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 must be true! Google said so!
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!
4 seats to ourselves!
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!
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.
Camping in the carpark – LOVE IT!
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.
This is a little bit of a concern!
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!
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.
Blenheim Beach
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!
Rain, Rain and more Rain
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.
Booderee National Park
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 20th 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 furry friends
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!
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 31st 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 2nd 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 likeI will not get to go on my 2nd 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 3rd 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??
How many of these does one Kiwi need?
Its now Christmas Day and I am booked now to fly to Sydney on 31st 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 –
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!
River running through Kampot
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.
Rabbit Island, colder than expected
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!
Phnom Penh Nov 2017, city locked down
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!
In April Chris and I took off on our House Sitting adventure of 2017. I resigned from my job at Coastguard and Chris took 1 year leave without pay from his position as Deputy Harbourmaster. We were not sure how it would all turn out. Over the years we have house-sat but not for extended periods of time, so going away for a whole year was all very new and exciting. We had been chosen to do 6 months house sitting on a little island called Vieques in Puerto Rico. WOW! Can you imagine! 6 months in the Caribbean? How wonderful!! So this was the start point, for what turned out to be and amazing year.
Its quite a long way from New Zealand!
We didn’t know exactly where Puerto Rico was, other than in the Caribbean. But this is one of the wonderful things about what we do, the geography lesson we are getting along the way. So we find out that Puerto Rico is, in fact, part of The States – well, who knew! But what this meant was, we, as New Zealand passport holders, would have to apply for a visa to enter the USA for more than 3 months. After researching online, we start the application process, wondering if we will be successful. We better be – we have a house sit booked!! Many many pages of questions – occupations, homes, children, spouses, have you been involved in human trafficking? Have you ever been involved in bomb manufacturing or weapons? Have you ever been involved in trading in body parts? Pages and pages! We get it all sent away and make an appointment for an interview at the US Embassy in Auckland. Not on the same day of course! So we each take a trip to the big smoke. I went first.
You have to go through a screening search for weapons, bags taken off you and searched, you could only hold your paperwork, nothing else, no wallet, no phone. I sat and watched what others were doing and could hear bits of some of the conversations. Not all VISA’s were granted that day. My turn. I step up to the window to a very tall man – it may have actually been higher on his side of the window, he was a bit intimidating, dressed in what looked like military uniform. He said to me “so why do you want to go to the Untied States?” In my slightly nervous state, I blurted out “I don’t want to, I want to go to Puerto Rico for 6 months” this raised an eyebrow and he asked me again, “why” so I told him I was going to be house sitting,
At friends?
No, I don’t know the people,
So they are strangers?
Yes,
So you are going to stay at someones house, in a foreign country, but you don’t know who they are?
Yes,
But how does that work?.
I explained about house sitting and the web sites you apply with and he thought it was a hell of a good idea!
YOUR VISA IS GRANTED!
Chris had his visa granted the next week – just as well!! We now both have 10 year, multiple entry visas. Yahoo – LETS GO!
So we pack up and rent out the house, put furniture into storage, boat onto a mooring, car to a friends farm and off we go. We stayed away from NZ for 10 months all together. We weren’t sure how it would all go, how long we would be away for, whether we would still be talking to each other after being together 24/7 for so long, if we would have enough money to survive, etc etc. We had the security of Chris’s job to go back to after 12 months, so lets just give it a go! Life is too short not to! We hear so many say they will do such and such once they retire, or once the mortgage is paid off, or just one more year of work to save that bit more money, and then something happens and it is too late. We decided to bite the bullet and go for it, while we are still able to.
Puerto Rico here we come. And what a wonderful place!
Our lovely home owners met us at the ferry of the small Island of Vieques just off the East coast of mainland Puerto Rico. We loved these two immediately! They showed us around and orientated us with their little piece of paradise. After 2 days they left us in charge.
This was not a very big island, 32km by 7km. In the time we were there I think we covered almost every part of the island that was accessible.
