Reflecting back on our snow birding season

We're now back home in Niagara Falls, Canada, after our most recent snow birding season. This was an adventurous one for us; our plans leaving home were for Hawaii, then Australia. Our schedule was not fully booked, so we left with some uncertainties, or some opportunities for adventure, depending on your outlook.

We travelled 135 days, from December 8, 2016 to April 21, 2017. What did we accomplish in that time?

House sits	6	102 nights
Pets cared for	7	4 dogs, 2 cats, 1 fish
Countries visited	3	USA, Australia, Fiji
Flights	12	Airlines: Air Canada, United, Hawaiian, Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin, Fiji, Southwestern … and the best? Qantas, by far!
Cruises	2	14 nights – Hawaii & Fiji
Hotels	7	12 nights
Car rentals	1	10 days
Coach transfer	1	3 hours
Cars loaned *	4	Proton, Ford, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet

* This information is added for Greg's fellow GM retirees. They will likely laugh at him for having driven a Ford. However, they'll be reassured to know that it did break down, but Greg was able to do the repairs and have it on the road again for the homeowners, who were very grateful.

All good things must come to an end

Day 7 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

Our final day had us sailing the Bligh Water, named after Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.

Setting foot in today and yesterday

Day 6 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

Being Sunday, the plan was for passengers to attend church in the morning. Since the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 19th century, the religion of Fiji has been predominantly Christian (60%). We joined a special Palm Sunday choral service at the 1907 stone Catholic church in Waiyevo, on the westerly side of the island of Taveuni.

Experiencing a traditional Fijian lovo feast

Day 5 of a 7-day Fiji Island cruise (part 2)

After a busy daytime (see part 1), we returned to Taveuni in the evening to experience a lovo feast.

Visiting Tavoro National Park

Day 5 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise (part 1)

This day, Saturday, was jam-packed with activities. We left the ship at our usual time of 9 am and had planned activities until 7:30 pm, at which time we were to return to the ship for a dessert buffet. Can life get any better than that!

The Melbourne Cup crab races

Day 4 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

Today we spend the day in Savusavu, the second largest town on the second largest Fijian island of Vanua Levu. The population is less than 4,000, so still not that big by many standards.

We spent time in the morning discovering the town and its culture. It has one main street, which is a hub of activity for the southern side of the island. It was market day, so it was interesting to look at the various stalls; many having a wide variety of kava, and others with various fruit and vegetables, many of which were unfamiliar to us.

Experiencing kava

Fiji Islands cruise

When we first joined the cruise, we often found ourselves being asked if we'd tried kava. I didn't really know what it was, so needless to say I hadn't tried it. Although Greg had made a point to read about it before arriving in Fiji, he'd never tried it either.

We learned it's a drink enjoyed by most Fijians in a social setting. That setting runs the whole gamut, from a casual local outdoor market to a formal ceremonial induction of a tribal chief.

Visiting a former leper colony

Day 3 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

Today we visited the Makogai Island, part of Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. The island is only 8.4 square kms (3.2 square miles) and has a maximum altitude of only 267 metres (876 feet). Not a big place, that's for sure.

From 1911 to 1969, this island was the home of a leper colony for not only Fiji but also many Pacific island groups, as well as Australia. It was staffed by Catholic nuns. During its operation it housed 4500 people, of which 1241 are buried on the island.

The wanderers are heading home

We're wending our way back to Canada. We left Fiji April 11th after an amazing cruise experience. I'll write more about that in the days to come.

We spent a few days with friends and their two 'girls', Sierra Rose at the front, and Lilly Mae at the back.

Hearing stories of cannibalism

Day 2 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

Overnight we travelled to the port of Levuka, a USESCO world heritage site on the island of Ovalau. Europeans first settled in this area of Fiji and established it as the capital around 1800. In 1888, the capital was moved to Suva on the main island, but the town has retained its colonial architecture, although much of it is in disrepair.

A great start to our Fiji Islands cruise

Day 1 of a 7-day Fiji Islands cruise

We're now on our Fiji Islands cruise. Although wifi is included in the cruise in the lounge areas, the reception is sporadic or slow. This, along with our busy daily schedule, may affect how much detail I get to share.

Some days you just need a sarong!

Today was our last full day on land in Fiji. We decided to take the $1 (60 cents Canadian) bus into Nadi. When traveling, we enjoy mixing with the local people and learning about their culture.

