Normally, when we start a new house-sit we’ve met the home owners beforehand and had an opportunity to check out the house.
That way we know what to expect, how much we can take with us and how much we need to leave in our storage unit. It also gives us an idea of how we’ll be able to configure the place so we can keep working – always a useful feature.
It also means the home owners can meet us and feel comfortable to leave their prized possessions (usually pets and their house – in that order) in our care.
Today we moved from Mona Vale to Hazelbrook.
House-sitting has been full of firsts for us (especially this year) and this latest move qualifies on many accounts.
It’s the first time we’ve been house-sitting in the Blue Mountains. (I do need to stipulate “house-sitting” as my first house was in Medlow Bath – between Katoomba and Blackheath.)
It’s the first time we’ve moved to a place on pure trust. Due to the short notice (you’ll remember from previous posts that I was getting anxious about not having anywhere to live and the deadline was rapidly approaching) and the location meant we didn’t have an opportunity to meet before moving in.
There was also an issue that the home owners were planning to leave on Monday and the owners from the previous home were arriving back on the Saturday leaving us with a very challenging hole of one day, to fill.
As we’ve come to realise that house-sharing really doesn’t work for us, we’re very grateful for flexible people. The previous house owners were arriving late Saturday night and were happy for us to stay over that night. It meant we had a very pleasant evening getting the run-down on their travels. Lovely as they are (they really are a wonderfully delightful couple) one evening together was enough (I believe for both of us).
Imagine arriving back from a major overseas trip with all the issues of jet lag and settling in again while having to be pleasant and entertain house guests. As you can see it was better for our on-going relationship that we were out of there as quickly as possible.
As I mentioned, the owners of the new sit were planning to leave on Monday. Thankfully, they are on a driving holiday and were able to change their travel arrangements as they hadn’t made any particular bookings. They, very generously, offered to leave a day earlier to accommodate our requirements. This added to our belief in the goodness of people (a belief which has been sorely tried lately by even the most cursory look at the daily news – which we do tend to avoid, if at all possible, for that very reason).
We did have our first little fun adventure when we arrived today. As the owners were still here when we arrived, after we did our usual briefing, we went off to find somewhere for lunch. They’d recommended the local pub and so we went to check it out.
As soon as we arrived we knew it wasn’t looking good.
Sitting outside were a couple of Bandido bikies – we knew they were Bandidos because they had the gang colours and insignia. Now they’re probably lovely guys but we don’t tend to frequent the same venues.
After checking out the food options it was decided that this place really wasn’t going to work for us, so we continued further up the hill.
Wentworth Falls is much more our style. Some lovely coffee shops and cafes together with other interesting facilities. (Right now you’re probably thinking that we’re being snobby and judgmental. I prefer to think of it as discerning.)
We found a cafe/book store which sounded really interesting – and it was.
Walking in we were immediately asked if we had a reservation. While a bit scary this also boded well – it must be a popular place if you need a reservation on a Sunday afternoon.
An open fire, lots of fascinating books to browse while waiting and a HUGE meal made for a delightful start to our mountain stay.
The new house is quite quaint. It’s little, has a wood fire, is in a wonderful location but is something of a reverse Tardis. (For non Doctor Who followers – I know you exist because Danita is one – the Tardis is bigger on the inside than it is one the outside.)
This house manages to be very COMPACT on the inside. However, as we’ve settled in and moved things around we’ve found a way to create space – a very exciting ability 🙂