Kiwis Do Fly

A Week In The Life

Published on June 16, 2022 by kiwisdofly26 Comments

We often get asked – What do you do all day? Six months in one house sit, on a tiny island, just the two of you? We always try to involve ourselves in the community in the new places we find ourselves in, its the best way to meet people and experience life as the locals do, get to know the real people and get an insight to their culture and lifestyle. We never seem to run out of things to do. This trip is proving to be very social, more so than the last time here and we are loving it!

It cant be vacation every day!! Or can it…….

EVERY DAY IS SATURDAY, AND EVERY NIGHT IS FRIDAY NIGHT!

So I had a look back on my photos of the last week, and this is what it looked like……

Monday Lunes

Chris is off helping our Kiwi friend, Kim, with yard maintenance. He usually does this 2 or 3 mornings a week. Theses mornings usually start with coffee and end with Medalla.

1700 on Monday you will find me in the town square trying to do Zumba with these awesome girls. This Kiwi does not have the moves these cool chicks have, I put it down to the language barrier!

Our Zumba instructor is a Purple Heart recipient Veteran, who has a truly inspirational story. Check out her book, released last month!

https://www.facebook.com/TropicalStormDanceCo

Tuesday Martes

We get pretty good supplies of fruit and veg by way of the veggie truck which comes every Tuesday and Friday from the main island. Good to get there early though. Every week we spend about the same amount of money, no matter what we buy – there are no prices to go by and the till is only for storing cash, they use a plain old calculator to add it all up – love it!

Its time for a hair cut! Chris completely trusted me with the clippers and off it came. So much cooler! I didnt do too bad a job even though I have absolutely no hair cutting skills.

Wednesday Miércoles

While Chris works with Kim, I go to Water Aerobics. So nice being in the water and such a lovey group of ladies to hang out with at the hotel pool, 5 minutes walk from home.

Also while the lads are away, I tend to get busy in the kitchen.

Most of the bread we can get here is a bit on the sweet side and doesnt have much in the way of texture – great for burgers and hotdogs, but that’s about it. So I have learnt to make Focaccia Bread, and it is delicious. I made some tomato relish today, so tonight all we had for dinner was cheese, bread and relish – perfect! This was following our mandatory stop at El Yate on the walk home from Morales, the super market.

Thursday Jueves

We have a few projects to go on with, so today we finish off a bit of painting.

Oh Boy it is so hot now. 30 – 31 degC every day and today the “feels like” is 38!

But that’s no problem – there are many many beaches, so we go for an afternoon swim at Sun Bay with Kim.

Friday Viernes

Every Friday morning we walk the dogs from the Vieques Humane Society. The dogs love it and the soon get to know us. Today we put some travel cages together for them – and we earnt our volunteer tee-shirts!

We have been getting right into cooking and have tried some really nice recipes with mangos. Green Mango salad, mango cake and mango sauce. Chris has perfected pork ribs – which we cant get enough of! Banana bread, Thai noodle salad with lemongrass from the garden and home made pesto and hummus, perfect with the focaccia bread! BUT, tonight is Sushi night.

Chris and Kim perfect home made sushi while I go jump around in the square with the girls doing Zumba, please note Kims hair cut …… Yours truly’s handy work last week, staggers me they trusted me with a pair of scissors!

Saturday Sábado

A bit of yard maintenance at home this morning

Keeping the gardens watered is a daily job, its a nice way to start the day. We try to get this done before anything else, while it is a bit cooler – ie 28deg rather than 30deg – believe me it makes a difference!

Catching up with emails and news from home – nice hair cut by the way!

Saturday afternoon we are lucky enough to be invited to a Moria and Kevins for a swim and Bar-B-Q. A wonderful afternoon chilling by the pool with awesome people and the BEST grilled food cooked outside! We still sometimes pinch ourselves to be sure this is real! Perfection!

Lazy start to the day. There is always a cuddle from our lovely Allie

Sunday is “Fun-Day” they say. This is the day on Vieques where everyone goes to the beach. They go for the whole day, cooler box full of booze and food, music, umbrellas and chairs, to just hang out and enjoy. So this afternoon was Caracas – So beautiful!

So that is the week that was. We always have lots to do and lots of people to hang out with. And the weeks are sure flying by!

Sunday night sunset from out balcony, Beautiful way to round out the week, Thank you Vieques!

Thank you so much for reading our story!

Same Same But Different

Published on May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

We have returned to the little island of Vieques which is off the east coast off the main island of Puerto Rico. We had a strong desire to come back to this unique little place. We had left in such a hurry after Hurricane Maria, we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye or thank you to our friends. So, unfinished business, I guess you could say.

We are doing the same 6 month housesit we did in 2017.

It was so good to see Bob and Lou again. They surprised us with a gathering of people to meet and connect with, introduced us to Pickleball and the awesome group of Pickleball players, so we are hitting the ground running this time. In 2017, this was Bob and Lou’s second season here. Five years on and they know so much more about the island and know so many more people, add that to our experience and the people we met then, we are in for an awesome 6 months!