Still today, there are unexploded bombs
In 1941 the United States Navy seized two thirds of the island, evicting a lot of local sugar farmers in the process. After WWII the Navy continued their hold on the land and it was used for military exercises and as a firing range and testing ground for munitions. This went on for decades. The Vieques people didn’t like it of course and after protesting for what would have seemed like a life time for some, the Navy withdrew for good in 2003.
Feels like 46!!!
It was summer in Puerto Rico, so temperatures around 30 – 32 every day. This is not overly hot as far as temperatures go, but the humidity was 100% and all weather apps would tell you the “feels like” temp was in the 40’s. It was a heat that drained you the minute you got up in the morning. We wondered if out fitness had suffered with not working, but figured that it was the heat making our bodies feel heavy and sluggish.
But this didn’t stop us from cycling all over the island and finding all the amazing beaches. Picture a Caribbean Island – white sand, blue sky, palm trees, gentle breeze and turquoise water as clear as gin – that was it – THE perfect Caribbean Island, with beaches what WOW you with the wonder of their perfection. We would pinch ourselves to believe that this was real, how lucky we were to be here!!
Mango season. We would always take a bag with us on our walks, just in case we come across a mango tree which had dropped fruit on “our” side of the fence. You had to be quick though as they would rot quickly or the wild horses would get at them first. So many trees, loaded with mangos, but behind peoples fences. The smell of the ripe fruit lying on the ground was heady. We were on the middle of the island one day coming back from Esperanza and came across a great tree with a few fruit on the path. We stopped to collect a couple. Next minute, an old lady started shouting at us in Spanish. Oh crap! We quickly tried to remember what the Spanish word for “sorry” was and approached her, ready for a telling off. But she had more mangos in her hand and wanted to give them to us and offered us even more! So lovely. Instead of “sorry” we said “gracias” many times!
Puerto Ricans have a great social life. They really know how to party. At the beaches during the weekends they arrive in droves, carting Bar-B-Q’s, cooler boxes, tables, gazebos, hammocks, etc etc and set up for the day. Mothers fathers, babies and grandparents and everything in between, all there to spend the day together having fun. They have cooler boxes full of beer AND spirits, and lots of it! They put fires on in the fire pits and put slow cook meals on as well as traditional Bar-B-Q food. Get the music going and party on. The water is so warm, the adults would gather in the water in groups, chat and drink, call out to the kids to get them another beer. Music wafting over the ocean. Eat loads of food, have a sleep, do it all again! The atmosphere was so good, all just having a great time, enjoying being together in this wonderful place.
For my birthday, Chris took us in a hired golf cart to La Chiva Beach and we had a day at the beach “Puerto Rican style” The family situated quite close to us started sharing their food with us and we got chatting. The whole lot of them sang Happy Birthday, they were so friendly and welcoming. It was getting dark by the time we all packed up to go home – The most perfect day.
We had no pets to look after in this house sit so we volunteered at the Vieques Humane Society and walked some of the shelter Satos (dogs) every Friday. We also helped out at the VHS thrift shop each week. We met and got to know some beautiful dogs and are so glad to know they have been re-housed to forever homes. The VHS do a great job!
We loved Vieques! We had a bit of bad luck after 4 months on the island with Hurricane Irma and Maria and were evacuated to USA October 2017 – That is another story, check it out here…
But that hasn’t put us off, we would be back in a flash. We were booked to do this house sit again this year, 2020, but it was cancelled due to COVID 19. Vieques went into lockdown early March, so we were unable to get there. They have done really well to have kept the virus out, big congratulations to the island people for being strong and standing united.
So what now? 5 months gone and we are displaced in The States, Check out my next story – the second half of this year long house sitting adventure, coming soon………
Things are changing so quickly! 2 days ago we were coming home in 10 days, today, we are coming tomorrow! After advisories yesterday from NZ government saying for “All Kiwis – please fly home” we came to an agonising decision to leave our house/pet sit and change our flights to this Friday, a week early. 10 days is a long time in this rapidly changing environment. New York are threatening a “shelter in place” order, San Francisco has already implemented this. If this comes in then there will be no public transport. It is so hard to imagine a city as big and vibrant as New York coming to a grinding halt.
