United Kingdom – Kiwis Do Fly

We Put The Turbo Boosters On And Found Our Wings

Published on January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

2024 – it’s a wrap!

Recently I made a reel of all our 2024 house-sits, it was awesome, it turned out so well. Trusted House-sitters prompted that reel as a competition and I was hoping we would win a go-pro haha – of course I thought our house-sits and our pets were the BEST, and was very surprised that we did not win the competition.

As I was going through the photos and making that reel, I realised that the house-sits for last year were only a part of what 2024 was for us. Since 2017, (excluding the COVID 1.5 years and 2018 when we tried time back in the real world and worked), House-sitting has been our top focus. We have traveled around the world several times. Like bees, we have moved from flower to flower and from country to country. We always have the next 6 months or more booked up. But last year was different, we tried to slow things down a bit – HA!

The years go by so fast, don’t they? We are already almost half way through January and If I wanted to wrap up last year, then I better get on with it because before we know it we will be half way through July!

So, 2024, what did that look like for us? 12 months from the beginning of December 2023 looked like this:-

Lumin and Rana, Engin Germany, the snow was outstanding!

December we were in Engin, Germany, doing a new (for us)house-sit. We fell in love with 2 beautiful Sight Hounds, were enchanted with the village, especially when it snowed, and made awesome new friends. Then off to Leros, Greece to do a sit we have done before, we feel so at home on Leros. That was house-sits 1 and 2.

A few nights in Athens being tourists then off to Paris. 3 nights in Thure, France, catching up with friends we made while house-sitting there in 2019, then up to The Netherlands. We never visit Europe without a visit to our friends in Holland, we always have the best time, even though it is often years between visits.

Château de La Barbelinière, Thure, France – She still looks stunning through the mid-winter fog (house-sit 2019)

We cannot be in this part of the world without a visit to Belgium – even if it is purely to drink beer! And that is exactly what we did. 3 nights in Brussels, 1^st time visiting this city. Now, across the channel, House-sit 3 and 4 in South England, Weymouth then Shoreham-by-Sea. Some more new pets to get to know and love, and awesome homeowners/new friends.

We want to head over to Puerto Rico, not to house-sit this time but purely to visit all the wonderful people we had met there during the 2 X 6 month sits we have done in the past. So, this time we jump on a ship and sail from Southampton to Miami. 11 days crossing the Atlantic – truly a bucket list item! On arrival we fly straight to Puerto Rico and then on to Vieques. Two weeks was not enough, but we must move on.

By now it is March and our next stop New Zealand. Now this is novel, haven’t had much time here in the last few years. We have a full immersion into our family and friends. It is awesome! Exhausting but fantastic. We make our way up and down and around the country and have a great old time. Chris spends 8 weeks here and I have 6. I opted to head over to Queensland, Australia for 2 weeks to spend a bit of time catching up with friends and family there.

Precious time with the family – all in the same country at once for a change!

It is now May and we each jump back on a plane. Chris flies from Auckland. I fly from Brisbane. We meet in Langkawi, Malaysia. Back to a house-sit we have done before; this is house sit-number 5. From Langkawi it is a quick 3-day visit to Kuala Lumpur to be tourists again. We just love Malaysia, the food, the people the warmth – everything! But now time for Thailand.

We have been to Hua Hin, Thailand several times now. While there, we have made great friends. We have 3 house-sits here over the next 2 months, all through word-of-mouth for friends. Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Thailand without a sit for the 44+ dogs and our dear friend Cristina. We are so glad to be able to be there so she can get away for a break. That was house-sits 6, 7 and 8.

August we head to The Sunshine Coast, Australia. Maybe put our feet up for a bit? Fat chance! Chris stays for 4 weeks and heads back to Langkawi to do that sit again that we did in May. House-sit number 9. I chose to sit this one out and stayed put in Australia for about 2½ months. Meanwhile Chris finishes in Langkawi. He heads first to Kuala Lumpur then to Tioman Island, Malaysia to be tourist for a few weeks. He absolutely loves it – though he says it was not the same without me…..