It feels like we have never been away, but there is a different feel to the island. The same wonderful people, but somehow, much more friendly, much more relaxed with each other. Our favourite part of travelling is meeting people from other cultures, making friends in different languages and crossing that “foreigner” barrier.

Hurricane Maria almost wiped this island out. In the aftermath the people came together, they supported each other and helped each other, there was an incredible bond, a bond of survival. The need to purely survive continued for months and months. Things finally came back to a kind of normal, but, it seems, the people have not lost that special bond, that appreciation of each other, knowing that we are all in it together and we really are one big family. We feel right at home! Reuniting with friends we had become close with has brought tears to our eyes at times, and catching up with friends we had not known so well, but connected with all the same has been a joyous thing!

So what else is the same? Well it’s the same heat. It is almost summer time here and the temperatures are so consistent. They only fluctuate about 3°C in a 24 hour period. 27°C – 30°C every day at the moment. (80°F – 86°F) The humidity is sitting at about 75% but we know it will increase as the summer goes on. The maximum temperature will probably only reach to 31°C but we remember the “feels like 42°” (107°F) temperature VERY well. We would freeze a small wet towel in the shape of a C shaped sausage, and use this to put around the backs of our necks to try to cool down. We feel we are better acclimatised this time with being in Queensland for a while before getting here. And we know what to expect. News flash! We have Air conditioning in the bedroom! We feel so lucky to have this, what a treat!

The same beautiful clear water! The colour of Bombay Sapphire Gin. Water temperature is currently 27.6 °C. Gently lapping the white sand under the blue sky. The beaches are wonderful. The tradition of spending all day Sunday at the beach with a bunch of friends and family, eating loads of food, drinking loads of alcohol and listening to music, is alive a well! I believe there are 40 beaches here, that’s a lot of parties

The same beautiful views – but now even bigger! The island is looking really good, really fresh and tidy. A lot of trees came down in the hurricane which opened up views all over the island. We say to ourselves “could we see that from here before?” well, we couldn’t! All the vegetation has recovered, but where there were big trees knocked down, there are now small trees, so the views are amazing. There are a lot of freshly painted buildings. Still the run down places and falling down properties, but overall the whole island is looking great.

The same old horses! There seems to be more horses around. Vieques is known for its wild horses all over the island. I read once that they are as much a part of the island as the sand and sea. You have to be very careful when driving as they don’t know the road rules and they don’t seem to be afraid of being right in town. It has been very dry here the last few months and we were told that they are looking for water and food, so therefore, there are more around. There are a lot of foals around at the moment, so beautiful. It is a co-habitation which has been going on for generations.

The same strong cocktails. A plastic cup, five different spirits, a dash of coke, lots of ice – yip it’s the Vieques Pain Killer! Only need one ……. Or two….. before you fall off your bike! Good old Medalla though, is still the same, cold and wet and bubbly – BUT new colour can! This is only temporary as they raise awareness of the coral reefs – but oh how I love the current colour!

The town clock still has different times on all four faces

It is pretty great to be back! We are already in week 6, the time is really going to fly. Many adventures to come!

Thanks for reading our story!

Do You Know The Way To San Juan?

Published on May 2, 2022 by kiwisdofly23 Comments

April 2022. We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 1am after a journey we felt would never end! We often get asked, how long does it take to get here from New Zealand. In some countries, New Zealand is quite the “unknown entity”

It is always a good topic of conversation to explain just how far away we live. We left for this trip from Brisbane, Australia, rather than New Zealand, but all that did was add another hour and a half onto the journey. With COVID still causing difficulties with travel, we were advised to be at the airport 4 hours before take off.

My awesome cousins Steve and Shelley were up at sparrow’s fart with us and Steve drove us the hour to the airport. The airport was not very busy and we had all our paperwork in hand. The day before we had been to the doctor who preformed a Rapid Antigen Test, then wrote a letter to verify we had taken the test and it was negative. We were so worried that we might contract COVID in that last week which would have grounded us completely and we wouldn’t have been able to fly. But we didn’t and here we are checking in on the biggest trip we had been on for 2 years. The check in guy was great and said that the flight was only half full and he would put us in a 4 seat row to ourselves – perfect! Before COVID the planes we always chocker block full, so this is a nice change – especially as this first leg, Brisbane to Los Angeles, is 13.5 hours!

We do get to sleep a bit on the plane, spread out on our 4 set row. Our Steward was awesome, extra mini pies and red wine in the middle of the night…. Thank you!…

Still pretty tired on arrival at Los Angeles, half way! We clear immigration and customs here. All week I had been concerned that we had forgotten something, that we had maybe not done something right. All this “stuff” for COVID, declarations, attestations, certificates, tests, contact addresses etc etc But no, all done, all correct, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES!