It was about a 20-minute ride to the town centre. Once we reached the bus terminal, we saw that all the buses were painted different colours. It was easy to figure out the system; getting on a yellow bus would take us back to the island. Easy!

Almost 40% of the Fijian population declare their ethnic background as Indian, so it wasn't surprising to learn of a Hindu temple in Nadi. Lonely Planet travel guide shows it as being one of the rare examples of that type of Indian architecture outside of India. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the temple, but the wood carvings, and paintwork (including the ceilings) was intricate.

We had read that we should have our knees covered and that we would need to be barefoot. No problem. When we arrived, however, we were told that we needed to have our legs fully covered. The temple was prepared for tourists though, and for $5 each we were loaned a sarong to wear over our clothing. 

I was the one who wanted to go into the temple, so I was pleased that Greg didn't balk at the idea of wearing the sarong, and even agreed to the photo being taken. What a good sport! 

Ladies were given red sarongs and the men wore beige. Notice how we accessorized the sarongs so appropriately - t-shirts of motorbikes and rock music. I'm not sure how respectful we really looked, but I'm sure they appreciated our $10 donation.

After walking around the downtown core, we returned to the island. After some quiet time at the pool we went to the port to check in for our cruise. We saw a lovely Fiji parrotfinch. I couldn't get close enough for a quality photo with my phone, so I resorted to Wikipedia.

While we were at the port, about six smaller cruise ships came into dock. This is the sister ship of our cruise line, Captain Cook. They also run day cruises from this port. I just love the colour of the sky at that time of day.

This is one of their competing cruise lines, South Sea Cruises. Notice the way the coloured sky reflects on the water - just beautiful.

On checking in for the cruise we learned that there are 43 passengers booked for our cruise. This ship has the capacity for 130 passengers. Living with that few people for a week, chances are we'll get to know them all. If they're representative of the usual tourists here, most will be from New Zealand or Australia. I wonder if we'll be the only Canadians aboard? I'm guessing we'll find out by the end of the week, if not before.

Switch your phone off and start roaming

Last Saturday we flew from Sydney, Australia to Nadi, Viti Levu, one of the more than 300 islands in the chain of Fijian Islands. We're currently staying just outside of Nadi, in the tourist area of Denarau Island. On Tuesday we'll board the Reef Endeavour for a 7-night Colonial Discovery Fiji cruise with Captain Cook Cruises.

our cruise ship

Remembering places and faces

Our thanks to those of you who have contacted us to make sure we were not in the area of the Cyclone Debbie and its aftermath. That weather happened some distance north of us in the neighbouring state of Queensland, although some areas of northern New South Wales were also affected. We're in south NSW. As is usual for us, we did have lots of rain during that time, but nothing to the extent of Cyclone Debbie.

What I'd like Canada and Australia to adopt from each other

I'll start with a sign that shows we're in the southern hemisphere. Seeing a spring event being held in October highlighted the different seasons 'down under'.

Signs we're definitely not in Canada

As we head into our last week in Australia, it's time to reflect on our experience. We've been here three months, which is the maximum we can stay in the country for any one stretch, even though we have a one-year visa. We plan to wend our way back home over the next few weeks. More about that later this week.

Experiencing 50 shades of grey

For those of you who read the title of this post and were anticipating something other than our ongoing weather news ... sorry to disappoint you :)

Greg tends to remind me when I've gone a while without updating the blog. I've been hesitating as I felt all I could show you was more photos of ocean and grey skies. However, yesterday was a breakthrough in the weather.

What a weather week it was!

While we're house sitting in Flinders, New South Wales, our homeowners are travelling with their caravan (trailer) to the south and west of us. They've now been away almost three weeks, and in that time they've had blue skies and sunshine, pleasant daytime temperatures, cool evening temperatures for sleeping, and two nights with rain. Ideal conditions for that type of travelling, so we're happy to hear that.

We've had more days than we care to remember with heavy downpours of rain, or else skies that constantly threaten rain. Let's just say we've done more reading than usual :)

Following a day of torrential downpours here yesterday, this is today's weather warning:

Brightening up a cloudy day

Summer is officially over in this part of Australia, and we've now moved into autumn.

On a recent gloomy weather day, I went for a walk in the neighbourhood. 

