October 3rd-24th Townsville North Queensland.

Townsville brings another first for us. A proper BBQ outdoors on the deck with Tim cooking big fat juicy steaks and sausages. Just fabulous after truck stop food and a long tiring day. Natalie is fixing cold drinks and I have never felt happier to take off my shoes.

The dogs are laid by the side of us, and I think we are already friends?

Ginny and Suki are lovely dogs. Ginny is around 11 though whatever she's doing is working. She looks a lot younger! She is the larger of the two, Suki looks like a smiling baby Seal. Both ladies are very well behaved and very friendly. They are affectionate and calm. I like them immediately.

Ginny and Suki 

Tim and Natalie show us around their marvellous home. Its in Alligator Creek, halfway up a mountain or large hill depending on how technical you are about such things. It has a wonderful view, watching over the bowl of the small settlement of houses and farms below. There are no neighbours and an inviting pool! Lovely.

 Natalie and Tim have lived here 5 months so its a surprise when they tell us they have yet to have a swim!  Looks like we will be christening it for them. The temperatures are set to soar in the next few days. Im sure we will be making great use of the pool.

So little around us!

The back of the wonderful house

We sit up chatting out on the deck and Tim shows us how when and what the girls eat. He talks Jason through the pool care and I get the grand tour from Natalie. It really is a beautiful large home, with lots of big windows which frame the wonderful views. The Parquet wooden flooring is gorgeous. I really love the feel of the place. Again, I think how fortunate we are to be house sitting.Sharing the homes and furry family members of  some wonderful places and people. Its just fab. We are all tired and Natalie and Tim are leaving for their own adventure tomorrow so after tea and drinks we all head off to bed. 

Next morning we are up early. Natalie and Tim go through the house manual which they have expertly put together. We find a house manual very useful and its a great way for the hosts to have peace of mind that we wont forget when the bins go out or just exactly how to clean the pool or maintain the lawns. 

We ask for vets details and a contact number or email too. So far we have never had need to use either but its good to have them just incase.

Manual at the ready

We leave them to get on with their packing and head off to get some supplies and check-out Townsville and place called 'C Bar' that Natalie tells us is great for food. Its on The Strand a popular strip with views of neighbouring Magnetic Island, named by Captain James Cook no less on his first voyage to Australia in 1770. Townsville is situated in the dry tropics and adjacent to the central section of the great barrier reef.Townsville is big! In fact Natalie tells me its the largest city North of Brisbane. Its touted as the unofficial capital of North Queensland. I'm surprised to find out it has a population of around 196,296. 

Magnetic 'Maggie' Island

We have had a few days settling in and getting to know Ginny and Suki. They are two very well behaved young ladies. We have been taking them out walking early in the morning as its too hot past 9am for them to have a run about. We have bush land behind us and we manage to get about halfway up the huge hill each morning fighting through 'Chinee Apple' which Tim has waged a one man war against. It spreads like wildfire apparently and is a pest to native flora. Its well equipped too, with long hard thorns so you really don't want to mess with it.

Tims Chinee Apple Bonfire

 Ginny and Suki have a run around and sniff about until they are satisfied there are no Roos to chase. There are a lot of Kangaroos and Wallabies here. Every few steps we hear a big crunch and from out of no where out jumps a Roo or Wallaby and boing boing boing with big feet whacking the ground, it hops off. They're quick and much more dextrous than you might think. I find them comical and cute. You cannot help but see them as cartoon characters or skippy. We have a baby that comes each morning to tentatively sniff around the perimeter fence looking for fallen flowers to eat. I am yet to get a picture of him. As soon as I get anywhere near he's off, boing boing boing.

Hot Dog

On our first morning when Tim showed us around we spotted what looked like brown paper parcels hanging in the trees. 'OOOOH' I said 'look at those'! .... after following my outstretched pointing arm and after a pause Tim said 'Green Ants'. Then he tells us they have a lemony flavour and quick as a flash pops a few in his mouth and chows down. He's a veritable Crocodile Dundee! 'Yep Lemon' he says!

Brown paper packages tied up with.......Ant spit

Are you ready for your close up!