A four hour wait in LA then five hour flight to Miami. Now this flight was a different story altogether! Jam packed full and we were sitting apart. I was in the middle of three and Chris had the window seat a few rows behind me. Not to worry, 5 hours is nothing compared to the 14 we had just done.

We arrive in Miami, the three hour wait turned into four, and off we go to San Juan. It is now 1am and we arrive to an Island wide power cut! The city is basically in darkness. We arrive at our accommodation to candle light, is this a joke? This is exactly how we left 4 ½ years ago. So we cant say we didn’t feel right at home! There had been an explosion and fire at the power plant earlier in the evening which caused power outages for a couple of days. By now we were so tired we just fell into bed and had a great sleep – WE MADE IT!

21 hours flying, 11 hours waiting at airports plus traveling to and from the airports. So that’s the answer

32+ hour journey

slightly longer as we came from Brisbane, the usual flight time from Auckland, NZ to LA is 12 hours.

We spent 2 days re acquainting ourselves with the historic town of Old San Juan. Such a beautiful place. We just wandered around, drank in the sights, the sounds and smells. Its lovely and warm, 28°C. Its so good to be back!

Here is a wee look at Old San Juan, ……..

Thank you so much for reading our story xx

Our Adventures On The Central Coast, NSW

Published on March 31, 2022 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

Early February 2022, We left Sydney and headed north, up through the Central Coast, into Queensland. Looking back on the photos, there were a few adventures and stories to tell!

Free Camping and Lighthouses

We started off with amazing weather and we were starting to get brave enough to free-camp. The Lakes Surf Lifesavings carpark was the perfect spot. Cafe, toilets – open all night, and showers – though cold. We met a few people doing the same thing and it does feel a bit wrong, but exciting! FatBoy is a bit hard to camouflage, we kinda stand out, but ……… This carpark is right by the beach, it couldn’t be better.

Not far from here we found the Norah Head Lighthouse. I am loving seeing all the lighthouses up this coast. There had been a music, food, and wine festival here the night before and we couldn’t imagine how wonderful it would have been to be a singer performing at this amazing location. We didnt attend this festival, but we managed to acquire a couple of souvenirs……

House sit No.2, Big Boy Gus, Caves and Thunder

We so enjoyed the company of Gus. He kept us entertained with his quirky nature and loveable antics. We found a coffee truck that did “doggiechino” never knew there was such a thing! Gus knew! He was such great company for three weeks.

The caves at Caves Beach are so cool. Inaccessible at high tide. Spectacular at sunrise.

And then the rain started….. and the thunder……… and the lightening! This, also, was a spectacular show of natures power – but poor ole Gus! He was so frightened, he would hide in the shower and shake! He would not come out, no matter what. We comforted him as much as we could, and he came out eventually as if nothing had happened.

Injuries

Oh dear, we must be getting old! Two injuries, one each, at least we are keeping it fair! Walking along the beach with Gus, Chris slipped on a rock and tore his hamstring trying to correct himself. OUCH! Then a few weeks later at Crescent Heads, I took a tumble on a walking track and sprained my ankle. OUCH! Those who know me – this was my good ankle! Its not easy to limp on both feet at once! So feeling like a couple of geriatrics we think we should just stay home and sit on the couch – NAH! Not going to happen! There are things to do and people to meet!

While at Caves Beach, we took a trip into Newcastle to see another lighthouse, this one Nobbys Lighthouse.

Snakes, Kookaburras, Goannas and …………Rabbits??

We eventually left Caves Beach to continue our trip north. Eight nights at four different spots to go, this time paid camping at proper camp sites. We had a couple of unwelcome visitors while camping.

At Booti Booti National Park, this Goanna decided he liked our spot and kept coming back. He especially liked to look of the solar panels and left scratches where he had been climbing over it. He was not the only one there and they were pretty intimidating for these Kiwi’s.

The Kookaburra gave us a run for our money too, they look really cute and are a full-on “sound of Australia”, but, oh boy! watch your meat on the bar-b-q when they are around. Chris didn’t know what struck him when this cheeky bugger flew down, clipped Chris on the shoulder, grabbed a sausage right off the hot plate, then sat on the fence right in front of me and ate it! It was so funny because it must have been really hot, but he kept hold of it and finally swallowed.

Rabbits everywhere in Coffs Harbour! They were all through the camp ground, but not only that, the whole town seemed to be awash with rabbits. So Bizarre! They looked like domestic rabbits, but we couldn’t get that close to them – so cute!

Fact of the day – Pet rabbits are illegal in Queensland

Man make fire

The Racecourse Campground in Goolawah National Park, near Crescent Head was perfect! Right on the beach, long drop loos and cold showers; but peaceful and beautiful. We paid $5 to the warden who gave us this fire pit. Really cool, made from old an gas cylinder. You could see in the clouds though, that there was more rain coming……

And then the rain came down

After almost a week of fine weather, Crescent Head saw the start of more rain, this time it didn’t stop for about 10 days and was the start of the storms which caused flooding in South East Queensland right down to Sydney. We still had 4 more days on the road. Coffs Harbour and Surfers Paradise it just bucketed down and didn’t stop so we didn’t get to explore so much.

