Brisbane, QLD


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

TIME TO SETTLE DOWN

Bill and I arrived back in Australia after spending 1970 romping around the world. We came back from Europe  by ship with our car in the hold. On board we had made friends with a Swiss couple, who were migrating to Sydney. However, Bill talked them into coming to Brisbane with us. At first they were accommodated in a migrant camp in Sydney while Bill and I stayed with my parents. 

Even though Bill was promised a job in Brisbane we were short on funds to get there so we sold our nice new car, which was a model not available in Australia. We bought a second hand one and a trailer and loaded our belongings together with our Swiss friends, Silvia and Rene and off we drove to Brisbane. We had a block of land there and we decided it was time to settle down.

When we set off the weather was fine as we crossed over the Hawkesbury River.

 We showed Silvia and Rene our beautiful beaches on the NSW coast. I couldn't resist a photo of the old fisherman. Then it started to rain. Our trailer, full of belongings was covered with a tarpaulin but the water ran into the trailer and our stuff got wet.

Rene, Silvia and me.
When we arrived in Brisbane we found two flats  in the same old building in Red Hill. They were under the house like a basement. We hung all our wet blankets, sheets, towels and everything all around the flat to dry because it was still raining.

We spent the first week helping Rene and Silvia find jobs. (They were easy to find in the seventies) I applied to the education department but the reply was that they didn't need married women. Bill had a job waiting for him with Carrier Airconditioning. We spent some free time playing Jass, a Swiss card game.

 The view over the suburbs from our flat in Red Hill
The view of Brisbane from Mt Coot-tha in 1971. We were living in Red Hill on the right of the photo but we were going to build a house in a new suburb called Springwood, which is way in the distance to the south of Brisbane in the bush.

14 comments:

  1. Great shot of the fisherman. Congrats on finishing your book

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  2. Hello, I have enjoyed reading your life story. The photos are wonderful too. Congrats on the book, are you working on book 3 now? Have a happy day and week ahead!

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  3. I have enjoyed the two previous stages of your life story and this one promises to be just as interesting.

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  4. Love reading your story. That's a great photo from your flat in Red Hill...would be interesting to compare with today's view as yours is a great record of what it was like 40 or so years ago.

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  5. Interesting read Diane. The fisherman's legs :) bless him.

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  6. So nice to read your continuing story about your life. Love the old photos.

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  7. Well done on the book Diane, I really can't imagine any part of your life story being 'ordinary'.. you're too adventurous 😀

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  8. I'm glad you're continuing your story. Even though you thought you were settling down, it sounds as if you had some 'adventure' getting to Brisbane.

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  9. Congrats to putting your story, pics into a book! It should be with your adventurous life. I love the old pics, card playing, the view, his legs are part of an ordinary life 😀

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  10. You are doing better than I am at getting your story together. Think I am going to have to give something up and try harder!! Love your photos t'other Diane

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  11. I enjoy reading your story and how exciting that you have finished the second book! It's a wonderful thing to do for your children and grandchildren.

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  12. I love how you and Bill "wing it" when something doesn't go as planned! I had to smile that they told you they weren't hiring married teachers! That was the way back then, but now would probably be a discrimination suit! I was once told that though my exam scores were higher on a company's entrance tests, they were hiring a man because he had a family to support, and I had a husband to support me. I just accepted it.

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  13. I saw this fisherman's legs on facebook today and had to smile as they were obviously were very tan and very hairless--maybe all the salt water did that? I enjoyed the other parts of your life story and I know I will continue to find you life interesting, Diane.

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  14. How cool to publish your books. I enjoyed reading about your adventure.
    Have a Merry Christmas to you two

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