Movies August 2020

Social Calendar August 2020

The new social calendar is now available - you should receive a paper copy in your mailbox.

I have pasted it here, and it is also available under the "Social Calendar" tab at the top of the page if you are viewing the blog on a computer.

WANTED - Forearm walker

Lyn Blain from Villa 292 is in need of a 'Forearm Walker' for her father who has mobility issues. It needs to have brakes, with two fixed wheels.

If anyone has one that they no longer require please contact Lyn on 2292. 

Printer cartridges to give away

Mal and Dawn Campbell from Villa 8 have some printer cartridges to give away for free. 

They are unused, due to a change of printer.

  

Give them a ring on 0400 045 691 if you are interested. 

Movies August 2020

Movies               

August 2020

Saturday 1st          Witness
                  Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis

Wednesday 5th        Saving Mr Banks
                  Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson

Saturday 8th          The Professor and the Madman
                  Mel Gibson, Sean Penn

Wednesday 12th      Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
                  Matthew Rhys, Tom Hanks

Saturday 15th        Bridge of Spies

                  Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance

Wednesday 19th      Jumanji: The Next Level

                  Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart

Saturday 22nd        The Gentlemen

                  Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant

Wednesday 26th      Resistance

                  Jesse Eisenberg, Clenence Poesy

Saturday 29th        Guys and Dolls – Classic Screening

                  Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons

Note:  Social distancing and hand sanitising will be maintained in the cinema. This will decrease the numbers allowed in for each screening.                                          

Palm Lake Ballina Massage 2nd Birthday Celebration

Palm Lake Ballina Massage turns 2 on 9th August 2020. To celebrate this momentous occasion Mel is giving away a Free 1 hour massage. 

All past and present Palm Lake residents will automatically be entered into the draw. 

Other residents are welcome to enter into the draw by sending their name and contact details by email  to mel@palmlakemassage.com with the subject 'Birthday Draw' or text to 0449 524 282. 

Happy Birthday and good luck! 

If you would like to book a massage with Mel phone or text her on 0449 524 282. 

Clinic hours: Monday and Thursday 10am to 6pm. 

Line dancing classes

Just an update on our Line Dancing classes which are being held 4 times per week in the Oasis Clubhouse.

For those who haven't line danced before or haven't line danced for a while we have a Beginners' Class on Wednesday at 1.30pm where dances are taught at a slower place and we will usually practice the one dance until everyone has grasped it.

Our Classes on Monday 10.30am and Thursday 9am are general line dancing classes where we will have a walk through of each dance and then dance with the music.
  
If you haven't seen line dancing for sometime it has certainly changed over the years and now includes Waltzes, Latin American dances, Rock and Roll to name just a few.  
Come along and join us for a fun hour of dance, laughs and exercise and best of all .... it's free!!

Any queries call Sharyn Hogben at Villa 203.

Key points from an email from the Resort manager

You should have received an email from Rick this week concerning use of the Resort facilities. 
I have summarized the key points below:

A reminder that guests and visitors are only allowed to enter any Resort building/facility, when you, as a resident, are with them.

Non-residents will be asked to leave any facility, where a resident is not with them, by either the Resort staff or other residents.

Due to the ongoing COVID situation please avoid taking guests and visitors to resort facilities as much as possible.

It is ESSENTIAL that  EVERYONE, must sign into and out of a building. This could potentially be a lifesaving thing to do, allowing tracing of people, if a known infected or unknown person uses a building. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Please ensure you use the sanitiser provided when you enter any Resort building.

Residents are to use the main entrances to buildings and to sign in and out of the building.

If you have guests coming to your villa, please ask them if they are from, or have been to, any of the designated hot spots in NSW or Victoria, or are experiencing any symptoms.  If they answer yes, then they should not visit, or they should obtain a medical clearance before coming. Those simple questions could save yours and many other lives potentially.

Please also inform the office if you have guests staying, so we have that information at hand.

Thank you all for social distancing, and enduring the whole process over the past few months. We still need to stay on course , for all of our sakes.

If you are unsure of anything mentioned today, please feel free to call the office and we will be happy to assist you.
Rick Stewart

Community Garden

Did you know that Palm Lake Ballina has a Community Garden?

Thanks to the hard work of some of our green-thumb residents we have a community citrus and herb garden which is situated near the carpark of the Old Clubhouse which is between Villas 13 and 14. Your front door key will open the gate if that is shut.  

The herbs and citrus are to the right of the clubhouse and any resident may use herbs or citrus from the garden. At present there is a good crop of  kumquats on a bush in the far right corner and many of the herbs are growing well, including tarragon, oregano, mint,  five spice, parsley and some chives, etc. Please come and help yourselves.