This morning we wake up to the news that NZ has completely closed her borders to everyone except for citizens. First time in history this has happened. So now we just hope that our flight which is still a day and a half away, will still fly. The good thing is is that we booked with Air New Zealand, of all the airlines, this should be the one which will still get through. What times we are in! You could never imagine this could be a thing, but it is. We have booked a separate ticket to LA from New York, We have given ourselves an extra 7 hours for the connection and hope this is going to be enough.
So now not only are the cafes and restaurants closed but the shopping malls and many shops. Our lovely friends in Thure keep on smiling, though we know it must be hitting them so hard. These ladies are the life blood of that community, how will they survive this? All the small businesses out there who don’t have multi million dollar back up, where will this leave them. So many people are going to be out of work, it will take time, when this is all over, for small businesses to recover. It really is a nightmare of the biggest proportions. We made great friends with 2 café owners in Leros, both of them, along with the rest of the island, have had to close their doors also. I don’t think there is 1 person in this whole world who is not being touched by this virus in some way or another. They might not be getting sick, in fact, very few will, but they will be totally knocked to the ground with it.
We have met a wonderful lady here in Breezy Point, Diane. She has offered to take us to the airport in the morning, and take over feeding the lovely Mac and Jack. We feel so blessed and humbled to have met so many amazing people during our travels. I have said this many times during these wee stories, that it is the people that make the place, it is the people that we meet that endears us most to a country/town/city and I cannot express enough of the love and friendship we have received, its hard to find the words. Thank you. Thank you for being part of our life, which is so much richer for your presence in it xx
We arrive back in NZ on Sunday morning 0700. My wonderful daughter Tayla will be there to pick us up and take us to our isolation spot. It is a relief to be going home!
Every day new information comes out, new advice, new alerts. What to do, what not to do. We have had a very exhausting few days with all these questions and not so many answers. Since my last story – only 2 days ago, seems like weeks!! We have come to a decision and we have booked our tickets home! So we fly to NZ in 10 days time, when our lovely home owners come home. We feel some relief at this, here is an answer.
Just looking at how things are changing and how quickly, we are wondering what things will look like in 10 days. Will more borders be closed? Will NZ have closed the door completely? Will our home owners be able to return as planned? We just have to do what we can with the information we have at the time. At this stage most airlines are still flying with a few disruptions and restrictions. We have a commitment and we intend to fulfil that obligation.
It’s the most crazy thing. Would you ever believe that we would live through a situation like this? There is no other topic of conversation at the moment, facebook, TV news, people on the street, we are all talking about it. Some taking it more seriously than others, some panicking, some don’t care. I don’t mind admitting that I have had the full range of feelings about this. But we have to keep our heads and as I said, do the best we can with the information we have at the time. We have booked our tickets home, that’s the best we can do, if things change, well, we just re assess at the time and work it out.
We spoke with all our up-coming home owners and the consensus is that we have made the right decision. Puerto Rico is under Curfew now. They have to stay in their homes and are not even allowed to go to the beach, this is both Vieques and the Big Island. I am so heartened by the things I read on the Vieques community page and the way that lovely community comes together in these hard times. We have some very dear friends there and we are very sad that we are not going to be able to get there this time.
In the lead up to a house sit, we generally have many email conversations. We form a relationship with the home owners and when we meet, we often feel like we already know each other. This is true for the house sits which were coming up and it is really sad to realise that we are not going to get there and meet these people, that, even though we haven’t actually met, we would call friends. Everyone has been so wonderful and understanding. They have had to cancel their holidays as well, they have had to endure restrictions on everyday life too.
