Weekend in winter with Caroline, Monika and Monika’s five children (twin sons and three daughters)
Caroline is 21, the twins are nearly 21, Natasha is going on nine, Roxy is 7 and Krystal is 3.
Grandma Uta with Krystal
Month: June 2012
We stayed at Sussex Inlet again in August 1995.
Monika and Caroline with Troy and Ryan and the little girls Natasha and Roxy.
We love to take pictures in front of signs!
The units at Sussex Inlet are modern with all conveniences. They are a few steps away from the inlet which goes out into the open sea. But to reach the ‘camp’ you have to travel along a 13 km dirt-road through dense bush area with outlooks here and there to the inlet. We made this trip many times over the years. Each time we get very excited travelling along this road at very low speed and taking in the beautiful scenery.
We often stay at one of the units for one week, but when we go there in the off season we stay for a weekend only. In summer it is marvellous to stay for two weeks, and…
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Sussex Inlet December 1993
In June 1992 Martin’s and Elizabeth’s baby girl Justine was born. Little Justine was 18 months when Martin and Elizabeth came with their children Tristan and little Justine to stay with us at Sussex Inlet. Monika’s twins, Troy and Ryan, were with us too and of course Caroline. We and the three children spent already Christmas in the holiday unit, Martin came with his family a bit after Christmas.
For us it was tradition to have ‘bunte Teller’ with sweets and some fruit for Christmas Eve. The kids loved to have this special treat for Christmas. So ‘bunte Teller’ had to be made up for all of us. As you can see from the picture, we also had candles, and for Peter and me there was wine. I think I felt already somewhat tired by the time we were ready for the celebrations. There’s so much to organize moving into the unit! And it looks like it that for Christmas there was some extra organizing to do.
I’m afraid I don’t look my best in the picture. And maybe the kids were getting a bit tired already as well. But I wanted to show what the ‘bunte Teller’ looked like. It’s possible the drink after an exhausting day gave me the rest. I think we had booked the unit for two weeks for the summer holidays. All the units (fourteen of them) were booked out. For New year’s Eve the manager had a roasted pig organized . All the holiday-makers celebrated New Year’s Eve together on the tennis courts. Outside tables and chairs could be brought to this venue and the roasting pig wasn’t far away. There was plenty of drink available too.
I remember at this holiday place I always like to get up early To go for an early morning walk was immensely enjoyable. I am still like this, that I like to get up very early. Even when I go to bed late, I like to get up early. To have a two weeks holiday close to the water and the beach in the middle of summer is wonderful. It’s so good to have close family to spend the holidays with. For sure it was another great holiday at Sussex Inlet.
- With sunflower seeds you can always attract a few lorikeets
- Caroline with kangaroo
- Little Justine loves the kangaroo
- Martin is the one in the red top, I am in the background with a red hat
- The young ones gather around the sign (tradition!)
- Little Justine for a bit of a rest?
Sussex Inlet 1989
In 1989 my brother Peter Uwe came to visit us. He is the brother who is now a retired teacher and lives in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern, north of Berlin. In 1989 he was still a teacher in Berlin. He took at the time a one year leave from his teaching job. During this time he traveled the world. In this world trip he included a longer stay in Australia. Part of the time he was sailing and diving near the Barrier Reef in Queensland, but a few weeks he had set aside to visit us. We were able to show him around a bit in our beautiful area. Unfortunately it rained most of the time. Only during our one weeks stay with him at Sussex Inlet we had beautiful sunshine. That was so lucky!
I remember how Peter Uwe was really good at organizing. For instance, we had to take one weeks food supply to Sussex Inlet. Peter wrote out all the meals we wanted to cook and what sort of food was needed for all the meals for every day of the week. So we went shopping together. It all had to fit into our (yellow) station wagon. Apart from the two Peters, Caroline and myself, as well as the twins had to fit into the car. The twins were really keen to come with us again to this beautiful holiday place. They loved it there very much. Of course, we all did love it !