Donations of fertilizer, bug sprays and soil improvers would be gratefully accepted. If you can spare some time to help with the maintenance of the garden please let Terri Clark Villa 7 know. Your help would be greatly appreciated as this is residents garden, and is not maintained by Palm Lake. 

For more information, or for donations or offers of help please contact Terri Clark, Villa 7

Oasis Library News

Our library in the Oasis Clubhouse is now fully open again and being well used.

As we cannot at present expect any funds from the Social Committee because of the current restrictions we would be very grateful for any donations of new or fairly new novels or biographies/autobiographies. 

Many residents may have bought books during the lockdown period which they have read, but do not want to keep. If you have a donation, please put the book(s) in the Returns Box, with a band round them with your Name and Villa Number if you wish and we will put a donation sticker within the book. 

Many thanks, Terri Clark Villa 7 and Sue Christie Villa 68.

Fishing club report June 2020

June 2020 – Fish are out there but the weather has been against us.

There have been a few fish caught this month but the weather hasn’t been too good to us. Some of us are getting on a bit and standing around in freezing conditions with the wind howling around us isn’t our idea of fun.

 Nevertheless the younger brigade headed by the Patch’s Pair are still managing to keep residents of Runway Drive in fish. Once the Council re-opened Patch’s Beach some of us decided to join them on a freezing cold day along the beach.

A new Fishing Club member Peter (Jaffa) Kafka was quick to show how it’s done with a nice whiting soon after we arrived. As a new Fisho it looks like we can expect big results from Jaffa in future jaunts.

Michael Sherlock showed his skill when he hauled in a tent big enough to sleep two adults. Sorry Michael “tents” don’t count. Anyway we went home with a few bream and Jaffa’s mammoth whiting despite the nasty weather.

Michael catches a tent

Speaking of new members we should welcome Stephen Jack from Villa 320. Stephen is very keen to become involved and Hammerhead and I took him along to BCF to get him set up. We look forward to having him join us on the beach or river when we get some fine weather.

Unfortunately our Sunday Outing and Barbecue set down for the 27^th June had to be cancelled due to some really ordinary weather. We will try again when the weather gets a bit warmer.

Our Man of the Month for June is Ian (Hammerhead) Hannaby

Ian has had an outstanding Month in keeping us amused with his antics. 

Scenario 1

Every time he passes BCF he calls in and buys something. He is undoubtedly their best customer. Hammerhead decided he wanted to get into luderick fishing so he asked what sort of rod he needed. I pointed out that one he had purchased previously for river fishing would be ideal, but he was determined to get a rod specifically designed for the purpose. He went along to his mates at BCF and they showed him the ideal rod, but this was their demo and they had to get one in for him.

“That’s fine” says Ian “he’ll wait for it to come in”. So when it arrives he brings it home to put in his rack and he notices it looks familiar to him. On closer inspection it turns out to be exactly the same as the one I suggested previously which he already had in his garage.  

Scenario 2

We went down to the RSL Wharf to fish for blackfish when an old seadog comes on to the wharf to tie up his fairly large sailing boat. Ever ready to help out Hammerhead suggests the sailor throw him the rope so he can tie him up to the bollard on the wharf. Our sailor mate gratefully accepts the kind offer and Ian catches the rope and ties it to the bollard. Unfortunately, Ian’s skill with sailing knots isn’t too good and pretty soon the rope comes undone and the boat drifts off down the river in the current.  

Scenario 3

Now Patches is pretty particular about keeping Migaloo in top condition, so he wasn’t real impressed when Hammerhead left the rear window down one night and following a huge storm poor old Migaloo filled up with water. Never mind we are getting a replacement for Migaloo anyway. 

Nugget - The New Fishing Wagon.

Patches has proved that you can take the man out of the car salesman, but you can’t take the car salesman out of the man. He has come up with a ripper replacement for Migaloo which will not need the significant maintenance work in Migaloo’s near future. Missus Patch’s was sold on the replacement immediately and christened it “Nugget” due to its bronze colour. It must be a good buy because we took it around to the wives/partners of all the syndicate members to get the tick of approval before we agreed to chip in some more hard earned to get it. Car salesman Col is confident we will do well out of the sale of Migaloo so the changeover cost shouldn’t be too challenging.

Nugget: our new wagon

Any Fishing Club members interested in joining our little syndicate should contact Col at Villa 202. It gives you the opportunity of taking it to the beach/river with all your smelly fishing gear or towing your boat down to the ramps, thus saving wear and tear on your own vehicle. For the small amount to join it is a very worthwhile investment and the more members we have the less it will cost all of us.

Well that’s about it for this month – happy fishing and pray for better weather.

