Garth and Florane

I have reached Brisbane, and am once more the happy recipient of the fabulous Australian hospitality.

The people who welcomed me here are Garth and Florane. Garth is Richard's uncle and Florane is his wife. They have three children and nine grandchildren, and a young cat (we're trying to call him Monty and not Tiger :).

They live in a vintage "Queenslander" type of house that is more than 100 years old. It is built entirely from wood and stands on stumps on the slope of a hill. The ceiling is more than 3 metres high, and the stumps are 2 m high on one side of the building and 6 m on the other! As the name suggests, this style of architecture is typical for Queensland. The stumps have three assets: they cool the house in summer, keep it dry when there is heavy rain or floods, and they help to keep the white ants (termites) out.

Garth is a retired professor, a doctor of biology and chemistry. Before he came here, he's lived not only in various places around Australia but also for longer periods in Britain and North America -- and even in Antarctica for a while! He gave me a nice tour of his garden and we immediately had interesting conversations on various topics. Florane is a very gifted painter, and I admired her paintings around the house.

I had already thought Sydney to look like a botanical garden. But now here, in Brisbane, the vegetation is even lusher, with palm trees and all kinds of subtropical plants in the suburban gardens. The European trees with their yellow autumn leaves are behind me now -- they need frost in winter and they don't get that here.

Crossing the border

I've just crossed the state border from New South Wales into Queensland and thought this might be a good moment to share with you some curious signboards I've come across in the last 24 hours.

Parts of Glen Innes have 50 km/h streets. For background why this sign is curious: in Australia the normal speed limit, unless otherwise signed, is 50 km/h in towns and 100 km/h in rural areas. So if you are informed by a big sign that "some" of a town's streets are 50 km/h, that's not really a surprising information, now is it?

This one is of a waterfall in a city park that comes by pressing a button. I liked that idea. Stand on the viewing platform and allow five minutes for the water to come.




The next picture is of a public swimming pool named War Memorial Baths. So while you enjoy yourself swimming laps in the water, you are supposed to think of the bloodshed, tanks, airplanes, bombs, guns and handgranades of war, and of the brave heroes who gave their lives so that you can live in peace and without fear that this might happen again. Enjoy your swim!

Worms for sale -- well, all kind of things are for sale here on the roadside (fruit, vegetables, even alpaca poo, I'm not kidding you!). So why not worms. Fishermen need bait (Köder).



The last sign was exactly planted on the state border. Not only does the government warn you again and again and again that you will die if you don't take sufficient rests while driving. (I grew too tired to take pics of these.) But this one was something new. Apparrently one of the greatest crimes you can do in Queensland is to keep a pet rabbit: 30,000 dollars penalty. Now that's almost as bad as the "small penis" threat of NSW for speeding.

The Northern Tablelands

The inland route takes me through a region known as New England, or the Northern Tablelands, a plateau of the Great Dividing Range.

The area, at first sight, seems not particularly spectacular -- mostly fields, and every now and then a nondescript town or village. Some of these hinterland towns have made attempts to create a landmark, as a tourist attraction, by building some big object out of concrete or fiberglass -- for instance, a big golden guitar or in the case of Singleton, the world's biggest sundial. These objects are usually not particularly pretty. They are mainly just big, which is what makes these efforts, although that is certainly the opposite of the intention, almost a little pathetic.

But when you keep your eyes open you will easily discover special things and great beauty everywhere. For example, just behind the car park of the scenic lookout at Moonbi, to the left of the stinking grafitti-stained toilets, there is a wonderful ficus microfolia tree that has overgrown a big rock. Nobody knows how this tree came here -- it does not seem like a native tree to this area, but maybe it is.

At that place I met a man named Noel, a passionate photographer who happens to have the exact same camera model as me, and a similar eye for beauty. We talked about these things and he showed me another, much smaller, miracle of nature: a seedling of the same tree which has sprung from, and caught hold in, a tiny crack in another big round rock, only 30 metres away. This baby tree has zero soil, but so far it lives. And if it will manage to survive another few years, its thin roots will eventually reach the ground. And then, who knows, in another few decades it might grow into a massive guy such as his parent.

