Gold Coast’s Parrot Club on being HAPPY and HEALTHY  

I love doing Home Medicine Reviews because I’m very grateful for the opportunities to meet wonderful people who inspire me to really enjoy life and be really happy and healthy! This is Gold Coast’s very own Parrot Club of 4 enthusiastic citizens who have kindly shared their secrets on how to be happy and healthy after their “retirement”.  They invite you to join them on beautiful Gold Coast beach! The following was written by Carol for you to enjoy your life!

A few words about our exploits into the weird and wonderful world of our new age!

We are a group of 4  (two couples) ages between 62 and 73 and we moved in to our over 50’s high rise complex situated on the Gold Coast 3 years ago.

After settling in we went exploring and discovered such beautiful beaches and surrounds that we instantly wanted to find a way of making the most of everything we could.

Health wise we all have our issues, so we wanted to take part in something that would improve our physical health as well as being social and fun for our mental wellbeing.

After one of our long walks along the beach and watching the beautiful waves roll in, the idea of body-boarding came to us…..followed in quick succession by inevitable questions, such as, Would we be able to? Have we left it too late?

Would our arthritic knees and hands and let’s face it, whole body,  be up to the challenge?

Are we completely and utterly insane? Well, only one way to find out….so off to Kmart for 4 body boards @ twenty dollars each, bargain and as they all had colourful parrots on them, the Parrot Club was born!

We hit the surf the very next day and oh boy what fun we had!

Learning the art of riding and holding on to your board and getting good tips from our wonderful local lifesavers,  we laughed til it hurt ( so did the lifesavers !) and we all wondered why we hadn’t done this years ago!

We  have learnt so much,  gained added health benefits and still have the best fun even in winter as we now ‘surf’ year round. It is the most fantastic way to start your day!

Of course now this was going to  be a regular pastime we wanted a better way to transport our boards and ourselves to the beach other than by car …so….next stop, bike shop!

Christine and I are now the proud owners of two Trike-a-Bikes, one bright pink the other bright yellow which carry our four boards in our baskets on the back and the guys ride  fold-a-bikes.

It takes us about 15 / 20 minutes ( depends if we get a headwind over the bridge!) and the bikes have added another dimension to our fitness as well as added fun…we love our trikes!

Being physically as well as socially active has improved our lifestyle enormously and even though it was hard exercise at first, we kept at it and being consistent and keeping the fun as a  large part of our activities has encouraged us to keep going and even trying new things such as hiking in the cooler months in the hinterland.

The  joy and satisfaction of knowing that we are improving our lives and attitudes, as you can’t help feeling positive and happy after starting your day this way, is wonderful.

It has been amazing how many people our age, younger and older have stopped to watch (and laugh) and ask about our body-boarding and our trikes, we seem to be setting a trend as so many more have started coming along with their boards and having ago and that’s what it is all about, getting out into nature and having a go!

We highly recommend getting out and trying something new and fun, the benefits are simply amazing! Warmest Regards and huge encouragement,

The Parrot Club……..Carol, Lindsay, Christine and Douglas

Viv Hsu
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