What a year 2019 has been! Resources stretched to the limit, yet still time to explore. Despite stress and frustration, it provided some great learnings. And it allowed us to rekindle and strengthen relationships with family and friends.
With 2020 and the start to a brand new decade it’s a perfect time to look back even further: The past ten years have been a period of extremes yet somehow everything took us to the point we are at right now.
We upgraded our car in 2011 (that's the year Kate and Wills got married!) allowing us to tow the camper trailer we got the same year.
2015 I am leaving our café business and dedicate myself to the dream destination Fraser Island.
With the café gone in 2016, we now have the time to test our camping skills. For real!
Twelve months later we swap our bed & breakfast for a super cute, low-maintenance property in town. It will be easier to rent out when the Outback is calling.
And that takes us from Takura and Hervey Bay via Fraser Island to Charleville and Perth and a lot of amazing places in between.
Our café experience was great but ultimately dominated by an oppressive business partnership. It bothered me more than I cared to admit. Paul deals with these things a bit easier. I had to work through it much longer. Thankfully I met a competent life coach. Severing the ties to our partner and then sell the café was important. How the panned out was a real downer, but that ’s life for you.
Working for Fraser Island offered reprieve from this shemozzle with superb colleagues, predictable income and generally positive feedback. I was even “forced” to go cruising in the name of the company. Wohoo!
Being a motel and restaurant manger in Charleville was a different experience. Nice colleagues and guests, freedom to do what we had to; and somewhat toxic work conditions. Who would have thought that these really nice business owners would take us for a ride. Thankfully we got out of that with a blue eye after just a year.
In summary getting rid of our business the way we did was certainly a low. Committing to Charleville the way we did was a low. Learning from both experiences was a high. Making all the decisions to follow our dreams was too. So let’s continue this trip, blogging family and friends with us on the ride.
Let’s start by marrying the man that kept us company for the past 21 years! Love him a lot. Don’t want to be without my Paul…
It’s January and off we go onto a four hours flight to Brisbane. We pick up the wedding bands and take the cab to our motel. The rings have been our constant companion since Munich days (at least Paul’s, I lost mine a couple of times). A jeweller friend added the Southern Cross to mine and the little dipper to Paul’s. The diamonds sparkle like stars and - when conditions are right - even cast a rainbow. Wow!
The views from our suite are exceptional. The Brisbane River is at our feet. Southbank Parkland is only a short stroll away. We meet with our friend Carmen and Belinda who was already our witness 20 years ago in Sydney. Funny how life sometimes plays out! We then had an intimate ceremony at the Botanic Gardens. Little time later the Howard government revise the marriage act and voided all same-sex-commitments. Was about the same time the Bavarian government asked same sex couples to register their relationships at the transport department. Still wonder about the personalised number plates we surely would have received! Here some pics of our first ceremony in January 2000, Sydney Botanical Gardens...
Today, we have drinks at the Munich Brauhaus at Southbank. The food is a downer (interesting what the owners see as authentic Bavarian cuisine!), but drinks and company are great. Fab start to our celebrations.
Next morning we are meeting with a slightly larger crowd for breakfast. I am so nervous I could throw up, right there onto Paul’s brother’s plate. The nerves are getting to me. I have lived with this man for a long time, all the guests are family or friends, yet I can’t help it, I just want to crawl into bed and disappear. We excuse ourselves. On the way to the motel I hop into the nearest pharmacy to settle stomach and nerves. Come on, pull yourself together!
90 minutes later we are at the registry, Ann Street, middle of town, 32nd floor. Clear skies, stunning views. The weather is gentle. One of grandma sayings comes to mind: ”When angels embark on a journey…” She must be watching from above.
I am delighted to see Caroline, the officer who accepted our registration details in October. Turns out that she actually our celebrant! Paul’s brothers and sisters and a couple of nieces are there. And some of our closest friends! Laughter and tears, hugs and kisses and everything that a good ceremony needs! Different to our breakfast this morning, the ceremony is over far too fast.
Café Metropole is in the same building. In October we booked it for a casual get together. Curiously it is now closed until end of Jan. One of the concierges manages to track down the manager. He is quite shocked - and opens the venue and the bar just for us. I am surprised and delighted how much people care, genuinely. After a year of abuse nearly to breaking point this is unreal (it is now six months later and I could still cry).
The rest of the day is just easy going. Colleen and Belinda move tables and chairs together. Tess goes mental on the photos. Nibbles magically appear and a waiter is keeping the drinks coming. Everyone gets along really well - One of the nicest weddings I have been to! Paul’ family again extended my welcome into their hearts. I am truly thankful for that. And our friends were just great! What a terrific bunch of people!!!
Before we fly back home, here Paul and my vows - and heaps of photos. Paul looks smart, doesn’t he?
Paul:
"20 years on this day we had our commitment ceremony. Today we will reconfirm that commitment by getting married.
To my gorgeous husband: I promise that I’ll be by your side through good and bad times. I’ll be there for you no matter what
Fate brought us together, choice made us friends Destiny made us a couple But love made us forever together.
I love you and want to be with you for the rest of our days"
Sven:
"Isn’t it amazing how time goes by?I remember that fateful night at a Munich bar called Old Ms Hendersons. A shy handsome man in the corner with a miracle smile.
You knocked me off my feet. You knocked the German right out of me - me, the one who had his whole life laid out including career and insurances. That night we got kicked out of the bar, but my world I left voluntarily with the best man ever, my friend, my soul mate, my husband.
Today, twenty years ago, at a park in Sydney, we made a promise. We pledged a rock with our names into the salty waters of the harbour.
We were young then with full(ish) hair, and handsome, and toned, and madly in love. A lot has changed. The hair moved backwards and the muscles down but the miracle of the word “And” remains. It is the glue that holds together everything, me and you. It is the glue that makes sense of this crazy, wonderful life, the glue that is called respect, and trust, and understanding, and love.
Today as then, Paul, I am pledging my life to you, my friend, my soul mate, my husband. Because of you I laugh, I smile, I dream. Our miracle lies in the path we have chosen together. I enter into this marriage with you, knowing that the true magic of love is not to avoid changes, but to create our own destiny and follow the path together, hand I hand. Let us commit to the miracle of making each day work together.
Today, as then, I am pledging my love to all and everyone here too, to our friends and family who stood by us the whole time.
Love can last forever."
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