by Bonnie Collings
Alf and Trudi Kaiser's romance is not the usual love story - it was filled with challenges and complications, but their bond is stronger for it.
Residents at Fairview Village in Warragul, Alf and Trudi celebrated a milestone anniversary recently, marking 70 years of marriage on Friday August 30.
The pair met in Germany when Alf was working as a fitter and turner.
"Dad was working in Brombach in Germany and mum used to have to work like a Trojan for her parents, getting buckets of wood and all sorts of things," their daughter Ursula explained.
"Dad would see her out on the street and thought "she's a good sort", so he invited her out for lunch."
Trudi's parents however, didn't approve of her relationship with Alf, forbidding her from seeing him.
But Alf didn't give up, leading to a Romeo and Juliet style courtship. The couple met in secret at friends' houses or under bridges where they couldn't get caught.
Ursula recounted a story Alf used to tell the children about why he fell in love with Trudi.
"Dad used to tell us that he walked past (Trudi's) house one day and could smell her cooking!" she said.
Alf and Trudi were married at a registry office in 1954. After the wedding, there wasn't a party or a special meal. Instead, the pair went back to their respective homes.
Trudi's family, still disapproving of the relationship, kicked Trudi out of home.
She and Alf quickly moved in together before having three daughters.
But things didn't go to plan from there. Alf and Trudi's landlord didn't want children living in the house and threatened to evict the family.
The couple then made the tough decision to move to Australia to give their young family a better opportunity in life.
"We didn't know where Australia was," Alf said.
The family spent six weeks on a ship as they journeyed to the foreign continent.
"I remember dad was trying to learn English (on the boat) and he had little leaflets called 'let's speak better English'," Ursula said.
Eventually the ship docked in Port Melbourne.
"That's where the story began," Alf said.
In the first few years of their new Australian life, Alf and Trudi did it tough.
"Things were crazy," Alf said.
"I had to go from one job to another and learn a (new) language, and Trudi, she had to watch the children. It was an awful life in the beginning, but we (got) through."
Wherever the family lived, Alf and Trudi made sure they had a big garden filled with plants and vegetables. Alf remembered the big garden they had in their Endeavour Hills home.
"Anything you can think of we had," Alf said.
Surrounded by farmers and other international families, Alf reminisced on when he would try and sneak discarded seedlings into his garden.
"The farmers did not like when I took the seedlings that they threw away," he said. "But the farmer (that lived next door) I didn't hear anything about it (from him)."
Alf and Trudi moved to their daughter Ursula's property in Neerim South 32 years ago.
"It was a good place with good soil, but it was a bit hilly," Alf said.
Alf and Trudi stuck by each other through thick and thin, including when Alf was diagnosed with cancer and when Trudi had a major stroke.
The pair made the difficult decision to transition into care and now live at Fairview Village aged care in Warragul. Alf still puts his gardening mind to work, growing vegetables in the Fairview gardens and Trudi enjoys her jigsaw puzzles.
The couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on August 30 with their family.
When asked what he loves the most about Trudi, Alf said he loves that she "stuck to him."
"She was very supportive, we're a team, otherwise we would not be here," he said. "We sometimes had very small arguments, but we got over them very quickly."
Alf said their secret to a long and happy marriage was to "keep the peace and go to the shed when (Trudi) is cranky."
Though she can't speak well anymore, when asked if she still loves Alf after all these years, Trudi responded with "Haijoh!" which roughly translates to "Hell yes!"