So here in New York, in our little corner of Long Island, all restaurants and cafes are closed, NYC is like a ghost town, we feel we are already in “Self Isolation” As far as I know the public transport is still running. Some supermarket shelves are still empty, or they empty as soon as they are stocked, either way, there is still food there, just some lines are going very fast. This is America! Surely food will keep coming…….
9/11 memorial at Breezy Point
So we are going home, this part of our adventure is coming to a pre-mature ending. Well we didn’t see that coming!
New Zealand – That way!!
We will have to “Self Isolate” when we get back. We have been doing research on what this actually entails. We can get a family member or public transport or a taxi to our final destination, but once there we have to stay there. We will have to get someone to bring groceries, but no visitors. That is going to be very tough! We have been away for a year, we are going to want to see people! We can go for walks or bike rides or even go for a drive as long as we stay away from everyone else. We have been offered several places to go for the isolation period, Our friends and family are wonderful, we DON’T have “nowhere” to go! So amazing how people pull together.
But you know what? We are not the only ones in this situation and I know that we are so much better off than some. My heart goes out to all who are having to lose their jobs, the ones who are sick, the ones isolated from their families and CANT get to them. This is a shit situation for the whole world and this story is just a tiny tiny paragraph of this massive novel.
A huge part of what I love about travelling is experiencing the different cuisines. I have become a lot braver in recent years and have started ordering things which I have no idea what they will be when they get to the table. The other night at Moranos, our favourite cafe bar, I asked the waitress what Soutzoukakia was. She had limited English and wasn’t able to explain, but she did say that it was “beautiful” so if it is beautiful then surely worthy of a try. It was really good! Meatballs – long sausage shaped meatballs, with the most amazing thick sweet tangy tomato sauce.
With us being in house sitting mode, we can’t pretend that we are on holiday constantly – Oh wouldn’t that be great though? Unfortunately the funds wouldn’t stretch to that luxury! So trips to the supermarket each week is the normal for us – just like home. But it is not a hardship! It’s like a tourist attraction for us, the humble trip to the supermarket! We just love looking at all the different things on the shelf, the fresh produce department, the meats, cheese, bread, spices, even the canned goods! The beautiful mouth-watering cakes and then the weird and wonderful things that we can’t even start to guess at what they could be! Sometimes it’s hard to work out what things actually are, and good ole google translate comes in handy. We love seeing things which are common for us but are in a different language. In France we were quite regularly “Missing In Action” – just at the Intermarche AGAIN!
It is funny how we seem to slot into using the food which is usual in the country we are in. While in France, we always had cheese and bread. Almost every meal had a cheese and bread component, even though I felt I was cooking similar to home. Now in Greece we are favouring the locally eaten produce. I am fascinated because this has not been a conscious decision, it seems to have just happened. So here in Greece we are living on pita bread and hummus, tomatoes, feta and olive oil, and drinking Ouzo (anise flavoured aperitif). The fresh produce here is outstanding and so reasonably priced. Tomatoes like you have never tasted before! We bought butter the first week and have hardly touched it, yet in France we were going through it like crazy – nothing beats a fresh baguette with butter, so simple yet so divine! I suppose it all depends on what is available.
In Asia we ate out almost all the time, it is so cheap that it was almost not worth cooking at home, and boy can they get the flavours right, so much better than anything I could cook at home! But this didnt stop our trips to the supermarket. Probably the most fascinating grocery shelves we have seen. Oh and the food markets in Asia – WOW, so much to see and smell! Little lady sitting cross legged on the bench chopping meat, with the biggest cleaver, in front of her while babies sleep behind her, chickens with heads, chickens with no heads, live, unrecognisable seafood in buckets swimming on top of each other, little girls selling plates of dried crickets and grasshoppery looking bugs! Its a feast of all the senses.
Some of the house sits we have done in Asia have had quite primitive cooking facilities, so eating out has been a good option. But at USD$1.50 for 2 fried eggs on toast with coffee, or $2 for a bowl of stir fried veg, who wouldn’t. It is such a social thing too, the motorbike kitchens all gather in the same area and start cooking, you sit on tiny child sized plastic chairs, or on mats on the ground, and all sit around eating and laughing and being together. So cool!!
