My children and grandchildren had the idea we could celebrate my 80th birthday at Sussex Inlet. We always loved to go to this place. Peter, I and the children have such lovely memories about it and often talk about it. I have stored some memories about Sussex Inlet in three of my ‘Pages’. Today I opened Sussex Inlet Page’I’. I thought, maybe some other bloggers might want to have a look too. So I copied one of the photos and the text to the first page. (I noticed nobody had actually looked at this page so far!)
As I said I copied only one of the photos. If you look at this post and would like to see some more photos, then please go to the above mentioned post in my pages about Sussex Inlet. There are many more photos to be seen in that page and two more pages about Sussex Inlet.
Uta with daughter Caroline and grandsons Ryan and Troy (the twins!). It was a wet morning.
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 1985 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. Monika’s three girls and Martin’s two girls. So we have eight grandchildren ; the last one of them was born in 1997. In the meantime we are also blessed with three great-grandchildren. )
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, was never able to join us at Sussex Inlet because she needed an Iron Lung for the night to sleep in.
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 camp-site. 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 only just been built. Everything looked brand new. The best thing about Sussex Inlet was that it was very secluded. We called it our little paradise.
Peter discovers a rose in the park in front of the station.
The above pictures are from last Sunday when we took the train to Tempe to meet the family at the Concordia Club. We also took the train last Saturday going to Redfern for a W.A. Dowe Memorial Lecture. The speaker was our good friend Richard Lawrence Giles. The talk was about THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION and started at 2 pm. At a coffee shop near Redfern Station we had some coffee and cake.
Next time we are at this place I’d like to try some of the healthy things that are on offer for 6 Dollars: ‘Immunity Boost’, ‘Detox’, ‘Revitalise’, I think all this sounds good. We happen to know that a lot of university students and maybe teachers get off the train at Redfern to walk from there to Sydney University. Any coffee shops on the way would probably be patronised by some university students and teachers. In this particular coffee shop two very friendly young guys did look after the customers.
Today is Saturday again. We had been contemplating to go to Redfern today to watch a free movie. We did get an invitation to:
CINEMA ET SYMPOSIA. It is a seminar on film – based on Shirley-Ann Hardy’s book “Stolen Land, Stolen Lives and the Great Con Trick of Debt. It says a moderate discussion of the film follows. Free Admission. Refreshments Served. Time 2 pm – 4 pm.
Why did we not go? Simple answer: We needed to stay home to have a rest. Since Peter’s eye operation nearly two weeks ago our life has been a bit too hectic for our liking. After all we are not spring chickens any more! So what did we do apart from the two above mentioned train travels? Well, after the operation Peter went to see the eye specialist already three times for consultations! He also had to get a new referral from a GP (General Practitioner). On the day of the operation our daughter Caroline was able to stay with us. She did the driving to and from the hospital. It was great to have her around. In the evening Matthew joined us too and we had a good time together. Next morning C and M had to go back to their respective work. They keep themselves busy with working and studying.
The next day one of our neighbours inquired how Peter was going after the operation. We mentioned that the doctor in Figtree who had done the operation in Shellharbour Hospital , wanted to see Peter for post operative care. When the neighbour heard about this he was kind enough to offer us a lift to the bus stop. He even would have driven us to Figtree, but we said we would be all right catching the bus. On the way back we caught a bus which stopped a bit closer to home, so we did not have to walk very far. The operation had been on a Tuesday, the trip to Figtree on Wednesday, then on Thursday I found out that another neighbour, my friend Irene, was about to drive to Dapto Mall Shopping Centre. I asked her could I have a lift. When I told her I wanted to go for a haircut, she said to wait for her at the hairdresser’s. She would drive me back home then.
Irene parked in an area where it would be easy for her to drive out again. Apparently she is not all that confident yet with her parking. Her husband had been driving for all these years. When her husband recently died very unexpectedly it was up to Irene to get used to driving again. Irene gave me an idea. Maybe I was capable too driving to the Shopping Mall the way Irene did it? All of a sudden I felt I might be able to do it. I told Peter about it when it turned out Peter had to see his doctor in Figtree again on Friday. Surprise, surprise, I actually managed to drive the car to that beautiful parking spot on that Friday. From there it was not far to the bus stop. The following day, Saturday, I managed to park the car near Dapto Station. We left Dapto at 11,35 am and did not get back till nearly 7 pm. But fortunately it was still a little bit light and rained only a little bit. Something similar again the next day, on Sunday, when we caught the train to Tempe. We did get a lift back home in daughter Monika’s new car. Mark was the driver and dropped as off near Dapto Station where our car was parked.