We were safe and dry in FatBoy, but had to drive up through some of the worst of the storm. So much flooding and roads closed, it was pretty scary. So many people lost their homes in this storm, so devastating. Very very sad 😦

We made it back safe and sound to Marcoola, back to base. As I write this, we have five days to go before we take off on our next BIG adventure. The borders are starting to come down and we are embarking on the 27 hour plane journey to Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. I know we will have some great stories and fabulous photos to share with you over the next few months!

Thank you so much for reading our story!!

Sydney – Its A Great Place To Be

Published on March 16, 2022 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Arriving into Sydney turned out to be the best thing. This has happened before, where we have ended up in a place not actually planned for, but so blessed to be there. After getting the “Green Tick” of COVID negative we can really start to look around and see where we have actually come to.

I came to Sydney with my family in 1980, when I was 12, and remember being so impressed with the size of everything. The Opera House, Harbour Bridge, it was all so foreign and exciting.

1980, Thats me, the skinny, moody teenager in red shorts! Parked right under the Harbour Bridge, cant do that now days

I also had a quick trip here with Chris in 2016 to watch the Sharks (Sydney team) beat the Warriors (NZ team) at Cronulla in the Rugby League. That was a flying visit in the middle of winter. But when we arrived by train from the airport that night I was like a kid in a lolly shop, jumping with excitement to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge right there! I could just about touch them, it was so close, I was so excited I could hardly think straight.

So here we are again. World famous, these amazing icons are up there with the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty, and again, I am so excited to be here. This time we have a bit more time to explore.

Facts:

Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, it took 9 years to build, its longest span is 503metres, total length 1149metres She has 6 lanes and 2 railway lines, 1 footpath and a cycleway and has a clearance of 49m from the water

Sydney Opera House was opened in 1973, it took 14 years to complete and has seating capacity for 5738 people across her theatres and halls.

Two days with Liz in the suburbs with her wonderful neighborhood of friends, enjoying the tree lined streets, noisy birds and great wine! We walk to a spot where we can see Sydney Harbour – Yes! I’m really here. But we have work to do so off south we go; check out my 2 previous stories.

We return to Sydney nearly a month later to the warmest welcome, It is Australia Day, come on in, what’s ours is yours! So grateful for these amazing people. A big feast starting at 2, slow cooked lamb, salmon, chargrilled veg, homemade focaccia bread, all sorts of salads, and a wonderful cake for desert. Everyone pitching in and having fun. Lively conversations and laughter went right through until after dark. Empty plates, full bellies and wine bottles scattered every which way. I feel this could be akin to the American Thanksgiving celebration. We don’t have this in NZ, and it is a pity. We counted 7 nationalities around that table, how wonderful is this?! This was such a special day, thank you to Cate and Malcolm for opening your doors and hosting this awesome day, one we will not forget!

A bit of a slow start for everyone the next day but there is a city to explore. Chris and I catch a bus into the city. We get off near the Anzac Memorial and Hyde Park. The memorial is stunning and it always gives us a thrill to see the New Zealand flag flying alongside the Aussie one. Hyde Park is lovely too, great statues and monuments, stunning gardens. We follow on to the Royal Botanic Garden. None of this is very far from each other and the walk is doing us good!

We come to the edge of the harbour and Oh Wow! There they are, those icons that scream “You’re in Sydney!” We carry on walking around the front of the Opera House, past Circluar Quay (where we arrived in 2016) and around the rocks to view the Harbour Bridge. So beautiful!

The ferry network is fantastic. Sydney Harbour is so intricate, it spreads outward with many fingers probing into the suburbs of greater Sydney. We take the ferry from Circular Quay right up to Paramatta, just because we can! 3 hours round trip, for us Mariners it is a really interesting trip. Returning, we get off near Liz’s place, and walk home.

The next day we get the ferry into Circular Quay and take a different ferry over to Manly. Can this city get any better? It is so sunny and hot. We have fish and chips on the beach with one of our Australia Day buddies then walk to Shelly Beach and have a swim. Manly is not unlike our home town of Mount Maunganui with the harbour on one side of the peninsular and the main open ocean beach less than a kilometer across on the other.

But we have to leave Sydney now, more adventures are waiting for us. We so loved Sydney, the people, the places and the weather, all fabulous, we look forward to coming back soon!

Thank you for reading my story!!

House Sitting In The Rain

Published on February 6, 2022April 2, 2022 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Jervis Bay, NSW

House sit number 1 is in the Jervis Bay area, South Cast, NSW. We haven’t been house sitting for close on 2 years because of covid, so we are feeling a little bit nervous. We were in such a good rhythm before the world turned upside down. We needn’t have been! There are some beautiful people in this world and we are so lucky to be meeting so many of them.

