Saturday, 9th of December 2017

https://1800bulkbill.com.au/corrimal/

During the last few weeks we spent a lot of time in this place. In this Medical Centre there are apart from a number of General Practitioners also quite a few specialists and a Chemist. Our Skin specialist is now also my GP and she tries her best to keep me ‘alive’. She is worried about my heart and my very high blood pressure. Among the specialists are also some dentists. Peter saw one of their dentists the other day and is now waiting to get his partials back with a new tooth added to them.

Last Thursday Peter went to the Hearing Clinic in Wollongong to get his hearing aids fixed: They needed to be turned up a bit. So he hears much better now, which is a relief! I waited outside and took some pictures.

Later on we went to the San Churro Cafe for some delicious hot dark chocolate with chilli. Here is what we had:

Churros for One ( but it was enough for two!) 2975 KJ

Azteca: Two cups of Classic Spanish hot chocolate made with chilli

One cup has 1500 KJ

DSCN3553 — We loved to sit here outside .

DSCN3557 — The waitress volunteered to take a picture of us.

In the background of the above picture is the place for buying ‘bulk’ cake. They have very good cake We went there after our chocolate splash at San Churro’s and bought some cheese cake and some poppy seed cake to take home for when Monika came to visit us after work.

DSCN3554 — This Street Art Picture is in the vicinity of San Churro’s.

And here now are some photos I took while I was waiting for Peter in front of the Hearing Clinic:

These huge boulders apparently are some design project right in front of the Hearing Life Clinic.

Wollongong, January 2013

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

RIMG0001 — 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 eye

RIMG0023 — We 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!!!

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.

I think this picture was taken on the 14th of February 1999.

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.

This photo was taken around Christmas 2OOO. Krystal wonders what Granddad is going to do with these sunflowers that grew in his garden. — This photo was taken around Christmas 2OOO.
Krystal wonders what Granddad is going to do with these sunflowers that grew in his garden.

This is just a bit of the front of our house in the year 2OOO. I put this photo in to show how small this tree in front of our window was at the time. It looks very huge now and the gardener trims is every so often otherwise there would not be left enough room for the parking spot at the left of the house. — This is just a bit of the front of our house in the year 2000. I put this photo in to show how small this tree in front of our window was at the time. It looks very huge now, and the gardener trims it every so often, otherwise there would not be left enough room for one of the parking spots at the left of the house.

This is a picture from probably around 2OOO on a day when some kids played soccer at Lakelands Park. A lot of kids still play soccer there during the winter season. — This picture is probably from around 2000. This is what it looks like on a day when some kids play soccer at Lakelands Park. Kids still play soccer there during the winter season.

This is in Lakelands Park in 2OO1 when Ilse was with us again. — This is in Lakelands Park in 2001 when Ilse was with us again.

Krystal has been sliding down and Roxy stand beside her.

Monikas three girls with their cousin Lauren.

This picture was taken in Merrylands Central Park on Mother's Day 2OO1. — This picture was taken in Merrylands Central Park on Mother’s Day 2001.

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. 🙂

Sea Cliff Bridge

The Sea Cliff Bridge as seen from Bald Hill

On Tuesday, the 9th of April 2013, we picked up a rental car in Wollongong. Our first stop was for a cup of coffee at Austinmer Beach.

This is the place where we had coffee right opposite the beach. — Here we had coffee right opposite the beach.

There's a Swimming Pool at Austinmer Beach. — There’s a Swimming Pool at Austinmer Beach.

And here I am being photographed with a happy young woman from China! — And here I am being photographed with a happy young woman from China .

This young woman had come with a lot of other Chinese people on a tourist bus that stopped near the beach just for a few minutes. This friendly young woman asked Peter to take some pictures of her. And she also wanted to be photographed together with me! After this interlude we drove further up north. There is this little beach that we can always see from the train on the way to Sydney. We stopped briefly near that little beach. Then we drove up to Bald Hill where we could see this little beach from the top and we could also see the Sea Cliff Bridge.

This is near that little beach where we had just stopped the car.

From Bald Hill we had a great look at the little beach.

The Sea Cliff Bridge as seen from Bald Hill

On that Tuesday we also went from Bald Hill up the escarpment to Bulli Lookout where we had something to eat at the Cliffhanger Cafe. All these places are in our area. .

Wollongong by the Sea

At 8,20 this morning we caught the bus in Dapto, going to Wollongong and arriving there at Marine Drive by 8,45 am. Bad weather had been forecast. This is why we left early hoping that we might be lucky and still have a bit of sunshine before the weather turned bad. We were right. Beautiful morning sun received us at Wollongong’s foreshore and we took off on our walk. It was very beautiful to walk along the foreshore this early on a winter morning.

Peter saw this beautiful little car in the street and took a picture of it.

We waited at this bus stop for the free shuttle bus that was to take us into Wollongong City.

In Wollongong City we met up with our friend Sylvia for some coffee in a Spanish Cafe.

We went back to Dapto by bus, picking up a bit of fruit in Dapto Shopping Centre. Just before midday we were back home again. We were happy that we had left early for this terrific outing. As it turned out, in the afternoon the weather was indeed not as good anymore.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll go out for lunch to meet the family to celebrate little Lucas being one year old.
Of course we are looking forward to this very much.

About Me, Uta

“You’re so vain. You probably think Nan Tien Temple is about you.”

This is the message I just received from wordpress. And they are right, aren’t they? I am so vain that I think Nan Tien Temple is about me! It certainly is. Did you notice the little photo where I am just about to push this thing to make the Gratitude Bell go off? Well, this is about me!

As I did make the bell sound across the landscape I was thinking of my parents and all my ancestors. What a marvellous journey I’ve had to come to this bell on such a beautiful Day as we experienced yesterday.

Car Hire

We hired a car in Wollongong for a period of twelve days. The first day Peter took the car for a test drive along the coast North of Wollongong.

Via the Sea Cliff Bridge we went as far as Bald Hill.

The hang gliding hadn’t started yet on that day. There were already signs out that it would start soon.

From here you can see where we had come up along the Sea Cliff Bridge. We also had a brief stop near that little beach.

Along here you can walk to that little beach. We had stopped our car nearby.

We soon felt hungry and wanted to go some where for lunch. We actually did find a very nice place at the top of the escarpment where we had a lovely meal. We also took heaps of pictures from up there. I am going to publish some of these in my next post.

Wollongong in January

Peter had to go to the Hearing Clinic in Wollongong this morning.

We strolled through Wollonngong Mall taking pictures.

We refreshed ourselves with coffee and some water.

About Mindfulness

I find calm and inner peace reflecting on something like this. We found this verse the other day when we were walking with Caroline around the Nan Tien Temple.

We took the following photos after we had a very satisfying vegetarian lunch in the temples downstairs tea-rooms.

—-

Diary, July 2012

A few weeks ago I gave up walking with Irene. I just couldn’t walk as fast as she any more. I felt I was holding her back. In the meantime Peter offered to walk with me at my own pace. We’ve done this now a few times in the morning soon after breakfast. This morning we were lucky: The sun came out. We saw everything in this wonderful light. Peter took the above pictures this morning. They show parts of our walk. Later on he snatched a photo of me catching some sun at the front of out house. Since our place is at the back of the complex we feel pretty private sitting in front of the house. In winter we often have our morning tea there to catch the beautiful warm sunshine. Here in Australia we’re still in the midst of winter!