Northward bound

The time has come for me to leave Schönegg. I was sorry to say goodbye since I really enjoyed every minute there. They have given me not only board, lodging, and the opportunity to make myself useful, but also acceptance into their family, in short: a home. Upon my saying so, Richard told me this: A home is a place you can always return to.

This is food for thought. It tells me that I have not only one but actually several homes already here in Australia, and two or three homes in Germany. Which is no doubt a very happy position to be in.

I promised I will come back to Schönegg in spring. And now I'm finally northward bound as planned. I left Canberra, passed Sydney on my way spending two nights on two different couches (homes!), and am currently typing this from Newcastle, which I'll leave behind me in another 30 minutes.

You may have heard of the current floodings at the northern NSW coast. They mean to me that I can't take the coastal road but instead will use the inland route from here to Brisbane. So I will not get to see, or share with you pictures, of these floodings.

The other news is that I have booked my return flight for Germany. I will be back in the Fuggerstadt on the 17th of November 2009, exactly 11 months after I left.

Dick Smith

Today I met Dick Smith and his wife Pip at their homestead Bowylie, which is 45 minutes east from Murrumbateman. They had invited a party of 80 or 90 (mostly elderly) guests and we from Schönegg did the catering for afternoon coffee and refreshments.

Now to give you an idea who Dick Smith is, he is an Australian entrepreneur, and a very successful one. He is the one who founded Dick Smith Electronics, a huge enterprise whose shops are all over the country. He is also a famous aviator (Pilot) who flies planes and helicopters. He also founded Dick Smith Foods, a food brand, and the magazine Australian Geographic, is a patron of Australian Skeptics, and has received highest awards and honours in various other areas. In short, whatever you call him would be an understatement.

In 1995 he purchased Bowylie, a beautiful old homestead (built in 1860) sitting on a huge lot of land, and he expanded it and turned it into one of the most charming places you can imagine. Not only is there a magnificent landscaped garden, but also a runway for his planes and helicopters, and a real steam train (Dampfeisenbahn) for him and his guests to take a ride around the property.

So this was really an Australian VIP meeting. And I, Martin Maurer, was there and shook Dick Smith's hand and told him who I was (and petted his cat Mathilda and even played on his grand piano)! There's no picture or video of that but you can believe me it's true.

To summarize, Dick and Pip Smith are examples of how you can grow to be one of the world's wealthiest and most successful people and still talk on eye level with the catering staff. (See also number 14 and 18 of my list.) Where their success comes from, if you want to condense it into one sentence? To be exceptionally good at everything you do, in all respects, including the art of how to handle (and motivate) people.

An inspirational day.

Home alone

Martin allein zu Haus... Evelyn and Richard have gone away for two days, and the kids are with friends, so at the moment I'm "king in the castle Schönegg". The business is closed, so I don't have to look after any guests, just a bit after Omi and Opi, and Libby, and the chicken.

By the way, Schönegg also has a YouTube channel with 3 videos, in case you want to learn more about this place. And another link I can share with you today was given to me by Magda. It is CMS, Canberra's local ethnic radio station. They broadcast in many languages of ethnic minorities in the region. The German radio programme on Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings has become an important column in Magda's life, whose English is still on a simple level. But she's not only a faithful listener: she is proud to tell that she actually regularly contributes to the radio programme herself. Those who know her can imagine that she must be a real character there! CMS has an audio stream link on their website, so you can listen to the current broadcast if you like.

Sunny Sunday

We had a beautiful sunny Sunday, and I took Mathias and Katja in my campervan for a picknick lunch to the park in Yass. We had some lovely soup, bacon-egg-tomato-cheese pies, and smoothies and lemonade... yum.

In the afternoon, Evelyn and Richard took us all to a winery in Murrumbateman where they offer wine and cheese tasting and sell all kinds of local delicacies. And then we had a cup of coffee (respectively chai latte) in another winery. The autumn here is really beautiful when the sun shines right into those yellow leaves. (The eucalypts stay green, though; it's mostly the foreign, European plants that make for the nice autumn colours.)

Martin in action

I'm finally showing you a picture of Martin in action! :) The picture is characteristic as there's a lot of dishwashing and polishing to be done each day.

Yesterday I watched "Lion King" with the children, remember the "Circle of Life" song? (Yes, my son, we eat the antelopes, but when we die, we become grass, and the antelopes eat the grass...)