Because we had so much stuff to take along, we decided I would catch the train with the children. The train went only as far as Nowra (Bomederry). Peter drove Peter Uwe with all the supplies to the campsite first. Then he drove back to Nowra to pick us up from the station and take us to the camp. As I said before, the last part of the drive to the camp is a 13 km dirt- road. We always enjoyed this trip along the dirt-road which went right through the bush. We would wind the car-windows down to smell the beautiful bush-air. We caught glimpses of the water (Sussex Inlet) several times along this road. The sun would shine through the trees. The water glittered through the tree-branches. Marvelous!
When we arrived at the campsite, Peter Uwe had everything in the unit already under control. All the stuff had been packed away. So we could soon have our tea and apple-turnovers with fresh cream. Peter usually picked up these beautiful cakes at a certain bakery when he went through Berry. These apple-turnovers were always a special treat for us. The kids usually reminded Peter not to forget to stop in Berry to buy the cakes.
A place called Greenpatch is 18 km away from where we stayed. (I mentioned this place in my previous blog.) We went for an excursion to this place on one day and took lots of pictures with lorikeets.
Not far from where we were staying at the inlet there is a long beach. You can walk along it for hours. There is the open sea all along the way, called the Tasman Sea which is part of the Pacific Ocean. When we look out across the ocean we are always joking: ‘Yea, and in this direction is New Zealand!’ As though we could swim all the way to New Zealand!
Peter Uwe loved to jog along the beach. But he never made it to the end of it. Peter Uwe made lovely sculptures out of the sand right next to the ocean. There exist some photos of it. Sadly I could not find any of these amongst the pictures that we have. There’s only one picture of Ryan sitting in a boat of sand. I remember one day we spent hours and hours with Peter Uwe and the kids at some spot near the ocean. I am sure being creative with sand was an inspiration for the kids. Certainly they never did get bored.
I think we did go for swims in the ocean and in the inlet at high tide. It was April and still warm enough for a swim. However I could not find pictures of us in the water from that year. At nighttime we played lots of games with the children, such as card-games or board-games.
Caroline was ten, the twins were still nine.
- Caroline with her Dad
- Ryan and his boat
Peter Uwe and I had fun with the birds.
Sussex Inlet 1987
- Martin holds his two year old son, Tristan. Caroline and one twin are in the front, Grandpa Peter looks at something on the ground, Elizabeth (in brown jacket) looks on too.
- While Martin and Elizabeth did their 18 km run to Greenpatch, I followed them with Tristan in their car. Tristan didn’t like to see his parents running in front of him while he was stuck with Grandma in the car! He was happy then to be with his parents at Greenpatch.
- Tristan, on his Mum’s lap, looks what the twins do, Martin points out something.
- Caroline with her Dad
In one of the pictures you can see Monika with Martin. who has little Tristan on his shoulders.
Monika and Martin are of course sister and brother.
Monika is the twins’ Mum.
Caroline wears a red top. In one of the pictures you can see her running off. Unfortunately it’s not a very good shot of mine.
Sussex Inlet 1985
This was our first time at Sussex Inlet. Caroline was six and the twins were still five. The rain lasted only for one day. After this we had beautiful summer weather again. When our son Martin came to visit with his wife Elizabeth the Inlet looked gorgeous in lovely sunshine.
It was March and in July Martin and Elizabeth had their first child, a boy named Tristan. After daughter Monika’s twins, Tristan was to be our third grandchild. The following grandchildren were all girls.
After having experienced Sussex Inlet for the first time in 1985 we went back there lots of times. The children and grandchildren always loved it. Only our first born child, daughter Gabriele, who became a quadriplegic in 1961 after she had just turned four. this daughter was never able to join us at Sussex Inlet because she needed an Iron Lung to sleep in for the night. Just recently she did get used to a more modern machine. This new machine should be easy to transport. Knowing our adventurous daughter we wouldn’t be surprised at all if she took to going somewhere on holidays once she did get more used to this portable respirator. In any case it is great news that she finally managed to get rid of the Iron Lung which put a lot of restrictions on her. Gaby tells us her breathing is much better now with the new machine. But back to our visit to Sussex Inlet in 1985.