Now to the second week after the operation. On Monday Peter had to go to the Medical Centre to get a new referral for the specialist. I drove him to the Dapto Mall Shopping Centre again. From there he could walk to the Medical Centre. On Wednesday, when Peter wanted to see his eye specialist once more for he still could not see very well with his right eye, well on Wednesday I parked the car in the Shopping Centre again. Just to make sure I asked Peter did he bring the referral from the GP. It soon was obvious that he had left it at home. So I drove back home with Peter. Peter found the referral at home. Then back to our parking spot in the shopping centre. We ran to the bus stop. Peter was sure the bus would have left without us by now. But he was wrong. Luckily the bus was running very late again. We were really lucky to catch it. Peter had thought it could not possibly be running that late. And it goes only once every hour!
We made it in time to the doctor’s appointment or 10 am. But we had to wait for quite a while. Several other patients were waiting for Michelle, the doctor. So Peter had to wait his turn. The bus going back to Dapto is also only once every hour. When we approached the bus stop to go back to Dapto it turned out the bus had left ten minutes ago. That gave us a lot of time till the next bus was due. We used the time to go for some lovely coffee and cake. 🙂
As I mentioned before we went to the Concordia Club in Tempe last Sunday. I found some more pictures from that day which I had not published yet. Here they are:
A picture inside Concordia Club
I took this picture because I thought it looked cute. I think I saw a Swiss flag inside the club. I am not sure where these traditional outfits are from. Maybe Switzerland or Bavaria or Austria? Anyway, I think these dolls look cute!
This sign is in the outside area of the club.
The Australian and the German Flag outside the Concordia Club
Michelle, the doctor, told Peter by the end of the week Peter can drive again. I think she meant by the end of this week. This kind of lets me of the hook. I have no vision in my left eye and Peter has at the moment hardly any vision in his right eye! Aren’t we a nice pair?! 🙂
By the way, we go to Martin Place when we see our dentist, and we go to Bondi Junction when we see daughter Caroline and Matthew. We are very happy that we have a good train connection from Dapto to Sydney. And a ticket for the whole day for public transport (that includes now buses) is for pensioners only 2,50 Australian Dollars! We really like this. 🙂
In my previous post I mentioned the Concordia Club at Tempe and that we had a family lunch there. I could actually not publish any lunch photos for I completely forgot to take a few pictures of our food. But I was thrilled to get such beautiful pictures of little Lucas running around on the lawn in front of the club with a few older boys who look like they are very much enjoying watching this cute little boy running around and picking up their ball.
Lucas did get a bit tired after lunch. Ryan and family had their own transport and went home soon after lunch with Lucas probably falling asleep in the car! They gave Monika’s daughter Kristal a lift too. Martin and S had been in Sydney only for the weekend. Mark and Monika gave them a lift to the airport in the early afternoon so they could catch their flight back to Melbourne.
When Mark and Monika came back from the airport they gave us a lift home. Mark was the driver. Near Bulli Tops he asked us would we like him to stop for an ice-cream. It turned out they had delicious ice-cream at Bulli Tops. We all enjoyed it very much. Plus we had a terrific look down the escarpment towards the Pacific Ocean. Peter thought of taking some iCloud pictures. I am happy to publish them now.
Here I am with daughter Monika.
Earlier on while we were waiting at the Concordia Club for Mark and Monika to return from the airport, Caroline and Matthew were still with us. A very friendly young fellow sat with us at our table outside. During the conversation we found out that his sister is married to a German and lives in Berlin where he has been visiting twice. He said that he liked Berlin very much. We told him about our connection with Berlin. And so it went. He then offered to take some pictures of the four of us. Here they are:
Today we visited the Concordia Club. It was still quite warm as though the summer did not want to leave us yet. We did meet our family at the club for lunch.
There were our two daughters and our son with their partners, as well as our twin grandsons. One of them was there with partner and beautiful son, who is our great-grandson!Also one of our grand-daughters, who turns seventeen early next month, was also there.
Lucas, our little great grandson soon found company on the lawns in front of the club and kept tirelessly running around.
We had great fun watching the kids from where we were sitting down for lunch.
