Yesterday, we drove to Wollongong. Peter decided to go to the Hearing Clinic there to get another check-up. The Wollongong Mall had undergone some extensive renovations some time ago. I never had had a chance yet to see what the mall looks like now. Well, yesterday I saw it and took the following pictures.
This is where the Hearing Clinic is.
This morning we made it to the Croombs Sporting Complex, where I did a bit of walking, and Peter did thirteen rounds of walking and running on the oval in his toe-shoes. There are actually seven different sporting facilities. It is a beautiful area. We were glad that we went there today. We had not been there for a while. It felt terrific to enjoy the outdoors on a beautiful balmy morning like today.
This is where we parked our car.There are school holidays on right now. Some girls did a bit of training at the other end of this picture.Peter did make 13 x 400 metres on the grass in his toe-shoes.This guy sometimes talked a bit to Peter. He did some stretching in between his runs.Here, Peter has a break for a bit of water.I went for a walk along here.I saw this sign.
I was glad Peter had given me his camera for taking pictures.
I received some more flowers today. We had a great lunch with the family. Later on in the afternoon our neighbour took some pictures of our whole family group.
For our lunch we had meat-rolls, read cabbage, kale, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes and some beer. Sorry, there is no picture of it. I would have loved to take a picture of my plate. It looked so colourful!
Yesterday Peter invited me for lunch for my birthday. We went to Shellharbour Village, for I thought it would be nice to find a place where we could be eating outside. Shellharbour Village was just right for finding a place like that. Near where we parked we noticed this place called Country Kitchen Cafe. Straight away I said, I would like to go there.
This is a street in Shellharbour Village. We could see it from the cafe where we were sitting outside.
We soon found some seats outside in the sun and looked at the menu. I liked the way they served my tea. Also the food which I ordered looked very appetising. I was very happy with everything. Peter ordered apple juice instead of tea and chicken filet on Turkish bread.
Peter watched some seagulls from where we were sitting. Here is one of the pictures he took:
Coffee and cake we had at home. We had a good day and now I am looking forward to see my family next Saturday.
These are my birthday flowers. A neighbour gave me a Fly-Bird Garden-Rock with Hope written on it.
Last year I turned eighty. What a special birthday it was! Another year is gone. I consider myself to be at an ‘advanced’ age. Still, sometimes I seem to forget about this a little bit. But more about this later. First of all I would like to insert a few pictures that we took yesterday, on Sunday the 20th September. Three of our friends joined us for lunch at the Treasure Court Restaurant of the Dapto Leagues Club:
I had small prawns in curry sauce and boiled rice. Peter had chicken and fried rice. Klaus is waiting for his Schnitzel..
.
I had a voucher for a complimentary birthday cake. Everybody liked it!After we had our beautiful ice-cream cake we went to the League Club’s lounge room for some coffee.We noticed this great ceiling in the room where we were sitting.
All in all our lunch lasted for well over three hours. We were sitting and talking over afternoon coffee for quite some time. It was very stimulating, this talk with friends our age. We had so much to talk about! When we left the club, we showed our friends our new second hand car. They were very impressed because it looks like new. I now hope it is going to drive like new for a few years, for this ‘new’ car is already eleven years old!
This is a picture from Tuesday, the 8th Sept, 2015, when we first saw the car at a dealer in Warrawong.
It did not take us long to make up our mind to buy this car. Two days later (Thursday the 10th) we could already pick it up. In the meantime we already took it to the highlands for a drive. Peter had no problem to drive with it up and down MacQuarie Pass. It has a 2 litre engine compared with our old, 15 year old, car that has only a 1,3 litre engine!
Yesterday we told every one, we would go today to a funeral at Rookwood Cemetery. The funeral is to be in the Catholic section of the cemetery. Susan, Mila’s daughter, rang us the other day that her mother had died. I think she was 89 and had been rather sick for quite some time in a nursing home. We remember Mila well. She used to be our neighbour quite a few years ago. After she moved in with her daughter in Sydney, she sometimes came with a pensioners’ group for visits to the Dapto Leagues Club, where we could meet up with her.
Here we are with Mila in the Dapto Leagues Club.
Initially I really thought we would be able to make it to today’s funeral. Alas, Peter and I had a very short night. We both woke up much too early and just could not go back to sleep. We had been thinking of going to Merrylands as well as to Lidcombe to the cemetery. The funeral is to be at 2 pm. Peter pointed out that we could not go back to Susan’s place after the funeral for this would mean we would be getting home far too late.
Anyhow, we decided now, all in all it would be too much of a hassle for us. There are reason, why we should be going to Merrylands one day. But I think we have to do it on a day when we have nothing else planned. I reckon for younger people it is easier to plan to do several things in one day. We are just a bit too old for all this. I feel better when we can do everything at a leisurely pace and don’t have to stress ourselves out too much.
Anyhow, we decided to stay in our local area today to have a quiet, relaxing day – – –
We have some pictures to prove that we were at Bowral in 1982 and also in 1983. In 1982 we were in Bowral with our friends and their daughter Ellen who was a good companion for our daughter Caroline who was four at the time. I remember that in 1982 we were not only at Corbett Gardens in Bowral, but we had also tickets to visit a number of private display garden. We enjoyed very much looking at all the gardens.
Caroline and Ellen with Dutch Girls at the Bowral Tulip Festival in 1982
Bowral 1982: Caroline with us, her parents, also Ellen with her parents
For the following pictures it says in our album “Bowral Oct.83” During that visit Caroline was not quite five yet. The Tulip Festival was on again in the Corbett Gardens, the same as every year. Since Caroline is to be seen in the picture with some Dutch girls from the Festival, I think that the Tulip Festival must still have been on, even though it was already October.
