9Dec-21Jan19 Whitsunday House Sitting

Up to the Whitsundays for our Christmas House and Pet Sitting for 6 weeks while the owners visited family overseas.

Their home was up high overlooking the cane fields near the township of Proserpine with a gorgeous female Beagle and a large garden.  We were lucky enough to have our own little apartment attached to the pool in the middle of the garden, it was excellent.  We fell in love with the beautiful Ruby on first sight, she was so sweet, young and full of energy.  Our little Elmo was a little hesitant at first but became fascinated with her, unfortunately, they couldn't play together because Ruby wanted to run and tumble and Elmo was too old.  Ruby recognised this and took him on board as an extra member of the family. 

We had arrived a day early to learn all about our duties, which included how to use the ride-on mower,  tools, feeding of the dog, the water pump and security.

What a wonderful Christmas break we had at this wonderful spot.  We had continuous

rain for the first 3 weeks and the grass grew an inch a day.  Luckily Louie already had experience with a ride on mower and found the job easy.  Soon the garden started to look like a park.

The Mango Grove was covered in mangoes and at night we could hear the fruit bats greedily arguing with each other and the next day there would be hundreds of mangoes lying on the grass half eaten and going rotten.  

Annie started to collect all these fermenting and rotten mangoes from the ground and set them aside to return to the soil as mulch.  We also collected all the ripe and untouched fruit to cut up and freeze to share with the owner.  Louie was then able to mow under the trees.

Annie got stuck into the garden, weeding and mulching where she could.  The stinging ants were everywhere, so you had to be careful.  We saw more wildlife during our stay, a possum on the roof and 3 snakes in the garden, luckily we were watchful for them so they didn't give us a fright.

We lived on fresh mangoes for a few weeks until the trees were empty and the bats had disappeared.  What an amazing time.  Some of our time was spent doing some lovely drives around the Whitsundays, going where we have never been before.  Airlie Beach has a lovely beachfront pool which we really enjoyed.  We had already visited the islands previously and sailed throughout the islands, so we had no intention of getting off the mainland.  We were sad to see the damage done to Shute Harbour from the last cyclone.

Christmas Day was hot and humid and lots of rain.

Ruby was a bit indignant with the headdress but soon pulled it off and chewed it up!

We had some lovely walks around the neighbourhood with Ruby and met some lovely neighbours.  

Annie sent reports to the owners every few days via email, which were very appreciated.

Visiting Palm Cove August 2018

A visit to Palm Cove to visit my brother was not a hard choice to do, as it is a very pretty place.  They look after a block of units on the Beachfront overlooking the Coral Sea.

Short Stop in Charters Towers

Our house-sit Owners from Townsville 2017 had moved house to Charters Towers in early 2018 with new jobs and house.
We had been hearing about the big move and how they had been settling in, and loving it.  Louie got the idea to ask them if they wanted a weekend off as we could head that way on our way to Darwin.  
They jumped at the chance, so we got a weekend at Charters Towers living in a beautifully renovated house and garden with two gorgeous dogs as company.  We did the tourist bit and saw all the beautiful buildings, gold mine and parks and gardens over the weekend with the dogs, who remembered us, god love them!
The house was in a lovely neighbourhood not far from town, so our fold-up bikes were used extensively. 
The owners came back from the weekend, refreshed and happy to send us off to Darwin, wishing us best wishes and to come and see them again.   It was a lovely house-sit for wonderful people.

Back to Darwin for 2018 Again Yippee!!

We arrived on the 13th August to beautiful sunny weather and light breezes.  The first thing we noticed it was not as hot as this time last year, however, the city's parks and gardens looked much drier.  Riding our bikes around Darwin confirmed that the entire city is nearly in drought.  We did notice some of the big old Mahogany trees are missing due to the last cyclone, but not as bad as we thought it would be.
The animals remembered us and it was a lovely welcome when we arrived at our house-sit.  We got a lovely welcome from the Owners.  Louie dropped them at the airport and they were on their way to Canada and we were looking after one beautiful little Polly, 2 rather large cats and some very nice little Bantam chooks.
The animals really settled in early, because they remembered us, including Elmo.  The cats purred and rubbed up against Elmo, something he has never experienced.  Each morning we have the dogs on the bed wiggling in excitement, the cats come for a look and the chooky girls call out for their breakfast!  It is full on...
Once everyone is fed and watered, we walk the dogs around the neighbourhood, which they both love. Then we can decide on our day's outings.
This year Louie is busy on his laptop most days, due to becoming the editor of our local car clubs monthly magazine.  This month is the 30th Anniversary and is taking up a lot of his time.  So I have been hopping on my fold up bike and heading off to Rapid Creek and Northcliff for coffee and a ride along the beachfront for some exercise.
August 31, we have been notified the owners have had a miss-hap and broken an ankle and consequently in a moon-boot.  With the weather in Canada being very warm, lots of bushfires and smoke everywhere, they are going to cut short their trip and head to Bali for the last week.  
We went to the crocodile adventure on the Adelaide River and had an amazing boat trip, see the photos.  There was only 4 of us on a very quiet morning and the driver rode the boat up onto the river edge so we could see these magnificent creatures up close.  Normally it doesn't happen because the public doesn't listen to the safety advice and have arms and legs hanging out of the boat everywhere!

