Larry and Liz had the perfect vantage point to watch Bert Sutcliffe Village being built – from their home across the road! Despite that, they initially signed up for another village in Auckland.
“I’d come over to open days prior to it being completed and we were too young at that stage,” says Larry.
“I’d indicated to Leanne the Sales Advisor back then that if she had one with a view, on a corner, and we were old enough, then yeah… we’d be in!”
READ MORE:
Fast forward to a few years later, and the couple had just reserved an apartment in a Hobsonville village – when Leanne called.
“She told us, ‘If you come and see it you will buy it!’ And we came and saw it, and we bought it!” Larry laughs. “We hadn’t even put our house on the market!”
Thinking ahead for their children, the couple wanted to move to a village early to make life easier for them. Liz says she would have liked her mum to move to Bert Sutcliffe to be close to them when they lived over the road.
Says Liz: “It wasn’t to be unfortunately, and we thought it would be nice for our kids if we were in a place like this…” Adds Larry: “And they wouldn’t have all of our stuff to get rid of!”
“You start talking to people and often people say you need to do it sooner rather than later. We listened to that,” says Liz.
They sold their house in two weeks and began downsizing, which they described as ‘quite cathartic’. “Life is a cycle. You build things up and then you’re starting to shed,” says Liz.
“While some of our friends were surprised at our decision, retirement living has been something we have always discussed. For us it’s our next adventure.
“We know we’re closer to the end than the beginning and we’ve got a certain number of summers left, so let’s enjoy the summers!” says Larry.
Again, some of their friends had strong views against retirement living, but Larry and Liz found these were based on misconceptions.
“The most common thing is when people come to visit us in our apartment they say, ‘Wow, it’s quite big!’” says Larry. “It’s an apartment, not a room, and it has a fab vista, plus there’s the lack of worry about painting or maintenance… while the mind says it can, the body says it can’t!”
Now, when friends complain about the toil of house maintenance, Liz smiles: “We look at each other and say, ‘Ahh isn’t this lovely?!’”
Location was another big drawcard. “One of the best things about this place is the bus depot just up the hill, and with the gold card it’s free!” says Larry.
Liz adds: “It’s wonderfully safe here. And the way the health system is right now, the graduated care here was an advantage. But on top of that, we like it here because of the people, the good feeling we got when people greeted us when we came across.” Larry nods: “It’s about the people. We actually love it, and that’s why we did it.”
With Liz’s background as a counsellor and Larry’s varied careers – in teaching and broadcasting, including founding radio station More FM Auckland, and now working as a celebrant – they both love connecting with others.
Larry has even officiated weddings in the village gardens. “It’s been fun, I’ve enjoyed it,” he says. “When you get talking to the residents here and you hear about the lives they have lived, they are pretty incredible.”
Liz recalls one special highlight: “One of the ladies here is a renowned violin teacher and she invited a couple of her ex-students, as part of a quintet, all of whom are in the NZSO, to play for us and for just a gold coin donation, we got to hear this beautiful music. It was amazing really. We’re so lucky.”
Their six-year-old grandson loves visiting too. “We did love that there was full encouragement of family coming to visit, and he just loves it here,” says Liz.
Being surrounded by a supportive network has confirmed they made the right decision. “The testament for us was when we go away and come back, we really love coming home,” says Liz.
“It’s home,” nods Larry. Adds Liz: “We often say this is one of the best kept secrets.”