Work of art, well Ants actually

I think these are wonderful and I cant wait to get out and have a closer look  at the nests they build,when its cooler of course. A few days later Im scrambling around trying to get a picture or two. They are pretty amazing little mighty things. They work co-operatively in huge numbers to pull leaves together and fix them in place with larval silk. 

All together now

I love the homes they make. I am reminded of marvellous  Fiona Hall exhibition I saw years ago in Sydney. She wove different birds nests out of dollar bills. I loved those and I really like the ants nests

Fiona Hall's nests

Their colonies can span over many trees. They can become very aggressive if disturbed and although they don't have a sting if you get bitten you know about it as they spray some sort of acid directly onto the bite! OUCH.  

Architect Ants!

In North Eastern Thailand the price of weaver ant larvae is twice the price of good quality beef and in a single Thai province ant larvae worth 620.000 USD are harvested every year! Tim could make a fortune!

 I find some other interesting stuff too. Like these.

Who lives in a house like this

Holey Moley

They are of course Funnel Web Spiders. Der Der Der!!!!!! Like most scary things in Australia the stories are always bigger than the facts, sure people have been bitten and died from getting a nip from one of these. But the statistics are telling. There are around 30-40 reports of funnel web bites a year and some of those result in extreme 'evenomation' or the nasty process of getting injected with the spiders venom. Still, only thirteen people have actually died from funnel web bites and thats in over 100 years. There have been none since 1981 when an antidote was developed.

We head back to the house and the luxury of being cool in the pool! beautiful day = time for a swim

After a good walk and explore Suki and Ginny are ready to take a nap in the shade. Its a hot one.

One thirsty Suki!

Super Dogssssssssssss!!!!!

This afternoon I learnt that Kindles are not waterproof! We are settling if for an afternoon relaxing at home. I carelessly toss my Kindle onto the sun lounger and even as I do it i know its a stupid idea, it bounces once, boing, straight into the swimming pool. Glug glug glug, I watch as it sinks to the bottom and lay there as bubbles rise to the surface!

Goodbye Kindle, Nice Knowing ya

'I know why the caged bird sings' meets a watery end

Darn! I was really enjoying Maya Angelou's first book. 

Its off to the kitchen for a spot of lunch. We find that each house sit dictates our habits, its interesting to notice that your surroundings and environment affect your eating habits much more than you may think. Since we have been full time house sitters, each place has seen us with very different patterns of eating and how we spend our time. In a cold and wet Codrington, with a remote location we spent a lot of time in the Kitchen making warm filling slow food. In Nambucca we walked around 3-4 hours a day, exploring the miles of beaches and bushland right at our front door, and ate hearty breakfasts and not much else.

In Bateman's Bay we ate a lot of chilli and one pot foods and spent nights indoors. Here in Townsville in the heat we have been eating salad and fish. We haven't even switched the cooker on once, and nearly all of our time is spent outdoors, either by the pool, on the deck or walking the girls up the hill at the back of the house. Its too hot for much else.

On the menu today are summer rolls. We both love to cook and Vietnamese food is one of our favourites. Crisp and chilled, fresh and citrus flavours all perfect in the heat.

All ready to go

YUMMMMMVILLE

The Weather has been hot and dry and each day we see the temperature creep up. It makes for nights spent tossing and turning and so I have been getting up early and taking the Girls for a sun rise walk. Its beautiful to climb up the hill as the sun comes up over the hills to the South. Ginny and Suki are loving being out rummaging in the bushland so early. 

Here comes the Sun

I spy with my little eye

Some ladies beginning with G & S

Tropicalis

What beautiful landscapes we are waking to each morning and being here at Natalie and Tim's is wonderful. We are very much enjoying the peace and quite and all the wildlife. Crickets bouncing and chiriping, Cane toads, croaking and making some strange old noises, Kookaburras that sound like monkeys laughing, The wallabies coming to eat the flowers that drop from the hibiscus, Gekkos making their kissing noises, butterflies, all the beautiful birds. Its like stepping into a Disney animation each morning! 

Natalie had told us a bout a black throated bird which comes and goes and is apparently rather a rare thing. Well he comes to wash himself on the wet leaves of the palms after we water at night, heres the very best picture I could get of him. He's so quick and tiny.

Bath time for birdies

Jason saved this little dude from the pool filter

Spot the resident Wallaby?

