Our 49th Anniversary Lunch

Robin and Christina - 18 Feb 22

When 49 years have passed and you've lived with the one person for all of those years, it's time to have a celebratory lunch.  There's no point buying a present because both of us have everything that shines, opens, shuts, buzzes and rings. Every previous birthday, mother or father's day and, Christmas has seen to that.

There's only so much bling one can have in one lifetime. Unlike many billionaires and other over-wealthy people who can find a reason to buy a couple of airplanes, a few launches, several houses and dozens of cars, we only need one house and one car. We're simple people.

So, the only thing to do is have lunch and perhaps reminisce about all the lunches one has shared during those many years, many at much lesser venues. Think Mcdonalds!

We did that today, the day after our anniversary by heading to the Monkey Nut Cafe at Kries Wines, Lyndoch, not far from Tanunda in the Barossa Valley.

Christina chose a Drunken Chicken meal (?) and I had a Salt and Pepper Squid and a glass of delightful Kries shiraz, labelled as a "Soft Wine" on their drinks menu. Both meals had plenty of food and the time it took to get served after we ordered pleasantly surprised us.

The venue has excellent ambiance as you can see from a couple of photos below and is well set out with both inside and outside seating available.

You can arrange a wine tasting before or after a meal, or simply do a tasting without eating. Several people who attended at the same time as us obviously did a tasting and bought a few bottles of Kries wine.

The Barossa Valley has around 72 wineries, many with restaurants, so there's plenty to choose from here. We decided we'll probably do one a month just to see what's out there and then when friends visit, we'll know the best places to take them.

I rarely do any tastings, usually because I don't imbibe during the day (except on rare special occasions) and I don't drink and drive. Christina doesn't drink alcohol and is always happy to drive, but wine tasting alone during the day doesn't appeal to me, so I don't do it and I don't want to rely too much on Christina.

When daughter Meredith visited over the Christmas-New Year period, I drove and she tasted at a few different places including a gin distillery. It's always lovely to spend time with our daughter.

Occasionally, I buy a couple of bottles of red wine without tasting because I know that the quality of wine produced here is excellent. You won't get a bad drop of wine here.

The truth is, I'm more interested in the architecture, surrounding gardens, and character of the wineries than the wine. Some of the wineries are hundreds of years old constructed from stone with beautiful polished hard wood and blacksmith shaped metal fixtures such as gates and door fitments.

Wineries that have been built more recently or consist of old and new are also fascinating. Some of the architecture and landscaping is excellent as is that at Barossa Valley Estate as you can see from a few photos on their site.

Next year of course will be our 50th anniversary - half a century of happily married bliss. For our 50th, we plan to have a much larger celebration with some of our friends and hopefully our son, daughter and grandson.

Keep on keeping on.

Robin

for both of us

Happy New Year - 2022

In what seems like a flash, here we are in 2022. 

Much has happened in the past 22 years and sometimes it seems like only yesterday, which is probably an indicator that one's memory is still functioning reasonably well.

In December 1999 Christina and I lived in a rented house at Seacliff near Adelaide. We were taking a 12- month break from the Territory. My employer, ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission) had granted me 12 months leave without pay and Christina had done the same with her job at the Alice Springs Hospital.

Between then and now, we: 

1. Returned to the Territory, this time to Tennant Creek, where I had been asked to help out the office with its grants management program pending advertising of a reengineered job at Alice Springs ATSIC Office
2. Moved back to Alice Springs where I took on a new role that involved not only training and development, but human resources consulting for three offices in the southern part of the Territory. Christina returned to the Alice Springs Hospital after working at the Tennant Creek Hospital and went back into the Midwifery Department
3. Our grandson Tory Jet Muller arrived in November 2001 and I had to remember how to change nappies and bathe a baby again after several decades; Chris was okay, having continued doing it at work
4. In 2004 Christina and our friend June Noble went on holiday to Dubai to meet our other friend, Alison Pyper who was completing a long stint working at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The idea was that they'd have a holiday and then return to Australia, which they did
5. In early 2005 following Alison and Christina's recommendation, I applied for a job teaching at the United Arab Emirates Higher Colleges of Technology, not expecting to even get a reply
6. In June 2005 we moved to Al Ain, United Arab Emirates where we spent a wonderful three years
7. Returning in 2008, Christina went back to work at the Alice Springs Hospital and I decided to retire, but I wasn't psychologically prepared for it - I wasted a year
8. I applied for a job as Head Lecturer in charge of the Prisoner Education and Training Department at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre and won it. Much to my surprise
9. After three years at the ASCC I was 65 and decided I'd had enough. I had turned the department into a highly efficient, functional unit and thought it was time to go as the challenge had gone
10. We travelled around Australia for two years in our caravan after we sold our house in 2016 and then moved to Tanunda, SA in January 2018.

We have now been here four years and love it. The people are friendly and many have accepted us as friends, even though we are essentially "outsiders".

Living the dream!

Robin

Cancelled by COVID 19!

Bugger!

Christina had an Embroidery Conference planned at Barmera, near Renmark, a couple of hundred kilometres from Tanunda next Friday through Sunday. We thought we'd go early and spend four days at Renmark, then move to Barmera, a total eight-day break.

As we hadn't towed the caravan anywhere since moving here nearly four years ago, we pulled it out of storage, gave it a good clean, replaced the sacrificial anode, loaded it with our clothes, food and a whole lot of other stuff (think shoes, laptops etc) and headed off.

Renmark caravan park is a huge, well-equipped place. Very nice. We drove up Sunday and spent Sunday and Monday evenings there and looked forward to visiting the Rose Gardens and a couple of distilleries today and a few other places tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this morning we received a report that the SA Government was implementing a complete lockdown of SA from 6 pm and it would last seven days. We also received notification that the conference Christina was to attend had been cancelled.

We decided to head home since it's more favourable to be locked down at home than in a caravan. So, we packed up in the rain and drove home to Tanunda.

Some break!

Anyway, we are both well, have had our two vaccinations against COVID-19 and will sit out the next seven days hanging around the house. We are allowed out to shop for food and do a daily walk not exceeding 90 minutes, so it's not all bad.

We feel very sorry for those people trying to run small businesses, especially hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, hairdressers etc because they have to close. Many of them will not survive financially and while we do try to support them with our custom, the money we spend wouldn't make a lot of difference. 

When we go shopping, we have to wear a mask. Chris bought herself a camouflage mask and an Air Force Centenary mask for me from our local RSL. You can see mine above.

Stay well. Avoid COVID-19.

Robin