U3A Healesville is an organisation for retired or semi-retired seniors who want to keep active and enjoy social interaction with friends.
U3A Healesville offers its members over 40 courses, one of the most popular being ‘Hit the Road’ which allows participants to explore different parts of Victoria.
The Healesville ‘wanderers’ – members of U3AHealesville’s ‘Hit the Road’ touring group – are a varied group of people, couples and singles, who travel with tents, vans and use booked accommodation, and who make a number of trips to places as widespread as the Bogong High Country, the Big Desert and the Eildon foreshores, each year.
Most recently a group of about 43 members visited Phillip Island, staying at the Newhaven Caravan Park.
Wherever the group stays, they like to get to know more about the area – for example, during their stay, the group visited Churchill Island and learnt about its history and the changes that came with the bridge connection to Phillip Island.
They also visited the Vietnam Veterans Museum, assisted by Doug, a Vietnam navy veteran.
However, mostly people choose their own adventures from local bushwalks, to local shopping, or taking it easy back at home base.
‘An unknown traveller’, one of the ‘Hit the Road’ adventurers, provided the following notes on the trip:
Monday: Travelled down through Pakenham, a lovely drive, mostly a bush setting. Catch-up at 5 pm: drinks and a barbeque with salads and sweets to share. Then out came the instruments, ukuleles and banjo – it’s a singalong.
Tuesday: after a day of ‘choose your own adventure’ we went to the Rusty Water Brewery for dinner, there were some lovely beers.
Wednesday: out for a drive, checking out Churchill Island, Woolamai and, of course, the Nobbies. In the evening, we all went to the hall, and it was time again for the instruments: ukuleles, banjos, guitars and even a lagerphone.
Thursday: sadly, we had to leave. We made and reconnected with so many friends on this trip, a great time was had by all.
Most of the ‘Hit the road’ tours are for four to five days and are timed for outside of school holidays. Most tours are within Victoria but an extended tour to Broken Hill later in the year is already in the planning stages.
Want to find out more?
Email healesville.u3a@bigpond.com or check https://healesvilleu3a.org.au for more information on the ‘Hit the Road’ group and on U3A Healesville’s many classes and activities