With all the hot dry weather it was no surprise to see a Bushfire. Jason spotted smoke and flames out to the south along the Bruce Highway that we drove in on. It wasn't long before it grew and the flames were much more visible. We were still not worried at all, it was far enough away for us know we were safe. We googled the incident and put on the local news. Seems it was started by a few sparks from someone welding, The fire quickly got out of control and threatened a few houses.

It was a strong reminder about how careful you must be here at this time of year with anything that may cause a fire. There are constant adverts on the television reminding people about the dangers and hazards of starting fire, and of course what to do if it happens.http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/file_system/attachments/Attachment_BushFireSurvivalPlan.pdf

Here is a PDF guide and information regarding what to do to prepare against bush fire and what to do should it happen in your area. As house sitters we feel it is our responsibility to be informed and know what to do should we ever find ourselves in that situation. I spoke with Natalie about bush fires before they left and She basically said "Get the dogs and get out to safety' 

 The fire service soon had this one under control and by the following morning we could just see a few clouds of smoke. Luckily no one was hurt or any homes lost.

Jason and I decided to have a night out and found out that the local theatre was to have a production of Sweeney Todd. We love the original musical and the Tim Burton vision with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, So we thought we'd see how Townsville compared.

Must say it was pretty good. The cast were really good, especially Sweeney and Mrs Lovatt. The sets were rather disappointingly amateur. There was a strange start to the show which involved several old TV screens showing images of riots and the famous grainy Tianaman Square footage of the student, shopping bag in hand, blocking the path of  a tank. All before the cast appeared on stage in straight jackets and in what seemed to be a lunatic Asylum to start the opening song. All of which might have had some purpose if then the rest of the show hadn't reverted back to a Victorian London? 

Anyhow we enjoyed a night in the theatre and Townsville's is pretty fancy and well designed. Great night out.

We have been taking care of the pool and Jason has become a dab hand with the long net and Poseiden which is the vacuum cleaner that moves along the bottom of its own accord keeping the pool nice and tidy.

Does he keep a tidy pool?

Looking very clean!

Hey pool boy, you missed a bit!

Nice job

I am a huge David Hockney fan and I have very much been enjoying sitting around the pool and imagining it as a subject for one of his 'Splash' Paintings. I might even get my pencils and pens out and do my own studies. I have become a bit obsessed with the light playing on the water and the shadows cast from the palms and railings. Very Californian!

I really like these images of all the different types of reflection and light in the water, all in one shot. 

Ginny and Suki like relaxing with us in the warm weather. I love how Suki sits with her legs crossed, such a little lady!

Ginny shows off her leg lifting skills! We are fast falling for these two. They are very content and  easy to care for. I collected these fallen flowers to show how we feel about them.

The girls do like a bone! We haven't given them many but one or two as a treat, which they have really enjoyed. Ginny is a Master bone cruncher and demolishes them in only a short while, whereby Suki likes to take her time and savour the flavour! 

Crunch Crunch

Lick Lick

Munch munch 

Tim and Natalie have some wonderful plants in their garden around the pool, aswell as a small veggie patch, but the Papaya and Coconut tree, really add the tropical feel to the ambience of sitting outdoors and soaking up the sun. Before leaving Natalie left us a few Papaya to sample. They were beyond delicious!

On the tree

Off the tree

Jason prepping

Ready and waiting

They think its all over....It is now!

Wow Papaya what a great way to start the day!  We have been spoilt. Tea and toast just does not compare.

We went into town today to get supplies and have a wander around the Art gallery, but on route we were caught in a sudden downpour and headed straight to C bar to watch the rain, stay dry and get a good coffee. It poured and poured and poured which is great for all the gardens and surrounding land, but not so great for us bikers!

Theres a storm a brewing

Well then just have to stay in Cafe and have some food. We ate breakfast and read the papers for a few hours and still it came down. I love a good tropical Storm and I hoped we might get thunder and lightening.

No more coffee...Please!

by lunchtime we were still there and no sign of it letting up we ordered Mussels and played scrabble

Wash out

eventually it started to ease and whilst we had the small opening of a dry patch we hopped on the bike and headed home. Townsville will have to wait for another day. 

