Watch Out Perth!

I’ve got rather a strange feeling as I sit in the sheltered sun today. The canal’s lapping near my feet, with the ducks, cormorants and pelicans not much further away and I’m preparing for our move tomorrow.

All moves feel different, because each house and community is different - especially when you’re moving from the outskirts of Perth back to the suburbs again. Plus we’ve been here for close on 10 weeks, in three different houses in one street, all with the same view but from a different angle. We even know which dogs bark when we walk past them, in fact we know several of them (and their owner’s) by name, locals wave to us as they drive past as if we’ve always lived here, and I even think that the girl at the local coffee shop is beginning to remember which of us has the cappucino and which has the chai latte.

Not that I’m complaining about the move. Next week we’ll have more than one supermarket to choose from, a train station less than an hour’s ride away, friends within cycling distance, and all kinds of other metro things. Who knows I might even go buy some new clothes and find a hairdressers…

Every house-sit can be so different from another, and that’s before you even consider the homes and pets. You’d think that after almost two and half years I’d be used to it, but sometimes it still catches me off guard. Just like people’s generosity and respect for the service we provide. When we started out I never in a million years thought our lives would be so diverse or that we would be so sought-after and appreciated. 

Thanks, everyone!

Well, enough of this relaxing and reflecting, time to go bring in the laundry, recharge the bike batteries and start sorting for packing. 

Watch out Perth, here we come!

Would You or Not?

Despite us being in the middle of a stormy few days, when Steve checked the computer this morning it said the ‘chance of rain’ was only 10% - which I didn’t really believe, but our washing did need washing. Besides it was sunny outside…

But… by the time I’d put everything in the tub and pressed Start, the computer said the chance of rain was now 80%! Plus, when I looked out of the window it appeared the sun had decided to play Hide and Seek behind the huge grey clouds.

What the…? Was it watching me? Had it seen me press Start on the machine?

Still, by the time I was unloading all our soggy clothes the sun had reappeared. So I decided, what the heck, and put it all out. Besides good British training has taught me that thirty minutes on the line was better than none.

Twenty minutes later though, I looked out the window and the sky was tinged with grey.

‘Do you reckon we should bring the laundry in?’ I asked the man.

But, believe it or not, in the two minutes it took us to get from our chairs to the washing line, the weather had gone from greyish to torrential rain. Meaning, of course, that not only were our newly laundered, semi dried, clothes soaked again… but we were too!

Now, all I can say is… the garden is looking great, the wild birds are enjoying the overflowing birdbaths and good job we’re not moving house-sits this afternoon. Why? Well, because the only dry clothes we’d get to choose between wearing are our shorts, tee shirt or pyjamas!

(Oh yes! And just in case you’re interested, as I write this ten minutes later the rain has stopped and the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds. No… I take that back, it’s bucketing again!)

Why I'm Not Answering Your Calls

 



Has anybody had any problems contacting me by phone recently? I have to ask because I know I haven’t been quite as contactable as usual. Not that it’s out of choice, and I’m still reachable by text, email, through the website and other computer based ways - thankfully. Why not by phone though you might ask, well… primarily because for months now I’ve been inundated with phone calls from all kinds of foreigners eager to tell me how they can improve my life if only I sign up with them! I rarely hang up on people, lie or even avoid calls (especially since much of our business is done over the phone) but it seems like it’s become the only way to go.

The funny thing is though that these generous, friendly people are all trying to inform me about the same thing – the federal government’s new offer on solar energy. Of course, I agree with solar energy (especially in a country with so much sun) but don’t you agree, it’s a bit difficult to collect any when you don’t have a roof or even anywhere to put a panel? I find it all rather ironic really – considering our lifestyle and our effort to be gentler on the world.

On top of all this, ‘nomadic’ doesn’t seem to be a word in everyone’s vocabulary - not even in the form of ‘Digital Nomad’! (I don’t like to say we’re ‘homeless’ because that has so many other inferences.) I’ve tried saying ‘we are renting,’ even ‘we have no roof,’ and, in fact, just about everything between, but I’m still getting numerous calls a week from unknown mobile phones and locations all over the world. Some hang up on me, of course, but others just keep pushing unable to understand what I’m trying to say.

Isn’t it a shame that some things in the world can be so desperate?

Anyway, that’s not really the point of this post… unless by chance you have the perfect solution for me in the form of what to say or do.

No, basically I just wanted to say, if you should phone me and not get through on the first call, please call back immediately or try a different form of communication – I promise you we are still here and I’m not really trying to ignore you.

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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.