I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the thousands of local residents and visitors make their way to Warners Bay, Teralba and Marmong Point to take advantage of this incredible weekend of events. The weekend also provided a great boost to our local economy. Events like these are an ideal way to showcase our area’s natural beauty and the city’s stunning centrepiece – Lake Macquarie itself. 

This weekend offers an opportunity to celebrate another of the city’s great assets, the Fernleigh Track. As the region’s most popular shared pathway, it is exciting for Council to support a great community event at this facility for the third year running. The Fernleigh 15 encourages the community to be active and I’m excited to be cheering on all the participants on Sunday morning.

This month has been many firsts for me in my role as Mayor and, next week, is a first like no other, presiding over my first citizenship ceremony. I am really looking forward to the honour of helping about 65 Lake residents take the final steps in their migrant journey. Becoming an Australian citizen is, for so many, one of the most memorable moments of their lives and I feel very special to share this moment with them.