Australia

Credit phb Credit phb Credit phb Robina is a rather new suburb at the southern Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Hi, my name is Peter Hanns Bloecker. Previously a High School teacher of German and English, I have left the active school service in Germany and have now fully retired at the Gold Coast since 2015, where I live with my wife Maria Ines and her family from Rio and Australia and Great Britain. I am an author and active blogger working on Higher Education and Life Skills for a growing audience around the globe. The Gold Coast in South East Queensland As of 2024, the estimated population of the Gold Coast is around 742,600 A. It's one of Australia's fastest-growing cities and continues to attract both residents and tourists with its beautiful beaches and vibrant lifestyle A. Tallee Bridge Palm Beach Credit phb Looking south Credit phb The population of the Greater Brisbane area, excluding the Gold Coast, is approximately 2,526,238 as of the 2021 Census A. The population of the Gold Coast is projected to grow significantly by 2032 A. According to the Queensland Government's population projections, the Gold Coast's population could increase from 742,600 in 2024 to 849,000 to 1,130,000 by 2046 A. This means an expected growth of 106,400 to 387,400 people over the next 20 years A. For Greater Brisbane (excluding the Gold Coast), the population…

Credit phb Credit phb Credit phb Family First I am Peter H Bloecker, StD i.R. Linked Retired Educator from Germany with a German Background, but living at the Gold Coast with Maria Ines and her beautiful family since 2015. About us Linked I have left the active school scene in Germany behind, since I retired in 2015 in the True North of Germany near Hamburg and Berlin. Now a freelance writer and active Blogger, as my name is Blocker! Nomen Est Omen Blocking trees for 1000 years in the True North of Germany between the Horizons: This is my Family Background. Later some of my ancestors named Blocker became Free Farmers in Holstein between Denmark (FL) and Hamburg (HH) and the North Sea (Blanke Hanns) and the Baltic Sea stretching East into Russia and the Baltic States and Scandinavia. My HOME VILLAGES were in Holstein Huje (IZ) and later Kiel Ottendorf (RD). I spend most of my time with my wife Maria Ines and her family from Rio. Op Shop in the Country in OZ | Credit phb Stieg Larsson Stieg Larsson was a Swedish writer and journalist, best known for his Millennium Trilogy A. He was born on August 15, 1954, in Skelleftehamn, Sweden, and spent much of his life in Stockholm A. Larsson was an investigative journalist who focused on exposing right-wing extremist groups B. Larsson died unexpectedly on…

Aussie SlangFrom Kel Credit phb OZWORD OF THE DAY: Author is Kel (not me): Quoted from my Mailbox: Yesterday I mentioned a mystery novel called Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent, who is (more or less) England’s version of Kel Richards. In other words, she is a popular language journalist.  In Guilty by Definition, she has set the mystery in a fictional dictionary office in Oxford. She calls this dictionary the Clarendon English Dictionary (the CED) presumably to avoid being sued by the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED).  Yesterday I focussed on the rare, obscure or obsolete words she uses as chapter headwords. But what about the book? Is it something that a wordie such as you would enjoy? Yes. I have no hesitation in recommending it.  It is full of language and word puzzles, and for us word wizards it is great fun at that level. But it is also a first-class detective novel.  You know that whether a detective novel works, or not, all depends on the conclusion—the way it is all wrapped up in the end, and how the puzzles and mysteries are solved. If that is satisfactory, the whole book is satisfactory. And the end of Guilty of Definitionworks brilliantly at that level.  There are enough twists and surprises, and the loose ends are all tied up neatly enough, to make a detective novel reader (such as me) delighted. So, well…