Everything in life goes in circles, or cycles, and there's possibly no better place to discover that than in gastronomy. Each dish moves along a circular path from the shelf to the table, from there to the tray, to the sink, to the dishwasher, to the trolley, and back to the shelf, and on and on... and there are various sub-cycles and co-cycles attached, and hundreds of other paths (from food to bed linen), and they are all in a way circular.

It's now a week that I'm here and I'll be staying for another week -- so beware of more philosophy "coming round"! ;)

On the other photo I'm sharing today you can see my friendly hosts, the Everson family: left to right - Richard, Mathias, Evelyn, Katja. Yesterday (Friday) was "loud T-shirt day" and Katja won an award at school for the one she was wearing...

Libby

Someone has asked me who the dog in the previous posting was, so please let me officially introduce Libby, the Everson family's whippet.

Mathias took this photo of Libby relaxing on the deck chair, and we remarked that it would look so cool if the dog wore sunglasses, and perhaps had a cocktail glass on the side. So Mathias (11) photoshopped the picture and it came out so funny that I'm sharing it here.

The days are really nice and sunny here at the moment, but the nights are freezing cold, so I'm very glad to sleep in a comfortable guestroom with floor heating. The outside temperatures go down to -1°C and the grass is white with frost in the mornings. And then by 9 or 10 a.m. the sun makes it really nice and warm again. The skies are mostly blue, so although the day/night temperatures are much the same, it's much better than a November in Germany. Libby sleeps in her kennel (Hundehütte), but it is well insulated, so she is okay.

Oh, and to answer another question: I was just asked by Srinivas, my Indian friend and faithful blog reader, about the meaning of "Schönegg". It is Swiss German and means "pretty corner". It is a very common name for gastronomy in Switzerland -- similar to "Bella Vista" in the Spanish speaking world. Evelyn and Richard have both spent several years in Switzerland, hence the name.

Here is Google's aerial and street view of Schönegg:


Bigger view

Bigger view

Work and life maxims

Here is a list of good work (and life) maxims... I'm sharing these because I think they can be applied to any kind of work, whether you're in gastronomy or selling cars or developing software. Is it philosophy? I guess it is. (Copyright by me, but you may quote me.)

1. Don't run. (Unless the house is on fire.)
2. Never make jerky movements. Move in an efficient, flowing way.
3. Watch.
4. Listen.
5. Ask.
6. Try to memorize as much as you can.
7. Use logic and common sense.
8. Think ahead.
9. Deliver quality and take pride in your work.
10. Pay as much attention to the details as to the whole. (This is what makes quality.)
11. Avoid making noise. Never slam a door. Set things down gently.
12. Don't talk too much; don't talk too little.
13. Be in good spirits. Your mood will transfer to those around you.
14. Be a gentleman, but don't be stiff.
15. Dress right for your job and role.
16. Keep your hands clean.
17. Keep your workplace as clean as you can, but have everything you need in reach.
    
