Sussex Inlet in August 2014

We spent last weekend at Sussex Inlet as you may have seen from my previous posts. There are some more pictures from that weekend that I still want to publish. We had a barbecue on Friday night as well as Saturday. On Sunday we had to leave for home soon after lunch.

It did get very dark at Sussex Inlet. Our Units were quite some distance away from the barbecue area. I found it a little bit difficult to walk along the dimly lit grass. I was always grateful when someone helped me to find my way.

Here are sausages, pepper steak, onions and mushrooms.

Monika and two of her daughters enjoyed doing the barbecue. There were different salads, as for instance potato salad as well as rocket salad and bread rolls.

This was the barbecue area on Saturday morning.

On Friday night, soon after our arrival, we already did have a barbecue with all the family. On Sunday Matthew and Caroline cooked lunch for us. Sunday was a rainy day. This is why it would not have been such a good idea to carry all the supplies for lunch to the barbecue area. It was decided to have lunch on our verandah. Our family had rented four units. They were all next to each other. From every unit a table was carried to our verandah. And everyone carried their own plate, drinks and cutlery from their unit to the tables on our verandah. We had been sixteen people. But Mark had to leave early. Soon after it turned out that four of the young people could not stay for lunch either. In the end we were ‘only’ eleven people, including two year old Lucas’.

Red cabbage, potato salad and red wine which we did drink our of cups!

My lunch plate. I had rocket salad, potato salad, red cabbage and a real lot of lasagne sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

On Saturday Lucas met up with a wombat. — On Saturday Lucas met up with a wallaby.

On Sunday he did get to see some kangaroos.

With this bit of rain the grass that the kangaroos can eat for sure is to grow a bit more.

Saturday night was card game night in one of the units. Expecting Ebony and Lucas needed a rest and went to bed early. Eight people were playing cards, always four at a time. The rest were just watching.

After the card games we asked everyone over to our unit for some drinks of sparkling wine. We had a few bottles of this and Caroline poured the sparkling wine into these blue wine glasses. We were able to use the glasses from all the different units. I mentioned that I was looking forward to my approaching birthday. I actually sang a song about my approaching birthday which may have impressed a few people!! Ha,ha. Anyhow, I was in a cheerful mood.

Here is the song (the German version);

Ich freue mich, dass ich geboren bin
und hab Geburtstag bald.
Man hat mich lieb
und schenkt mir viel,
zum Essen, Trinken und zum Spiel.
Ich freue mich, dass ich geboren bin
und hab Geburtstag bald.

The following day, Sunday, after lunch all the units had to be cleaned before we could leave. Some people were still cleaning while others were waiting outside. Here I am with the group of people who were waiting.

Ryan had come with a van and could take in it all of our stuff that did not fit into our car.

We drove back along this road. 40 means 40 kilometres.

More Photos from our Holiday Weekend

This is one of the photos we took on Saturday morning when we walked to the Lone Pine. Our “camp” was of course some distance away. Where we stayed there are modern units now, but we still call it camp. The site belongs to the RAIL TRAM AND BUS UNION. When Peter was a member it was just a railworkers union. Since 1985 we have often been staying at this holiday park. All our family have treasured memories about this place. It is situated in a National Park that belongs to the Capital Territory. After a 13 km dirt track we reach the “camp” which is right at the Sussex Inlet. If you want to reach civilisation you have to go by boat from the inlet to St Georges Basin or drive back along the dirt track until you reach some sealed roads.

We noticed that quite a bit has changed about this place over the years. For instance when we came to the inlet after our walk along Bherwerre Beach we could see a lot of devastation along the site of the inlet. They must have had big storms there. There was no space to walk on left near the water. We were tired after the long walk and me, old great grandma, needed some help to get through there. Nobody thought of taking pictures of this devastation along the water. Here is one picture that Caroline took of Matthew, Peter and me after we had made it through and were close to where our camp units were.

Caroline soon produced some lovely lunch for us with some quiche.

Caroline and Matthew had brought along lots and lots of food and stayed in our unit with us. They did keep us beautifully fed. All in all it was a great holiday for us. Friday night and Saturday night the whole family gathered for barbecues. There was an excellent place provided for this.

This is what Caroline got ready for breakfast on Saturday morning.

The salads are rock salad and pickled cabbage. To this a fried egg was added. We probably had some toast and butter too, as well as a good cup of coffee!

Caroline had brought bags of rock salad along. Delicious! — Caroline had brought bags of rocket salad along. Delicious!

I think I did not take many pictures after our arrival on Friday. But here are a few more pictures from Saturday morning:

This holiday park is right next to ours.

Bherwerre Beach

It was a good idea to take the shoes off.

I think the beach picture up to here were taken with Peter’s camera, whereas the following pictures were taken with another camera.

Holiday Weekend

Including the photographer we were 14 people at this stage. A few hours later two more people arrived. Here in this picture the Sussex Inlet can be seen in the background.