In October 2011 Peter and I had a look at Port Kembla Beach Swimming Pool. The beach is right next to the pool. It was a bit cool, however there was no wind. We had a great walk along the beach. There were hardly any people, even though the school vacation was still on. The pool cafe was open. We sat outside under the umbrella with some good fruit juice.
On the way home we stopped at a Lagoon Reserve and watched some pelicans. For lunch we had grilled fish with salad and chips as well as tea. Delicious meal in a hidden away cafe in a close by shopping centre. The shopping centre was full of people including lots of children. I wonder, why some of those people weren’t on the beach on a beautiful springday like this?
I must say, the Port Kembla pool water still seemed a bit cold. I prefer our solar heated pool in Dapto where the temperature is never less then 24 Degrees Celsius. Still, at the beach I went with my feet a little bit into the water. This was very enjoyable!
By the end of September 2011 we went up the escarpment along Macquarie Pass and then all the way to Bowral, a lovely township in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. There are some lovely gardens in Bowral, and most of the tulips there were still in full bloom. Peter took the chance to take lots of pictures on both our outings. We had a lovely time!
Today we had a look at the flowers in the Leighton Gardens of Moss Vale. We also had a nice visit with our friends in Bowral. Peter took all the pictures for I still have not replaced my lovely digital camera. I miss it so much! On the way home we stopped at the Robertson Pie Shop where we had pies for lunch which taste as good as ever. For afternoon coffee we took some fruit pies home that were filled with beautiful fresh cream. Very yummy indeed!
We were lucky to see some tulips at Moss Vale. We did not mind so much that we did not see the tulips in the Corbett Gardens of Bowral where an immense crowd had gathered for the opening of the tulip festival.
In January 2013 I published these pictures about Wollongong. Peter had to go to the Hearing Clinic on that morning when we took the pictures. This morning I had another look at these pictures. The mall in Wollongong has undergone extensive renovations over the past couple of years or so. Next time we are in Wollongong I’ll try to photograph what the mall looks like now.
This is part of the Wollongong Mall in January 2013
This is the Hearing Clinic where Peter had to go to on that morning in January 2013.
This display in one of the windows caught my eyeWe refreshed ourselves with coffee and some water.
It was already getting quite warm on that morning. The following Saturday I wrote to a blogger-friend in German:
“Wir hatten gestern 45 Grad! Aber jetzt sind es 20 Grad weniger. Ich habe gut ausschlafen können. Peter schläft zur Zeit noch. Er wird aber wohl auch bald aufwachen. Nachdem am Abend eine Abkühlung gekommen war, konnten wir früh zu Bett gehen.
Ich glaube bei uns in der Gegend hatten wir noch nie 45 Grad gehabt. Das muss eine Rekordhitze gewesen sein. Wir hoffen nun, dass es heute nicht wieder derartig heiss werden wird.
Wir wohnen ja nicht weit weg von Sydney. Gestern gegen 15 Uhr hatte Sydney 45.8 Grad. im Westen von Sydney waren kurz nach 14 Uhr 46.5 Grad!!!”
Hier is what this means in English: Where we live we had on that Friday 45 C. Saturday morning it was 20 C less, probably only about 25 C. We could sleep well after the huge heat during the day for by nighttime the temperature had already dropped quite a bit. I said it was probably the first time that the temperature in our area had gone up to 45 C (120 F!!). In Sydney the temperature around 3 pm on Friday was 45.8 C, in the Western Suburbs of Sydney it was 46.5 C soon after 2 pm!!!
Do we have special needs in an emergency? I wrote this in my diary on the 2nd of November in 2013. At the time large areas of New South Wales experienced very hot conditions and fast spreading fires. I wrote that Peter copied for us from the internet a plan for an emergency during a HEATWAVE. It said: “ABC Emergency delivers official warnings and alerts and publishes emergency coverage sourced form ABC Local Radio and ABC News.”
I copy all this again, for after the recent rains with everything growing very well and with very hot conditions forecast for this summer, maybe we should be prepared again for outbreaks of fires.
So here is the list of some of the things we should have prepared in our SURVIVAL KIT:
BATTERY-OPERATED RADIO (WITH SPARE BATTERIES)
Torch (with spare batteries)
Strong shoes, gumboots, leather gloves and overalls
First aid kit and medications we need
A change of clothes, toiletry and sanitary supplies
Water in sealed containers – ten litres per person (for three days)
Three days supply of canned food (plus can opener and utensils)
Pillows and blankets (woollen and thermal)
Mobile phone and charger
Strong plastic bags (for clothing, valuables, documents, and photos)
Spare car and house keys
Several Emergency Services are mentioned that can be of help.
Here is what we should do before a HEATWAVE:
Stay hydrated – it’s recommended to drink two to three litres of water and to avoid alcohol and caffeine
Dress light
Check on family and friends – twice a day
Avoid exposure to the sun
Get your home ready – draw curtains, blinds, awnings at the start of the day to keep the sun out
Seek air-conditioning in a shopping centre, library or other public place. (We do not have air-conditioning)
Fans can also provide relief (We do have fans.)
During a HEATWAVE we should phone for assistance immediately if we show any symptoms of heat stress including extremely heavy sweating, headache and vomiting, confusion, swollen tongue
After a Heatwave we should be careful of falling tree limbs – they can be a hazard during periods of extended high temperatures.
AuntyUta 