18. Respect everyone.
19. Look what the others are doing, anticipate what they will be doing shortly, and use this knowledge to plan your own work and to make your colleague's work easier.
20. Avoid disturbing others; but if you have to, do it politely.
21. As you finish one piece of work, find the next yourself.
22. Don't mess with other people's things or workplaces. Give them the space they need.
23. Don't do other people's work unless they need or appreciate a helping hand.
24. Don't stand in the way.
25. Check continually if everyone (patrons, colleagues, family) is happy. If they aren't, see what's wrong and what could be done about it.
26. Respect your material and tools.
27. Think of the environment. Keep your footprint low.
28. Don't overfill.
29. Don't underfill.
30. Optimize whatever you're doing, if you can.
31. Accept good advice gratefully. There is no person in the world from whom you can't learn.
32. If something goes wrong, learn from it.
33. Keep your workplace organized. Sort your work by type and priority.
34. Breathe, loosen your muscles, stretch, don't cramp.
35. Work while you can and take breaks whenever needed. Be diligent but don't kill yourself.
36. Work ahead, prepare things for the next shift or the next day.
37. Don't worry about things that don't require worrying.
38. Know what you're doing. Know where it comes from, what it is, and where it is going.
39. If an accident happens, clean it up.
40. No blame.
41. If any resource runs low, refill it or organize the refilling.
42. Health is concern number one. Happiness is number two. Anything that goes against one of these is bad.
43. Keep an eye on the time.
44. If you're buying material, always buy quality. Everything else would be a waste of your and your colleague's time and efforts.
45. If you're buying tools, always buy quality. This means: robust, long-life, simple and effective, easy to clean, sharpen, refill.
46. If you're buying equipment, always buy quality. This means: robust, easy to clean, pretty in its simplicity, not too extravagant, no show-off.
47. If you're building or fitting a room, give equal attention to practical and aesthetic aspects.
48. If you're buying real estate, location and space counts. Anything that has insufficient space or bad location is a waste of money. Whatever other assets it may have are irrelevant.
49. If you're hiring, character is more important than experience and diligence. If you find good character and good experience and good diligence combined in one person, you found a jewel.
50. When looking for a new job, people and working atmosphere count more than what you'll be doing. And what you'll be doing counts more than what you'll be paid.
51. Your job, whatever your part, is always towards the one goal: to make the customer happy. A customer can never disturb you in whatever you are doing because all your other work is of lesser priority than a customer who needs your attention.
52. If any thing of yours, whether big or small, is neither useful nor beautiful, get rid of it. Make space and simplify your life.
53. Keep learning, every day of your life.
54. Welcome any new expericence you get a chance to make.
55. Your body is your most valuable possession. Oil and service it like an engine.
56. Love, respect and reward yourself every day.
57. Praise others for the quality of their work. If you can, make little rewards for them from time to time.
    
58. Always plan for something you look forward to be doing, such as a nice weekend activity or a holiday trip.
59. Be thankful. Happiness lies in gratitude.
    

In Murrumbateman again

Your favourite blogger (hehe ;) has safely returned by flight to Sydney, where he stayed one day at his friends before moving on in his van.

And now he is in Murrumbateman. You will recall that his friends Evelyn (from Germany) and Richard (from Australia) have a top-class bed&breakfast and restaurant there, named Country Guesthouse Schönegg.

Martin can stay here for a week or two, play games with the children (Mathias and Katja), and make himself useful helping his hosts around the house, for board and lodging (Kost und Logis). This is fantastic, every day brings new learning experiences, but the best of all is to be integrated so cordially (herzlich) into the family. This place is really a home away from home.

There is good news too: Evelyn's father (Wilhelm) is in much better health now than a few months ago; he's home now and no longer in hospital. The woman on the photo with the full moon is Evelyn's mother (Magdalena).

Continually updated activity list:
- play Carcassonne and Tri-ominos
- make mushroom dumplings
- weed the front yard
- mow the grass with a ride-on mower (all men in the world love this job!)
- drive to Yass to buy flowers for Mother's Day
- fetch firewood
- scramble 75 eggs
- update the blog
- set the tables
- prepare the the Mother's Day brunch buffet
- serve from the buffet during brunch
- clear the tables
- prepare starter plates (Vorspeisenteller)
- prepare flower pot breads (Blumentopfbrote... zu lang, das jetzt zu erklären!)
- fetch all kinds of things, or put them away
- play more with the kids
- dry the dishes and put them away
- polish the glasses and cutlery
- update the blog again
- drive Katja to the school bus (Mathias is ill this week and must stay home, tonsilitis)
- operate the dishwasher (scrub, prewash, stack, wash, clear and dry)
- set the breakfast tables
- hire DVDs and watch Ratatouille with the kids
- more dishwashing
- make up the guest rooms
- get GPS coordinates for the Schönegg website
- clean up the plant beds
- prepare lounge room for a conference
- more table laying, clearing, dishwashing, polishing and putting away
- repairs on mower and trailer
- trim the hedges
- prune the rose bushes

This business is amazing to watch and participate in: it runs like a gearbox. Alle Räder greifen ineinander. They have a couple of well-trained helpers, as required, and it is clearly a sign of excellent management that even on a busy day like Sunday, everything goes smooth and without any of the harsh tone that is apparrently so typically found in the catering world. Everyone here is nimble, efficient, anticipating, friendly and considerate to each other. Martin is extremely impressed and doing his best to merge in, while learning by listening, watching and doing. He thinks he didn't do too bad for his first day... at least he didn't drop anything! :D

