After this Reg enjoyed a quiet time tending his well-known garden property in the picturesque Blue Mountains, also mounting several exhibitions of his own colourful paintings. In 1989 he returned to television, as a member of "Burke's Backyard" on the Nine Network, concurrently writing and performing "Wish You Were Here", a one-man show at the Clarendon Theatre Restaurant in Katoomba. This subsequently played the Melbourne International Festival and a season at the Victorian Arts Centre. In 1991 he appeared in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Iolanthe" for Victoria State Opera and directed "La Traviata" for the same organisation at the Ballarat Easter Opera Festival in 1992. In that year he also wrote and performed his second one-man show for the Blue Mountains, "Santa on the Planet of the Apes". This was followed by his performance as Major General Stanley in "The Pirates of Penzance", again for Victoria State Opera.