BRUCE AND JULIE HARRISON LOVED THE IDEA OF DOWNSIZING BUT FOUND APARTMENT LIVING DIDN’T GIVE THEM THE ONE THING THEY WERE TRULY LOOKING FOR – COMMUNITY.
The couple moved up to the Gold Coast from Canberra in 2004 but as they approached retirement they decided to downsize, eventually moving into an apartment in Broadbeach.
“It was great – close to the beach, to Pacific Fair, to all the shows,” said Bruce. “The one thing which was missing was community.”
Bruce is a keen golfer and plays at a nearby course, and many of his friends were extolling the benefits of over-50s lifestyle resorts.
“We started looking and came across GemLife. We were really impressed,” he said. “The homes were exactly what we were looking for.”
“One of the things we did when we signed our contract was to order an extra deep island bench to fit our wine fridge underneath,” said Julie.
Originally from South Australia, Bruce has a keen appreciation of red wines and his current favourites – cabernet sauvignon and shiraz – come from the Barossa Valley. He even bought a large car fridge for one of the couple’s trips to fill with favourite wines on their stops.
“One day on our travels it was 35-degrees outside. We stopped for lunch at a local pub and brought the wines inside with us to make sure they didn’t overheat in the car. This raised a few eyebrows,” laughs Bruce.
While GemLife Gold Coast’s three-storey Country Club, currently under construction, was a huge draw, the Harrisons discovered the community they were looking for from the moment they moved in.
Bruce’s next-door neighbour is also a wine aficionado, and it hasn’t taken long for the pioneering first group of homeowners to get together and share tasting notes.
“We get together every few days – it’s supposed to be happy hour between 4:30pm and 6:30pm – last night it ended at 9:30pm!” said Julie.
The Harrisons, who have two sons and two daughters, moved into their new home a few days before Christmas.
“The timing was perfect,” said Julie. “We were staying with our daughter up here and our other daughter from Canberra and her two children were going to join us for Christmas, so it would have been very crowded!”
The family was most impressed with the new home – especially the spacious walk-in robe in the guest room.
“My daughter said, ‘mum it’s great, we don’t have to worry about tripping over suitcases when we stay, there’s plenty of room for them in the wardrobe’,” said Julie.
“GemLife is everything we dreamed it would be. We knew we’d been living in a construction site, but the team has gone out of their way to minimise any inconvenience to us and the young men on site are very polite and friendly.”
The Harrisons are enjoying their beautifully appointed home as well as the lifestyle right now, knowing that there is plenty more to look forward to.
“I’ll certainly be using the golf simulator,” said Bruce. “I read about the GemLife Games competition and that’s something I’m interested to take part in.”
But the first order of business is to enjoy more of life which will also include a bit of travel – and Italy is on the list.
Anywhere in particular?
“Everywhere!” says Julie. “Especially the country areas and less of the tourist hotspots.”