We were happy that our youngest daughter had the company of the twins. The three of them did get on very well together. When people saw us with the three of them, they often thought they were triplets! The twins would ring their mum from a public phone near the office of the campsite. The place was still called a ‘camp’ but it had newly built units which could accommodate up to eight people each. In March 1985 the unit we were in had been built just a few months ago. Everything looked brand new. The best thing about Sussex Inlet was that it was very secluded. We called it our little paradise.
- On the right our son Martin
- Martin with his wife Elizabeth
- Martin keeps the three children in the boat happy
- Does anyone want to play ball with Grandma?
Holidays at Sussex Inlet 1995
We stayed at Sussex Inlet again in August 1995.
Monika and Caroline with Troy and Ryan and the little girls Natasha and Roxy.
We love to take pictures in front of signs!
The units at Sussex Inlet are modern with all conveniences. They are a few steps away from the inlet which goes out into the open sea. But to reach the ‘camp’ you have to travel along a 13 km dirt-road through dense bush area with outlooks here and there to the inlet. We made this trip many times over the years. Each time we get very excited travelling along this road at very low speed and taking in the beautiful scenery.
We often stay at one of the units for one week, but when we go there in the off season we stay for a weekend only. In summer it is marvellous to stay for two weeks, and we were able to do this a couple of times. The units accommodate 6 to 8 people. Nowadays they insist that 6 people is the limit. With any more than 6 you have to rent additional units.
I think for this weekend Monika had one unit with her twin sons and two little daughters, and Peter and I had the unit next door with our daughter Caroline. I am not sure whether Martin and family came along to visit. Sometimes I think we ought to have more pictures to boost the memory. We may have some more pictures some where. The problem is that I do not know where I could find the relevant pictures. Somehow a lot of our pictures are difficult to find. Some of the pictures are just not filed away very well.
- Big brother is watching his little sisters
- This is the other big brother. The girls are lucky to have big twin brothers. Grandma Uta is enjoying herself too
This picture is also from Sussex Inlet in August 1995
Australian Senior of the Year 2012
If you go to Gerard’s blog via the above link you can find out all about this special woman in her nineties who became Australian Senior of the Year.
It’s immensely gratifying that she received this award..
In Memory of a Great-Aunt Marie (Mietze)
Peter, my husband, has some memory of his Grandmother, who died, when he was only three. Both his parents worked. Peter remembers Tante Mietze, his mother’s aunt, looking after him and his sisters following the death of Grandmother. Tante Mietze was born on the 17th of June 1873. She went into domestic service at age fourteen. She was an important person in his life. He remembers her all the time, but especially on her birthday.
This picture of Tane Mietze’s photo Peter took today. He published a post about her as well. Here is the link to Peter’s post.
More Aunties and Uncles and Cousins
I can be seen with Ursel and Karl-Heinz, my cousins.
An older sister of Dad, Aunt Jenny and her husband, another Uncle Alred, are in the back. On the left is Charlotte, ,my Mum. It is summer 1937
We all love the hammock.
It’s great fun lying in it!
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My two year old cousin Horst seems to like me! It’s not summer yet, but it must be quite warm already.
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There were donkey rides available for children. I was overjoyed when I was allowed to have a ride. A lot of Dad’s family spent the holidays with us in a rented apartment in Zoppot. I remember the apartment was in a tower-like building. We were right at the top. Looking out of the window we could sea far out onto the sea.
In September 1938 cousin Ursula came for a visit to Berlin.
I am just four years old., Ursel just turned eleven.
Mum and Ursel with me in Berlin at a building
in a street called ‘Unter den Linden’[/caption]
This photo was taken at a family party, probably in the 1960s It shows Dad with his three sisters and two brothers.
AuntyUta 