I have 2 weeks in New Zealand again and by late October Chris arrives into New Zealand also. Only for a week though, November we head off to the most remote house-sit we have ever done. Uoleva, Tonga. House sit-number 10. And here we are, halfway through this 4 month sit. Lots of time to reminisce over the past 12 / 13 months. Wow we have been busy! I am feeling exhausted just thinking about it.

What a year!

10 house sits, 63 pets. 13 countries, we won’t count USA, we only transited, 12 international journeys together and 7 separately, that’s average 15½ each.

We travelled between places by ferry 3 times, bus 8 times, train 3 times, were driven by car twice and sailed on a ship once. I can’t remember how many domestic flights we took while in New Zealand. It was more than I can count on two hands!

During this year, we celebrated an awesome milestones. Our daughter Tayla and her partner Jesse got engaged! Huge congratulations to them both, we are so very proud. Such a privilege to have been there to celebrate with them! WOW, It has been quite a year.

So that is a year in the life of the house-sitters. How did we ever have time to work a 9 – 5?

We often get asked how do we do this? How do we step away from the conventional? My answer? what is normal? And often a comment comes back, oh I could never do that! but you know what? you can! All you need to do is put your mind to it and just take that first step. It’s just one foot in front of the other. I say just go for it, go on! give it a chance. Life is too short and you never know what you’re gonna find out there. There are so many wonderful people to meet and sights to see. Give it a go! you might just surprise yourself.

We have each and every one of these stories in detail with loads more cool photos. If you want to see more, check out the rest of our blog……https://kiwisdofly.blog/

Boarding the Ferry in Leros heading to Athens

A big year but nicely balanced, exhausting and exciting all at the same time.

Thank you for reading our story

This Is Better Than Flying!

Published on February 29, 2024 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

The story of the Cruise Ship – It just gets better and better!!

We feel we are lucky to have chosen this transatlantic crossing as our first cruise. It is 11 days long and we will not hit another port until we get to Miami. That is a lot of days to be at sea, nothing to do but be on the boat. It is a re-location voyage; this ship goes on to cruise the Caribbean for the season. No ports? Perfect for us as we feel that it has really given us a chance to get to know the boat. If this had only been 5 days for example, we would not have discovered all the hidden gems that we have done. We have walked and explored every corner of this ship. There is so much to see and do. We have loved every minute.

The weather has not been the best, but as we progress toward USA, the outside temperatures are getting higher. We were in fog for at least one whole day where every 2 minutes there was a 5 second blast on the horn – fog signal. Once the fog cleared the drizzle started and the swell got bigger and bigger. 10-meter seas, 40 knot winds, she got a bit rocky there for a while, about 3 days at its worst. The captain gives an update every morning at 10am and this is normal for the North Atlantic Ocean. We knew the weather was coming up when we saw the vomit bags being put out at the stair wells at every level.

The Observation lounge is one level above the bridge and has a fabulous view forward. We would sit up there and watch the ship riding up and down the swells. This is a huge ship, yet we managed to spray water up and over the bow as we dipped into the troughs and ploughed up and through the wall of water ahead – exhilarating! Each time another big swell came there was a collective “wow” from all watching, followed by nervous giggles! Day 8 the wind dropped to around 20 knots, and as we have been travelling at a constant 17knots, it is felt a lot calmer. This was just one day; the wind has been around 40 knots for most of the trip.

When we left Southampton, we did not expect to see land again until we came into Miami. On the evening of day 3 we had an announcement to say that there was a medical emergency, and someone needed to go to hospital so we would be altering our course to go to Azores Islands to medivac the patient. They were not sure at this stage whether we would go in and dock or stay off and transfer the patient by boat. We were a long way off these islands so would not arrive until 0500 in the morning. Of course, I had to get up to see this!

0445 I got up and could see the lights of the island in the distance. We stopped just outside the harbour of Ponta Delgarda. It was dark, but you could see the beach not far from us. The captain kept position using the starboard thrusters, the wind was pushing against our port side. The pilot boat approached and came alongside beautifully, and they loaded the poor man from the lower deck in a stretcher. He was waving so I felt happy that he was at least conscious and aware of what was going on, we never did find out what actually happened to him. The Pilot boat left, and we slowly moved off and headed back on our way. The diversion was a welcome change and something quite different. I was fascinated in the while process, having been involved in this sort of operation back in New Zealand. It was great work by all involved, very efficient and professional.

