House sitting in the Hills

G'day Mates,

Leaving Melbourne behind we went to our new house sitting somewhere between Mansfield and Benalla, in the High Country. There is a lot to see and do but we didn't had much time yet because we love being in a house again and do the normal things you do around a house, different then around the caravan haha!

I must say, we have an excellent house sitting again. Two cats, one is 15 and sleeping almost all day

 ..and in the evening when we are watching TV she snuggles next to me and I cuddle her.

The other cat is a he and was afraid the first few days. Despite the pouring rain he found himself a spot on the roof and only came inside to eat at night. It took about 5 days before he had some more confidence and most probably realised we weren't that bad at all and so he came in during the day and now we can even fondle him.

The surrounding is marvellous and we often sit in front of the house in the afternoon under the shade cloth, reading a book and enjoying the view, the many birds around and beer-o'clock/sherry-time, whatever you call it.....

The King Parrots are stunning and very tame;

and very curious......watching Fred making brekkie.....

It is also lovely having a proper kitchen to cook in and we of course take the opportunity to cook dishes we don't do often in the caravan.

Stampot Andijvie

There is an orchard in the garden with all sorts of apples, nectarines, olives, oranges

....and also a veggie garden of which we can take whatever is ripe.

There were a lot apples, also on the ground which is a waste of course so I made, already one of the first days, " appelmoes"  which is in English; apple-sauce and I think it is typical Dutch.

In the mean time I made another lot and even put nectarines in, sorry to say but its DELICIOUS!

And what can you do more with apples?? Of course, bake an apple tart....

I also harvest some red and brown unions and a leek today with a little help of the neighbour as I never had a veggie garden and don't know exactly when to harvest things.

We are here for 6 weeks and that's no punishment but of course we also have to maintain the property, we better do for our own sake as we've got an instruction form with how things work, the does and don't, but also what too do with bush/grass fires and there was one sentence what keeps buzzing around in our minds; "Keep the doors shut as snakes like to stay close to the walls when moving around the house" , they had seen 4 snakes already this summer!  So, the best prevention is to keep the grass short;

And prevent things are overgrowing....

Keep everything tidy....

After hard work, shower and the well earned rest with drinks on our favourite spot you've seen at the beginning, we look at the soccer on Friday nights....

We even have a Dutch coach for the Melbourne City soccer club, guess for who we hope to win!

 Last but not least we are treated with a beautiful sky....

Good night, sleep tight......

Hope I can show you some of the surroundings next time, till then.....

Cheers!