Gratitude – 150000 blog likes
What an amazing number of Blog Likes for Ajaytao!
He says: “I am not a writer but take this opportunity to share with you some beautiful quotes and a poem to lighten up this occasion of humbled happiness.”
In this gratitude post by Ajaytao I noticed a beautiful gratitude poem by anon and some quotes by different people that I like very much. I was very impressed with this selection. This is why I reblogged this post trusting that some of my readers are going to enjoy having a look at this post by Ajaytao. 🙂
More Photos from 1999, 2000 and some from 2001
I can’t help myself, I just scanned a few more photos while Peter is doing some more research about the end of WW II on the other computer. I think I start with a couple of photos that were taken on Caroline’s birthday on the 9th of December 1999. That same week Caroline moved away to Sydney, where she had a job.
SYDNEY 2000, these Olympic Games were a great experience for us. We felt really uplifted during the Olympics and the Paralympics. Peter was a volunteer during both events. He was one of the drivers, driving around important people from hotels to the different venues. The volunteers were treated very well by the organisers of the Games. It was a very interesting time for Peter.
In 2001 Ilse came again sometime in February. She had liked her stay in 1999 so much that she stayed in 2001 one month longer, namely well into May of 2001. We were very happy when it turned out that Margot and Richard were able to come and visit us while Ilse was with us as well. Margot is Peter’s and Ilse’s cousin. So Margot and her husband Richard stayed with us for one week. One day we went with them by train to Sydney. Gaby did come to Sydney as well for she wanted to meet Margot and Richard. We all had lunch at a restaurant at Circular Quay, Richard shouting the meal for all of us. Then we went for a stroll towards the Opera House.
Richard on the left in the picture.
On another day we went to Kiama, a beautiful little seaside town. The old Post Office there had been painted a lovely pinkish colour.
After one week’s stay with us, Margot and Richard did fly back to Perth. Ilse, Peter, Caroline and Gaby farewelled them at the airport. I think I had to stay home because there wasn’t room for me in the car. Our little car, that we still have now, was in 2001 less than a year old. We had bought it new in May 2000. Ilse used to call out car ‘Paulchen’. She liked it and always praised it. She did not want us to say anything bad about it! 🙂
Krystal’s Birthday today
Krystal turns sweet 17 today. She is celebrating her birthday today with her Mum at her Auntie Caroline’s in Sydney. We’ve seen Krystal already on Thursday to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Lauren, our youngest granddaughter, turns 16 in June. So they are all growing up. Two of our grandsons have children of their own already. We have now three great-grandchildren and another one is on its way to be born around the time of my 8Oth birthday!
Today, on this special day for Krystal, I want to publish a few more photos that have Krystal in most of them.
We were at the top of Mt Keira. The photo is taken at the front of Mt Keira Restaurant. There are several outlooks on Mt Keira from where you can look down to Wollongong and surrounds. We were able to take Gaby up there with her wheelchair. Monika came along with us with little Krystal who wasn’t quite two yet. Gaby always loved to spend time with the family.
Krystal wonders what Granddad is going to do with these sunflowers that grew in his garden.
On Mother’s Day 2001 the whole family had met at Merrylands Bowling Club for lunch. Ilse was still with us on this day. After lunch we enjoyed some time in Central Park. It was a great day for all of us. 🙂
Photos from Ilse’s Visit in 1999 (continued)
I found some more photos from Ilse’s visit in 1999. They bring back so many memories. And I am sure that there are still some more photos from that visit somewhere. The photos that are available cover quite a few things we did during Ilse’s two months stay here with us. I never kept a diary at the time. And of course within the two months we did more things than what is shown via the photos. Gaby used to keep an awful lot of photos. We ended up with all of Gaby’s photos after she passed away. To go through all of these photos would be an immense task. I do not feel like doing this right now. But I do believe that amongst all of Gaby’s photos there would be some mote photos of Ilse’s visit.
I mentioned in my previous blog that we were with Ilse in the Chinese Gardens in Sydney, and I published two pictures from that visit. Here is just another photo of the gardens. I should publish one day a whole blog with pctures of these gardens. It is a wonderful place and invites you to take lots and lots of pictures. The above picture is actually from 1999. Peter took quite a few more picture on that day but for today only this one photo for I want to publish above all some more photos with Ilse.
Here is a photo that was taken on the 18th of April 1999., also with Gaby’s camera. I do remember that on that day were travelling all the way from Parramatta along the Parramatta River to Sydney Harbour where the Opera House came into sight. We did get off the boat at Circular Quay.
In the picture above we stroll along Darling Harbour that is close to the Chinese Gardens.