Eating on the street in Cambodia
Brazil! Brazil was the carnivores dream! Meat meat and more meat! All you can eat meat! Yumm. 600g streak. Pork roasted, stewed, chops, ribs ….. burgers and more burgers. We did miss the fresh veg and salad there but hey! When in rome! Delicious! And we drank Cachaca! (fermented sugarcane juice – blows your head off)
Eyes bigger than stomach comes to mindBrazil
Italy next….what’s the bet we end up cooking a lot of pasta!! And will no doubt drink Limoncello!
Market in FranceGreek CakesSpinach & Feta PieFrog legs and snails in France
Eating is really one of life’s greatest pleasures, and discovering the various cuisines from different countries is a huge part of our journey. Bon Appetit!,
And best of all – the Home Grown, from the Chateau garden in France
We are off to our next house sit location – Island of Leros, Greece. It will be very sad saying goodbye to France and our wonderful hosts Marie-Laure and Arnaud. Our time in France has been an incredible experience, we have been exposed to so many new things and learnt so much, and best of all, made wonderful new friends. We will definitely be back!
So off to Greece! We fly out of Charles De Gaulle so booked a train with enough time for check in etc but the French rail workers have decided to go on strike right at this moment. This strike is looking like it wont be resolved any time soon. The train is too much of a risk so we cancel that and book a private bus. On the day of travel (Wednesday), the strike is still in full force and it is causing havoc on the roads in and around Paris. This was one report …
On the roads in and around the city traffic is likely to be bad again, recent days have seen traffic jams of up to 600 km at rush hour in the greater Paris area.
And anyone driving in France is advised to be aware that blockades are continuing at seven of France’s eight oil depots, meaning that many petrol stations are running dry.
In the air things have improved with fewer cancellations and most services running, however there is likely to be some knock-on effects after 20 percent of services were cancelled on Tuesday. Passengers are advised to check with their airline.
Reported night before travel
This will be an interesting and a bit stressful trip. We have 3.5 hours from arrival on the bus to take off, so even if we get held up for 2 hours we should still have time.
As we travel, we watch the GPS closely and things are going good. We get to 7 km from CDG and have not been held up, so we know that even if the worst happens, we can walk from here and still make the flight! But we didn’t need to worry, we count the kilometres down. We had no hold ups and got to the airport exactly on time! So early in fact, that we couldn’t check in our bags! Oh well, better this than the alternative. What a relief!
Hanging out at Athens airport – all a bit tired!
We get to Athens at midnight and meet up with the two Mexican girls we had met in France. Vale and Laura have been at the airport since 6 this evening. We couldn’t believe it when we met 2 months ago that we would be at Athens airport on the same night, so this meeting was pre-arranged. It was so good to catch up with these two lovely girls!
By about 3am we were feeling exhausted so went to find a place to sleep. Athens airport is not the best for overnighting in. There are almost no seats without arms in the middle. There were plenty of people staying all night though so quite noisy too. We said goodbye to the girls (they were flying back to Mexico at 0600) and found a place a bit out of the way and tried to sleep. By 0500 we gave up and found coffee and a pie! Yes a pie – though be it spinach and cheese rather than mince and cheese – a pie no less, haven’t had one of those for months!
We get to Leros at 11am and were met by Michael, our next house owner. He takes us for a “tiki tour” of the island and introduces us to a few people, a couple of cafes and the laundromat etc. This place looks amazing, I think we are going to like it here! We get home and are introduced to our temporary furry family and our home for the next 6 weeks.
Out for dinner for a typical Greek meal and a trial of the local wine, Retsina, oh yes, this is going to be good! Grab a few groceries and home to bed. Its been a big day!
Panteli, Leros
Big adventures to come as we get out to explore this beautiful island.
Kiwis Do Fly 