20
December 2006
Hi
to you all - my family and friends, both here in Australia and
overseas
You may not receive a
Christmas card from me this year so this email will
have to be my Christmas and New Year greetings to you for 2006. Life
has been
so hectic and hasn’t stopped for a minute since April.
Currently I don’t have a
table to write at (it’s still at Memorial Drive) and I cannot
find my address
book. So I’m sorry about this generic letter, but please know
my thoughts are
with you.
Moving
to and from
Eastwood
As
you may know, 2006 has been the year for consolidating my living
arrangements. After my back surgery in Jan 2005 (yes it’s
almost 2 years and
I’m doing really well) I moved to Adelaide in June last year,
to my small
cottage in Eastwood to rehabilitate and to avoid driving long distances to and from
work. I was
working in my business at Hahndorf, as well as at UniSA and doing far
too much
of course! But after selling my business in Oct 05 things settled
down…for a
while!
In
April this year I decided I missed the family, the Hills and local
politics too much and decided to sell my cottage, but not after
completing a
‘How To’ makeover. Jo and Dave helped and we ended
up selling the cottage after
the first open for a very nice price. Then I moved to Mt Barker and
lived with
Jo and Dave for a few weeks, before Jo and I traveled overseas.
Overseas trip
Jo and I had a great time in
Holland, Germany, Denmark and Austria for 5
weeks, whilst Dave stayed home and managed the house and animals. It
was lovely
to see all of my Dutch family and friends again. Mum’s side
of the family, the
Peters are below.
I’m
going back to Holland in
April 2007, just in time for the 75th
Anniversary of my father’s old
football club. Dad is coming too of course!
Buying the farm
The
day before Jo and I left for overseas Jo, Dave and I put in an offer
to buy a 20acre horse property 5 minutes from our house at Mt Barker,
thinking
we wouldn’t get it. But luck was with us and whilst we were
overseas we heard
the good news. So since landing back in Mt Barker in late Sept, we have
been
working very hard making our house at Memorial
Drive, Mt Barker look beautiful. The past 9 weekends have
been laying new
floors, painting, gardening, packing our stuff and finally last weekend
we were
able to open our house to the market. Now we just have to sell it!
In
the meantime, 4 weeks ago we moved into our farm and we are
thoroughly enjoying it. I have a self-contained studio about 150 metres
from
the main house where Dave and Jo live. I hardly see them though as we
each have
our own privacy, car garage and entrance. It’s a terrific
solution and one we
hope to enjoy for many years. The open space, cool nights, horses and
gum trees
all make it a beautiful place to live, but still only 40 minutes from
town. Our
new postal address is PO Box 1343, Mt Barker 5251 South Australia. We
are on
Stamps Road, Bugle Ranges, 700 metres from the Flaxley Road turnoff,
first
driveway on the left. If you’re in the Hills at any time
please come in for a
cuppa. We’d love to see you. I don’t have a phone
there yet, but you can always
get me on my mobile: 0412 417774.
New family members
To ensure I could share the
horse experience with Jo at the new farm,
about 4 weeks ago, we drove, with my dad, about 400km north to Pt
Augusta to
buy a miniature horse (pregnant) called Cookie (in picture).
Her
little husband was standing in a 3m x 3m pen and we thought
‘how sad
and lonely’ so we bought him too and came home with two and a
half miniature
horse! They are delightful and give us lots of pleasure. Hopefully I
will be
able to breed from them, and maybe one day ride a buggy with them. Does
that
make me a true van Eck then?
Mum and Dad’s move to Mt
Barker
Just
recently, mum and dad finalized the sale of their home of 45 years.
It’s a bit sad really but the area where they live is
becoming very commercial,
lots of traffic and noise and they couldn’t walk anywhere.
Also their block of
land was too large to manage, especially the garden. So they have
bought a nice
big house (circa 1971), but on a small block in the centre of Mt
Barker. They
can walk everywhere, and chat to lots of people as they will be part of
a
community now. Mum has already started meeting all the neighbours. So
for the
next two weeks, the whole family will pitch in and move mum and dad
from
Littlehampton to Mt Barker. This Christmas will be our last Christmas
at Kookaburra
Lane, Littlehampton.
The
hard part for us is throwing things out, but luckily we won’t
have
to do that because most things can be saved for the Van Eck Historical
Museum,
to be opened at Clayton in 2007. More about that another day. This
weekend I
start cleaning up dad’s shed with him. That will be the
biggest challenge. But
after a few beers and listening to some nice German music I think
we’ll be ok! Mum
and dad’s new address after 4 January 2007 is: 9
Exhibition Road, Mt Barker, 5251 South Australia. They will
have the same
phone number: 08-83982823. They have been busy painting and cleaning
their new
house ready for the big move.
Work
2007 has quite a few new
projects ready for me at the University and I’m looking
forward to
these. Jo is still working very hard at GM
Holden
as a mechanical engineer. This year Dave started out as a
sub-contractor
gyprocker and is working on lots of new houses both at Victor Harbour
and
Woodside. With all of us working full time and more, it’s
been hard to find the
time to visit friends, or even have the energy to stay in touch, so
we’re very
sorry if we’ve neglected you. Hopefully things will settle
down in 2007 (do
they ever in our family?) and you will hear, and see more from me in
particular.
I
hope you and your family are all well and happy. Enjoy your Christmas
and New Year break and holidays if you have any, and hopefully
I’ll see you in
2007, sooner rather than later.
Many,
many kind thoughts and wishes both now and all year
Love from Di, Jo and Dave.
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