinze Dam Picnic Sites
If you want to bring a picnic, there’s many places to set up camp, with beautiful vistas. There are a few shaded tables, but they go fairly quickly, so bring a picnic blanket, just in case.
When there’s drought the drowned trees become visible and there are a number of places that present a very photogenic situation. When there is a lot of rain, the spillway looks incredible. And, when the dam needs to release water, you can be put on an alert service that informs you when this will happen, so you can go that day to see it! (seqwater.com.au/dam-release- notification-service).
In all, this is a great place for Silvers. It is a very peaceful area, with the silence broken by the odd kookaburra and smaller birds. You realise how quickly you can get to deep forest so close to the ocean. This place has a nice combination of science, environmental information (the hydroelectric power), scenery, tranquillity, and artistic landscaping. The whole area is a selfie paradise, and it would make a great wedding backdrop.
To organise a function room at the café, call 07 5563 0313. To check opening times at the visitor centre, click here.
Our Silver hero Leesa volunteers her spare time all across regional Australia to help both humans and animals. Here, she tells us about her volunteering adventures.
VOLUNTEER TRIPS
On Thursday Island, we did our first pilot program and that was with Vets Beyond Borders and AWLQ, and the Thursday Island Animal Support Group. I volunteered as a vert nurse, helping with health checks, doing an animal management program, desexing dogs, treating dogs for parasite treatment, and also talking to their owners regarding tick treatments, and unwanted pregnancies or unwanted litters.
I absolutely love volunteer trips, I have been volunteering as a vet nurse with AMRRIC (Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities) for 11 years now. Plus, I volunteer in remote communities, Aboriginal communities, everywhere from Western Australia through to the Northern Territory and regional Queensland.
A lot of this is helping in the indigenous communities to do a desexing program. We want to desex more dogs. I know in some of the indigenous communities, they can have 10-15 dogs in a household. So cutting that down is an aim. There are often quite a lot of stray dogs in communities, and they can cause problems as well as having lots of litters, and if there are a lot of male or un-desexed dogs, there can be issues between male dogs having fights over female dogs. There’s a lot of noise, a lot of wounded animals, and a lot of puppies to look after.
There’s also a problem with parasites – some are zoonotic. So that means that the parasites can transfer from humans to animals, or animals to humans. And so we help treat the dogs. We also do an educational program through schools, and with the community, and elders, just explaining what we do. We explain simple things from washing hands after the kids are playing with the animals, and how to hold your dog properly. What’s good food for cats and dogs, things like that.
SILVER HERO – VET NURSING
As a vet nurse, I help set up our surgery area, also help with vet students and vets, making sure that we have all the proper instruments and attire, so that they can do their surgical work. I help the flow-through of patients.
One of the places we visit is Yuendumu, in the NT. AMRRIC is based in Darwin. We meet in Darwin, and then it’s about an 11- or 12-hour trip in the car to go there. There’s a team of us, usually, two vets, a two nurses, if we are lucky! We meet with the rangers or community members, and they help us work out where we’re going to be situated and where we’re going to stay.
I am a general practice vet nurse. So, I have my normal job and I have to either take unpaid leave or holiday leave. But I love the volunteering and I will do is as long as I’m still mobile and I can still get around. I always laugh with the ladies or whoever I’m out on the trips, and I’ll say, I’ll be out with my walking stick. And I love the interaction between people and their animals. I love to be able to help with animal welfare and make life better for animals and for their owners as well. I get to see lots of parts of Australia that you would not necessarily be able to go to because you would need special passes or permits to get into some of these communities. The day I have to stop, I’ll be really, really upset.
FUNDING
The funding for these trips comes from different sources. There are charities like AWLQ who help with the funding for Thursday Island. In other places, the councils fund the trips. We also try to get donations from drug companies for tick and flea treatments, for example. And a lot of the nurses and vets as well will donate some of the stock from their own practices as well.
AWLQ do a great job, and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to be a part of. Due to being involved with the Thursday Island program, I’ve got to know Sylvana from AWLQ, and she’s just wonderful. And the work that she’s done as well in her time is amazing. I would love to do more work for AWLQ. I’m actually leaving tomorrow to go back for another week on Thursday Island, in conjunction with AWLQ! There is a lot of work to be done there. We’re always very, very busy once on the island. We have got an extra couple of team members this time! But we will still be working 13 to 14 hour days.
The AWLQ and the Thursday Island Support Animal Support are taking in unwanted or stray dogs. They are getting them back to health and adopting them out. Not just to the people on Thursday Island or the surrounding islands, but they do often go off to New South Wales and Queensland to loving homes.
SILVER HERO – VOLUNTEERS WANTED
We are always looking for volunteers. We need admin people, to help people fill out forms. There are also some statistic duties, where often we will do counts in certain communities just to get an idea of how many houses, how many people, and then how dogs or cats or pigs or horses that are owned as well.
With this type of volunteering, you’re forever learning. There’s always courses. There’s always something new to learn. It definitely brushes the cobwebs off!