But the weather has turned on us, rain forecast for the next week or more, oh well, we have a beautiful home to stay in and there is always Netflix!

We settle in and create our routine, but we really want to get out to explore the coastline here, we have heard it is beautiful. Two days in, we decide to just do what we do – too bad if its not sunny and hot. We mark off a couple of beaches on the map, pack a picnic and off we go. We head toward Murrays Beach as it is the furthest away so we will start there and work our way back. Woops, we find ourselves in a line of cars with no way to turn around. And why are they taking so long! As we sit and wait, trying to be patient, we try to figure out by google maps what we have actually come across. Is this the military base? Or it could be a National Park? Its not that clear on Maps. We finally get up to the kiosk and yes, this is the entrance to the Booderee National Park, who knew! Fee of $14 for a 48 hour pass. And we find out why the line took so long, the lovely lady just wanted to have a chat – with everybody! She was so nice you just couldn’t help engaging in her chit chat. So after understanding her whole family dynamics, off we go, Murrays Beach here we come.

The day is still not very nice but we have our picnic on the beach and Chris has a swim, its too cold for me. We get back into the truck and head for the historic lighthouse, Cape St George Lighthouse. This is a ruin and quite lovely. Sad story about it though. It was erected in 1860 a spot that was easy to build, ie transport the sandstone etc in, but it wasn’t in the best spot for the job it was intended to do – be a lighthouse. Being in a poor position, it didn’t halt the shipping toll and was replaced by Point Perpendicular Lighthouse in 1898, which was built on the opposite side of the entrance to the bay. The lighthouse tower was then torn down in early 20^th century as the sandstone it was constructed with was too bright at night and was distracting to shipping. There were many deaths among the around 15 people living there during its short life span, mostly children. From Typhus and Pleurisy to falling over the cliffs, being kicked in the head by a horse and being shot by mistake by a teenager playing around with a loaded gun. Quite sad, but probably quite typical for the time.

We had 14 days here and it rained for the first 10 days. We still got out a few times and discovered some stunning beaches along this coast, all within 20 minutes of the house sit. We completed quite a bit of the White Sands Walk, from Nelsons Beach to Hyams Beach. We fell in love with Huskisson, and spent a bit of time in the local pub there – well it WAS raining!

We had a stunning house and two beautiful, affectionate cats to care for, life is good. There is a field across the road from the house and there are kangaroos grazing there every morning. In the evening they sometimes come right up to the road, it is so exciting to see them. One day there was a Mum with a baby and they turned and jumped right down the street, it was so funny – love Australia!

Our lovely home owners returned and we a had another great night together, catching up on the previous 2 weeks, then back into FatBoy to hit the road again.

We head back to Sydney to celebrate Australia Day with a group of English, Welsh, American, Dutch, Slovakian, Kiwis and even a couple of Aussies – How about that!

Thank you for reading our story!

Walkabout With FatBoy

Published on February 2, 2022April 2, 2022 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

South Coast, NSW

What a blessing in disguise having to fly to Sydney rather than Brisbane. Again, we have landed in a place where we had not planned to come but are so very glad we did. A couple of days in Sydney with friends, feeling so welcome and loved, we take off south toward our first house sit. Yippeee- WE’RE ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

I am introduced to “Fat Boy” Chris’s Toyota Hilux campervan, and off we go. Heading to the South Coast, NSW. The first thing I notice is the stunning rocky coastline.

We are very lucky with beautiful weather, but not so lucky with this being the height of the season so camping grounds are all full. Not to worry as we talk ourselves into a space on the Kiama rugby field which opens up for 4 weeks only every year as a camping area. Perfect! Just a short walk finds us at a stunning lighthouse and famous blow hole. Not far round the corner is an ocean rock pool. We had seen another one of these ocean pools at Corrimal and thought the concept was awesome, it fills up at high tide and retains the water as the tide goes out. Unlike Corrimal though, this one was mostly built into the natural rock formations. There was quite a display with the heavy swells and high tide, the rock pool was actually closed due to the heavy swells, but no one seemed to take any notice. It was like a washing machine in there! I could have watched for hours. Always in awe of the power of the sea.

Heading up into the hills behind Kiama the weather comes down. The road is so narrow and windy and remembering this is only the second trip I have done in this camper, so was feeling a little nervous. The weather kept closing in as we progressed up and up. I have seen a heavy fog in my days off shore on the North Sea, but this really seemed to be the thickest fog I had ever been in. Chris did an awesome job at keeping us on the road, the visibility was almost zero.

We found a National Park camp site and didn’t want to go any further with the weather, so made camp. We tried to call to book in but no one seemed interested, even though all signs say – booking essential due to covid. Oh Well….. we tried! The camp was right by Carrington Falls. We took the short walk to the falls and could hear the rumble so knew there was something mighty in amongst the fog but couldn’t see much. The bush had a very eery feeling in the mist, it was quite spectacular and almost mystical – and safe, now that we were not having to navigate through it. By the morning the fog had lifted so revisited the falls and were blown away by the sight, so beautiful. So not just beaches and sunshine in Australia.

