family - Carsten Burmeister

hello family …

welcome to my life

this is a personal page

a bit like an autobiography

also a fair bit of family history

my dear children and grand-children

this page is for you

I am from Germany … I was born in Hamburg on 17 May 1947. Originally our family came from Rostock, North/East of Hamburg, then moved to Heide, North of Hamburg.

I grew up in Essen, from 1955, then – at age 19 – moved to Düsseldorf for three years, for my photography education. The next stop was Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Holland), I lived there for two years. From there I went on my one-year big trip in 1972/73 with Saskia Kouwenberg.

After that I moved to Copenhagen where Leesa and myself got married, on 7.7.77. I lived there for about five years, but in-between I was on Bali for about six months, where – of course – I met Leesa.

Finally – in 1979 – I moved my little family – with six months old baby Radjin – to Australia.

My brother Thomas, born 1950, his daughter (same age as Rad) and family live near Frankfurt.

When I was seven years old my parents moved to Essen, where my dad worked for Coca Cola, as the head purchasing officer for all German speaking countries (including Austria and Luxembourg).

After my two years in Amsterdam I travelled to Asia in my Landrover with Saskia … we travelled overland via France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Persia (Iran) all the way via Pakistan to Afghanistan, India and Nepal.

After my return I wanted a change from Amsterdam and chose Copenhagen, Denmark, where I lived for five years, but half way through I went to visit Bali, where I met Leesa, who – after I briefly visited Australia on a two week trip to meet Leesa’s parents – came to live with me in Copenhagen.

We got married in 1977 and had our baby boy, Radjin – these days known as Rad – in 1978. When Rad was six months old, we moved to Australia (Copenhagen was too cold, what with -20 degrees at night and -10 during the day) in January 1979.

After Leesa, Radjin and myself arrived in Australia in 1979 I spent most of my time in Sydney … after a five year stint in Kalang, near Bellingen, where Saskia was born … North-Sydney, Kirribilli, Milsons Point, Cremorne and eventually Balmoral.

Our family history as told in our family album

Carsten Burmeister … born 1947, Dad Wilhelm & Mum Elly;

I have another page with our ancestry.

Carsten with his Mum and Dad in 1947

Wilhelm and Elly Burmeister

When I was little I went on school holidays to visit my aunty – my mom’s sister – at her work place, an estate in Bavaria, South Germany, owned by the aristocrats “von Donner” (count von Thunder) … I learnt how to ride a horse and to drive a Unimog.

These are a couple of pictures of my girlfriends at the time, the 1960s

Those years were also my band days, as a drummer …

… but I soon traded my drum kit for a camera and began my apprenticeship as a photographer … in Düsseldorf.

I also changed my look … truly, it was a rebellion against authority.

As soon as I had finished my apprenticeships (I did two of them, first as an advertising executive in an ad-agency, still in Essen, then to be a photographer in Düsseldorf) I moved to Amsterdam. I lived there for two years and met Saskia Kouwenberg, who – when I met her – was the gorilla keeper in Amsterdam Zoo.

We soon set out on our Big Trip, from Amsterdam/Holland via Belgium, France and Italy to Greece … another big trip was to Bali

… on to the big wide world, lands where we needed the Landrover …

… especially in Afghanistan … where we travelled North, in Winter !!!