Through organisations like AWLQ, Vets Without Borders and others, you’ll find amazing vets, vet nurses and then other volunteers that give up their time for the animals and people who need them. Everyone’s likeminded. They are wonderful people that come and volunteer. Even small things make a difference, like helping to clean some of the cages, to grooming animals, to watching them wake up from their surgeries.
There’s always going to be dogs and cats that need help and love. So as long as I’m around, I will be involved.
Be a silver hero and donate to AWLQ, or to leave a bequest, click here.
New Work Trend: As baby boomers extend their careers, and Generation Z workers launch theirs, we’ve arrived at four-generation workforce.
Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers each have their own perceptions of work and personal time – both at the office and when they travel for business. But across all four groups, there’s a clear trend: That elusive goal of “work-life balance” is giving way to a more fluid “work-life blending” that better fits the dynamic schedule of the modern worker.
Work and Play
According to the National Car Rental State of Business Travel Survey, 65% of people believe it’s an unrealistic goal to keep work and leisure separate. Instead, more than half of respondents are now blending work life and personal life. The survey found most business travellers engage in some form of bleisure travel, including incorporating leisure activities into business travel, extending business travel into leisure trips and booking a holiday around a business trip.
Millennials are more likely to have done bleisure travel than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In addition, senior/executive leaders are almost twice as likely to extend their business trip into leisure travel or book a holiday around their business trip than non-managers.
When travelling for business, workers who engage in bleisure travel report better quality of life while on the road than non-bleisure travellers. They also report such additional benefits as following a healthy diet, exercising and coming back feeling invigorated.
Seventy-nine percent of bleisure travellers are more likely to volunteer for a business trip if they know they can extend their stay, and fewer people felt the need to downplay their leisure activities to their boss or their coworkers.
Importantly, the majority of bleisure travellers believe business travel contributes to their career success and helps them build key relationships they otherwise couldn’t without business travel.
Ballycara: Have you got a parent who needs a little extra help to stay in their home? Or do you yourself want some “home friends” to help you stay independent? In our cover story, we investigate the services that Ballycara are offering to add extra support to people in their later years.
BallyCara want people to live fulfilling lives regardless of age. And at Silver Magazine, we are all about the living-well mantra. So it is no surprise that we are really impressed with this not-for-profit! Their Wellness Program has been developed and delivered by qualified health professionals. It promotes optimal physical, mental and emotional wellbeing at every age.
CASE STUDY
John has had a couple of falls. He has been told he can’t play tennis anymore because he’s lost his balance a little.
Craig James, Health and Wellness Manager at BallyCara: I’d like to see if there was a way that we could modify or adapt the “no tennis” rule. For example, we could try standing tennis – somebody could hit the ball back and forth to him. Tennis is a great way to keep up your strength and your balance.
John says he is very passionate about playing tennis. If you want to mitigate risk and minimise having falls, you need to improve balance. The way you do that is to challenge your balance, in a safe way. If tennis is what he wants to continue to do, we could have conversations around ways he could still be involved in tennis. This could be in a safer setting with softer tennis rackets and tennis balls and working it into a program. And ideally, if his main goal is to return to tennis, we would try to support that. You can take small steps along the way. It might not get to the point of fully playing tennis again, but it’s the journey that counts. If you can keep moving forward with your passion, then that’s a result in itself.
CASE STUDY 2
Meena felt like she had lost her balance and didn’t have the stability to be able to stand for any period of time. She lost her confidence to cook.
Craig James, Health and Wellness Manager at BallyCara: When Meena came to see us, her main goal was to get back to cooking a curry in the kitchen. So we tailored the exercise program around that goal for her. We adapted the program and brought exercise into play. If it’s related to what the person wants, the motivation kicks in. As you get older you can improve your muscle strength, and you can improve your balance.
We went into the kitchen with Meena while she was cooking the curry. We supported her and advised her on how to move around while keeping her balance. She can now bend down and pick up pots and maintain her safety. The message that we want to get out there is you can improve no matter where you are on the aging timeline.
BALLYCARA EXERCISE SESSIONS
Many people find it difficult to start an activity program without the support and guidance of an experienced health professional. Ballycara’s exercise sessions give people the confidence to continue their fitness journey.
Craig James, the Health and Wellness Manager at BallyCara, says their health and wellness program on the Gold Coast is going from strength to strength. “It is a mobile program, and our main goal is to prevent chronic conditions. We support that in a reablement way. We work with our exercise physiologists across the community at a number of different locations, from Northern Gold Coast all the way down into Northern New South Wales. Our clients come to us through a range of referrals including General Practitioners, The Heart Foundation, walking groups and various other health fields that align closely with us. We also take on people privately.”
Recovery
“People might call us for a variety of different reasons. It might be recovery from injury or illness, rehabilitation, post surgeries, or prior to going into something in the hospital. Sometimes they have to lose weight or be fitter for a medical appointment. They might call us because they want to increase their ability to keep their strength to play with their grandkids. They might want to do things around the home, and just feel a bit better in themselves when they’re doing things.