We followed the road down through Kangaroo Valley back to the coast. Australia is a massive country, some of the views out through the valley show just how extensive this country is, quite breath-taking and we are surprised at how green everything is. But this is due to all the rain they have had lately, which has also left all the rivers and waterfalls at their peak which is great for us – except when the road is now a river! I said no, Chris said yes and Fat Boy was quivering with excitement at the challenge – across the ford we go – NO TROUBLE AT ALL!!

We are starting to get used to life on the road in the camper van and are getting braver with pulling up and free-camping. There is quite a community and we are seeing some of the same people over and over. Some of the Surf Life Saving Clubs allow overnight parking which is great as they always have toilet blocks and showers (though cold) and of course they are right on the beach!

Hanging out with FatBoy

Next stop house sit number 1, 2 hours south of Sydney, It is so good to be back on the road!

Touch Down In Sydney

Published on January 16, 2022 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

So much frustration for most of the year trying to get to Australia, but I did it! I got here in the end, and looking back it was rather easy.

Before I left there were so many questions, the most important of course was, will the plane fly? Putting that question aside, there are also many other questions to think about. I spent hours trolling the Australian government web sites and Government State websites for information on what was expected before departure and on arrival. I had already come to the conclusion that I would have to fly into New South Wales instead of Queensland as the QLD border was still shut. The information I was getting was very conflicting at times, I felt I was going in circles. Omicron is showing herself everywhere now and border controls are changing daily. I was questioned daily by friends and family, do you think you will get to go? Do you have to isolate? I really don’t know! I was getting totally confused and didn’t know whether I was coming or going. At this point I had left my job and had tenants coming into my house in a few weeks, so really, I HAD to go.

In the end this is how is worked:

I got a COVID test 3 days before take off at the local Pathology Lab at a cost of $200. The result was in my in box within 36 hours.-tick

I registered with the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. I had to give them full details of my immunisations. They wanted to know the dates for each shot and the brand of the drug. They also needed my Australian address and phone number, and was I going to travel inter-state once I arrived. As I understood things, I was able to land in New South Wales quarantine free as I was a NZ passport holder reuniting with immediate family who normally reside in Australia. On arrival I was to self isolate until I had a negative covid test which need to be taken within 24 hours of arrival. tick

So off I go to Tauranga airport with copies of my vaccination certificate, Australian Department of Home Affairs acceptance and proof of my negative covid test. How hard can this be. Checked in, bags checked all the way to Sydney – surely they cant stop me now!! A very sad good bye to Leigh-Ann, I found it hard to let go of that last hug and they called – “would the remaining passenger Donna Bennett, please board your aircraft at gate 4” Oh crap! Don’t go without me!

Auckland International Airport – where is everyone?

Into Auckland no problem, 5 hour wait for my flight to Sydney. Tauranga airport was fairly busy but Auckland International Airport was so quiet. Only 9 flights for the whole day. Therefore limited shops open, only 1 place to get a coffee and only cabinet food, no kitchens open. Even McDonalds was closed.

We get called to board, this could really be happening! With all the changes to my flights and credits on and off throughout the year, this flight ended up being premium economy. Now this is the way to travel! The seats were huge, so much space and a 3 course meal, a proper pillow and the BEST pour of Sav in a beautiful stemless wine glass LOL. I was wishing the flight was longer than the 3 hours! My section had 35 seats, there were 5 of us, and I was the only one on the port side so I felt I was already isolating.

Arriving in Sydney. The announcement on the plane was for arriving passengers to take a Rapid Antigen Test on arrival and isolate until a negative result. Really? Don’t those tests give a result in 15 minutes? And how do these tests get monitored? How would they know I have done it and done it right? Do I just go to a chemist and buy one? OK, that’s not what I expected. Chris had researched and had found that there was a PCR (nose swab) testing station at the airport for arriving passengers, so with this announcement and the signs at the baggage carousel, I was feeling a bit confused – again! I felt I should get a full PCR test as advised by the government web site, so I rock up to the car park-come-testing station and ask the question …… YES, they said, get a test here, now – ok will do. So I registered there and got my test. I am now self-isolating.

I found Chris and am just so overwhelmed to see him!! It has been a long 6 months! We are now isolating together. This is New Years Eve, last day of this retched 2021. I received message from Service NSW at 0130 1/1/22, your results are NEGATIVE!

So let the adventures begin!! We did it!!