Cheers till next Month

Tight Lines Douggie

Possum boxes gratefully received

A group of residents have been busy building possum boxes in the Palm Lake Ballina Workshop. A total of 24 of these boxes were officially handed over to the Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers group who were very grateful for the donation. 

Check out the post they put on their Facebook site thanking the guys for their hard work. 

What can you put in your recycle bin?

For those of you that might be confused about what you are now allowed to put in the recycle bin, you might find this helpful. Click on the image to enlarge it to read more clearly. 

Good news - Movies are back on at Palm Lake Ballina Cinema

Movies               

July 2020

Saturday 4th          1917

                              George McKay, Colin Firth

Wednesday 8th      The Good Liar

                             Helen Mirren, Ian McKellan

Saturday 11th        Babel

                             Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett

Wednesday 15th     Emma

                              Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn

Saturday 18th        Dark Waters

                             Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway

Wednesday 22nd      H is for Happiness

                               Daisy Axon, Emma Booth

Saturday 25th        Just Mercy

                             Michael B Jordan, Jamie Foxx

Wednesday 29th      Cats

                             Judi Dench, Idris Elba

Note:  Social distancing and hand sanitising will be maintained in the cinema. This will decrease the numbers allowed in for each screening.                   

Chinderah Golf Report Friday 26th June 2020

On the last Friday of each month a group of Ballina Palm Lake golfers head up to the Chinderah Golf Course for a round of golf. This month we had one of our largest groups, with 20 golfers playing in, what turned out to be, perfect weather.  We welcomed three new members this month: Sue and Glen Grady and Bill Allison.

The competition was fierce (but friendly!). Serial bandit Doug Stinson had 41 points, after his 43 last month, but he was pipped on a count back by Michael Sherlock. Loris Daniels won the ladies competition with 36 points, beating Sue MacDonald on a count back also with 36 points.

Glen Grady won the nearest the pin, bragging to anyone who would listen that he beat Roger’s shot. Bambang won the Mars Bar for being at the wrong end of the field.

Next trip to Chinderah is Friday 31^st July so, if you are interested in joining in, please let Bill Oliver (Villa 185) know. All are welcome.

Roger Pallant Villa 283

Robert Siddle, Steve Horne, Gerry Wilde and butcher bird 

enjoying a round of golf at Chinderah.

Birds around Palm Lake

We have such an amazing number and variety of birds around Palm Lake Resort Ballina. As many of you know I have been practicing my photography by trying to snap as many of them as possible. Every week or so I will choose a bird to feature on the blog.

This week's bird is the Variegated Fairy-Wren. 
I have been lucky enough to spot a family of these fairy-wrens living in a few spots around Palm Lake Resort. Keep an eye out for it near the Dog park, the bridge on Magnolia Drive, and in the creek area outside my place, Villa 283.

For more info and photos of fairy-wrens around the resort you can go to my website by clicking on the link below: 

Link to Julie's website featuring fairy-wrens  

Julie Pallant

Villa 283

WARNING: Beware scam targeting Palm Lake email

This afternoon Rick has sent out emails to all Palm Lake residents asking them to watch out for scammers targeting Palm Lake emails. 

I have pasted it here to make sure it reaches as many people as possible. Please make sure your friends and neighbours are aware of this. 

Email from Rick: 

"Good afternoon. Below is an email circulation from a foreign country targeting Palm Lake emails. If you receive one like below, do not respond to it.

Never give private information, log in details or financial information in response to emails.

Below is an example, but is not the only scam circulating around the globe. 

Never click on, verify an email or account settings for an email that you have not initiated, whether it’s for an email account or a random bank request.  

If you have just received it, it may be a scam. Scammers also use company logos and images to look real.

This information is for your protection, and to keep you informed.

Regards

Rick"

Example scam email below: 

Palmlake.net.au

All account are requires an immediate verification 2020  server security ,

Failure to do this. We may be forced to terminate the activities of your account.

to make sure your are the real owner of this email, littleford@palmlake.net.au 

You have 24hours to perform this action from below portal.

VERIFY ACCOUNT NOW

 Copyright © 2020 palmlake.net.au, Inc. All rights reserved. We are located at 2233 S. third St., San Jose, CA 95123.  

Another dose of puppy cuteness

It must be the season for puppy cuteness - I found another cute puppy on my walks around Palm Lake Ballina. 

David and Gwen Taylor from Villa 182 have welcomed a new puppy to their family

 and have called her Daisy Mae. 

