On Saturday morning Alex and I got up very early (3 a.m.) and I drove him to Cairns Airport. He flew from Cairns to Brisbane, then to Singapore, then to Frankfurt, and then another 3 hours by train to Augsburg. Two days from door to door. In just three months I will have the same journey home! Time flies so fast.
I met, and am currently staying with, two new friends in Cairns: Werner and Karola. They are from Germany, from the Kaiserstuhl area near Freiburg, and have migrated to Australia in 1954. They are the grandparents of Renee where I had been wwoofing, if you remember. This is one of the most fantastic things about Australia: you make new friends so easily, and if someone likes you they will not only look after you, but refer you to their friends and relations when you travel to other places.
Werner and Karola are such a loveable couple, sympathy was there from the first minute. Werner loves to tell stories, about his life and every topic you can imagine. When he came here in the 1950s, he had to work his way up from scratch, learn English and integrate with the Australians. He worked on farms (cutting sugar cane etc.), then made a living as a professional wood turner (
Drechsler) and cabinet maker (
Moebelschreiner) until he retired. Here is a picture of a marvellous side table he had made from red silkwood. I absolutely love and admire freeform furniture design like that, combined to perfection with the beauty of the timber!
Werner also has an interest in politics and social topics, loves to make powerpoint presentations for friends and family, and regularly posts stories on the website
TinToTa (search by author for "Werner Schmidlin" or just click
here). He says coming to Australia was the best decision he made in his life. Everyone who has met him must agree. I don't know any octogenarian (
keinen Achzigjaehrigen) in Germany who is that filled with positive energy from a lifetime of fulfilling experiences.
They live in
Yorkeys Knob, a suburb just north of Cairns, only one kilometer from the beach. Werner gave me a tour to show me the vicinity and we drove as far as
Lake Morris, high up on a mountain road that gave us some spectacular views down to Cairns.
The last picture is of a rather funny looking tree which Werner introduced me to, called the
Cannonball Tree. The tree's large spherical, hard and heavy fruit really resemble cannonballs. The topmost picture above shows the beautiful flowers of that tree. And the flower picture in the middle was taken by me yesterday in Cairns Botanical Gardens.
On Saturday morning Alex and I got up very early (3 a.m.) and I drove him to Cairns Airport. He flew from Cairns to Brisbane, then to Singapore, then to Frankfurt, and then another 3 hours by train to Augsburg. Two days from door to door. In just three months I will have the same journey home! Time flies so fast.
I met, and am currently staying with, two new friends in Cairns: Werner and Karola. They are from Germany, from the Kaiserstuhl area near Freiburg, and have migrated to Australia in 1954. They are the grandparents of Renee where I had been wwoofing, if you remember. This is one of the most fantastic things about Australia: you make new friends so easily, and if someone likes you they will not only look after you, but refer you to their friends and relations when you travel to other places.
Werner and Karola are such a loveable couple, sympathy was there from the first minute. Werner loves to tell stories, about his life and every topic you can imagine. When he came here in the 1950s, he had to work his way up from scratch, learn English and integrate with the Australians. He worked on farms (cutting sugar cane etc.), then made a living as a professional wood turner (Drechsler) and cabinet maker (Moebelschreiner) until he retired. Here is a picture of a marvellous side table he had made from red silkwood. I absolutely love and admire freeform furniture design like that, combined to perfection with the beauty of the timber!
Werner also has an interest in politics and social topics, loves to make powerpoint presentations for friends and family, and regularly posts stories on the website TinToTa (search by author for "Werner Schmidlin" or just click here). He says coming to Australia was the best decision he made in his life. Everyone who has met him must agree. I don't know any octogenarian (keinen Achzigjaehrigen) in Germany who is that filled with positive energy from a lifetime of fulfilling experiences.
They live in Yorkeys Knob, a suburb just north of Cairns, only one kilometer from the beach. Werner gave me a tour to show me the vicinity and we drove as far as Lake Morris, high up on a mountain road that gave us some spectacular views down to Cairns.
The last picture is of a rather funny looking tree which Werner introduced me to, called the Cannonball Tree. The tree's large spherical, hard and heavy fruit really resemble cannonballs. The topmost picture above shows the beautiful flowers of that tree. And the flower picture in the middle was taken by me yesterday in Cairns Botanical Gardens.
2 comments:
Die beiden sehen wirklich so nett und lustig aus. wie steht es dann eigentlich mit ihrer Muttersprache nach über 50 Jahren? Und natürlich wieder Lob für die fotos! gruß Ziggy
Danke Ziggy!
Naja die beiden sprechen schon noch deutsch, und Werner schreibt auch Geschichten und Briefe auf deutsch. Aber sie haben sich richtig hier in die australische Gesellschaft integriert (wie es Migranten tun sollten) und das heisst, dass sie auch untereinander englisch miteinander reden. Ich spreche auch englisch mit ihnen und nur ab und zu mal wenn ein Wort oder eine Phrase unklar ist, in deutsch.
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