U3A Emerald

03/06/2026

This maybe of interest to anyone learning French.

20/05/2026

Many thanks to those who volunteer endless hours to U3A. Without the support of many people our classes, outings, sports and social days would not exist.

U3A provides so much entertainment in our retirement years. A fulfilling life is good company, good food and exercise, all that is catered for when in U3A.

16/05/2026

13/05/2026

CRAFT GROUP - blankets for KOGO, bugs and bears, a few dogs and an op shop yarn find for a child’s cardigan were admired by members today.

13/05/2026

PICKLEBALL can be an indoor and outdoor sport, and for us yesterday we went outdoors due to lack of power at Cockatoo Stadium.

Without proper lines, with the sun blazing down, a slight breeze and hard concrete we still managed to have a great hit-out.

May need to employ a ball kid next time, as running on concrete is not good for us with older legs.

07/05/2026

EXPLORING Victoria 1

The Coolart Homestead is a beautiful example of late Victorian architecture, dating from 1895. The Homestead is open to the public, and includes a display of historic photographs, letters and drawings. The surrounding formal gardens and lawns feature native and exotic plants, perfect for a stroll or a picnic.

The historic house and gardens at Coolart built by Frederick Sheppard Grimwade in 1895, contains the Grimwade photograph collection and shows what life would have been like when Coolart was a farm estate.

Coolart was once a family home, but now it’s a home for nature that everyone can enjoy. The late Tom Luxton purchased Coolart in 1937 and immediately had the property declared a sanctuary for native wildlife. In 1938 the then curator of the Footscray Gardens, David Matthews, redesigned the garden for Coolart, this is the design enjoyed by visitors at Coolart today. A stroll around the formal gardens with its trellises and flowers, wooden benches, decorative water features and wide, green lawns would be perfect for picnicking, but with our visit today the weather was not being nice to us.

We enjoyed a wonderful arrange of cakes and slices made by Carla, as we drank coffee in the observatory built to spy on the wetland bird life. A volunteer gave a brief history of the buildings and families that have lived in this beautiful area before we explored in between rain showers.

We were impressed by the amazing vegetable gardens managed by volunteers. All food grown is picked on Monday and delivered to a local community for those struggling to afford such wholesome products.

There are several walking tracks around the area, some leading to the beach, and would be well worth a return visit on a better day.

We had lunch at a very impressive bakery in Balnarring.