Australia is a beautiful country. Everyone in this country, that I know, leads comparatively a rather good life and does not want this to change. So who are the people who joined the protest march? I actually do not know one person who joined the March in March. Even though I would have liked to protest about quite a few things, somehow I did not make it to do this marching. I am impressed with the people who did. I remember when we protested against the Iraq war, we were called “The Mob” by prime minister Howard. I have the feeling most establishment people would probably put the March in March into a similar category.
These pictures were taken by daughter Caroline this morning while we were waiting for Peter to come out of surgery. Caroline took the pictures with her phone. I had forgotten my camera. Still, I looked around taking some pictures in my mind. The tree I was touching in the above pictures looked marvellous. It was really smooth to the touch.
Peter’s cataract operation went well. After a couple of hours he was allowed to go home. It was good that Caroline could drive us. Peter has to wear his eye-patch till seven 0’clock tomorrow morning. The patch starts irritating him a lot. He keeps having the feeling that he wants to take it off. At the moment he has been lying down a bit trying to catch up on some sleep.
While we were waiting for Peter, we were able to spend a bit of time in the sun in the hospital grounds. It was a beautiful sunny morning. The older I get the more I love spending time in the sun. I have been reading lately a lot on the benefits of sunshine in connection with the need for Vitamin D. My favourite page on Vitamin D right now is this one:
This is a picture that Peter took with his tablet.He also took this picture of me. I had a good rest at this lookout before we turned back towards the Visitor Centre.I would have loved to see the Twin Falls. However I felt to walk that much further would have been too much for me.
In our memory sticks another walk more than forty years ago when we went all the way down to the Grotto with our children. Old age is definitely creeping up on us now. Still, we are happy to be able to walk at all and go on outings like this one. It was so rewarding for us to spend last Sunday walking up to at least the first of many lookouts. I think this is also going to stick in our memory, especially since we did take a lot of pictures. It was a Sunday, and naturally because of this there were lots and lots of walkers about, many with very happy, lively children. Everyone was overtaking us! We are used to this by now that everyone is faster than we are. At most places we go to we are usually the oldest and slowest people around.!
This page I copied from the VOICE OF PENSIONERS AND SUPERANNUANTS OF NSW
THE VOICE is the paper of the CPSA (COMBINED PENSIONERS & SUPERANNUANTS ASSOCIATION OF NSW INC).
They are celebrating 83 years of service. The above page was the back page of the March 2014 issue.
On page 10 I found a cartoon where one person tells another one:
“I have just tweeted a retweet of my tweet that said this is my first tweet.”
Yesterday Peter and I spent the day in Sydney. Both of us had an appointment at a Holistic Dental Centre. Shaileshni, a Dental Hygenist, did for me a Clinical Perio Analysis & Recording as well as Removal of calculus. I explained that I could not wear my top partial dentures because they caused too much pressure on my gums which then became very sore. Shaileshni called in my dentist who after a bit of oral examining tried to adjust the dentures. All in all I had to pay close to 300 Dollars for the visit. Peter paid for his visit a similar amount. Peter did get the bad news that some of his teeth needed treatment. The estimated cost: $ 1165. Peter says this would make it hard to save up enough money for an overseas trip. But I think Peter is very reluctant to give up his plans for another trip to Berlin. He just does not want to think about it that he may not see this city ever again. Well, at least he knows just about everything that goes on in Berlin via the Internet. It is really amazing how without any problems it is possible to stay in touch with distant places like this.
Peter went in first for his dental treatment. I stayed in the waiting room and busied myself reading some very interesting literature. I was especially interested what Dr.Mercola had to say about the importance of Vitamin D and that it was best to get it via exposure to the sun. When I got home I read another article of his on website.
Keeping this in mind I made sure Peter and I had our afternoon tea out in the sun as soon as we got back home to Dapto. Later on we saw on the news that Sydney’s afternoon traffic ended in chaos because of a fire emergency on the building site at Barangaroo.
Barangaroo fire triggers Sydney CBD chaos
is the headline in today’s paper. We had been going to Sydney by train. When we boarded our return train at Sydney’s Central Station the fire had probably just started. Of course we had no way of knowing about this.
We were lucky that we could enjoy a bit of sunshine as we got back to Dapto. Just before I went to sleep last night it started to rain again. When I got up this morning it was still overcast, but no more rain. So far the sun has not been out yet today. I like it that it is still warm. We have not needed any heaters for a long time. During the few very hot days we just used our fans. We have no air conditioning. I believe where we live it is possible to survive quite well without it. So far so good. This may somewhat change over the years.
AuntyUta 