A blustery day at the blowholes

Hint: to look at any photo full-screen, tap or click on it.

Let's just say we're had more than our fair share of rain lately. After a weekend where I managed to read a whole book (that would usually take me at least three weeks), yesterday we were ready for a road trip.

Although the rain had subsided, we were faced with blustery conditions with a wind of 50 km/hr (31 miles) for most of the day. 

rough water all along the coast

It's raining cats & dogs!

We're now living about an hour south of Sydney, in Flinders, New South Wales, population 5,200. It's a suburb of the city of Shellharbour, population 69,700. We're just over 2 km (1+ miles) from the village of Shellharbour (a district of the city of the same name), which is a popular seaside area of quaint shops and eateries.

Shellharbour village waterfront

The social side of house sitting

The past weekend highlighted one of the great joys of house sitting, particularly with friendly Australians.

Our homeowners returned Friday afternoon, and that evening we sat down to a beautiful Thai green curry prepared by the homeowners.

We said goodbye to Ollie, who
has such a beautiful temperament

Why did the kangaroo cross the street?

We've been living a quiet life here in the suburbs of Canberra. We enjoy spending time at this beautiful home, as well as walks in the neighbourhood, and discovering the northerly part of Canberra.

We ventured into the city on Saturday, to enjoy a day at the 3-day annual cultural festival. We anticipated seeing colourful national costumes, international dances, traditional music and a great variety of food. Unfortunately it rained steadily the whole time, which certainly dampened the spirt of the festival. We saw about 80 countries represented with booths at the festival, but Canada wasn't one of them. We wondered why.

Although we feel like we're living much the same way we would if we were at home in Canada, each day brings us experiences we just would not get at home. That's part of what makes the house sitting so enjoyable. One of my favourite differences is the abundance of beautiful wildlife here. Note that I have not altered the colour in any of these photos; they were taken on different days at different locations.

The planned city of Canberra

We've now been in Canberra for a week, which is halfway through our sit here. Before we left Canada I had done some reading about Australia and was particularly interested in the history of the design of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Although my primary focus in planning our sits was to stay near the coast, I was pleased to stray from that plan, to be able to see Canberra.

Greg's in the car, with our buddy Ollie in the back

Are those sheep hopping?

As you may know, I was born and raised in Wales, where sheep outnumber people by three to one. Apparently in Australia, sheep outnumber people by more than four to one. However, we've seen very few sheep since we've been here.

In the two days since we've been in Canberra, we haven't seen any live sheep. However, we did see two that made us smile.

Two days ago, I went to the store for a bottle of wine. I just couldn't resist this one.

Experiencing hot flashes

Yesterday we arrived at our current house sit, in Nicholls, Canberra. Canberra is the capital city of Australia, and yet is only its 7th largest city. There are five cities with populations in the millions (Sydney 4.6 million), but Canberra has only 367,000 residents.

Our latest housemate, Ollie-The-Dog

From coast to coast ... again!

We've now been at this house sit in Western Australia for more than three weeks. Here's our house companion, in case you've forgotten. I do have a policy of asking pet owners for permission to post photos of their pets, but I made an exception for this one. I hope I won't get into trouble :)

He didn't have a name, so Greg named him Henry

Bird-watching in Western Australia

Some people who know me are well aware that I know very little about birds and bird species. However, currently living in Western Australia, I am fascinated by the native birds here. Usually, if I'm asked about a bird I saw, I would most likely say, for example, it was a red bird, or a yellow bird - that's about it! That's not the case with these birds.

Out and about as tourists

Yesterday was another road trip for us, exploring an area highlighted in a tourist brochure.

We aimed for north east of the city of Mandurah, for what we came to learn was the shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. In the brochure, it showed Jarrahdale as an historic town with a good place for lunch, and then we planned to move on to Serpentine Falls. Once more, we seem to visit waterfalls, even though our home is in Niagara Falls.

Thrombolites are now checked off our bucket list

Our first house sit, three years ago, was in a prestigious gated community in Arizona. Being homebodies, we were content in the beautiful home in a beautiful environment. It felt like we were staying at a 5-star resort. Our homeowners teased us that we really should venture "outside of the compound", as they called it. That saying has stuck with us. Yesterday was a day to venture outside of the compound.

Shopping for an antique

An update on yesterday's post about tea kettles and our hunt for a drip coffee maker. After visiting more stores today, we finally went back to the only store where we'd seen one.

