Our family

Our house

Eric

Annya

News from Adelaide………..how did Kristina and family end up in Aussie Land?

Thomas worked for a German Company called MAN and for about 5 years, we travelled around all the different main cities of Australia and Hong Kong with the company. It was a really good job and we always had fantastic apartments and great working conditions. However after the Hong Kong job we decided for Eri 's sake , that we must settle down somewhere and buy a house. Auckland didn't have any work options for Thomas at the time, so we chose Adelaide for its affordability of housing and everything was within easy reach.

It 's been a lovely place to bring up children. I feel as if I fit in really well here as the culture is so similar to NZ. However , Thomas finds it difficult sometimes. He doesn’t really like it here - the politics, and the easy going, slack -off attitude of Aussies (sometimes) and the fact that he hates his job. I must say too there are times when I really miss New Zealand.

Erik begins High School next year and he is really a great boy (says his Mum). He plays Soccer and is really Computer savvy.

Annya has been diagnosed with a Severe Language Disorder or (Autism Spectrum disorder) and requires full time remedial work (about 20 each week) to overcome this learning disorder. We still have a long haul to go until school in 2 years.

The cost of this therapy is astronomical, so we had to come up with a plan and that is ….. I stay at home and we take on 2-3 international students in our home.

We 've now bought a house with lots of bedrooms . There 's loads of washing and ironing and cooking to d o so we 're just so flat out all the time we don’t seem to get time to even sit down. Of course I’m hoping it won’t always be like this. It's a crucial time for our darling daughter, so we wait and hope for more good signs of improvement in her learning .

My mum is forever in my thoughts. She was, and always will be the best friend I every had. Li f e goes on but our lives will n ever be the same without her.

We stayed with Jayson and Fiona at Christmas and I had the best day I have had in about 3 years. It was wonderful to be with them, to catch up and see their beautiful house, and of course and spend time with my Dad too!

Well that’s us in a nutshell. Can’t wait to hear about everybody else. Please keep in touch!

Kristina Mausezahl

68 Kingfisher Cct

Flagstaff Hill SA

(08) 827-05871

My Gran by Kristina

I loved her dearly. To me she was a talented, kind, exceptional woman.

From all the photos I have seen, she was very beautiful as a young woman and he was of course, handsome to her beautiful.

She wrote little stories for Jayson and I and when I look back on them, they were always very clever. Whenever we stayed at their house, I always crawled into her bed in the mornings and she told me wonderful adventurous tales, that she made up on the spot. She showed me how I could turn over a hydrangea and make a beautiful flower arrangement in it. I can remember on Tammy’s 6th birthday skipping down the road with Gran, Tam and I, and her singing “Now we are six”.

Mum (Gail), Gran Jayson and I would sometimes meet at the top of Farmers Department store and have lunch in the cafeteria, this was such a treat. She had some Post Office Bon bons that paid for the meal. When Jay and I stayed with Gran we always had a Black points book and this means if we were naughty we got a black point. And if we didn’t get many, at the end of our stay we got a little treat. And I can remember getting lots of treats (so we couldn’t have been all that bad!

She gave me a beautiful purple gem stone when I learned to blow my nose and Jayson got a novelty bottle (shaped as a dog) (we found in the “dirty bit”-see below) when he had learned to tie his shoe laces.

On that last Christmas we had with Gran at Pauanui I remember we went to the beach one night and I remember wishing hard upon a star that Gran would get better.

Unfortunately of course, I had to face up to the pain of losing her only a few months later. My Grandad by Kristina

He was big in presence. We used to always say he was very very distinguished looking. (I don’t think I knew what it meant). I loved to sit in his big car with electric windows; it was the best car ever. He used to call Jayson “Charlie” and me “Mona”. He quite often fell asleep in his big special reclining chair in the lounge. In the sunroom I used to play on his Exercycle, no one I knew, had one. I would read Desiderata, which hung on the wall and try to understand it.

He played lots of records for us, Kimba the sheepish Lion, “Grandad” and also Tanya by John Rowles when she was born! It was great to get to know him when I was an adult too. One night I cooked him Tacos and he was very amused by them. I also had the privilege of looking after him shortly before he died.

I have such wonderful memories of Gran and Grandad and their great house at 51 Maungakiekie Avenue. It was full of nooks and crannies, perfect for adventures and imaginary games. Downstairs was dark and spooky. Jayson and I used to play in a little room down there full of interesting magazines and books (and some we definitely shouldn’t have been looking at!). Behind another door was what we called “the dirty bit” that was even more dark and spooky and one day we dared each other to go in and we came out with some interesting souvenirs from trips Grandad had been on. He had lots of interesting goodies hiding in cupboards Asian coconut lollies, Fake macadamia nuts (watch out if you opened them!) National Geographics galore.

The dining table was really cool, its own little alcove. You couldn’t get out unless you crawled out under the table.

It was always cold when you went to the toilet, which was sort of out side the house.

In the front of the house there was a long brick wall (which still stands, the last time I was in New Zealand anyway) how many times did I run along the top of those walls, I could never possibly count.

Gran and Grandad looked after us when Mum and Dad went to Sweden in about 1977 and I went to Remuera Intermediate (Mums old School – she was on the class photos in the corridor and probably still is to this day) and Jayson went to Cornwall primary which I guess most of you guys went to??

Such wonderful times and I will miss them both always.

Kristina.