I recall we went with Ilse also to the Wollongong Botanic Gardens and to the Nan Tien Temple. Ilse loved all our outings. And of course several beaches would also have been on our itinerary. 
Ilse promised she would visit again. And she did!
Ilse’s Visit in 1999
Peter’s sister Ilse lives in Berlin. In 1999 she came to visit us here in Australia. She stayed for two months: From the end of February to the beginning of April. Caroline, who was twenty at the time, had already given up her studies at Sydney University. She had a job as a waitress in a Pizza Restaurant in Kiama. Being already a good car-driver, she had no problem driving home in the dark after work. Ilse was very fond of Caroline. We went on a lot of outings with Ilse, and Caroline did often come along with us.
Ilse was still in mourning for her husband who had died a year previously. But she liked her stay here with us. I thought it was great to have her around. She is a beautiful person to get along with. She was happy to meet all our family during her two months stay here. She very much cared for all of them. When she left, she said she’d like very much to come back for another visit.
North Queensland, Australia, 1998, Part II
A bit of an introduction to North Queensland and our holiday there in August 1998 is in my previous blog. I actually have a number of photos from that holiday, but some photos I was looking for I could not find.so far. For instance there are no photos of crocodiles. We saw a lot of them lying near the edge of the water while we were travelling in a boat along that river with a tourist group. I was sure we would have taken some photos of these creatures seeing them lazing sleepily so very close to us.
Also, I could not find any photos of our lovely resort in Port Douglas. Our travel agent had booked a very nice flat for us in that resort. There was a swimming pools, tennis courts, bikes for hire, as well as some night-time entertainment outside on balmy nights. Every morning we had breakfast in a lovely open air restaurant. Most days we did some pre-booked bus tours with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided. One night we had a pizza in our resort’s restaurant. We went there for the early evening session when a menu at lower prices was available! I think for the other nights we had bought our own food to prepare in the kitchen corner of our flat.
For the first two nights we had been booked into a very beautiful hotel with breakfast included. On the day after our arrival we did a bus tour to the LAKE BARRINE TEAHOUSE. We enjoyed morning tea and lunch there. We were very happy with all the bookings our travel agent had done for us. From Cairns we travelled by boat to Port Douglas where a courtesy bus picked us up to take us to our resort.
I think it was probably Friday when we were taken by bus along the coastal road to the airport at Cairns to fly back to Sydney. As far as I remember we arrived in Queensland Sunday night and on Friday we had to depart. That means we had two nights accommodation in Cairns and three nights in Port Douglas. (To book a weekend holiday would probably have been somewhat dearer.) It sounds like a rather brief holiday, however we did an amazingly lot of things during these 4 and 1/2 days. Everything was well organized. So we could relax all the way. It was marvellous to spend a few days in such an environment without any stress involved. 🙂
The LAKE BARRINE TEAHOUSE was in the Atherton Tropical Tableland. It was a beautiful area for a walk and we saw there this amazing Curtain Figtree.
In those days I was still fit enough to ride a bike. We were able to cycle along the beach and could get into town that way. Alternatively we took the path next to the road that lead into town. The before mentioned tourist train went beside the road that lead into town.
The Kuranda Scenic Railway, that we boarded during one excursion, was full of tourists. The train stopped in the middle of nowhere and everyone was allowed out and walk around a bit to take pictures.
For afternoon tea we stopped at a very remote place in the rainforest.
North Queensland, Australia, 1998
In August 1998 Peter and I did fly to Cairns. 60 km north of Cairns is tropical Port Douglas, where we stayed at a Radison Reef Resort. Our travel agent had booked everything for us. Quite a few coach tours were included during our wonderful five day stay in North Queensland.
Views of Cairns and the lush coast from the famous Kuranda Scenic Railway
One of our tours led us to this beautiful Scenic Railway.
This is an aerial view of Cape Tribulation where two World Heritage areas meet, The Grat Barrier Reef and the rainforest.
One of our bus tours took us as far north as Cape Tribulation.
Answering Some Questions
I’ve done a couple of posts regarding Australian humour and our assorted flora and fauna that continues to fascinate so many people and I’ve realised that from a lot of the comments that I get there is a great deal that people living outside my country don’t know or the information is gathered courtesy of Crocodile Dundee [thank you for THAT Paul Hogan].
So I’ve decided that over the next few weeks I’ll intersperse some posts, regarding different aspects of life in Australia as well as some of the more exotic of our native animals, with the other items that I put up for public view. However I think it would be good to start this series with a simple introduction to Australia and Australians.
Now I may spend a great deal of time arguing that my country’s government has lost its mind [which I AM right about]…
View original post 93 more words
Our first Time at Sussex Inlet in March 1985
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.
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.
AuntyUta 