Come and join us at our monthly morning tea held the first Monday of each month at Tasteful Affairs Cafe in the Kaiapoi Golf Club, 373 Williams Street, Kaiapoi

Our next bus trip is on 28 May 2025.  We are going to Riccarton House, followed by a visit to the in-house cafe. 

Please note that for the tour some rooms are separated by steps, and the only way to access the upstairs room is via the staircase which is three sets of 20 stairs. 

Get in quick to secure your seat in the bus for this visit.

On Wednesday 26 March fifteen Kaiapoi Probarians went along to see the movie ‘Tina’.  What a fantastic NZ movie that we all felt very moved by and highly recommend. 

Nine of us then walked down the road to Rangiora Nom Nom restaurant for a lovely chat accompanied by a delicious lunch of Thai food.

On Thursday 13 March 2025, 23 people boarded the bus for a  trip to the Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden. 

After a relaxing walk around the gardens viewing the huge selection and range of sculptures on show,  we boarded the bus and headed to the Tai Tapu Hotel Restaurant for a lovely lunch. A great time was had by all.

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On Wednesday 28 February twelve of us Kaiapoi Probarians went along to Paris for the Weekend cafe to enjoy a delicious petite morning tea. We were well looked after and had a great catch-up with each  other.

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It was great to join forces with around 35-ish members for our summer picnic at the Ohoka Domain on Wednesday 29 January. The weather was fine (if a tad windy) but it was a wonderful spot to gather together and play a few outside games to start the year. Thank you Doug for organizing access to the grounds and pavilion for this lovely catch up

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What a fun time we had at our festive lunch! Thank you to everyone who joined us at The Plough for this special occasion, also  for entering the spirit of the event by dressing up and wearing a special head dress to celebrate the Christmas season. 

We had a few laughs, prizes and gifts for all... along with a great catch up and chin wag with our fellow Probarians. 

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Thank you to everyone who entered the spirit of this special occasion at our Nov 2024 meeting. The room was a sea of blue and yellow with a number of members in special ‘dress up’ mode too. 

We welcomed special Probus Club guests - Margaret Drake (the NZ Director and District Chair) and her husband David; also Helen McCaul and Don Hayes who are our regional ambassadors.  They took part in the festivities by judging prizes for dressing up, also presenting Certificates of Appreciation to recognise the valuable contributions the remaining founding members and past presidents (who are still actively involved) have made to our Kaiapoi Combined Probus Club over the years.

Founding members Helena Jurkenas and Judy Price cut the cake,  Margaret D’Oliveira won over a years supply of lollies in the ‘Guess the number of Jelly Beans in the Jar’ activity and we all enjoyed the morning tea before our guest entertainer performed for us.

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On 23 October 43 keen club adventurers left by bus bound for the Music Farm ‘At Violinos’ near Ashburton. A coffee and comfort stop at Rakaia helped refresh the travellers before heading south again. Some 4km north of the venue the bus decided it was going to test Norm’s skills by throwing a fan belt and taking out the fan. Thankfully we limped the last few kilometres saving us day trippers a walk to the farm. Following a delicious lunch prepared by the local Aged Concern ladies, we were treated to a concert from Ruth on violin and a fellow musician from Christchurch on the cello. Giving each of us an instrument, Ruth then conducted our group in a musical ensemble. After a quick tour of the music related gardens and various music themed buildings on site in the warm Nor’wester, we climbed aboard a replacement bus and headed home.

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Nine of our members attended the anniversary lunch held at the The Chateau to celebrate 50 years of the Probus movement. 

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Following the amazing Mamma Mia musical in the Isaac Theatre, a small group of Kaiapoi Probarians were welcomed backstage to explore the set and operational areas. This included the wings, the theatrical rigging system, the Orchestra Pit, the dock and wardrobe areas. 

A big thank you to Dave and Angela who organized this “In-between” experience and gave us a true insight to how much work goes into producing a show and being behind the scenes of each performance.

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On 11 September 2024 a small group of Kaiapoi Probarians met at the Buddhist Temple to enjoy an informative visit to the Fo Guang Shan Temple in Riccarton. This great   “In-between” outing was enjoyed by 13 of our members.

As part of the temple tour with our guide Ricky, we explored the time tunnel, tried our hand at calligraphy by tracing over some characters, rang the Happiness Bell as we made a wish and also had our many and varied questions answered. 

Following the tour an enjoyable lunch in the Water Drop Cafe rounded off a lovely morning’s outing. A special thanks to the Fo Guang Shan staff who welcomed us and helped make this outing an enjoyable visit.

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On 28 August 2024 a group of happy Probarians boarded the bus to travel into the city to visit The Arts Centre where our guide Jenny spent an hour taking us around the main highlights and entertaining us with some of the stories associated with each of the areas.  After the tour people enjoyed a leisurely lunch at one of the nearby cafes and a lazy afternoon exploring the area. As it was a beautiful Canterbury sun-filled spring day it was a lovely relaxing trip

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Our July 2024 guest speaker was Ali Harper who entertained us with interesting stories about her acting and singing career, along with her beautiful voice.

A group of our members also went along to Ali’s show ‘The Supper Club’ on 10 August and had a wonderful time enjoying her creativity and performance.

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With a full bus we left Kaiapoi Working Men’s Club and headed north along a few back roads and with a few   u-turns to confuse the members.  First stop was the Classic Car Museum, which was a walk down memory lane for the many car lovers amongst us.

 A leisurely long lunch at the Half Kitchen was followed by a bus trip to the Rangiora Mainpower Stadium where Paul Dunn entertained us by showing us the facilities and sharing details about these, along with the numbers of people using this amazing community asset.

John and Tony then demonstrated the use of the Frama Reaction Testing Programme in the Perception Room.  Then it was into the bus and back home to Kaiapoi.

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