If you missed my earlier blog post and need another dose of cuteness check out my photos of Raelee and Bill's new puppy: 'Poppie'  using the link below: 

Link to photos of 'Poppie'

Julie Pallant Villa 283

Update from Residents Committee

FINANCE UPDATE FROM
THE RESIDENTS COMMITTEE.
21st JUNE 2020

Water Rates:
We have been in negotiations with Ballina Shire Council on two issues
concerning water rates.
The first is concerning what we thought was an overcharge which was brought
about by individual meter reading occurring at different times to the main

meter read. Yesterday we received an adjustment notice of $12,062.47 credit.

Our second is even more extensive and complex. We are looking at the
comparisons between Residential charges and Business charges as a dollar
comparison, current and proposed, with and without pension rebates, costs of
processing etc. At the moment we are heading in a favourable direction.
But, this is all subject to Palm Lake and Residents Approval to proceed and
Ballina Shire Council agreeing to change the rating category. We will keep you
informed.
Thank you
John Adlington.

HP Printer cartridges free to good home

Doug Stinson (Villa 252) has a brand new Combo Pack 61 comprising one black and one tricolour cartridge to give away.

He bought the wrong ones and as he had opened the parcel they won't take them back. 

If your printer takes a HP 61Cartridge give Doug a call on 0412 663 872 to arrange to pick them up.

Dose of cuteness!

A new puppy recently took up residence at Palm Lake Ballina Resort and I managed to grab a few photos (and lots of cuddles). 

Her name is Poppie and she is a very cute 10 week old Bichoodle. 

She has her new mum and dad (Raelee and Bill Garner, Villa 161) totally besotted.

If you would like to check out some more photos of Poppie on my website 

click on the link below:

Link to more photos of Poppie

Please forward any other good news stories to my email: jfpallant@gmail.com

Julie Pallant

Villa 283

Good news story

Judith McPherson Villa 160 has some good news she would like to share:

I was thrilled to find out my son Dr. John MacPherson, who lives in Geebung, QLD, received an AM in Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Awards 2020 “for significant service to people with a disability, and to access and inclusion” to quote the Govt. Gazette.
  
Johns works for the Brisbane City Council in area of access to buildings and other facilities, lighting at Ferries for visually handicapped etc. He commenced work with Brisbane City Council after he finished his education at St. Paul’s Anglican School. He did his Masters at U.N.E Armidale and his doctorate in Biology through James Cook Uni in Townsville. 

John has been in a wheelchair himself since a car accident when he was 20 yrs. old. The accident happened when he was driving to the Palm Beach Surf Club on the Gold Coast where his father was a life member and was a “boatie” rowing the surf boats.  

After his accident and a long stay in the Brisbane P.A. Hospital Spinal Unit – John returned to work at the Brisbane City Council Works Dept. and was transferred to work in the area he is in now.

He is a member of a number of different disability group organisations and always goes the extra mile to help people.
  
Judith McPherson
Villa 160

If you have any good news stories you would like to share on the blog 
please send them to Julie Pallant email: jfpallant@gmail.com

Update on building of possum boxes

In an earlier blog post we featured a group of Palm Lake Ballina workshop volunteers who are building possum boxes for a number of wildlife societies. 

As you can see from the photo below the building of the boxes is progressing well. 

They would really appreciate donations of any old paint that could be used for painting the boxes. If you have any screws that you could donate, they would also be welcome.

If you can help out please ring:

Michael Sherlock,  Villa 231, Mobile 0402300336

Peter Kafka, Villa 238, Mobile 0417864626

Email from the manager Rick Stewart

Rick Stewart, the manager has sent out an email today with some updates.

The key points are summarized below. Please check your emails for full details, and if you are not receiving emails, please contact the office to get on the list:  

Meals

·       Meals will still currently be delivered on Thursdays as normal, for those that have ordered through the online system.  

Gym

·       The Oasis gym has reopened (with restrictions). Limited numbers , sign posted on door.

·        Please wipe down the equipment you use, immediately after use. This is to be done using anti-bacterial wipes or sanitizer. Wiping with your own towel is not acceptable.

The water dispenser is not to be used, so please bring your own water bottle.

·       Remember to sanitise your hands before entering the gym, in between equipment changes, and when leaving the gym.

New cleaning staff

·       Our new cleaner, Daniela, started last week. Please make her feel welcome. Remember to respect the social distancing (1.5 metre rule) when interacting with staff.

Bowls club entrance Garden 

·       The garden in front of the Bowls is being revamped at the moment. The grounds guys will be working over there this week, so please be aware when driving or entering the area, to stay well clear of any work area

Use of Resort Facilities by visitors

·      Visitors or guests staying with you are permitted to accompany you to a resort facility and have access to that facility with you. However please ensure that other residents are not excluded or disadvantaged from the use of a facility because of this.  

If any resident is unsure and needs further information, feel free to call the office and schedule a time to discuss any concerns with Rick.