We have now been in Mackay, Australia just over a week. Many people haven't heard of Mackay and its not a usual vacation spot so why are we here? We are trying out a new way of traveling...pet sitting! We used a couple different websites and became members in order to apply for pet sitting or house sitting positions. We were really excited to try out this type of traveling not just because you can stay in a house for free, but also because we wanted to see what it felt like to live in another country. We also love having pets in our lives, so taking care of a few pets is actually a treat for us! The only downside to traveling by pet sitting is that you have to be in that country at the time the person needs you, for us we knew exactly what dates we would be in Australia so we had to find pet sitting that fit in that timline, was in a location we liked and be accepted by the family we applied to. Bill & Ann were the first people we talked to about pet sitting and they were so excited about having us come, they were telling us about all the neat stuff in the area and even offered to let us us their car. While Mackay wasn't exactly where we wanted to be, it is within a few hours drive of some of the places we wanted to visit and they were such nice people that we decided to give it a go!
Now we are here, in their house, living the Australian life! We are watching a sausage dog (dashound) named Bailey and a cat named Bonnie. They are a lot of fun to have around...we are missing Murphy & Sox, our dog and cat so much, so it is really nice to have pets in our life again. Bailey is such a cuddle bug & sleeps with us every night :) We will be here for about 7 weeks. We are starting to get to know the neighboorhood, where to walk Bailey, where to get groceries, etc. It has been pretty laid back- we clean, cook, blog, watch movies (they have an amazing collection), workout, do yoga and plan to take some 1 day trips to the Whitsunday Islands, Eungela National Park and some other cool places. It's nice to relax on a trip like this and take the time to do whatever we feel like. We find it is hard at home with a job to dedicate time to blogging, working out, taking 1 day trip, relaxing, etc so with no pressure here it has been very nice to do whatever we feel like and concentrate on eating healthier, workingout and bloging. We are both working on books as well, just for fun and creativity! We may start to get bored after a while but for now its been great! So far we HIGHLY recommend joining some of these websites and looking into house/pet sitting as a way to save some money on a vacation! They have an amazing outdoor covered porch here at the house in Mackay with lots of tropical fruit trees and plants, so for now I will just sit out here, soak up the sun and write some more blogs! The sites we used were: www.trustedhousesitters.com & www.housecarers.com Happy travels!
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1. Air bnb - this has been our number one choice for booking good locations for cheap prices. You have so many choices of accommodations and price levels from paying for s couch in someone's house to renting the entire house. It really works for any budget and we have had great experiences using places with both good reviews and even places that had no reviews yet! We met a lot of cool people, got great local knowledge and save a ton of money! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
***If you decide to give air bnb a try use this link for $20 off: AIR BNB 2. Trip advisor - this was our number to go to site to pick hotels and look at reviews for other bed and breakfasts or rentals. We found it really helpful, lots of reviews and previous bookers will even post their own vacation photos so you can see what the place is really like! There is also a handy APP which is nice on vacation! 3. Homeaway - we found a house rental for Fiji on homeaway. I've always loved this site for finding vacation rentals. Homeaway was my second site I checked if I was looking for a house rental instead of a hotel. User friendly site & trustworthy, however I found some of their prices were much higher than air bnb....but most of their rentals are high I quality. 4. VRBO - same thoughts as homeaway, I just heard about homeaway first so now I always check them before VRBO...not sure why, but both are great sites! 