The lights of the Azores
Our diversion track around the islands

This ship can carry 3800 passengers and 1600 crew. We have heard that there are only 1000 passengers onboard! So that means there are more crew than passengers! We feel, again, so lucky that this is the case as it is not crowded at all. We try to imagine how different it would be with another, near enough, 3000 people on board. But as we have never done this before, we don’t have anything to compare.

The sun is out, so we have to try – its only 19 degrees and so windy!

There are over 13 bars – (we know because we pub-crawled 13 all in one day – took 8 hours, but that is a story for another day!!) There are 11 restaurants, a casino, car racing track, kids water slides, swimming pools, a library, cigar lounge, theatre, full spa, art gallery and shopping mall selling the best diamonds in the world. It has to be seen to be believed. There are millions of dollars’ worth of paintings onboard, Dürer, Dali and Rembrandt just to name a few. Full on art auctions are taking place under our noses. The bars all have themes, the Beatles are at the Cavern club, whisky “by the jar” at the Maltings, Mojito’s at the Sugarcane or 70 different craft beers at the Brewhouse. You want cocktails with breakfast – feel free, its all here, and no one will judge!! Gives new meaning to the concept of day drinking.

Half way through our pub crawl – we are still looking ok!!

The food is incredible. We have tried all the restaurants that are part of our package and they do not disappoint. Whether we have A la Carte or the buffet, the food quality is sensational. We had one meal at the steakhouse as it was part of our “specialty dining package” OH MY, WORD! 5-star dining, 500g steak perfectly cooked, 4 courses, outstanding! And it is free! We are still so blown away by what is on offer, and we continue to pinch ourselves every day.

The Garden Café is the buffet restaurant and is the typical buffet style with multiple dishes of many cuisines. They usually have a different theme each night or a specific roasted meat. Rib Eye, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey, its all been pretty good. We are certainly not going without our protein! One night they were advertising “Steamship” as the specialty. We asked, what is this? Beef, they said. Ok lets have a look. Have you ever seen a whole cow leg roasted? Well, that is what Steamship is. We could not believe our eyes at the size of this roasted piece of meat, complete with bone out of the top! 10 hours cooking at 120 deg apparently, and it was delicious.

The staff are so friendly, everyone has a smile and hello. I have been amazed to see the natalities of the staff. Everyone’s name badge has where they are from. I read somewhere that the crew are made up of over 50 different nationalities. It is a wonderful mix. Evening 10 after the Broadway Cabaret, a huge collection of the staff came onto the stage for a farewell. Representatives from every part of the ship from the engine room, catering, housekeeping, retail, bar and restaurant, to the captain, were there. As they filed out, up the stairs of the theatre we were able to say thankyou and show our appreciation. As we then filed out of the theatre, they were all there, almost as a guard of honour, thanking us! I was quite overcome by this gesture; this could almost be my highlight of the trip.

We have not spent much time out on deck because of the weather. We thought that we would start getting better weather by the time we were a few days out from Miami. Surprisingly this was not the case. The temperature got up to 20°C on the last day, but the wind was still cold. The pools remained closed and half empty until day 8, a small handful of brave soles got in.

not a lot going on out on deck

We were at sea for 11 days, I saw 2 other boats on day 11, we had our Medi-vac on day 4, but other than that we have not seen any other signs of life besides what is here on this ship. It has been so peaceful. We have been able to find quiet spots and been able to relax and just ponder this amazing planet and the enormity of the ocean in front of us which is 5km deep right here. Watching the ever-changing clouds and the colours, the swells and currents. The gentle hum of the engines underfoot and the slight sideways rock is reassuring as we make our way towards land.

7752km behind us is Southampton.

This really is so much better than flying!

Thank you for reading our story!!

How Did We Get Here?

