It was just a two hour flight from Adelaide to Sydney, the location of our new housesit – which isn’t really a housesit. Paul and Sharon were kind enough to pick us up at the airport and bring us to their home. When we first communicated with them several months ago they were planning a cruise and needed us to look after their home and pets. In recent weeks their cruise plans fell through but, remarkably, they still wanted us to come and stay with them. They may or may not still take some sort of short trip sometime during our stay, thus justifying the free lodging we’re receiving.
Their’s is a four bedroom, three bath house of good size, not dissimilar to a typical American home in size and layout. Its occupants include Paul and Sharon, their son Garry, their daughter Jacinda, her fiancé Nick, two gentle giant Rottweilers, two budgies, a cockatiel, and us. It is a full house. The cockatiel is named Angel and he rules the house, favoring to stay outside of his cage, preferably perched either on Nick’s shoulder or on a stuffed white leopard named “Bunny.”
We arrived here on Christmas Eve when Paul and Garry (the latter reluctantly dressed as an elf) cruised the neighborhoods in a fire truck with their fellow volunteer firefighters, one of whom was decked out as Santa. They announced their arrival with horn and siren and passed out candies (lollies they call them here) to the waiting children. On Christmas day we were surprised to find presents for us under the tree including two stuffed toys (one Koala and one Galah, an indigenous bird), two travel neck pillows and a couple of “stubby holders” (insulated drink holders). Quite a haul for us. Fortunately Deborah saved us from embarrassment by having the foresight to assemble a gift for our host family consisting of cheeses, crackers, chocolates, candies (sorry, “lollies”), and the godlike cookies known as Tim Tams. Christmas dinner was not the typical fare we are used to but instead consisted of baked oysters, prawns, fresh rolls, three different cold salads, a tossed salad, a fruit platter, avacadoes, wine, and a delicious dessert called "trifle" (whipped cream, cake, jello, custard, layered and chilled).
The rest of Christmas day we watched movies and played Wii Fit, during which Deborah discovered her fitness age was 59 (and 80 with Wii Sport). Blake is only 32 according to Wii Fit, but is content to stay married to this much older woman.
It was a strange Christmas, being so far from home where they are buried in snow while we are thousands of miles away sitting around in shorts and sandals. We miss our family back home of course, but our Sydney hosts have made us feel very welcome and we are grateful for this interesting new experience.
Our Christmas booty