5. Flip key - a newer site I found that does the same thing as homeaway and VRBO. easy to use site and also trustworthy, fair prices if you hunt around. All of these sites are GREAT for finding the perfect place to stay whether it's a couch, bedroom, hotel, or house but my heart belongs to Air bnb. We just love it. Give it a try! Oh and we hope that when we get a house we can start having our own air bnb guests...so fun! Based on what I packed for my trip to Costa Rica & Panama, I came up with a revised list for what I packed for the rest of my trip around the world. We planned to do similar outdoor activities and the climate is somewhat similar to our previous trip, hot days with some cool nights mixed in. On the first trip I filled my 70L backpack until it was about to burst....I needed help getting it on my back and I thought I was going to fall over when wearing it ....big mistake. I regretted it the entire trip. I read lots of blogs telling me to pack less, but I didn't listen. The positive was that I had all the comforts of home with me, the negative...it was heavy, a lot to drag around, people laughed, I didn't used 50% of the items I brought and overall it made life harder and more complicated when traveling...it wasn't worth the comforts. If an emergency comes up I found you can buy almost anything you need even when you are in remote parts of Africa or small towns in Costa Rica. I was always shocked by the selection I found. So I didn't plan to take my entire house with me on this next trip....I made do with less :) & I was relieved when riding buses, taking taxis and just walking around that I don't have 50lbs on my back and multiple bags to keep track of. However when you have extra space souviners seem to creep in quickly :) I am still taking my 70L bag just filling it like it is 50L. Here is the new list: Clothing: -2 quick dry teeshirts from Lucy -4 quick dry tank tops -1 hiking/causal quick dry prana shorts -3 comfy or athletic shorts -1 dress from old navy -1 convertible skirt/dress from Kohls -1 pants/caprees (REI aldervale roll up) -1 smart wool zip up -3 socks -1 rain coat -8 pairs of underwear (Yes I still like to have lots of underwear...) -3 sports bras -1 tan non sports bra -2 long sleeve shirts from Lucy -2 bathing suit tops and bottoms -1 pair of nike free run tennis shoes -1 pair of Columbia drainmaker 3 tennis shoes -1 pair of keen sandals -1 pair of teva foam flip flops -1 pair of water shoes Everything else: -Camera (Nikon D3300 w/ 18-55 & zoom lens) with 2 batteries and 1 chargers -Two 32gb SD cards -Camera case (USA gear on Amazon) -Camera bag/purse (REI) -Travel keychain compass (REI) -1 travel locks and a travel bag lock (REI) -Pepper spray from Sabre red (Purchased on Amazon) -Travel advil in backpack/purse -Aloksak waterproof bag (REI) one for the computer/camera and one for iphone -Multi-tool (REI) -Mini key chain flashlight -Travel solar charger with USB connection, weatherproof, shockproof -Nalgene water bottle -Mini shaker bottle for protein powder -protein powder -Sun tan lotion for body & face -Ben’s 30% deet bug spray x1 -Deoderant -Cetephil face wipes -Contact solution travel size -Eye glasses cleaner and rag travel size -Face lotion -Pack towel, full towel size -Travel size umbrella -Multivitamins -Probiotics -Headbands, bobby pins and rubber bands -Travel mesh bags to pack stuff in -Emergency kit -Medicines and birth control -Head lamp -Portable hard drive -Kindle with charger and light -Headphones -Waterproof watch -Makeup -Shampoo/Conditioner travel size -Razer with four replacement heads -Body wash -Face wash -Travel toiletry bag -Kleenex (Travel size) -Ear plugs -Body lotion (find a face/body lotion combined) -Cotton Q-tips -Tweezers -Tooth brush -Tooth paste -Retainer -Floss -Spot remover -Leave in spray conditioner -Scrubba -Travel size hair brush -Sunglasses -Glasses -Coolmax sleeping sheet with anti-bug stuff During the trip I bought a few things: some souviner shirts, a new pair of sunglasses (mine broke)and a extra sweatshirt for chilly nights *THAILAND TIP* So many cool CHEAP tank tops, shorts, shirts, shoes, etc at the night markets in Bangkok and Chiang Mai so save room in your suitcase :) Things I packed that I haven't really used: I have a few extra shorts or shirts I probably didn't need to pack but I do use them all, I could have picked one pair of tennis shoes, but it was my first time wearing the new drainmakers and I didn't know if they would be comfortable (and knowing what I know now I would have chosen the drain makers! Shh don't tell Nike!) According to me:
1. Kindle 2. Bug spray 3. Sports bra 4. Dry bag 5. Bug sheet 6. Skirts 7. Camera 8. Water bottle 9. Scrubba According to my husband: 1. Water booties 2. Bandana 3. Flashlight/head lamp 4. Go pro 5. Walking stick 6. Water bottle 7. Music/ipod/iphone 8. Kindle 9. Day back pack |
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