Following your passions has never looked so beautiful.
Two senior Victorians share their hobbies and the positive impact pursuing them has on their lives.
Gardening in style
Meet watering queen, Heather.
She won the 2024 Victoria in Bloom ’s Gardener of the Year.
Her garden brings her joy and purpose every day. ‘It’s my little retreat. Just watching things grow and flowering. I love it.’
The Victoria in Bloom competition recognises and rewards the great work of gardening enthusiasts living in public or community housing.
It’s a way of saying thanks to renters for their hard work to create and maintain amazing gardens that contribute to the communities they live in.
Heather shares that her garden has been brilliant for her mental health.
‘It just gives me a focus to get up each morning to go and tend to my garden. It just makes you feel good.’
Restoring history
Mick is on a mission to bring post boxes across Victoria back to their former glory.
With passion and a collection of tools, he has now restored over 66 of the red and gold heritage pillar boxes.
It started as an anti-graffiti project a little over 2 years ago.
‘I was driving up one of the streets near my house and I went past one of these pillar boxes, which was in a pretty sad state,’ shared Mick.
‘I cleaned off the graffiti and I stood back. An electric light bulb went on over my head and I thought, “Goodness me, I think I’ll just keep going. This looks terrific!”’
After being a musician for over 50 years and travelling the world, Mick describes the pillar boxes as giving him a new spark and creative outlet.
‘You’ll always find something very interesting to do if you keep looking.’
Although it began as a passion project, Australia Post now pays him for every completed restoration. The cast-iron boxes used to fill up 3 times a day with mail – a once-important part of everyday life.
This year, Mick received a National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Heritage Award for his work.
‘It’s taken on a life of its own’, shares Mick. ‘I’m looking forward to finishing off the next 120 boxes, however long it takes!’
Hear more from Mick in a video from ABC news via .
More information
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Reviewed 04 August 2025