Funny thing is though, there were no questions on arrival, no checks and balances, automatic passport control, I spoke to no one except for one person who was taking statistics of how many vaccinations I had had, he didn’t even ask my name, I was a tick in the column for 3 vaccinations. I could have walked right out of that airport, full of COVID, right into the community………………

This Kiwi Is Trying So Hard To Fly

Published on December 26, 2021December 26, 2021 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

26 December 2021

Since returning to New Zealand in March 2019, from New York, after the onset of COVID 19, Chris and I have keeping ourselves busy. Its been quite a different life from our House Sitting life. I got a job at the hospital as an Orderly and worked a second job for the summer 2020 as Harbour Patrol Skipper. Chris, along with Micah and Leigh-Ann, renovated our house, then sold a house in NZ and bought a house in Australia. At that stage we could not leave the country but, early 2021, it was looking like NZ and Australia were both doing really well at keeping COVID out, so a travel bubble opened up between the two countries.

Chris took this opportunity to get over to Australia to check out the apartment he had bought.. YAY we can fly again! Five weeks later, I headed over to Australia as well. The airport is deserted, this is really really strange. We had two awesome weeks and the apartment is perfect! Located on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland Australia. Beautiful spot………….Right, I will be back in 8 weeks, next time for 3 ½ weeks. So back to work I go, off back to the beach Chris goes.

But wait… here comes that pesky virus again, this time she has a new name – Delta.

Victoria and New South Wales in Australia are getting hit hard and are closing down their borders. NZ pauses the travel bubble to Australia……….BUT I have a trip booked for 31^st July, which by now is only 3 weeks away. FLIGHT CANCELLED. OK, NZ think they are only going to have to pause the bubble for 8 weeks……. so I book a new flight for mid September. Hopefully things will sort themselves out by then and I will get there.

No, not going to happen, Delta has made her way into NZ, so my September FLIGHT CANCELLED. Ok, I am not to be beaten by this, so I book yet another flight for 2^nd December – surely things will be ok by then!

In the mean time I book flights for my daughter and I to fly to Wellington for her birthday present, We are booked for end October – But Delta has another plan, she’s causing havoc and New Zealand is now in full lockdown, so we wont be going to Wellington! FLIGHTS CANCELLED.

A few weeks later, things start to level out, Auckland is now the only place in full lock down, the rest of the country have a bit more freedom, so lets try booking that trip to wellington again, this time mid November. But Tayla would be flying from Auckland and Auckland keeps having her lock down extended, so another FLIGHT CANCELLED.

At this stage it is starting to look a lot like I will not get to go on my 2^nd December trip to Australia. Sure enough FLIGHT CANCELLED. So Chris and I have to start making some big decisions. The original plan was for Chris to be back here in NZ by summer, What do we do now? It has been 5 months now since we last saw each other. This is not funny anymore! So we finally come to a decision. It looks like travel to Australia is easier than travel back from Australia, so why don’t I just go on a one way ticket?

NEW PLAN ………… I have resigned from my job at the hospital and I booked a one way ticket to Brisbane, 28 December.

Right……… one last chance for the Wellington trip – booked a new flight for 10th December – NAH, no can do! Looks like we are not meant to go to Wellington – FLIGHT CANCELLED – for the 3^rd time!

It is now mid December, remember that one way flight I have to Brisbane? – FLIGHT CANCELLED! NOOOOOO!!!! Re booked for 1 January, a few days later FLIGHT CANCELLED!– WHAT????…………… Ok, am I not meant to get to fly ever again??

Its now Christmas Day and I am booked now to fly to Sydney on 31^st December. I believe this flight will go ahead as it is a red flight, which means Quarantine or self isolation and pre and post flight negative COVID tests, if fully vaccinated. I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed!

This past year has been so frustrating, it has tested our patients with the cancellations and not being able to plan. But at the end of the day, this story is just a very small one, it is even a little bit funny! This virus has had a huge impact on every one in the world. Yes we are frustrated, but no one ever died of frustration! We are well and healthy and I am very lucky to be able to say that I don’t know anyone who has died of COVID, I hardly know anyone who has HAD COVID. That is not the case for so many, and I am so very sorry for the ones who have been effected in that way. My flight may yet be cancelled – its still 6 days out –

Watch This Space, this Kiwi is determined to fly!

The Second Half of the Second Half

Published on November 5, 2021April 21, 2022 by kiwisdofly21 Comment

Oh how time fly’s by! Even in lock down. It is now November 2021, the world of COVID 19 has been with us for a year and a half, the world as we knew it has changed dramatically. But recalling our adventures and memories is a wonderful pass time!

2017, Chris and I took off from our everyday “normal life” and spent the year house sitting in various parts of the world. My last story got us half way through our 10 month adventure, so we carry on, flying from Pankor, Malaysia back to Cambodia, this time a small town in the south called Kampot for house sit No.4.

I say it in every story and I will say it again – it’s the people we meet who make the difference! And another awesome home owner couple we meet here in Kampot. We usually have a night with the home owners before they leave, to get the run of the place and be introduced to the pets etc. We had a fantastic night and fell instantly in love with the 2 dogs, Zena and Eric. We also have 3 cats, 2 chickens and a pond fully of fish. This is our home for 4 weeks.

