SWITZERLAND'S NATIONAL DAY

 All the family were here for Swiss National Day on August 1. So we decided to celebrate with a traditional cheese fondu and apple flan. Bill migrated from Switzerland in 1967. The girls are proud of their Swiss heritage and have visited Switzerland many times. The grandsons haven't been yet and Sonya is hoping to get them there soon but their house has to get finished first. Anyway Bernie made a fondu with a variety of cheeses. We had chunks of bread to dip in and pop in your mouth. He also added some fruits and vegetables to dip in but Bill didn't like that idea. He said we didn't do that in Switzerland.

Bill and Carol make an Apfelkuchen (open apple flan).

Bernie prepares the cheese.

Carol and Fox enjoying the cheese fondu.

Sonya and Bill have a dip. If the bread falls off the fork and drops into the melted cheese they have to kiss all the boys or girls around the table. Sonya is trying hard not to drop it.

Carol bought me flowers before she returned to Melbourne.

In August a lot of wattle blooms. It is Australia's national flower. This is in the village front garden.

A LITTLE BIT OF CULTURE

 Our eldest daughter, Carol-Ann, lives and works in Melbourne, a two day drive away or two and a half hour flight. She was going to come to visit us when it was my birthday in June. Unfortunately, she and David had colds at that time so they didn't come. Then she had to have an operation on her hand to ease the pain caused by using a mouse for work everyday. She had tried everything to right it but eventually she had to give in to an operation. She had three weeks off work to help it heal. So she took 4 days of the last week to come and visit us. She still had a brace and a sling. She has had to learn to use her left hand for everything. Anyway it was lovely to have her here for a few days. David came too but he spends time with his parents who also live in Brisbane.

During her visit I took her and Bill to the local Art Gallery to see a small painting that I had hung in the gallery together with lots of other locals who participated in an activity to celebrate 30 years of the Logan Art Gallery. We were given a small canvas and we had to make a picture of something that depicts Logan City. We actually live in Logan City which borders Brisbane City, but people often don't know where Logan City is so we always say we are from Brisbane. They are like twin cities. Some members of the village art group participated in the activity.

Louise, Dot A, Lynne, are in the back row. Me, Dot M in front. We had finished our pics ready for Logan  Art Gallery.

They were displayed in blocks on different walls. I have circled the ones from our art group. I did a water colour of part of Daisy Hill Forest.

Dot A. also did the forest.

Dot M. did one of our local birds and Louise did a scene from a popular restaurant in our area.

Lynne did the Red Bridge which is an old bridge which is no longer used for vehicles but has been painted bright red and has become a walk way to a lovely park by the river.

While we were in the Gallery we checked out other works on display. I rather liked the ones by local artist Wu Zhipeng.

Self portrait 2025

That night Carol wanted to visit her sister, Sonya and see how the renovations are going on their house. Afterwards, Sonya and Bernie took us out for an Italian dinner.

EMU FARM

OOPS! I just found this post which was still in draft mode but it happened last year.

 Margaret, one of the residents in our village organises bus trips for us. Last week we went into the country to visit an Emu Farm at Marburg, Afterwards we would go to another country town, Boonah, for lunch and a browse through the main street. As we drove through the lovely countryside I wondered why anyone would farm emus.

The Emu is Australia's tallest native, flightless bird, reaching between 1.6 m and 1.9 m when standing erect. Adult Emus are covered with shaggy grey-brown feathers except for the neck and head, which are largely naked and bluish-black. The wings are greatly reduced, but the legs are long and powerful.

It appears on our country's coat of arms with the kangaroo. They were chosen to represent a forward moving country because these animals cannot move backwards easily. 

After an hour we were at the entrance to the farm. The paddocks on the left had many emus.

The bus pulled up near a pen full of teenage emus. They were shy but also a bit curious.

Stephen Schmidt, the farmer gave us a talk about how he became an emu farmer and what they make from the emu. He used to be a truck driver but developed a painful shoulder and knee. He was told to rub in Emu Oil and within five days the pains disappeared. He was so impressed he changed his business to emu farming. He did a lot of of research into the Eskimos who eat seal and whale fat and they have high levels of cholesterol but do not suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer or a build up of cholesterol in their arteries. he then studied the omegas in emu oil and found they were similar to those in whale oil.

He then decided to injest the oil and it lowered his cholesterol. It is the good cholesterol and dissolves the plaque on the walls of the arteries. He makes capsules of the oil. He has had many satisfied customers. 

Personally, I was a bit dubious about his claims. (If it sounds too good to be true..........). But that's me I'm a bit of a skeptic. 

The emu eggs are green and very large. The male and female work together to make a nest but after the eggs are laid the male chases the female off the eggs and he incubates them. He sits on them for seven days without moving or eating. He lives off his fat. he then rears the chicks while the female has gone off with another male. (floozie)

Naturally, we were invited into the shop to see all the products made from the oil. Besides the capsules they sell the oil to rub onto sore joints and heat rub as well as a range of beauty products. I bought some oil to rub into my arthritic hands.

