Moving into a retirement village has brought joy in unexpected ways for sisters Robyn Rhodes and Helyn McKay, who after living in separate cities for nearly half a decade, are now closer than ever.
Robyn left her home of seven years in One Tree Point and moved into Bupa Totara Gardens Retirement Village in October after her husband Peter passed away early last year.
“I wasn’t nervous to move in at all because when I came and saw the place, I said to the village’s manager, ‘This is for me’, so that was it,” laughs the 76-year-old. “I only looked at one place. I didn’t bother looking at anything else!”
It wasn’t long after Robyn moved into her two-bedroom villa that she began persuading her sister Helyn, who was renting in New Plymouth after leaving her leaky Auckland apartment building three years earlier, to do the same. Unsurprisingly, the 78-year-old needed little convincing.
Six months later, Helyn and her two beloved rescue cats Bella and Gigi made the move to Whangārei and into a near-identical home just 100 metres down the road from her sister.
“We’ve always pretty much been in different places, so it’s great to be back with her,” explains Helyn, who spent her childhood in Paeroa and Tauranga with her sibling, before life naturally led them in different directions as they grew up.
Helyn (right) and Robyn can catch up whenever they want.
Now, Helyn and Robyn have an exciting social calendar featuring frequent games of mahjong with friends, and regular coffee and dinner dates at each other’s villas.
“Just about every day there is something to do, like a morning tea or craft morning, and you can do as little or as much as you want,” enthuses Robyn. “You can get out there, but if that’s not your cup of tea, that’s okay too.”
While catching up with the Weekly, Helyn raves about the village’s location – with a café, supermarket, doctor, pharmacy and lots of good walking paths nearby, before Robyn reveals they’re also fans of the fortnightly happy hour. Their tipple of choice? “Oh,” the pair giggle. “Well, that would be telling!”
For Robyn and Helyn, moving into the retirement village was the “logical move” as individuals and as sisters, and they couldn’t be happier in their new homes.
“It’s a happy, comfortable place to live, and very secure,” says Helyn. “It’s such a great place to just relax, be yourself and do the things that you want to do, with a lot of very nice people around you.”
For more information on a retirement village near you, head to bupa.co.nz
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