“If you want to join up, you can get a referral from your doctor. The first step is to have a conversation with us and get an initial assessment. We’ll measure your strength and work out how you are coping in your day-to-day life. But we’ll also get to know you as a person – what your likes and dislikes are. We want to make sure what we prescribe is safe. But we want it to be enjoyable too, so that you’ll want to participate and stick with it.”
You can do your program on a one-to-one basis or participate in exercise classes. If you want to attend with a couple of friends, that’s also possible.
BALLYCARA: INDEPENDENCE
Says Craig, “I have clients that are still living at home and driving a vehicle at the age of 99. And they are coming in for exercise. They are feeling confident and living independently at home. I think a lot of people want to stay independent in their own homes. And they want to keep doing the things that they love. And exercise is just the tool in ways in which you can achieve that.
“We love to answer general enquiries! But if you have more detailed questions around specific reasons for wanting to attend, we can refer you on to our senior exercise physiologists on the Gold Coast. They can work out whether an individual session or maybe a group class in a community centre might be best suited for you. We want people to enjoy what they’re doing. It’s about coming along and having fun while getting the benefit out of the sessions.”
BALLYCARA: JOINING UP
Alongside their Wellness offering BallyCara is an accredited Home Care provider. BallyCara has a flexible approach to the delivery of services ensuring a package is tailored to what you require in order to support you to achieve and maintain your individual goals well into the future. The local BallyCara Gold Coast Home Care team will help you through the journey by listening and exploring with you, your background, needs and preference to ensure your independence and continued enjoyment of community living.
It is important to note that Veterans Affairs and Home Care package subsidies are available for your Wellness and exercise journey. You can also get a Chronic Disease Management Plan referral from your GP. If you are eligible for a Home Care package or would like to find out more along the lines of funding and payment options, the BallyCara team are on hand to help navigate and support you through this journey.
The day has come. The first superyacht has gone on sale whereby you can pay for it using cryptos or NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
Built by the Benetti company, the 52m (170 ft) superyacht Vianne comes with a helipad and sky deck jacuzzi. And that’s not even the most unusual thing about it. What’s really unusual (for now) is that the owner has confirmed that the super yacht is for sale. And, that fiat currency is not the only way you can pay (fiat is normal money of a country, like Australian Dollars, Vietnamese Dong, or Thai Baht, for example). The owner wants 10% of the price paid to them in fiat currency. But they will accept the rest of the payment in any cryptocurrency. They will also accept any top tier NFT including: Cryptopunks, BAYC Apes.
SUPERYACHT: PRICE
On sale for €8.9m, Vianne is a steel-hulled superyacht with transatlantic range. She recently underwent a full technical and cosmetic refit in 2021 at the Italian shipyard Arpeca. She has new Ralph-Lauren-branded furniture inside and out, with a refresh of her water toys, including a new waterslide and floating water deck with pool. Vianna can accommodate 12 guests in 5 staterooms Vianna can accommodate 12 guests in 5 staterooms and is crewed by 12 staff.
Vianna is also on the charter market this winter, available at US$196,000 per week in the Caribbean. Whilst cryptocurrency payments are increasing in the yachting industry, this would make Vianne the largest ever yacht to be purchased with NFTs.
SUPERYACHT: WHAT IS AN NFT?
“Non-fungible” means the digital object is unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A one- of-a-kind trading card, however, is non- fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different. So now, you can “stamp” a digital artwork, or “trading card” online… And it will always be the original, no matter how many times it is copied. Artists and musicians are making their original songs or artworks into NFTs… and these NFTs are becoming very very valuable. So valuable, in fact, that they can be used INSTEAD OF money. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, made the very first Tweet – his own- into an NFT and then sold it for charity.
The Food Safety Information Council takes food safety seriously. Food poisoning in particular, has been their focus recently. They aim to create awareness for the community and education about the risks associated with food poisoning, prevention and those most at risk such as the elderly.
Food Safety in the Warmer Weather
With the weather getting warmer, food safety in Queensland becomes a real issue, and people should be mindful of food spoilage and bacterial contamination. The temperature range between 5°C and 60°C is known as the “temperature danger zone” for food. This is because in this zone, food poisoning bacteria can grow to unsafe levels which can make you very sick. The best rule to stick by is to ‘keep hot food hot and cold foods cold.’
Snap frozen meals are by far the safest choice when buying pre-cooked and prepared meals. Fresh and chilled meals have a much higher risk factor and a greater chance of ‘going off’, which can be very dangerous, especially to the elderly. By choosing snap frozen meals you minimise any risk, taking meals straight from the freezer to the microwave or oven.
Safety Programme
Gourmet Meals have the most stringent food safety program and have done for nearly 29 years. With four audits per year, they adhere to the highest and strictest of food safety and quality assurance standards. They follow well-documented processes outlined by Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Auditors are always praising the well-trained chefs who are from Switzerland and Germany. They have a strong work ethic and strict cleaning schedules. Browse their tempting menu at gourmetmeals.com.au