Doctors Gully is a favourite of ours - the fish are calm and friendly and allow you to pat them.  Close to Darwin, it's a fun place to visit.

The Parak Markets are on Sunday morning and we found them to be wonderful for a brunch and coffee, with a most varied Asian cuisine.  I particularly liked the fabric stalls.
We leave Darwin mid September and will meander East and visit friends on the coast and wait for the weather to warm up further south.

Gold Coast - we hit the jackpot!

Two beautiful Jack Russells and a home in a central quiet estate with lots of bike paths and parks

We love these two Jack Russells, Candy and Parker, who we looked after in 2016 and now at Christmas 2017/2018.  A mum and her son who are absolutely the most amazing little dogs.

We arrived just before Christmas to see the owners off on their holidays and settled in with Elmo with the joy of having a wonderful swimming pool and we got straight in as the weather was hot and steamy.

Candy and Parker never showed interest in entering the pool, but Elmo was in his element, he loved playing ball in the pool, trying to pick up the ball from the edge, his head bobbing in the water, often, falling in and dog paddling to try and get out.  We used the pool every day, usually after spending some time in the garden, getting hot and sweaty.  

Walks in the cool of the morning and late afternoon when the heat had died down, there was a lovely park backing onto the property and was very popular with the dog population.  We also took them to Emerald Lakes where there are amazing walks and bike paths around the man-made lake and great coffee shops, which we frequented often.  Lots of bird life throughout the wetlands and plenty of places to walk and bike.  

It was the perfect place to take off on our Indian Motorcycle up to the mountains for lunch or coffee.

We rode through winding green roads for miles and miles.   

Unlucky for us, Candy bit into a cane toad on the 2nd day and had an episode, she was so quick, I couldn't get there fast enough to catch the toad.  Straight away we washed her mouth out with water from the hose and rang the vet and told them we would be straight in.  We were sure she had swallowed the poison and she started to have convulsions, then she went stiff as a board.  The 20-minute ride to her vet was extremely stressful, but we tried to keep her quiet and cool with the air conditioning on full blast.  It was such a relief to hand her over to the vet so she would get the care she needed.  She stayed in overnight while a drip was performed and we picked her up the next morning.  Of course, the owner was contacted immediately and they confirmed we had done exactly the correct thing.  Apparently, this was the 4th time Candy had tried to eat a toad.  (She must have 10 lives and she is a very strong little dog).  It was very traumatic for us and we kept a sharp eye around for more toads the rest of our stay.   It really is important for the owners to have information for the dog and house sitter to read and be ready for any emergency.    We love those little dogs and didn't want anything to happen to them on our watch!

3 cats in Townsville Late September 2017

Looking after 3 cats for 2 weeks 

Siamese cats and an amazing young Devon Rex, Yoda, for 2 weeks in September 2017 was a challenge for they were not allowed outside.
The house was a gorgeous timber home on stilts with a lovely overgrown garden and pool in the back-yard which we used lots.
Luckily the Siamese were not interested in leaving the lounge room and back verandah where they could see the world move slowly by.  They were no trouble.
The mischievous Devon Rex, however, was an escape artist and had us running madly to stop him escaping from the rest of the house.  He did have a cat run down in the garden where we would take him daily so he could roll around in the dust and grass, which he loved.
He was very quick and each time we wanted to go out the front door, the Devon Rex had to be held back while we tried to sneak out.  He was a handful but a character and we fell in love with him.  He was long and slim, big eyes and eyes and couldn't keep still.  The two Siamese did not like him so he was not allowed into the kitchen and lounge room, which was a bit sad for him, he did so want to come in with everyone, but the Siamese had taken a dislike to him and would beat him up.
For 2 weeks we worked in the overgrown garden, weeding, cutting back, watering and generally cleaning up debris and dead plants.  We were very pleased with the result, for it was a labour of love, what a garden.
The house in Belgium Gardens, wasn't far from the doggy beach, so we used to ride down with Elmo and take him for a swim and play.
This house-sit was a nice change and we enjoyed it.

On the Strand at Townsville - an amazing place to stay in this large coastal city

September found us for a month in the city of Townsville and we were very lucky to stay in a beautiful federation home just off the strand at North Ward looking after 2 beautiful dogs called Tucker and Tula.

Young and full of energy, walking them morning and night was a complete pleaure as the owner has spent a lot of time with obedience.  They are both large dogs and they heeled so beautifully and really enjoyed my extra long walks in the early morning.  We would take off just after dawn and walk up Castle Hill to the lookout and back down again.  There are a number of ways to get up the hill and we found them all, they were excellent company.

Louie and I also took all three dogs to the doggy beach at Pallandera where all of them had such fun, coming home absolutely exhausted after running and swimming for a couple of hours.  It was such fun.

Our beautiful home had amazing gardens, however Townsville was under strict water restrictions, consequently we had to water via hand hose twice a week, so up before dawn both of us out and with the hoses, to keep there gorgeous gardens alive.

We were spoilt on Paw Paw as the garden had copious plants laden with the fruit, it was amazing.