Brisbane, QLD


Friday, March 30, 2012

WAITING

After our family holiday to Woolgoolga, where I met a nice young man (LB), we returned home to Sydney. He returned home to Newcastle some 167k north of Sydney. I still had quite a few weeks left of the summer holidays waiting for the results of our final high school exams to be published in the newspaper. Then I would know if I had qualified for Teacher's College where I wanted to become a PE (Physical Education) teacher. It was a nervous time.

My parents returned to work and I was invited to spend a week in Newcastle by LB's parents. Since our meeting LB had been writing one or two letters every week and I would reply almost as often. Email,  SMS, and Skype would have been handy then. With much excitement and a fluttering heart, I jumped onto the steam train for Newcastle. LB had his own car and we went to the beach, picnics, hiking, the movies and dancing. We were madly in love but soon it was time to climb aboard the puffing billy and return to Sydney. LB had to go back to work and to university but he had an invite to Sydney for the end of term holiday. In the mean time we wrote many letters. It is funny that I can't find any photos of this holiday.

Looking down the valley towards Canberra from Rules Point.
Christmas came and went and then I had another invitation to go for a few days to the Snowy Mts with a friend who was thinking of buying a guest house there. The mountains don't have any snow in summer but the high country is popular for hiking and fly fishing. I was keen to see it in summer and even though it was a full day's drive it was better than staying home alone nervously waiting for exam results.


The Rules Point Guest House was up for sale.
The view from the verandah. Cattle grazing pastures in the high country of NSW.
A craggy old stockman on his horse. 

20 comments:

  1. I'm still loving your story and the photos, Diane.

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  2. Can't wait to read the next story, it is like a serial, you want to go on.

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  3. Is that your family's FE Holden station wagon? The flag in another photo appears to be Australian.

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  4. Brilliant Diane.
    OMG - we were "wild west" or "colonial" in those days. Picture #2 with the old dears on the verandah says it all. Such grace with the sitting postures - ha ha.
    The old stockman, well in those days, they were all over the stock routes with mobs of cattle or herds of sheep. Those were the days alright! Now just big sheep and cattle road transport. The young generation of today have no idea of what we experienced, and loved.
    As the song goes - "Those were the days my friend" etc. C'mon Bill, put the song up for all of us to recall?????????????
    Colin

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  5. Ooo I had one of those letter writing romances during my first year at Uni with a boy back home. We wrote weekly, I didn't keep the letters they would have been an interesting read today.

    I love the snowies in the summer time. Can give them a miss in the winter though.

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  6. You are going to tell us how the romance with LB finished, yes?

    BTW, where did you take your header shot of Brissie from?

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  7. Gee what a lot of adventures :). Snail mail - very romantic.

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  8. The guest house fantastic and the car. I remember love letters. Blimey! Hope none of mine survived. SWALK.

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  9. HI Diane, Love this post... Colin is right.. Those pictures do look like the Old West!!!!!Seeing the word, "Guest House" reminded me of our first motels in this country.. Do you know what they were called???? Tourist Homes!!!!!

    What ever happened to LB? Obviously he didn't win your heart for long!!!!
    Have a great weekend.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  10. I love following your stories. They are so lovely. x

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  11. Diane, you have us all wondering about LB now? I have enjoyed your story and the photos. I agree they do remind me of the "old west" photos. I hope you are having a great weekend!

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  12. I enjoyed this post, and am glad you had some distractions while waiting for your exam results. Your last two picture look very much as if they could have been taken in Oklahoma in this country.

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  13. I wonder whether the stockman thought he was craggy and old?

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  14. It is some contrast to look at your old photos and compare it to your header.
    It many ways life was harder and yet so much simpler.
    " Those were the days, my friend
    We thought they'd never end
    We'd sing and dance forever and a day
    We'd live the life we choose
    We'd fight and never lose
    For we were young and sure to have our way"
    I wish I had more photos to jog my memory of younger days.
    Your story reads like a novel and the photos just enhance the storyline.
    Looking forward to the next chapter.

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  15. Love reading your story and looking back in time I love that porch from the guesthouse. What a great place to relax

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  16. Well done Carletta.
    I can envisage you in the saloon at the honkey tonk piano, derringer carefully in position in your right garter, stockings clipped onto your attire, with shocking coloured seams perfectly straight!
    The old cow hands in raptures and the dollar bills flowing as you belted out the lyrics!
    Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and others would have stood no chance.
    Well done Carletta, now where is the CD and Video of your endeavours - ha ha!
    Cheers
    The Old Cow-Hand from the Rio Grande - oops the Barwon River ( Moree)

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  17. I love "Love stories" so please "to be continued .../..." I wrote mine in 2007 or something and really should put the posts together ! My "Love" took me to Sicily in 1965 ! Still under mafia (which of course I didn't know)

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  18. aw, diane, absolutely loved seeing those precious photos and i thoroughly enjoyed your story. keep them coming!

    hope your weekend is going well, dear.

    big hugs!

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  19. Love, love the ronamtic story and the pictures in b&w. great post.

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  20. Enjoying the "Chapter Book." (that's what our family has always called a book that gets read aloud from at bedtime usually.) This reminds me of that -- wondering what you're going to tell us next and enjoying it and looking forward to it! Great to see your scanned pix -- I've got to start working on that someday.

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