We are the last ones on our way from the camp to the Lone Pine.

On that same morning, which was a Saturday, we walked on to Bherwerre Beach and from there back to our camp, which was a long, long walk. We took of course a lot of pictures. I’ll publish some of them in my next post.

Going back to 2006

Peter and I had our 50th Wedding Anniversary in 2006. I tried to find a picture of it in my blogs. But there seems to be none so far. The day of the Anniversary was 21st of December. Here are three pictures from that day:

Peter and I with our son and three daughters

Here we are with all our children and grand-children on our 50th Wedding Anniversary. — Here we are with all our children and grand-children on the day of our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

We had lunch with the whole family. Two long tables were set for us. Here is one of the tables, the one with Peter and me in the middle, Gaby and Monika at the end of the table, David next to Monika. The twins, Ryan and Troy, can be seen with their three sisters, Roxy (in the front), Natasha and Krystal. In the back at the other table can be seen Liz and Martin, Caroline and Matthew as well as grandson Tristan with Stephanie who as it turned out was already pregnant at the time. Also at the back table are Martins daughters Justine and Lauren.

Soon after the Wedding Anniversary there was of course Christmas. The other day I came across some pictures from the 25th and 26th of that year.

We went there with Caroline, Matthew and Matthew's daughter Alex. — We went there with Caroline, Matthew and Matthew’s daughter Alex.

The following day, the 26th of December, which is called ‘Boxing Day’ in Australia, we went with Caroline, Matthew and Alex to Gaby’s place in Merrylands West for some Christmas celebrations.

Photos for David

https://auntyuta.com/2013/08/18/photos-for-david-2/

These are the photos I gave to David two years ago after Gaby had died.

In Memory of David

This is in Memory of David. He died exactly one year ago.

Here is David with Gaby and companion dog Bonnie. This picture was taken many years ago when David was still full of energy.

AuntyUta

David died on the 5th of August 2013. Tomorrow, 19th of August, is to be his funeral at the Catholic Chapel, Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.

I just reblogged some pictures of David and Gaby. David survived Gaby only by one year and a bit. Gaby’s funeral was on the 24th of July 2012, also at Roodkwood Cemetery.

May they both rest in peace.

View original post

Reminiscing about Trips to the Highlands

This is where we stopped again last Sunday, the 27th of July, when we returned from Burrawang. The pies we had at this famous pie shop tasted as good as ever. Caroline and Matthew liked them too. When we finished eating our meat pies Peter bought some fruit pies to take home for afternoon coffee. But first Caroline, our driver, went on a tour with us through beautiful Kangaroo Valley.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the pass:

Macquarie Pass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Macquarie Pass is an eight-kilometre-long section of the Illawarra Highway passing through Macquarie Pass National Park. It was opened in 1898.
Macquarie Pass links the Southern Highland town of Robertson to the coastal town of Albion Park, descending the Illawarra Escarpment via a very narrow bitumen roadway, which has several single-lane sections and is mostly two lanes with double “no overtaking” lines. It is in the Shellharbour local government area.
This section of roadway is very steep, and contains a large number of hairpin bends, resulting in buses and trucks needing to reverse on some of the bends. The pass is quite notorious for accidents due to its nature, and drivers and riders are required to be cautious.
After heavy rain, the Macquarie Pass can be closed due to flooding on the top half of the pass. Cars and motorcycle riders may opt to use Jamberoo Mountain Road between Robertson and Jamberoo, while trucks are advised to use Mount Ousley Road (Southern Freeway) and Picton Road as an alternative.
The road is very popular with motorcyclists on weekends and public holidays. The Shellharbour and Wingecarribee Councils and the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority have therefore published a safety brochure entitled ‘Motorcycling Macquarie Pass.’

It is indeed very steep and has a large number of hairpin bends!

I found in my diary two occasions when we went up this pass. In July 2013 we had an outing to a Nature Reserve at Robertson and in March 2014 we went to Fitzroy Fall.

Here are just a few things worth remembering from these two trips.

The following I wrote on the 6th of July 2013:

It was windy and cold today, however plenty of sunshine and beautiful clear air. We thought it would be wonderful to go up to the highlands on a day like this. Driving up Macquarie Pass was no problem.

We reached Robertson and decided we would first of all have an early lunch with one of the famous Robertson pies and a cup of tea. The pies were delicious as ever. We have frequented this PIE SHOP in Robertson for over fifty years. The pies there are really special. Peter had a pepper steak pie and I had a beef curry pie. A hot cup of tea with it was lovely.

In the Wikipedia it says that the road is very popular with motorcyclists on weekends and public holidays. And so it is. At the pie shop for instance scores of motorcyclists had just arrived for a well deserved break. The eating section of the shop got pretty crowded after a while for lots of other holiday makers with children on winter school holidays had also arrived. The shop did a roaring business with their pies.

