Almost 40 years after moving to Cairns, Jan and Phil Rundle have completed their decades-long meander down Australia’s East Coast and returned to their hometown of Melbourne.
While they’ll take plenty of fond memories of their time in the Sunshine State with them, it’s their association with Stockland’s Halcyon Communities that left an indelible impact.
Foundation homeowners at Stockland’s Halcyon Lakeside at Bli Bli on the Sunshine Coast, the couple began scouting for a comparable lifestyle community when they decided to relocate to Victoria.
“We were talking to Chris Carley from the Halcyon Communities team and asked him to let us know as soon as he heard if there was a Halcyon community in Melbourne,” Jan said.
“When we found out about Halcyon Berwick, we jumped straight in.”
Once again, the couple will be among the first homeowners and are slated to move into the south-east Melbourne over-50s lifestyle community by early 2023.
They have already immersed themselves in community life, visiting Halcyon Berwick weekly to check the progress of their house build and meet their neighbours at some of the coffee mornings held each Tuesday.
The couple were active members of the Halcyon Lakeside community: Phil as the social group’s inaugural treasurer and Jan as the inaugural secretary of the homeowners’ association.
Jan was a friendly face and regular volunteer at community open days and Phil was a driving force behind establishing Halcyon Lakeside’s on-site bar and its operating system.
“It was a great place, lots of friendly people and a nice ambient atmosphere,” he said.
“There were so many things you could do there, there were more than 40 different activities from arts and crafts through to pickleball so you could do something seven days a week.”
The Clubhouse is one of the jewels in Halcyon Berwick’s crown, a central hub of entertainment and leisure including an indoor swimming pool, cinema, billiards room, lounge and dining room, outdoor alfresco and BBQ areas, pizza oven, gym, yoga retreat, bar and more.
Already, Phil has expressed an interest in joining the new community’s library and book group.
“I like the ambience of the place and the people,” Phil said of Halcyon Berwick.
“The spread of ages is quite the thing, from low and mid-50s through to people in their 80s. We noticed that at Lakeside and from the people we’ve met, the spread is roughly the same.”
The location appeals to Jan too, estimating their new home is only a four-minute drive from where their eldest daughter lives.
