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?
We stayed at Sussex Inlet again in August 1995.
Monika and Caroline with Troy and Ryan and the little girls Natasha and Roxy.
This may be early morning when the girls came over to our unit for breakfast. Granddad is hiding his face. Maybe he is still a bit sleepy.
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
NOW WE COME TO A WEEKEND IN JUNE 2000!
It was a 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 in June 2000 at Sussex Inlet
In August 2014 we went back for a Family Reunion:
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.
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.
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!
I think I did not take many pictures after our arrival on Friday. But here are a few more pictures from Saturday morning:
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.
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.
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’.
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.
We are close to the end of August 2014. A lot has happened the past few weeks. The best thing that happened was our family reunion at Sussex Inlet. It was only for a weekend, but it was a great success. I already published several blogs about this beautiful weekend.
The weeks after, right up to today, we had much, much rain. There was hardly any sunshine. When the sun came out a bit, it felt rather warm. But the rest of the time we had to cope with rather cold temperatures. From 1st of September on we are supposed to have spring. I hope it is going to be much sunnier and warmer then. Yes, I am looking forward to September.
It is only about three more weeks till my 80th birthday. This is really a milestone, isn’t it? Maybe it is about time for me to learn to slow down at all times. I find it is so much better for my health if I do everything slowly. This includes the way I eat my food. I usually take a lot of care these days to chew my food slowly. And this includes very soft food too! I feel it is very good for me when I take the time to do this.
On Sunday, September 7th, it is Fathers’ Day in Australia. We expect some family visit on that day. Of course, we are looking forward to this. We are also looking forward to some addition to the family.
Last Monday we went to a funeral. Our granddaughters’ paternal grandmother had died after a long sickness. May she rest in peace. We knew her quite well. She always was a very friendly and very brave woman.
I am still thinking back a lot to that day when we had this lovely walk first through the bush and then along Bherwerre Beach. We were very lucky with the weather on that Saturday morning for we did have quite a bit of sunshine. The following morning some very wet kangaroos appeared at our camp. It was raining!
Here again some pictures from our holiday weekend in August.
Little Lucas, soon you are going to have a little brother or sister
AuntyUta 
What a lovely happy post Uta. How dif I miss it the first time rond? I have tried to submit to uour blog but without success. Happy New Year to you and to Perer even if it is a little late. Judith.
Thanks, Judith. And Happy New Year to you too!