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.