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Retirement will provide time to learn new things, and it is never too late to learn. It could be that you have always wanted to learn another language, how to service your car or creative writing. Learning new things keeps your mind active and this provides you with opportunities to meet new people and gain health benefits. Research shows that keeping mentally active reduces the onset of dementia and improves brain functioning in older age. Read newspapers, magazines and books, play 'thinking' games like Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit, take up a hobby, do a course or learn a language. Researchers at Stanford University in USA have found that memory loss can be improved by 30 to 50 per cent simply by doing mental exercises.
You could also check out the University of the Third Age They offer programs on a range of topics and also welcome people who can introduce new programs. Barnardo's run mentoring and study support programs for disadvantaged students and there are other volunteer groups that can provide you with a mental challenge while assisting other members of the community, eg guiding visitors to the local museum or places of interest or visiting residents in aged care homes. Most volunteer groups can usually use more organisers as well as participants. You can find out more about volunteering from Volunteering Australia
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