Published on February 28, 2024 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

The Story Of The Cruise Ship

After a few months in Europe, we start looking at ways to get back down under. We are wanting to go to Vieques, Puerto Rico, on the way home (yes, I know! It is hardly “on the way” haha, but oh well!) to visit friends we have made during the 2 six-month house sits we have done there. Flights from Portugal to San Juan? Amsterdam to Miami? Or should we get to London and then try for Boston or New York, then down to Puerto Rico? It is all very expensive. I mentioned this in my last story that we feel travel has become a lot more expensive since COVID and a lot more troublesome, flight schedule changes etc etc. But we don’t give up and ponder for a few days then come up with this AWESOME plan.

We are both boatie people; we love being on the water – why don’t we go by boat!! So that is how the plan was hatched. On investigation we find there is a Transatlantic cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, leaving Southampton on 13 February, arriving in Miami on 24 February. This is perfect. Cost? Yes, it is a bit more expensive than flying, but you get 11 days accommodation, full board i.e. we WILL get the all-inclusive bar package, and we get from A to B in the process. Perfect! The deal was really good but ending in a few days. We just needed a couple of days to think about it. The deal ended, but the new deal was even better, it dropped another 200 Euro each. No more thinking – BOOKED! We are sailing all the way to the USA from The United Kingdom.

Transatlantic, WOW this is quite a trip. It will take 11 full days at sea, no ports to call into, just plain sailing non-stop. I feel this trip is quite close to my heart and I never thought I would ever do something like this. My Father crossed the Atlantic as part of the trip with his family back in 1960. He was only a teenager at the time and the family were immigrating from Scotland to Australia and New Zealand on the five-pound passage incentive programme. Big deal for them back then and I think the whole trip took 6 weeks. So, I feel I am following a little bit in their footsteps.

Chris has done this crossing before. He was on a refrigerated ship carrying Kiwi fruit for export from New Zealand to Europe. They went through the Panama Canal and then across the Atlantic, in the opposite direction, his trip took 4 weeks, in 2013.

The day comes for us to set sail. We are house sitting in Shoreham-by-Sea so have to get a train to Southampton. There is a lot of industrial action going on with the English rail workers at the moment and our train is now going to be “part bus” But we still make it in plenty of time to make our embarkation slot of 1230. We walk the 1 km from the train station to the port. It is raining and as we round the corner we see her, the Norwegian Joy! She is so big; she will be our home for the next 11 days.

This is brand new for us, neither of us have been on a cruise before so do not know what to expect regarding ……. well, anything!! We had checked-in online, our bags get tagged and taken away and we join the queue. Passport control is just like an airport and is a very slick operation, they have 1000’s of passengers to process and it goes quickly. Then onto security and same, really easy; hand luggage through the Xray, laptops out and belts off, through the person Xray, done! We are cruising!

Following the corridor to the ship, up, up, up we go, everyone is so welcoming and smiling, there is happy music playing, I am feeling so excited I can hardly contain myself.

We booked a window cabin and found out 2 days before sailing that we had been upgraded to a balcony cabin, we went from level 5 to 13 on this 20-level ship. We are so happy with the cabin; it is a 3 berth which means there is extra room, and the balcony has a table and chairs. Lots of storage space, TV, fridge and a big bathroom, WOW this is awesome!

We find the buffet restaurant and have a late lunch and of course we have a glass of wine with lunch, then go to the main lobby area where a lot of people are gathering. This looks like the place to be and there is a bar. We test our key cards again and ask for bubbly – of course madam/sir – ok cool! We found a couple of very comfy chairs right by the floor to ceiling windows on the starboard side, we can see out over cloudy rainy Southampton, and we sit here and literally pinch ourselves! Is the really happening?? How did we get here? A waiter makes sure we are not without a cocktail and the set-sail party begins. Lots of music, laughter, the atmosphere is awesome, and then we move slowly off the dock, next stop Miami! This is going to be so much fun!!!

Thank you for reading our story!

More coming soon!!!

A Quick Trip To South England

Published on February 9, 2024 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Weymouth, United Kingdom, January 2024

After a whirlwind visit to Western Europe to catch up with friends we have made it to England. It has been many, many years since either Chris, or I have been in the UK.

