Chapter 14 - Settling in to life in Yarrawonga

2000.

We came up to Yarrawonga for Christmas 1999 and stayed in the house for the first time. We invited Gary and Anne Freeman and their family to a open house party and were glad that we made the decision to move to Yarrawonga.  The move from Chirnside Park to Yarrawonga took place in several stages and by the time for settlement arrived all our belongings had been transferred to our new home. 

As the weather in Yarrawonga was much hotter than Melbourne, we decided to install an “Endless Spa Pool” beside the family room and this was done very successfully and integrated with the house. It basically was a lap pool with a jet at one end that created a strong current that you swam against, but also doubled as a spa. This pool was very welcome by our family whenever they visited. 

I joined the Golf Club and having met Mal Hastie, who the Secretary of the State Superannuation Board of Victoria when I worked there, in Yarrawonga, I played a regular game of golf with the “Nine Holers” on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7.00am. We made regular trips back to Melbourne and stayed in touch with Christopher who had bought a house in Ferntree Gully, Robert and Rina who were renting in Thornbury and Phillip who was living in Bayswater.

We visited Jacqueline in Sydney when she was living in Bronte and enjoyed a few days there and returned to Yarrawonga. We drove to Sydney as having a car at our disposal was very convenient. We visited Ruth’s brother Roger and sister-in-law Anne at their house in Manly and also had dinner with my good friend Ralph Woutersz and his wife Elizabeth. Joining us for dinner were our other friends David Maynard and his wife Jilsca.

We also visited Christopher at his house in Ferntree Gully and made preparations to renovate the rear part of the house by putting in a new kitchen removing a wall at the rear to form a large living room.

The other journey was to visit Clinton and Caroline at their property in Charlton, which we did on more than one occasion during the year.

The year passed quickly and our first year in Yarrawonga was a busy one. As a member of St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church in Yarrawonga we got to meet many of the parishioners who were locals and this led to being encouraged to join community organizations that helped the people of Yarrawonga/Mulwala. I joined Yarrawonga/Mulwala Development Inc and once I was appointed to a position on the executive of the organization became involved in a number of projects, the most important being the support given to the company via the Moira Shire, that eventually established the “Woodspoint Agedcare Facility”.

Our company, Industry Superannuation Services Pty Ltd, purchased land in Woods Road and together with Gary Freeman Constructions Pty Ltd, built two units at the corner of Woods Road and Maddern Drive, Yarrawonga that we eventually sold as “Spec Houses”.

Our company next purchased the two blocks of land next to the town houses that we had built and together with Freeman Constructions designed and built for four houses. These town houses were also sold as "Spec Houses" through O'Meara Real Estate in Yarrawonga.  

I did most of the floor and wall tiling for these town houses and it was when working on one of the property's that I got a call from my sister Muriel to say that my father had collapsed and had been taken to hospital. Unfortunately, he died before we got to Melbourne.