New Zealand - Christchurch House Sits


We were fortunate to line up a couple (so far) of house sits in New Zealand, both in Christchurch. New Zealand isn’t exactly cheap to travel in, so saving on the cost of hotels is most welcome. Plus, it provides the opportunity to downshift from full-on tourist mode, which can be exhausting. So it gives us a base to explore Christchurch, but also the time to do our taxes, go through the thousands of photos we’ve taken, and of course get some always welcome puppy love. 

These two house sits are each to look after a pair of dogs. The first were a pair of adorable schnauzers named Rafferty, who never tires of chasing tennis balls, and the Tessa, who is elderly and considers chasing tennis balls more of a spectator sport. We took them on walks every day, usually at the nearby beach. We really enjoyed meeting the schnauzers’ owners Lyndal and Roger before their trip to Wellington and plan to reconnect with them later in our trip.

Our second pair of dogs was Sooty and Bella. Sooty is at least part black lab, ten years old but very energetic and a good walking companion, reliably pooping near the trash can in the park so I don’t have to carry a smelly bag of her excrement around for long periods. Bella is thirteen – quite old for a golden retriever – and, when she moves at all, does so at a glacial pace. So both dogs easy to care for and very sweet. Owners Arthur and Margaret are great travelers and we had lots of good conversation with them. They were off to Australia for a little more than a week, and they generously offered to let us stay with them after their return for any extra days we needed. So these were two great house sits for us and we really enjoyed the city of Christchurch as well, as I’ll be writing soon.


Deborah and the Schnauzers on the beach


Rafferty
(photo by Deborah)


Tessa
(photo by Deborah)


Blake with Rafferty
(photo by Deborah)


Deborah reading with Tessa


Deborah with Sooty and Bella


Bella and Sooty
(photo by Deborah)


Sooty with her monkey
(photo by Deborah)


Bella
(photo by Deborah)


Blake with Bella and Sooty
(photo by Deborah)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Next Stop: Everywhere

Image
It’s been nearly nine years since we started travelling for long periods – up to six months at a time – not just to escape the gloomy winters of Western Washington, but to see what it felt like to really live in, not just visit, another place. Australia was the first, then Fiji, Europe, Mexico, Japan and Hawaii. We did a lot of house sitting and work exchange to moderate the cost and expand the experience.  These trips only deepened our love of travel and whetted our appetites for experiencing new places. But the trip to Hawaii ended with us a purchasing a lot on the Big Island and then returning the following winter to build a house. Designing it ourselves, acting as our own contractor and doing much of the work ourselves, that project stretched to nearly two years. We loved our house and our small community in North Kohala, and made many good friends there. But we always knew our Hawaii stay would not be long term – partly because it is expensive, partly because of the inevitable
Read more

Caribbean Cruise

Image
Even before embarking on our Panama Canal cruise, Deborah and I looked ahead to its conclusion and expressed our reluctance to hurry back to the dreary winter weather of Olympia.  To remedy this we rather decadently booked another cruise that was to leave from Fort Lauderdale just two days after our Panama Canal cruise was to end. We spent the two days in Fort Lauderdale between cruises doing laundry, visiting friends, and catching up on computer tasks thanks to our Airbnb’s Wi-Fi.  Our second voyage was a 7 night Caribbean cruise with stops in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Key West, Florida; before returning to Fort Lauderdale. Both of our cruises were on Holland America Line (also same as for our Alaska cruise last year), which has a reputation for a somewhat older clientele. The Caribbean cruisers were a bit younger than the Panama Canal ones, but actually seemed in worse shape. Not sure I’ve ever seen that many pot be
Read more

Thailand - Chiang Mai - Elephant Nature Park

Image
We had an incredible day at Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary for rescued elephants near Chiang Mai. These elephants may have been injured in the logging industry, stepped on landmines, blinded by working under circus lights, or suffered some other abuse by humans, including servitude in the tourist trade. You might think that riding an elephant is no big deal, but if you add the weight of the iron chair, the mahout (handler) and a couple of tourists, you can have half a ton of weight on the animal’s back. But to even get to the point where the elephant will allow you to ride him involves “breaking its spirit,” which means taking a young elephant away from its mother (often by killing or injuring the mother) then subjecting the captive young animal to a barbaric process known as “Phajaan.” The young elephants are constrained with ropes and chains, beaten, stabbed, screamed at and starved until they finally just give up and become submissive to their human trainers. This cruel practice
Read more