ilovehousesitting – Kiwis Do Fly

Uoleva, Kingdom Of Tonga

I love it in the mornings when you come out onto the beach. You see evidence of the overnight activity of the beach inhabitants, the crabs! The little tiny hermit crabs with their gorgeous shells. They come in all different shapes and sizes. There are long cone shape shells and short stubby shells. They are always so beautiful. They are never broken or damaged. You see their tracks all over the beach, their big heavy shells dragging in between the row of little claws.

The red hermit crabs. I think they are the coconut crabs, as we find them in the bush as well, on top of coconuts which have fallen. They have all got the same kind of shell, a kind of a rounded shape, all about the same size. It is so funny in the mornings. They have these meetings on the beach around a coconut husk. Sometimes 6 or 8 of them and they are all just climbing on top of each other having a good old yarn. Then you come along and POP inside their shells they go, I can’t see you so you can’t see me! They are so round when their bodies are inside their shell, sometimes they roll down the slope of the sand. I wonder what that feels like for them, so very cute.

The little beige and black crabs, they are kind of mid-size. They run sideways so fast. Their little black eyes, close together sticking up like little antennae and their little legs all splayed out side ways. Scuttling down the beach into the water as soon as they see you coming. They dig holes in the sand, takes them hours. They are very meticulous bringing sand out of the hole and dumping it one arm full at a time. It is such a labour of love.

And then there are the bigger grey/green crabs, they are a lot bigger. I don’t think they would be big enough to eat but they are much bigger than these other little guys. They have beady red eyes spread quite far apart. They are so funny, they see you coming and back into the crevasses of the rock. As you move around the rock they scuttle around backwards to the other side, they think they are being hidden. Then Jenga will see them and bark and their claws stick straight out; attack mode. They just walk sideways very slowly, step by step, claws up facing their opponent. Jenga barks again, and the crab keeps walking, claws up, until he ends up back in the water to hide.

You know there are no other footprints on this beach, just us and Jenga. Nothing but that beautiful sun coming up, that golden hour. It is a bit cooler than what it will be as the day progresses. Overnight there has been a high tide so there is a new dump of sand and shells. We love beach-combing, looking at all the beautiful shells, but of course the nicest ones are all taken by the hermit crabs.

Jenga loves the morning walks, he has a fascination with the bait fish and the little black tip sharks. Poor old boy, he is getting a bit hard of seeing. He can’t always see them, but he knows there is something there. He runs along, barks, and splashes in the water, forever hopeful. He loves it, enjoying just being out there doing it. He has never caught anything yet but apparently he can.

At the end of the island there is a sand spit. At low tide it reaches, or has the potential to reach half way across the gap between us and Lifuka, the next island up. It has changed dramatically in the 3 months we have been here. Our home owners call it the magic sands. The spit used to go straight out. For a while, it went out towards the north. Now, it heads out to the east. It has completely changed sides. The colours and the patterns that come from this ever changing environment is incredible. Nature, what she can do and the power of the ocean is just beautiful.

We have managed to walk right out to that sand island. This is effectively the very end of the sand spit, which never gets covered by water. It was fascinating, it felt like we were right at the end of the world. The current is quite strong through this gap and the sand is very soft in places. As we were forging our way through the sinking sand we were taking really good notice of the tide. We knew that if we dilly dallied too much we would get stuck out there. It was so cool, we didn’t want to leave.

The colours and patterns are out of this world

There is nothing on this island that can harm us badly. Except maybe for the pigs, but I don’t think that is very likely. There are no snakes, or deadly spiders like in Australia. But oh my, the spiders are huge! The Huntsman spider is here and she is very intimidating to look at, but harmless. There are plenty of spiders in the bush and they are very proficient at building webs right across out path. When we walk, we carry a stick. We wave it in front of us to catch the webs. It is a horrible feeling when you walk right into one! Mosquitoes, yes but not that bad. There are rats and mice around, but that is to be expected and they are more annoying than anything else. And that is why we have a cat, right? The worst thing is the paper wasps, we have both been stung and it is not pleasant, but again – not going to kill us!

The marine creatures are amazing. Every time we go out on the boat we see flying fish. They fly out of the water and dance their way across the water surface right in front of us. There are always turtles around. We see them out from the seat of knowledge and also from the boat in the lagoon. It is always a thrill to see the turtles, I don’t think I could ever get tired of them. One trip, we were coming back from the China shop on the boat. A Ray jumped right out of the water in front of us. It was incredible as we both saw it and could hardly believe our eyes. It jumped out of the water with its belly to us. It seemed to have a fish in its mouth. The fish dropped as it breached the surface then splashed back down into the water. We thought it could have been a Manta Ray, we clearly saw his mouth. But they are not meat eaters, so we are not sure what kind of Ray it was, but super exciting to see. We were buzzing for ages after that encounter.

There are big bats in the trees. They fly around right at sunset and land in the coconut trees, they are so lovely to watch. I think they could be flying foxes, which is just a big fruit eating bat. They make quite a racket during the night but we are getting used to it now.

It is so untouched out here, there is time to stop watch and listen to nature. I have been surprised at the lack of flowers. We only seem to have a hibiscus type of flower and we only see them once they have fallen from the tree. Maybe it is the time of the year? It is so green though, lush greenery everywhere. The sound of the ocean is ever present, waves crashing on the reef. Sometimes when the wind is blowing the right way, we can hear the crash of the waves landing on the outer reef beyond the lagoon on the other side of the island. Occasionally we hear a boom of the under water caves as they fill and empty with ocean surges.