Then it was back in the bus for a short drive to Boonah for lunch.

We passed the paddocks full of mature emus.

I was very disappointed with my blurry photos. I have the latest phone so don't know why this happened. Most likely the operator.

We drove through more lush farming areas to Boonah where we were dropped at the Tavern for lunch. It was typical "Pub Grub".

Brave Gary was the only male who joined our trip so he sat at the head of the table.

After lunch we had a stroll through the town. They have interesting stores in country towns. Some visited the art gallery. I bought a nice top.

It was lovely watching the peaceful country pass by on the way home.

My new top.

TRIP TO SWITZERLAND IN 1987

Continuing 'My Story'

In 1987 I was walking past our local Travel Agent where I saw an advertisement, 'Under fifteen year olds fly half price on Singapore Airlines'. Carol was nearly fifteen so when I got home I told Bill we can take the children to see your parents without having to pay full fare for Carol. So at the end of year school holidays (December) we packed our winter clothes and off we flew to the most beautiful country in the world, Switzerland.

These photos are old I have tried to edit them to make them sharper but they are still not very good but good enough to jog our memories of this fabulous trip. We flew via Singapore and Frankfurt to Zurich and then a two hour train trip to Bill's hometown of Thun on the Lake of Thun and at the foot of the Bernese Alps.

Bill used to live in the middle of Thun but his parents had moved to the suburb of Durrenast. We arrived at Thun railway station and then took a Taxi to Durrenast because of our luggage. Normally we took a bus. Bill's parents no longer had a car as they went everywhere on bus and train. The public transport is amazing in Switzerland. After thirty hours of travelling we had finally arrived.

Thun railway station.

Grossmutti and Grossvati lived in this apartment block with an amazing view of the mountains.

The kids called the tallest mountain 'The Tooth Mountain' but it really is 'The Stockhorn'.

The three tallest mountains in the Bernese Alps are the Eiger, the Monk and the Jungfrau seen here in the far background.

The next day it started to snow to the delight of the girls so Jackets on and they ran outside but they weren't there long because it was cold.

We had an amazing invitation from Bill's second cousins, Danielle and Suzanne. They invited us for a skiing holiday in Grindelwald where their parents owned a chalet. These girls had visited us in Australia when they had a holiday there. They had promised to teach the girls to ski. So they did.

We caught the train to Grindelwald and Danielle took us to their chalet.

The first lessons were outside the chalet. Sonya is getting the idea, she was twelve.

Carol picking up speed. She was fourteen.

Danielle and Suzanne said the girls were ready to try the higher slopes. So we caught the train to Kleine Scheidegg.

We passed the North Wall of the Eiger Mountain. The railway continues up to the Jungfraujoch. It goes inside the North Wall in a tunnel. 

The skiers get out of the train and ski back down the mountain to Grindelwald. The girls were not quite ready for that yet so they practiced on the easier slopes.

They learnt how to use a T-bar lift.

Then down they came. I was so proud of them learning in a few days.

They were so lucky to have their own private tutors for free.

 

All too soon we had to return to Thun. Another day we went to visit another one of Bill's second cousins in Unterlangenegg.  She had two boys a similar age to the girls.

They had a fun snowball fight but the girls didn't have a chance against the experienced boys.

Another day Bill's father's neighbour offered to take us tobogganing in the foothills where he has a cabin.

We hiked up from Spiez Railway station. It started to snow and it was cold.

We sheltered at the cabin.

The weather cleared and we had fun sledding.

Then we slipped and slid our way down to the station.

When we got home The neighbour and grossvati had a jam session.

Another day we went to the village of Vielbringen to visit another friend of Bill's who he met while producing the Swiss News on Radio 4EB in Brisbane (the multi language radio station). Eddy bought an old cheese storage building and had it moved from up in the mountains, he had it renovated into a cosy chalet.

The girls went outside to build a snowman. When they were halfway finished, Eddy spied them through the window and jumped up and started gabbling excitedly in Swiss German to Bill, who shouted through the door, "Get off that ice it is on the duck pond and it could break!" So they found another site and asked if this was safe and away they went with their building.

We caught the train to Gstaad to explore where all the rich and famous live. It was a freezing cold day.

Gstaad

It was time to say goodbye to Bill's Parents and start the long journey home. We dressed in summer clothes for when we arrive in hot Brisbane. It was always sad saying goodbye. Bill is an only child and the girls their only grandchildren.

We put our jackets on and went off to the station to catch the train  to Zurich. The Temperature was dropping. It was getting colder and colder. While we were waiting on the station it was -25°C and we were freezing, the tiny waiting rooms were full. Finally the train came that took us to the airport. While we were waiting for our flight we could see the plane getting sprayed with hot water to avoid the flaps freezing up. I was a tad nervous but all went well. Thirty hours later we were home sweltering in the heat.