heinpit.de

Why are we doing this?!

In the gym. Finally someone recognises that prevention is cheaper than rehabilitation: our health fund sponsors our gym membership. Claudia has long since started attend gym classes in order to get hold of her various shoulder problems. As of now, Peter also joins in! Twice a week, we start our sessions on various torture machines to get the heart and blood circulation pumping. The real highlight of the night, however, is the subsequent "Flex Muscle" class: One hour of training where we lift, push, and pump weights to the rythm of the music — a song can be pretty long! We go through the various muscles groups: thighs, biceps, troceps, shoulders, and tummy. Our goal is to improve general fitness and to postpone the appearance of a "possum belly". And of course, we want to enjoy the beer after the classes with a better conscience.

What a beauty: Our first funnelweb

First funnelweb spider. Even though we are experienced with Sydney's spiders (see Special Report Spiders [in German]), we are not yet used to having poisonous animals in our back yard. Our suburb Turramurra banks onto the bush. Therefore, there are many spiders and snakes around. We know this and it is not a problem if we keep to some basic safety mechanisms. These embrace: Never dig in the soil with uncovered hands. Never walk across the garden barefoot after nightfall. Never leave your shoes outside over night, and if you do, shake them out before putting them on. Keep an eye on the water in the pool, because the funnelwebs are famous for surviving inside an air bubble in the water. The Sydney funnelweb is one of the most poisonous spiders in the world. After only five weeks in the new house, it is time for it: We find a funnelweb in the pool which we very, very carefully get out with a net. Contrary to their ability to survive under water "our" funnelweb is definitely dead. The adjacent photo was taken after Peter had carefully used a stick to put the dead limbs of the spider in the shape that a live spider would have. We did this especially for you, our readers, so that it looks more dangerous :-)

Unconcerned about the fire: Jasper

First bushfire. For Claudia's birthday we invite to a combined birthday and housewarming party. Then, the neigbours buzz at the door to let us know that a bush fire has lit down in the valley. With the prevailing wind directions that day, our house is not endangered, but any wind shift could quickly change the situation. And really, 2 or 3 wind gusts carry dark ash over our party guests. We didn't mean a house warming to make the house thaaaaaaat warm! The fire brigades soon gain control over the fire and the excitement goes. Despite all the knowledge of bushfires, we didn't expect to be such close to a real fire so quickly after moving in and the fire training in November.

Cockatoo in cockatoo-heaven

Cockatoos in the christmas bush. Our neighbours had already told us that we have one of the most beautiful christmas bushes of the suburb in our garden. When we moved in in October, the bush looked "inspectacularly" green. In November, it got covered over and over with tiny white blossoms. In December all blossoms changed into a bright red dress. On 20 December, just in time for Christmas, the cockatoos invade the bushed and shred them. However, how can we get cranky with these creatures when they hold a beautiful twig of our christmas bush in their left hand — really, cockatoos are left "handed" — and savour the sweet nectar?

Santa Claudia between the Sydney Heads

Christmas paddle. Christmas in Down Under is celebrated on the 25th. Therefore, nothing stops the Aussies to take up their favourite passtime on the day before, "our" Holy Night. Sure enough, we are invited to a paddle this day. We shall paddle through Sydney harbour towards the bridge where we intend to eskimo roll the boats. The lot disrupted by various stops on some of the beaches with pick-nicks and lazy moments. The only precondition: A red Christmas hat must be worn at all times, and the boat shall have a red or green nose. Because we don't have a plastic pine tree for decoration, we only comply with rule number one, see the photo.

A lot of activity at the half-finished wall

House renovation. Did we mention our new house before? And the fact that it is 40 years old? Even though it was kept in good nick, neat, and clean by the previous owners, not every detail is contemporary (or: not our style). Hence, on top of all the chores to maintain the house and the garden, we also start on renovations with the goal of imprinting our signature onto the house and to make it more ours. Thanks to Kevin's help (and his countless tools) we have a go at the do-it-yourself. Step by step. On Christmas Day we start out on the dining and living room. Wooden wall panels shall be replaced by plasterboard walls, a hole in the wall of the adjoining kitchen shall open up the space, and halogen downlights shall set some lighting accents. After only a couple of minutes, Kevin's router saw has transformed our clean home into a landscape of plaster dust — and ourselves into alabaster figures! Ahhh well, for a couple of days, even our finicky Peter puts down his head and goes for it. A couple of days? Wouldn't it be reasonable to remove the giant door bell in the same move? And the ugly air conditioning? Our fireplace is not really up to the latest design. The carpet would need a face-lift. And the tiles in the kitchen...

(Note from the editor: On New Year's Day we are invited over to our neighbours who moved in 20 years ago. They have just finished renovating their kitchen and are envisaging doing the bathrooms this year. If this is trying to tell us something about the timeframe we are looking at for renovations?!)