Long shadows from the sun coming up on the other side of the island

We are loving this life, it is pretty unique. It is very refreshing to leave all the stresses of “normal” life behind for a while. But I always ask the question – “what is normal?” I will leave you with that to ponder!

Thank you for reading our story

Sunshine Coast August – October

It has been 3 and a half months since we left Thailand. I remember my Mum saying that time will go faster and faster the older you get, and I am seeing how right she was! Where has this year gone?

Since Thailand, we’ve been on a roll! We’ve rocked 2 house sits, 1 camping trip and had a blast hanging out with friends and family. No dull moments thats for sure!

I took a week in NZ on the way back to Australia to see family and friends. My youngest daughter Tay, flew back to Australia with me to see her sister. It was so good to have two weeks with her and to have my two beautiful girls together, even for such a short time.

We did a four week house sit in a small village at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast called Pomona. We usually like to stay on the coast and be by the ocean, so this was a change for us being in the hinterland. We thoroughly enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of the area. We had 1 dog, 4 cats, 4 geese and 2 chickens to look after. There were kangaroos regularly visiting right into the back yard and the bird life was amazing. King parrots, Cockatoos and Kookaburras to name just a few. The Australian bush is so unique with the smell of the gumtrees and is so full of life. We spent a lot of time walking with Redley around the outskirts of the village through the bush. We did not see any snakes, that would be taking the wildlife a little bit to extremes!

Redley is a beautiful girl, an Australian Kelpie with a gentle nature, we both fell instantly in love. She was such great company and constantly entertaining.

The Geese were a new one for us. We could let them out in the afternoons about 4pm and they would run around in a line, flapping their wings squawking or is it honking?? eating up all the oranges that had fallen to the ground. Redley would round them and the chickens up, it was so funny to watch, around and around the house they would go, bums wabbling, wings flapping. The chickens, John and Jon, laid eggs most days but we had a mystery on our hands. We would find broken eggs in strange places, outside of the coop. There was one wooden egg in the nesting box to encourage laying, that egg ended up in all sorts of weird places too, then it would disappear for a couple of days then turn up again. How is this happening? The coop is fox proof, there were no markings on the dirt of a snake or lizard. Turns out it was a crow! Chris did some temporary crow-proofing and we started getting more eggs for the pan. Those crows are clever though and found a way in, again! The geese started to lay, the crows never picked any of these big beauties up! Very cool to have goose eggs which were made into bacon and egg pies!

Though we loved being out in the country, the time came for us to leave, it was good to be by back on the coast. Chris stayed at his apartment in Marcoola, and I went on to look after my dear friend Shelley’s cat, Mr Peanut, while she went on holiday.

Shelley’s house is out in the hinterland, so I am back in the country. Kookaburras start laughing even before it is light around here! Again, so peaceful and pitch black at night showing up the beautiful stars in the sky.

The health and wellbeing of the pets we care for is always a very big concern for us when house sitting. What is normal behaviour for these pets? and what is out of the ordinary? As we don’t have that “parent intuition” it can sometimes be a bit of a guessing game. We are learning more and more what a huge responsibility this is and how much trust our home/pet owners are putting into us to do the right thing for their beloved pets.

Mr Peanut had an adventure a few years ago where he got lost and did not return for 3.5 years. It is quite a miracle really and a story we will never know fully. If only Mr Peanut could talk! Since then, he has been a bit of a “scardy cat” One day he got such a fright he took off under the house and out the other side toward the paddocks. He stumbled at the fence then ran, hell for leather, down toward the bush. Leigh (my daughter) was there at the time and we tried to find him. We called and called and traipsed up and down the paddocks and even into the bush, no sign. Oh boy! I am hoping it is not going to be another 3.5 years until we see him again!!

He didn’t come home that night, Leigh stayed over and we searched again the next day. I made a flyer and got my cousin to print it out to distribute around the neighbourhood the next day if he didn’t turn up. Late that second night he meowed at the door. He was filthy and hungry, my relief was unmeasurable, he was back!! But he was broken! Something very wrong with his face, and he was dribbling and couldn’t eat, but he was purring and he was back! I couldn’t figure out what had happened, I tried to think of all scenarios even thinking he may have had a stroke as the side of his face was droopy.

Leigh and I took him to the vet the next day and were hoping that the vet would be able to solve the puzzle of what could have happened to poor Mr Peanut. He was none the wiser other than the fact that his jaw was dislocated, and as he was examining him it just popped it back in! That looks better already! But an Xray was still needed to check the rest of his face. After consultation with his Mum, Mr Peanut stayed in overnight and had surgery the next day to wire his broken jaw. Poor boy! What a thing to go through.

He came home and was so brave. He hated the big blue collar he had to wear and didn’t much like the runny, soupy food he had to eat, but otherwise all fixed. The wire would come out in 6 weeks. Now he is shaved we think we know what happened. As he ran through the fence, the bottom wire went between his teeth into his mouth and that is why he stumbled, pretty much stopped dead in his tracks, the momentum dislocated and broke his jaw. What a freak accident.

Poor Mr Peanut.

Our last 3 weeks on the Sunshine Coast was filled with lots of friends visiting from NZ and spending as much time as possible with our friends and family who live here. We are heading to Europe and are not entirely sure when we will be returning to Australia. We have been having a very social time thats for sure! who would ever have time to fit work into this very busy schedule!

We did managed to squeeze in a quick 2 night camping trip with Steve and Shelley at Inskip Point. This is a favourite spot and never disappoints. A roast pork in the camp oven, lots of beach time and of course plenty of wine.