Today we switched on the TV and were shocked to see al the terrible bush fires across NSW. Very bad indeed. We sat glued to the set and watched the special edition News. Across the blue Mountains, Lithgo, Springwood and Mount Victoria, fires are blazing and houses being engulfed and lost to the barrage of fire. 

It  really is very distressing to see so many affected by the fires, the loss of their homes and valuables.People have literally been forced into the water in a bid to save themselves.It must be terrifying to wait and watch as the fire takes hold of your home, but as animal lover my concern is for the wildlife and pets displaced, injured or killed in the fires. Its heartbreaking to hear about drowning animals being fished out of nearby lakes trying to escape the fire, and of all the family pets who have gone missing. Animal rescue centres have been inundated with injured and orphaned animals. Heres how you can help. http://awlnsw.com.au/bushfires.html
Its important to remember that long after the fires die down there will be injured animals required medical attention and care. There are many wonderful volunteer organisations too, you can find out more here http://www.fnpw.org.au/resources/wildlife-carer-arescue-groups-australia

Hats off to the Australian fire fighters who have been working so hard and in such dangerous conditions in a bid to help people save their homes and stop further fires.

Jason has taken little Miss Suki out for a walk, but its a bit too hot for Ginny, so Ginny and I had some quality one on one time. She's a real old softie and its great to have her all to myself for patting and cuddles. Shes a great model too! We spend a bit of time playing and when she's had enough she steps it up a notch on the cute scale for my Photographs.

Manicure ?

Just before treats

Treats!

Having a pool at this house sit has been so lovely. We have been able to relax and stay cool and with such wonderful surroundings there has been no need to go anywhere else. Which has meant much more time with Ginny and Suki too. We've had a great time reading, playing chess and swimming. Thats us not the dogs!
I am also very proud and happy to say that I have finally learnt to dive and have had the chance to overcome some long rooted fears I have about being in the water.
Coming from the most landlocked place in the UK, Being in the water was never really up there on a regular 'to do' list. Add to that my cowardy custard feeling about waves and other wet moving things that have a power and nature of their own, and it has never been very conducive to being in the water whilst smiling and having fun. All that's changed!
Thanks Tim and Natalie for the pool. Thank you gorgeous Jason, my fabulous patient betrothed who spent two whole days taking me from putting my face into the water, to going under the water. Through comedy rolls into said wet stuff. For not laughing at my belly flops, and for being so thoughtful about my fears. All until I was able to do this!

DIVE

You are the best X

Today was a trip into town day. Getting ready to leave requires a few things for the road and we want to leave a few essentials for Tim and Natalie for their return. Riding along and enjoying the sun and  blue skies flashing by, I saw what I thought to be Kangaroo, injured but alive on the side of the road. He was big, and sat up right on his front legs or arms by the very edge of the busy road. Sadly his back legs appeared to have been injured or worse broken. This was all as we speed by so I was a tad bamboozled.

One of the things about being on the bike is that, as a pillion you have to be mindful of distracting or disrupting the driver too suddenly.Very simply put its dangerous! So although I was upset and wanted to stop immediately to help the Kangaroo, it took me a little while to calmly let Jason know what I thought I'd seen and then a short time for him to be able to stop safely. About half a Km or so from the Roo we thought. IPhones are amazing! We quickly Googled (Google is amazing too!) and found a number to call to report injured native wildlife.Within 5 minutes we had spoken to a lovely lady, Jenny who was on her way to help the Roo. http://www.nqwildlife.org.au/
She told us not to worry, to continue about our business and that she would find him and call me back.
All hats off to volunteers.
Turns out our Roo was infact a rare 'Pretty Faced Wallaby' and had indeed been hit by a vehicle, but was relatively unharmed. Jenny believed he had been hit and maybe stunned. She had found him at the side of the road as we described and approached with caution. She explained that they have to be mindful that a semi injured animal may still jump into the road and cause further accidents. As it turned out, our fella, hopped up and off on to his big jumpers into the bushland as she approached. She followed him and was satisfied he was recovered and in no way seriously injured. It was a good day for Pretty Faced Wallabys! I love those volunteers and all the work they do for animals.
It was a lovely way to end the day, knowing that he was back on his feet and out jumping through the bush somewhere!

