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What a wide angle lens ...

... can make out of a tiny room!

Before — after. We swear: For a while this will be the last episode about renovations. But after all our successes with the popular before-after photo series which culminated in half a dozen photos in last month's report, we don't want to and cannot leave out the latest and greatest result of our modifications ;-) This time, for a change, plaster board and plaster putty play only a minor role: The office gets a new carpet, roller blinds and fresh paint. A small company takes measures and delivers two made-to-measure cupboards for books, paper work, files, and clutter. Easy!

Well, in a side remark, we have to say that this renovation went almost "too smoothly" for Peter. Therefore, after everything is finished (including the bottomless bookshelf), he decides that the feature wall shall receive an earthy colour, not the orange one we had put on before. As if we had nothing better to do than repainting a wall after the book shelves have been mounted...

Another postscript: A little detail is worth being mentioned: In the hardware store you can get a special black-board paint which transfers a "normal" wall into a washable black board. A hot tip for everyone with kids!

Way to work (or: I'll stay home today)

The Floods. Elke and Siegfried's arrival is approaching. That must be the reason that the weather god decides to finally flex his muscles in form of rain clouds, after four years of drought in this country. During four days it does not only rain, but it buckets down. Not like a central European rain but more like a tropical storm. Our pool collects 75mm of rain overnight. Our rain gauge in the garden indicates 150mm at the end of day four. We are living on the Lane Cove National Park, and Claudia's way to work leads her through the valley, across a cemented causeway. Since we had moved in 11 months ago, this way was impassable only once before. Now in September the Lane Cove Creek that is a mere waterhole for most of the time changes into a powerful river of 15 metres width. Absolutely impossible to get through here!

Don't take off yourself!

Festival of the ... The Festival of the Wind is a big kite flying show. In previous years, this annual festival of colours and shapes had either been cancelled due to increased liability insurance premiums, or we had simply missed out on it. All our friends have spoken about it highly, and full of anticipation, Claudia is getting her home-sewn kite out of the cupboard, patching a lose seam, replacing the broken plastic handle by a new one from a fishing shop. On Sunday we have an appointment with the "Brownys" Maya and Matthias at Bondi Beach. Matthias had just recently bought a small kite at Aldi for this purpose — the offers at Aldi are unbeatably timely ;-)

What follows, is "to howl at": The sky opens its doors, it is windy and rainy in the very best German November-fashion. We count a total (ours included) of six kites that try to brave the weather to take off. We can only hope better for next year...

Flying ...

... and running

A Whale of a Weekend with Elke and Siegfried. Clever readers have already understood the point: Elke and Siegfried visit us again this year. In mid-September they fly into Sydney with the intention of touring Queensland after spending a week with us in our new house. In order to set them off to their journey safely — and since we still have fond memories of a similar week-end a year ago — we accompany them for a couple of days to Hervey Bay, where the whales have assembled again at this time of the year, waiting for us. For Elke and Siegfried it is the first time that they have the opportunity to watch these friendly giants from the short distance of a whale-spotting cruise ship. But our nature experience is by far not limited to whale spotting: A dingo is looking at us suspiciously from his spot on the Fraser Island beach. Back on land we find the nest of an osprey, and a dangerous-looking snake is crossing our path during a walk on the beach.

The highlight, however — at least for Siegfried — are the soldier crabs, a crab species that assemble in large numbers (like soldiers) to walk along the beach. As soon as they sense danger they digg themselves into the soil. Elke, Claudia, and Peter have the pleasure of watching a Siegfried who sprints up and down the beach tirelessly for hours, fascinated that the little crabs in front of him dissolve into thin air (hmmm, sand) on his approach. Like a little boy whose soap bubbles are busting, he is determined to get hold of such a soldier crab. Sometimes life is hard ;-)

Have a look at what I've got!

Octoberfest. To close of, a quick excursion to Tempe in Sydney's inner south. After Peter's enthusiastic reports about the local Octoberfest — mainly the pork knuckles ... — Claudia has no say this year and gets pulled along. In traditional composition — four Brownys and us — we spend a Sunday afternoon with "Bee Sting" (e.g. German cake), said pork knuckle, duck dance, and also one beer or two. Claudia has dressed up Gretchen-style. For her, this day is especially memorable since she finds typical German delicacies like Käsekuchenhilfe, Schwartauer jam, and Haribo Gold gummi bears.