Gale Force Winds And Torrential Downpours!

Yes, I know it’s been a while since I put my last blog post up. Sorry. I guess things just got a bit busy here. Although I suspect the real truth is… I’ve just been making the most of this year’s wonderful winter weather and, in the time when I wasn’t, I was working on some of the projects that enable us to live the amazing life that allows us to be able to enjoy it so much.

People often complain about having to go to work, to be there at set times and having specific things that have to be done. Well, I’ll tell you one thing, it’s a lot easier to get work done when there are expectations on you than when you aren’t. Fair enough when I was writing and running Writing to Inspire staying up-to-date with the workload didn’t seem too challenging, but now, when it’s a choice between working on the computer or going for a bike ride by the river…

It’s now that I sit down and appreciate gale-force winds and torrential downpours, because they don’t give me any choice. Or how about the pets that insist that sunrise is the best time of the day for you to wake up and give them their breakfast?

So basically, what I’m saying is the main reason this blog post is late is because I’ve been out enjoying winter too much, and when I haven’t been doing that I’ve been catching up on my work.

I am planning on writing the next post sooner but… well… can I get away with saying it has nothing to do with me, it all depends on the weather.

The Paths We Travel

The road wasn’t too busy as we cycled down the bike lane. Most semis, vans and cars giving us the newly regulated one metre clearance as they drove past us on Burns Beach Road. Not that I was paying particular attention to them, I was focusing more on staying well to the right of the white line and casting the occasional eye over the native bushland three metres or so to the left of us.

The highlight of our day was going to visit some long-time friends for morning tea. There’s no doubt that one of the advantages of house-sitting around WA is that we get to (temporarily) live close to all kinds of friends. In fact, at our previous stay we’d been only a stone’s throw from our daughter... which had led to more than the occasional morning tea!

This time round we are only a few minutes away from a gorgeous couple who became dear friends over twenty years ago when Steve and I physically built a kit home next door to them in Beverley (a rural town, just outside York in WA’s wheatbelt). And yes, I did say ‘physically built’! We put up the exposed beams, attached the Western Red cedar cladding, put down the slate floors, and everything in between… we did the lot! It still amazes me what we achieved… and the fact that the house is still standing!

Living in the country (on four acres), surrounded by wildlife, was so different from the life we have now. We haven’t been back though, not since we left twenty odd years ago, and I have little idea of how our house is fairing. Part of the reason we love catching up and reminiscing with old friends I guess.

These were the thoughts flowing through my mind as we cycled down the semi-main road.

Thoughts, suddenly interrupted as a wild kangaroo appeared from the nearby bushland, and hopped beside us for about half a kilometre before heading back into the bushland.

And, funnily enough, thoughts that were starting to resurface an hour or so later when an unexpected friend (a stranger to us, but friend of our friends) called in and interrupted our morning tea. Who was she? Believe it or not… the current owner of the house we built in Beverley! The person who is currently living under our exposed beams! On our uneven slate and behind our Western Red cedar!

Who’d have guessed? 

Certainly not me.

What Are The Chances?

I guess no business exists without cancellations. Although, for us, they can be a little bit more awkward than they are for other businesses - primarily because we can end up homeless!

In our time we’ve had a few (especially this year), but more recently I have to admit to being unsure as to whether I’m more amazed with the final outcomes or amazed that I’m amazed. After all, I’ve had enough synchronistic events in my life to know that they happen. But (during our time as house-sitters) getting a cancellation then all of a sudden finding out that somebody down the road needs a house-sitter for the exact dates that we’re free? What do you think the chances are of that happening? Once off would be a surprise. Twice might be too, but three times or more? What do you think the chances are? That has to be synchronistic, right?

Last month we suddenly found ourselves with a free ten days. So I went to the promotional house-sitting website we belong to and… believe it or not… just a few hours earlier somebody less than twenty minutes away had put up an ad saying they needed somebody for the exact same days! What’s more, they liked us and booked us almost immediately.

Then a few days later we got a cancellation for the majority of February! One that we still hadn’t been able to rebook by late January - primarily because nobody seemed to be going away for the same days. Chances are I could have covered the three weeks with a collection of bookings, but it would have meant a lot of moving and short stays. Not ideal and not particularly relaxing. Then when we only had a few days left, I decided a decision had to be made, and… all of a sudden, when I looked at the website… there was a new ad. Not only was it not that far away, for days that suited perfectly, but they liked us as well!

That’s just this year, too.

We did have a few cancellations last year (rebooked equally as smoothly! Thankfully!) but not two in two months. This is why we’re not taking bookings more than six months in advance. Whilst it’s reassuring to have homes booked a long way in advance, it does seem to increase the chances of cancellations and changed plans. Something we accept, but not something we’re keen on... for obvious reasons!

Crossing The Strait

At first we decided it would be best to go and house-sit in Tasmania next January (2018). It seemed like the perfect time.

The logic was quite simple - by then there was a greater chance that I’d have got used to being apart from our girls. After all let’s face it, I’ve only just got used to them both having grown up and gone off into the world to be adults - let alone adjusted to them living in different states!

But, as is often the case with plans, the universe seems to having had a different idea on how things should go.

I think it was around March this year that the bookings for 2018 started to come in and… to be honest… each one sounded fun and I simply couldn’t say ‘No.’ Then in the last few weeks there have been a few more… and, well, now… we’re basically booked up until then end of July!

Can you believe that, we’re so popular, we only have a handful of weeks within the next 12 months that aren’t booked? I remember looking at the bookings of other house-sitters before we started this adventure and being impressed if they were booked out for the next three months, and here we are with a year! The wonderful thing to is that most of our bookings are ‘rebooks’ or referrals. But, although we know we’re putting out lots of households, we still want to go to Tassie - sorry.

Our plan now though is to go house-sitting across the Bass Strait in late July/August 2018, not January.

As to how long we intend to stay there, well, we don’t really know. In other words, if we have fun and get lots of bookings (and I don’t get too cold) we could stay for ages, or we might travel on and sit somewhere else, or we might even come back to WA, who knows. Either way I just wanted to give you a heads up on the changes - even though they’re a fair way off.

The weeks that we’re free next year - and in WA - aren’t definite yet but you can find out when they are by checking the regularly updated calendar on the ‘Where We Are Now’ page of our website.

As to bookings in Tassie… we’re not yet in a position to take any but we would love to hear from anybody over there who thinks we might be able to assist them in having a restful holiday.