Near the railway line and near what used to be Robertson station is the little bit of rainforest which we had not been visiting for decades. Today was the day. We got ourselves reacquainted with it. There is a round-track of only about 600 m. We walked along it and felt like being in another world.

Earlier in the morning on the way to Macquarie Pass we stopped at the Marshall Mount Dance Hall. Our daughter Monika liked to go to their dances nearly forty years ago. Looking at the hall today Peter recalled how he drove to this hall on a Saturday night to pick up Monika and her friends after the dance had finished. We noticed today also a building next to this hall which used to be the Marshall Mount Public School.

We did a little detour through the country side where we noticed some ducks crossing the road. All in all we had a lovely day on this beautiful sunny winter day with gusts of wind that felt very cold.

On this coral tree were already some flowers appearing. Does this mean spring is not far away any more? — On this coral tree were already some flowers appearing. Does this mean spring is not far away?

In March 2014 we went to Fitzroy Falls.

On the way to Fitzroy Falls we stopped at Burrawang.

We had our coffee served outside. Some customers had brought their dog along.

They cater for some events in Burrawang.

On the way back from the Fitzroy Falls we stopped at this reservoir to have a look

I had fun reminiscing about our trips to the highlands.

Robertson Station

Last Sunday on the way to Burrawang we stopped with Caroline and Matthew at Robertson Station. Peter and I were reminded that last time we had stopped there was about five years ago. We did take some pictures then of the surroundings of the station. We also took some pictures last Sunday, which was the 27th of July 2014.

I have found now in Peters files the following pictures that we took in April 2009.

I took this picture on Sunday, 28th July 2014 — I took this picture on Sunday, 27th July 2014

The following pictures are also from that Sunday.

These still stand not far from the station. A lot of vegetation has grown around them since 2009 when we took pictures of ourselves in front of them!

Short Story Writing and a bit of Musing

In the past I stuck mainly to journal or diary writing, or I tried to come to grips with some of my childhood memories. Only occasionally did I resort to fiction writing in the form of a short story. As far as my reading tastes are concerned I must say, in my younger days I always preferred reading novels: Only occasionally would I read a short story.

These days the time I spend reading novels seems to be getting less and less, even though I still like novels a lot. Today for instance I spent half an hour reading a short story. It turned out I did very much love this story. It was a story I had been reading many years ago and I could still remember the subject of this story since this is a subject that interests me very much: What happens to a mother when she is suddenly widowed?

Barbara, one of my neighbours, is the author of this story titled “For better or worse”. Many years ago Barbara won a local award for this story. As I said I could still remember having read this story. I asked Barbara the other day, whether she is still writing. I told her how I remembered this story of hers. The mother in the story moves in with the daughter´s family after her husband died. She lives with the daughter, son-in-law and their two children for several months. In the end she decides, it is better to move on. Living together all the time is just not the right thing and brings about serious tensions in the family.

In the story we learn that the daughter is not at all like the mother. The daughter is more easy going whereas the mother as a very tidy person. This reminds me how all my children are very different from me. I am definitely not a very tidy person. None of my daughters nor my son are extraordinarily tidy either, but they are easy going in lots of different ways, not the way I am, not at all. Living with any one of them I can imagine might lead to frustrations all around. I just cannot imagine to live with any of them indefinitely. Maybe if there was a granny flat, it could work out?!

Well, I am fortunate, that my husband is still alive. God willing, we may still have quite a few years together. We live in a three bedroom house, called a villa, for it is in a corporate housing complex. There is a master bedroom, a guest bedroom and the third one is a computer room but can also be made into a bedroom. Our living room has an extension sofa for overnight guests. I always love to have family staying overnight at our place. We call ourselves lucky that we can make room like this for overnight guests.

Several women who used to live in our complex, eventually moved away after their husbands died. They live now in retirement villages. Another neighbour, who was recently widowed, keeps thinking that she might want to move too. She is a very tidy person. She feels, the effort to keep her place and surroundings in the condition that she is used to, might become too much for her with advancing age.

Some years ago I wrote a fictional short story about a hostel for the aged. I used to have a friend in a hostel like this. This hostel was a very beautiful place on top of a hill with terrific views towards the ocean. In the beginning my friend loved her stay there. She was still mobile enough to go on outings with some of the other residents. Over the years she aged a lot and did not feel like going out any more. It turned out the people in that hostel who ended up needing nursing care, could often not be transferred to a nursing home because of bed shortages there. It was sad to see residents, who required constant nursing care, struggle on in the hostel where it became more and more difficult for the staff to look after all these feeble residents. In the hostel was not enough staff for nursing care. A lot of the residents were just sitting around all day, half dazed and not being able to participate in the life that was going on around them!

Originally I thought I would not mind spending my final days in a hostel like this with my own room and private facilities. But a nursing home? Oh, I hope it will not come to this. I hope that I can die before I need a nursing home. On the other hand, a person who is that far gone, maybe does not really mind too much to have to stay in a nursing home.