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Sadly, our New Zealand and Australian adventure was coming to an end. With just nineteen days allowance left on our visa, we just had time to squeeze in one more house sit before it was time for us to head back to the UK

Our last pet sit was in Coledale, a coastal suburb south of Sydney. The journey there was very easy, just a ninety-minute direct train ride.

The Home

The home we had in Coledale was a beautiful beach house. The home host had purchased it relatively recently and had given it a really nice refurbishment.

Creating a lovely modern home whilst managing to keep many of the property’s original features.

It had a sea view veranda that stretched the full length of the house. Perfect for an early morning coffee – or two!

The Location

The location was everything we had wanted and had asked for but to be honest, it ended up being slightly disappointing!

We had chosen this home as our final house sit because of its easy access to the train station and also its quiet, coastal location.

Coledale Beach was a stone’s throw from the property and was beautiful. The train station was accessible and the area was quiet – win -win-win one would think!

However, unfortunately, on arrival, we were a tad too close to the train station. So close that we could sit on the veranda and clearly hear the platform announcements.

Great for convenience when we needed to catch a train, not so great when we had no interest in where the next train arriving at platform one was heading to!

Without wanting to sound hard to please, the quiet location we also had raved for, turned out to be a tad too quiet!

The nearest supermarket was 3km away which was a bit of pain. Ironically, and unluckily for us, for a house sit where a car would have been really useful, this was only the second of our ten sits where we did not have a car to use.

The Pets

The best thing about this house sit was the pets. Two indoor/outdoor cats – Alfie and Luca.

Alfie was a big ginger cat. He was a home bird (cat?) and hardly ever out of sight.

Even when he was outside he would stay very close to the house and instantly come running if you called his name.

Luca was totally different. He was a roamer. Once out of the house, he would immediately disappear into the surrounding neighbourhood, not to be seen again until late evening when he was hungry.

As a pair, they were very independent and easy to look after – giving us plenty of free time to explore the area.

Any sightseeing?

As the train station was on our doorstep (almost literally) we were able to visit quite a few of the neighbouring towns during our stay. However, after our hectic month in Sydney, we had always intended this to be a relaxed beach-style end to our holiday.

The plan for these final three weeks was to spend time on the beach. Read, relax, and top up our tans before heading back to the UK

Although we did find some great beaches in Australia, Our biggest disappointment was how inaccessible and dangerous the ocean often is.

If the sharks don’t get you, the Jellyfish will. If the Jellyfish don’t get you, The strong currents will!

Dipping your toe in the water was, in my mind often bordering on insanity!

Rock Pools

However, Thankfully, the council of most beach areas have overcome this issue by providing a rock pool. These basically are concrete structures built just on the edge of the water keeping the wildlife out whilst letting the seawater in.

Natural, outdoor swimming pools fed by the sea. A simple but very clever idea that made having a dip in the water far safer.

We used many rockpools whilst we were in Australia. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some could only be described as neglected and decrepit. Others were really well-maintained and a brilliant addition to the beach

The bad news for us was that the Coledale rockpool was one of the decrepit ones.

The good news though was that as they are really common on the beaches of Australia and as there were so many beaches along the coast where we were staying, it wasn’t too much of a trek to come across a good one.

We discovered a great rockpool on Austinmer Beach which was about a twenty-minute walk from Coledale. In fact, there was a choice of two here. Safe to say, Austinmer soon became our regular go-to beach for the final couple of weeks of our Australian trip.

Kiama

We did manage to drag ourselves away from the beach one day when Ian contacted us and, along with Rob, his friend, offered to take us to visit a town named ‘Kiama’

Kiama is a coastal town located about 50km south of Coledale. It has recently been voted the best place to live in Australia and it is very easy to see why.

The town is really pretty and has a myriad of small, independent shops giving it a really cool, relaxed vibe with coastal walks and amazing ocean views.

As well as being a great place to live, Kiama is also a big tourist destination. The main reason for this is that the town has one of the biggest natural blowholes in the world.

A blowhole is when the seawater is naturally forced through crevices and cracks in the rock creating mini ‘explosions’ of seawater.  They get their name due to the sea spray bursting up and out much like a dolphin or whale blowhole does.

The result, depending on sea conditions can be quite spectacular and we were treated to some great ‘explosions’. All entertainment courtesy of mother nature!

That’s it folks!

..and that was it. Before we knew where we were, It was time for us to pack our bags one more time in preparation for the long journey back to the UK.

We have been away for 7 months (211 days) and we have loved every day!

During this time, we have slept in 2 Airport lounges (2 nights), 5 Airbnbs (32 nights), 1 hotel (2 nights) and 10 house sits (175 nights).

The pets we have looked after have been 1 bird, 8 cats, 6 dogs and 20 sheep!

We want to thank everyone that we have met during our time in New Zealand and Australia. I know that some of you now read this blog. Each and every one of you has helped make this holiday for us, truly a holiday of a lifetime.

It’s been an amazing experience, we have loved every minute and are taking home many great memories.

Next Stop, Finchley – London.

Heading Home

Our flights back to the UK went without a hitch and we hit the ground running!

We had ten days available before heading to Scotland, where we had three house sits booked throughout June.

I had noticed a sit advertised in Finchley, North London. This was perfect for us as it meant that once we landed at Heathrow, we would not have far to travel to get to our next accommodation and, of course, to bed!

Also, the house sit was advertised as being to care for a very independent cat. The perfect not-to-much-attention-needed pet for us whilst getting over our jet-lag

This house sit was due to start the day after we landed so I applied thinking that we could spend the first night at the airport hotel.

We were accepted to do the sit but the home hosts, knowing we were due to arrive back in the UK the day before the sit was due to start, would not hear of us booking a hotel. Instead, they kindly offered for us to arrive a day early and take advantage of that day for catching up on some much-needed sleep.

We accepted their offer and so, just three hours after landing from the 30-hour flight we were knocking at the door of our first house sit back in the UK!

Finchley

Neither of us had ever been to Finchley before and to be honest, as this was booked as a week to give us a chance to get over our jet lag we did not do a great deal of sightseeing during our stay.

However, we loved the area and definitely hope to go back again sometime in the future.

It is a largely residential suburb of North West London between Edgware and Barnet. Split into four separate districts, North Finchley, East Finchley, West Finchley and Finchley Central.

We stayed in the multicultural district of Finchley Central. The high street runs straight through the centre of the area. Here you can find many shops, bars, cafes and restaurants with cuisine from many different countries.

At one end of the high street is the lovely Victoria Park. The opposite end of the high street is Finchley Central tube station which gives quick and easy access to central London.

The Home

Our home for the week was a lovely large, comfortable Victorian property. It was located on a quiet street, just a two-minute walk from the high street – the perfect combination! The home had some great features including a perfectly restored 1960s Wurlitzer jukebox including one hundred vinyl singles that provided us with hours of entertainment!

There was also a small but beautiful secluded garden that we made full use of as the weather was glorious during the week we spent there.

The Pet

The pet in our care here was Cleo, a very easy-to-care-for cat. She loved to regularly patrol the surrounding area, never going too far from the house.

A loud ‘meow’ signalled to us that she wanted to be let out, and an even louder ‘meow, signalled to us that she wanted to be let in again. Basically, we were her doormen for a week!

Where next?

The Finchley house sit served its purpose well. We had managed to catch up on some sleep and, by the time we left were well on the way to getting over our jet lag.

We were raring to go again.

Next Stop – Sunny Scotland! More on that next time. Until then, as always, thanks for reading.

Hugs, Colin & Karyo