Jason took Ginny and Suki out for a wander around and called to me from the mound behind the house, "Quick come outside!" Wow. At least 20 Wedge tailed Eagles all surfing on the warm thermals. The photographs I quickly took, do not do justice to just how closely they swoop down and then soar so serenely and deftly back up into the dizzying heights of all that blue sky! I felt we were witnessing something really very special. Suki thought so too!

Wheres the birdie!

We have had so much hot weather and long sunny days, only one day of real rain and a few light showers has left the landscape quite dry but non the less the scenery remains marvellous. The beauty of the Australian landscape and the sheer size of the vista's are staggering. How fortunate we feel to be able to see so much of it and experience it first hand.

Ghost Gums

 Its been another scorcher and as the sun starts to drop in the sky we decide to take Ginny and Suki out for a long walk now its cooler as it was far too hot this morning and they have been in all day. We start off at the back of the house and decide to do a big loop.

 We have a lovely time and the girls really like to get a run around and explore. As dusk creeps in around the edges of the hot day we see a lot of wallabys. They are out in a big group eating and foraging. The girls chase them but are no where near quick enough and are soon back by our sides.
Its a big full moon this evening as we head home for tea.

We are up early today Jason wants to get the mower out and tidy up the front lawn. Its looking very green after the day of heavy rain and we want to get it all spic and span for when Natalie and Tim arrive home.

On your marks

Get set

MOW!!!!!!

Jason is becoming a dab hand with a mower and he's soon off and running. Mowing is definitely a mans thing, they love it. Which Im more than happy about, I think I'm far better at offering encouragement from the sidelines and taking the pictures! 

The final walkies!

Well its our final day and the last walkies before we leave Townsville. We won't be catching Tim and Natalie upon their arrival. They aren't home until this evening and we have to get on the road around lunchtime so that we aren't driving at dusk. We happen to think that this is actually a good thing. After a holiday and a long trip home, Im sure its much nicer to get in, have nothing to do but flop down on your sofa and relax, without having to make conversation. We are happy if our hosts are happy. We   clean up, leave some lovely food and treats, something inviting to drink, makes sure the pets are happy, walked, fed and watered and leave as if we had never been there at all.  It makes me feel a little like we're a housesitting pet caring 'Nanny Macphee' team!

All but ready to leave

We are packed and all jobs are done. Its a boiling hot morning and as I'm getting into my bike gear, I turn around I am shocked to see a HUGE rather wild looking beast of a dog standing right in front of me just inside the door. He is panting and looking very thirsty. I say as calmly as I can..... 'ER Jason who's dog is that?' I'm confused and surprised and Im thinking Jason may have been talking to a neighbour who owns this hound of the Baskerville which is just standing glaring at me.
Jason turns and shoos him straight out of the door and thankfully the dog complies. Its then we notice another huge beast with a long heavy metal chain around his neck,  he is also in the same state, dirty and panting and bloodied on his feet and side. The penny drops and I realise they have broken out of somewhere and that Im sure they have a distraught owner searching high and low for them.

Massive Guests

My first concern is for Ginny and Suki but they are both fine and seem un interested and calm about our sudden bulky visitors! We get hold of the chain and tie them up.

They are both very thirsty and seem exhausted so we get them water and lay them down in the shade. I then check over them to see where the blood is coming from. They both have a few minor cuts and scrapes but are fine overall and seem to be dirty and tired more than anything. The big fella on the left has a tag. We call Ginny and Suki's vet to see if these are registered there, but she tells us to contact the local council.

Tired fellas?

Turns out these two scary looking guys are the sookiest and softest lumps you'll ever meet. They flop down and start snoring!

Awwwwww

Eventually we find out they live quite locally and we are able to get the mobile number for the owners. We leave a message when they don't answer and not long after that, June a panicky mom of these pair calls us back and is over the moon that we have them. Within an hour the whole mission is over and these two, Riley and Walker ( how apt ) are being collected. They have broken their chains and gone walkabout, amazingly they had stayed together and although they were a bit scratched, tired and thirsty they were fine for their short adventure. It was an exciting and unexpected finish to our stay.

Homeward bound

Ha ha ha Riley seems to think its funny

And so we try again. We get our gear back on, we lock up and say our farewells to the lovely ladies. Ginny and Suki Sooks. We had a great time looking after them. Goodbye Townsville. 

Farewell girls