After visiting her sister’s home at Halcyon Greens, Gillian Stevens fell in love with the idea of making the move to a luxury lifestyle community.
The only problem for her and husband Alan was the community’s Gold Coast location.
“A lot of these communities are built outside of the city because you need so much land and we’ve always lived on the northside of Brisbane and we didn’t want to move away from the region,” Gillian said.
“I’m also not a very confident highway driver, so as much as Halcyon Greens is a beautiful community, I couldn’t see myself living there because I would have to drive on the M1 to get back to the northside when I wanted to visit.”
The Aspley couple then heard about another over 50s community at Burpengary East, a suburb just 10 minutes north of them, and put a deposit down on a home.
“We were never really 100 per cent happy with what they were offering,” she said. “And then one day we went along to a coffee morning and a lady told me that Halcyon Communities were building one in the area.”
“I saw what my sister has and the quality of Halcyon Communities so it was serendipitous the way it happened. I feel like we’ve gone full-circle.”
Gillian said she and Alan were looking forward to the social aspect of community living.
“We live in a lovely cul-de-sac here in Aspley and we have lovely neighbours but they are busy with their families and I think we could drop dead and nobody would miss us,” she laughed.
“We’re looking forward to being around people in our age group and who are in a similar position to us and a big thing we liked is the fact that the homes have lovely patios, which allow for you to chat and connect with your neighbours.”
Gillian said she has witnessed firsthand how life-changing moving to Halcyon Communities had been for her younger sister Julie.
“Julie has taken up art again and now runs the community’s art class,” she said. “She’s also told me of a friend of hers who has had his health improve dramatically since he moved in as he is more active and connected.”
The couple were also keen to make the move to a lifestyle while they were still active and mobile enough to enjoy it.
“We wanted to be the ones who made the decision to move,” she said. “Not our daughters or someone else in the family.”