Travelling from Belgium to England was very easy, we have had a few near misses and were not expecting it to have been quite so easy. We took the train to Brussels International Airport, and went straight through passport control and security quickly and efficiently. On arrival at Heathrow, we were both stunned at how easy it was getting through. Back in the day, Heathrow was a nightmare, mega long queues, oodles of questions of your “right to be there”, which infuriated Chris back then, so much so that he was not too keen to be back. New Zealand is part of the British Commonwealth, we are under the same King. 1000’s of New Zealand soldiers lost while fighting in the World Wars alongside Britain, but still multiple questions of our right to enter. But this time? We didn’t talk to one person! It was all automated. We scanned our own passport, picked up our bags and walked straight out. We looked at each other and thought there must be more…. No, all done!

Heading to our first house sit, Weymouth. Weymouth is on the South Coast of England. A train from Heathrow to Bournemouth then a bus to Weymouth. After a couple of hours, we were there.

We had a fabulous evening getting to know our homeowners and their lovely pets, Bonnie (Cockapoo dog) and Maisie and Polly (jet black cats). We have been so lucky with our house sits, we always have amazing people to spend time with, people we would never have normally met. This is far and away the best part of what we do. The next morning, we send them off on their holiday and settle in.

Bonnie

Weymouth is a lovely town, long sweeping beach with bathing beach boxes and cafes dotted most of the way along. It was a 4 km walk from the house into the centre of town. We did this once then got a bus pass and used the busses every day. We had fantastic weather but there had been a lot of rain, so the ground was soddened, lots of mud and puddles.

We took Bonnie on the coastal pathway walk, towards the Smugglers pub. It was 5.5 km and we thought we would head there for a pub lunch. There was so much mud! The path was impassable in places, we had to climb the fence and walk along the farmers paddocks at times just to get through. It was also very slippery and the 1.5 hour walk took us over 2 hours! Bonnie had a wonderful time, at only 2ys old she was very happily running back and forth, trying to hurry us up! By the time we got there the soles of our boots were clogged with sticky mud, mine were leaking through the split in my sole so I had muddy sox. We wondered if we would be allowed inside the pub in this state, but we were, this was obviously not an unusual sight for the people here.

We had a good lunch at this oldie-worldie pub, complete with thatch roof, then headed home. But there was no way I was going to try to traverse all that slippery mud again and was very glad when we decided that we would get the bus home. We headed up to the road to find that the buses were few and far between way out here, so we ended up walking all the way home. Surprisingly enough, we found another pub very close to home and, of course, had to stop. Bonnie by now is feeling a bit tired, and so are we.

On our first walk into town, we came across this monument. We were very surprised to see it. Made us feel very proud. Then I found online that during WW1 120,000 Australia and NZ Army Corps (ANZAC’s) convalesced in Weymouth after being injured at Gallipoli. The existing army camps and mild climate made it an ideal location. Most of the soldiers we repatriated in 1919, but some stayed and married local women. We find history of brave New Zealanders all over the word!

We found a few more pubs and, of course, had fish and chips more than once! We love the ancientness of the old English towns, the low ceilings in the pubs, the quaint narrow streets. It would be so amazing to be transported back in time to see it 500 years ago. It would be fascinating.

We took Bonnie with us on the bus most days, she was so good. We were surprised how dog friendly it is here. Most shops and cafes/pubs allow dogs, they even have doggie treats on the counters – and Bonnie knows it!

We took the bus to the Isle of Portland and walked out to the end of the peninsular to see the lighthouses. Portland Bill lighthouse is an active lighthouse. She was built early 20^th century and took over from the two lighthouses that had been in use since 1716. Looking over the cliffs you can see the desperate need for safe navigation into Portland and Weymouth harbour. The sheer cliffs and rugged coastline is spectacular, but so dangerous to shipping.

Portland Bill Lighthouse
The old Lower Lighthouse

The RNLI has had a lifeboat station here since 1869, and is currently one of the busiest in the country. It was very cool to see the Weymouth Severn Class lifeboat tied up. I was lucky enough to go out on one of her sister ships from the Staithes and Runswick RNLI Station about 15 years ago. It is always interesting for both Chris and I to see these harbour towns and anything to do with maritime search and rescue and boating safety, as we were heavily involved in this back in New Zealand for so long.

But all good things must come to an end and after just 10 days we have to say goodbye. We have loved Weymouth, we are very much looking forward to returning one day.