There were only two left in boxes, so we quickly grabbed one. Phew! For those familiar with a popular Ikea ad, Greg started saying "Start the car! Start the car!"

In our discussion with workers at two of the stores today, they confirmed that no one really uses this type anymore. Hopefully our homeowners will, but if not we've kept the receipt and they can return it.

While we were at the shopping centre, I stopped to buy sausages. Faced with a wide range of choices, some of which I really wasn't familiar with, I noticed this pack.

Being Welsh, these seemed like the ideal choice ... and no lamb were sacrificed for them either. I'm grateful for that :)

What temperature do you like your tea water?

One of the interesting aspects of housesitting in various households is we get to experience different appliances, home layouts, and different ways of doing things. Australia is no different in that respect; there are cultural differences compared to what we're used to in Canada.

For example, we don't see these signs in Canada!

Getting sand between my toes

We're currently living in the city of Mandurah (population 84,000), on the west coast of Australia. It's shown on the map  below in blue; a long narrow stretch of land, fronting the Indian ocean to the west, and a channel, inlet, bay, islands, and an estuary to the east.

A visit from the Freemantle doctor

When first planning our trip to Australia, I must admit I didn't know much about the distinction between the west- and east-coast populations and lifestyles. I also didn't realize the size of the country. Coming from Canada, where crossing the country can easily be a 5-hour flight, perhaps I should have realized.

These large blooms are in our front yard,
but this plant is common here - love it!

Happy Australia Day!

We've now been in Western Australia for one week and we seem to have settled in nicely. Today, January 26th, is a national holiday - Australia Day.

Reaping the benefits of being social

A few days ago we flew from Brisbane (on the east coast) to Perth (on the west coast) for our current house sit in Mandurah, about an hour south of Perth.

G'day mate - pick up your rubbish!

Today we're travelling north, back to Brisbane, to be ready for our flight tomorrow to Perth. It will be a 5-hour flight from the east coast to the west. We know there will be differences in the climate, but it will be interesting to see if there will be cultural differences too.

In our neighbour's front garden
at our most recent house sit

The importance of routines for our housemates

One of the benefits for pet owners of having someone house sit is that it lessens the stress on pets if they can be kept in their own environment, and to their daily routines.

At our current house sit we have two housemates: 

Watch out for mermaids and bull sharks!

We're now settled into a short house sit that was a last-minute booking. Everything was arranged just a day or two before the sit started yesterday. By contrast, some of our sits have been booked more than six months in advance. Life is rarely boring when we're house sitting!

We are now living in Mermaid Waters, in the Gold Coast area of eastern Australia. I took some shots from Google Earth, to try and explain the layout of this area.

What's my opinion of Australia, you ask?

We've now been in Australia for nine days. Before we left Canada, many people told us how beautiful Australia is and that we'd love it. I haven't been here long enough to form an opinion about the country, but I certainly have formed an opinion about the people.

At the front entrance of our Brisbane home

Koalas are cuddly, but they're not bears!

We're currently on a 5-day sit in Brisbane, Australia. We only have to care for a cat, so we have lots of free time to discover the area.

We both had a goal to get close to live koalas and kangaroos on this trip, so yesterday we visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Tick that one off our bucket lists!

Cone heads and other si-fi stuff

We spent a second day in Sydney, Australia this past weekend. Although we again did lots of walking, our primary destination was the Royal Botanic Garden.

Take care not to upset the rain gods!

Thanks to my friend, Google, I've learned that both Hawaiian mythology and Australian aboriginal mythology have gods of rain. Well, I'm starting to wonder whether we offended them somehow!

A benefit of living in a rainforest

Travelling with house sits, we experience new environments and new landscapes. This home is certainly no exception.

This is our first time of living in a rainforest. Those who follow this blog will know I've mentioned that it rains a lot, here in Hilo, Hawaii. The enjoyable outcome of that is the lush tropical plants we see, right in our own back yard.

We're living in a house where your living quarters are on the second floor. The ground level houses a workshop, laundry, and carport. This is a common house plan here.

Attempting to snorkel in Hawaii

Greg and I enjoy snorkelling, but almost always it's at an all-inclusive resort where we're able to come out of our hotel room and swim from the beach. We brought our snorkel equipment with us to Hawaii, but so far haven't been successful.