Kampot is a great place, all the same kwerks of Phnom Penh but on a much smaller scale. We are able to cycle everywhere, it is as flat as a pancake and hot! Still very hot! Again we do not do much cooking at home, the food available out on the street is phenomenal and so cheap and tasty. We have a soft spot for banana in sticky rice – 75 cents (USD) and steamed buns, $1. During this stay, our dear friend Karen came for a visit from NZ. It was so great to see a friend from home. At this stage we had been away for 8 months.

I went to Phnom Penh to meet Karen and left Chris to look after the “farm”. We spent 4 nights in the city. It felt good to be back, as we had been there for a month previously, I felt really at home. We caught up with Jacqui and Randall, shopped at the markets, went to Christmas parties. We also visited the S21 genocide Museum and Killing Fields. Horrific and very sad, hard to believe that this all happened in our life time 1975 – 1979. On the bus back to Kampot for 1 night then onto Kep, on the coast. We took a small boat out to the Island of Kaoh Tonsay AKA Rabbit Island where we spent 2 nights in a shack with no power except from 6pm – 10pm. It was so lovely out there but sadly Cambodia was going through its first cold snap in 10 years! DAM!! Lucky the bungalows had fleecy blankets! We had a great time though and met some awesome people. Poor Karen didnt get her bikini on once! We made up for it trying some wonderful food and delicious cocktails.

While we were away Chris explored the town of Kampot and made friends with the local Cider maker, home of 14% home made cider, and others and was able to introduce us to Kampot when we got back. A driver took us up to Bokor Mountain. Well worth the hair raising trip up the windy road, fabulous view from the top. We cycled to a pepper farm where we learnt all about Kampot Pepper. World famous – this time truly! Karen and I took part in another cooking class which was out in the country and basically outside. We met some more wonderful people and cooked some delicious food. Now time to say good bye to Karen – This has been such an amazing trip – but too many goodbyes!! The people we are meeting and getting to know has been the absolute highlight if this adventure.

We felf really comfortable and safe in Cambodia, even though it’s a very corrupt country and has many serious problems with the government. We saw for ourselves in Phnom Penh when the government sacked the opposition (late Nov 2017) the city closed off and police barricading the whole down town with riot gear at the ready…….but the people on the ground? The regular Cambodian worker? Happy people generally, and very glad to say hello and give you a beautiful smile. This kiddies are gorgeous and fight with each other just to say hello! Love it!

We had an orphan’s Christmas, 3 kiwis and an American, Jacqui and Randy came down to visit, we had so much fun!

BUT

Time to say Goodbye Cambodia! and Hello Thailand!

House sit No, 5. After a week visiting a great friend in Chang Rai, we travel south to a small island off the west coast near Ranong, Ko Phayam. We are met off the ferry by our awesome home owner. First question, can you ride a manual motorbike? After our efforts in Pankor – YES of course we can!! Off we go. Me on the back of Cristina, Chris following with a backpack and another bike behind that with the other bags, Its amazing how much they can get onto their bikes! Nothing short of miraculous! There are no cars on this island, the roads are like footpaths, only wide enough for bikes, so cool! So off to our new home.

We find ourselves up on what seems like a mountain, even the bikes cant get up there, well not when we were riding them anyway, up we trudge and what a view! We can see almost every corner of the island. The house is open to the view on 3 sides, this is amazing! Stunning. We are met by 16 excited dogs! This is going to be fun!

We spend a week with Christina helping with the dogs and exploring the island. I don’t think we have met a more selfless person. Not only does she adopt dogs who have been neglected off the street, cares for them and nurses them back to health, she feeds and cares for other dogs in the community where the owners are not able to (or want to) look after them. She cares so deeply. Such a beautiful human being. It takes a week to get to know all the dog’s names and what they eat, then Cristina leaves us go away for a week – we are now on our own!

Each day we go to the little shop – no supermarkets here – buy kidneys and hearts, blocks of congealed blood!, a few carrots and any other veg we can get. Boil up 2 big pots, one of rice and the other a soup made from our purchases. This feeds the dogs for the day. So cool at feeding time, they all wait and know the drill, and not one complaint about my cooking! We spend the week in this routine. We are able to go on the bike to the beach, taking 3 of 16 dogs with us – yes we all fit on 1 bike. This is a great life, the dogs all have their own personalities and we quickly find our favourites! Most of our day is filled with spending time with the dogs, relaxing and drinking in this incredible view!

By now it is March 2018 and 5 house sits done, we now need to get back to NZ and back to work. We loved everything about that year, so much so that it wasn’t long before we realised we wanted to do it again. So 1 year later we were back on the road, doing it all again. From Australia to Brazil, then France, Greece and New York. COVID hit and we had to return to New Zealand.

Thank you for reading my story! We are hoping to get travelling again soon, there are many more adventured to have!