Martin was too busy today to take any photos. So for visualization, please imagine him proudly wearing a black waist apron and a navy blue polo shirt with the Café Schönegg logo. :)

The hills

Cori has friends who live in the hills half an hour south-east of Adelaide. It's an elderly couple, John and Johanna, 79 and 78 years old. They have a beautiful 14 acre property on a hill and are very proud and happy to live in this place. They enjoy the quiet, and the view. In the distance they can see the sea. They have a Chihuahua (Sushi), there is an emu (Bom Bom) and sometimes kangaroos coming on their land. Life is good there, far from the noise and rush of the city.

Two years ago, in 2007, they were unfortunately struck with a devastating bushfire that came up their hill, but like a miracle their house survived. The big trees of their bushland are all dead stumps and will be so for the next decades, but already the new seedlings of eucalypt begin to grow quickly.

John and Johanna are Dutch, but have been in Australia since the 1950s. Before, they had met in a Nazi Arbeitslager, where they had fallen in love. They see what happened in history as a result of the history before; they see the human side to it all and refuse painting in black and white, a sensible approach I think. Anyway, after they got married they left Europe for Australia. Their three children now have families of their own and grandma and grandpa retired to the Adelaide hills.

They were happy to see Cori again after more than a year, and invited us to stay in their house. Cori only stayed for one night because she had to work on Monday and Tuesday, but I stayed for four nights -- it's nicer here than in the hostel, and I have good company in J+J.

On Sunday we visited Hahndorf, a German heritage village. They have German food, Bavarian beer, and even a yodeling accordeon player in Lederhosen. All cliches are met! The sun shone into the reddened autumn leaves and we enjoyed the curious but relaxed atmosphere of the village.

The charm of this region, as I see it, comes from the mixture: it looks half European, in a way, and half Australian. And I am lucky to be here in this season because I think this part of Australia has the most beautiful looks in autumn. Thinking of it, it must feel strange for you of my readers in Germany to see these inverted seasons, while you're in spring.

On Monday John took me for a day trip through the hills. He showed me the Herbig Family Tree, an old hollow eucalypt tree in which a pious (fromme) German family named Herbig had lived from 1855 to 1860 -- a curiosity that is still remembered today.

On Tuesday John and I laboured all day, removing a tree stump from their garden. We had an axe and four chainsaws which were all blunt... The physical work was good fun, and I was happy to get a chance to give old John a hand.

On Wednesday I said goodbye to J+J, and John drove me back to Glenelg. Cori was free from work, and the two of us drove to Barossa Valley where the famous wineyards are. That was a nice relaxed day, and we spent my last evening in Adelaide in a pub in Glenelg which had a karaoke night. Cori and I just had a drink and listened (some good voices and some not quite so good ones...), we didn't participate; I don't mind singing for an audience but I prefer to sing songs I have practised a few times before...

Adelaide

I've safely arrived in Adelaide and thus set foot in the state of South Australia (SA). Adelaide is a lot smaller than Sydney or Melbourne but still a big city. They call it the "city of churches", "the city of festivals", and "the 40-minute city". Apparrently you can get anywhere you want to go to in 40 minutes. And 40 minutes after knocking-off time (Feierabend) everyone is home.

One thing that they did well when they built this city is to enclose the 1.5 by 2 km CBD (die Innenstadt) by a ring of green land that separates it from the suburbs around.

It was really nice to see Cori again, my travel mate from Tasmania, and she was happy to see me again too. Unfortunately the car that I was hoping to use (her friend Andre's van) is not fit for use: the registration (Zulassung) has expired on the 1st of April and it seems like I or Cori, not being the owner, can't renew the registration without presenting a written authorization from Andre -- and he is in Thailand at the moment, so this is impossible within the few days that I'll be here. And if you get caught in a car with an expired registration, the fine is so high ($600) you don't want to risk that.

So this is a bit of trouble. But at least in Adelaide the public transport is not too bad and so I can take the bus or tram. I am staying at a hostel in Glenelg, a popular suburb by the beachfront. Yesterday was Cori's birthday so my arrival was good timing, and I had the pleasure of joining her to a very good fish restaurant for birthday dinner.