Mush...Mush...Mush!

No, I'm not up with the Eskimos yet, or driving a dog sled...

The snow all melted in 2 days and there is water and mush everywhere!

Today it is + 8C and sunny, with a few clouds. Amazing when this time last week it was minus 15C below zero!

Anyways, it's all very nice with the better weather as the dogs are outside all day now and love it.

It's going to be 3C at its lowest tonight, so I'll leave them outside all night and see how they go.

Leaving this to come to sub zero temps...hahaha, lovin' it!

They are sleeping thru the night now...Mother doesn't need to go out to the loo or feed them during the hrs from 8pm to 6-7 am, so it has been 2 good nights of sleep.

They are trained to go to the loo on the paper on the step at night, which is easy as in the mornings I don my rubber gloves and roll up the paper and the floor is all nice and clean. A nice hot mop over with tea tree oil in the soapy water and all is as good as new again.

They are so cute and cuddly, but messy as messy in the garden as the snow has made everything so mushy.
Hopefully I'll be able to give away 3 of them in the next week and wait a bit to decide on Mother and 1 pup.

I'm really wanting to travel a lot and am torn between having the security of Dog here or not.

Will wait another few weeks after 3 of the pups are gone to finally decide.

What I really want and need is some independant person who can stay here while I go traipsing around.

So, I looked up the difference between Volunteer, House Sitter and Caretaker...

Volunteer...For each person, they work 5 hrs a day x 5 days a week, with 2 days off, in return for their food and accommodation.  If they have kids, each parent does a few hours extra work each day to make up the child's food, accom, power, unexpected child care by keeping an eye on the children to see they remain under control at all times etc. Depending on the age of the child, these extra tasks are undertaken until they can do their own 5 hr days.

Hours can be varied, as with days off etc, plus after the 5 hr day, you can offer to pay them for extra work hours, as I often have done to help them with their finances.

House Sitter...Basically, it is a free rental situation. In exchange for using your house, they look after the place! They walk the dogs, feed the fish and so on, as required. They supply their own groceries and in most cases, pay fully or contribute towards the utilities.
They don't use your food etc, unless arranged and must keep the place tidy and leave it as they found it. No money changes hands.
Major repairs and maintenance are taken care of by the owner. The house sitters must contact the owners when breakages occur and replace the breakages, the owner can reimburse the house sitter if arranged to do so. There are basic agreement type contracts available so each party knows their responsibilities.

Caretaker...Is virtually a replacement of you! Their job is more a full time position like looking after vineyards, dairy farms, orchards, cattle, large gardens and so on...sort of full management.
Depending upon the time and variety of work it entails, a wage or salary is usual, but not in all cases.
They supply their own groceries etc and are not always required to live on the property. For those who live on the property, no income is usual, up to a certain amount of hours worked a week.

So, it seems I have had need of all 3 types of people!

I think Volunteers will not needed from now onwards as Imre is doing all the jobs and it is heaps easier and much more professional.
The volunteers were fun, enjoyable and did a lot of the fiddly, girly jobs earlier on in the tidy up stages, but now the jobs are more tradesmen like, I need a pro to swing, balance and hinge doors, lay flooring and all such tasks ahead now.
Finding the treasure called Imre, has been a wonderful bonus and I'd like to keep him on forever! There is not one thing he can not do...Check this out...in minus 10C the other day, he refused to come inside and do this task...

I asked him, whilst he was sanding down the daggy old front door for repainting soon, to see if he could cut out the wood panels in the top of the door and put in glass to make the entry light. He had it done before I could blink! Turns out under 100 years of peeling and tattered paint, the door is in excellent condition. So now with some new handles and back plates(about $5 AUSD all up each, and a coat of paint and it will be like new!

At lunch time Imre said..."Imre Huz"...and off he walked, so I gathered that meant he had glass at his house and sure enough, he comes back with an old window, but good glass, in hand!

2 hrs later, the front/outside door was back on, with clear glass panels for the time being. I never thought to get coloured glass or even leadlights, as it was a spur of the moment thing I had no idea he could pull it off, let alone so easily and so fast! I'm on the inside here, with a fogged up couple of door windows! Now all I have to do is get the right lace curtains they use over here for this.

Next...To go to Vienna for a few days, preferably a week or more, would require someone to keep an eye on the place and look after dog...if it isn't winter, of course!

To go skiing from Dec thru Feb...not every day obviously...Someone to keep an eye on things and keep the house warm...

To go to the Eagles' Nest and Amsterdam, Greece, Venice etc in Summer... would need someone to mow and weed the gardens every 3-4 days, water the plants and so on...

So, it is easy to see, Dog will cause a lot of problems if I try and keep her after Easter this year.

I need a homebody really, someone who hates travelling, but loves dogs!

OK, now I have that sorted out, I'll work on that scenario...Any takers? Will need you for at least 4-6 months at first and re-evaluate the position.

Will join a House Sitters club, as a host and look for long term people who want rent free premises for 6-12 months at a time.

The place here will be finished shortly with a spare sleeping area in the main house/lodge and then the Summer Kitchen will be ready after end June/July...ish as either a rental cottage/honeymoon or romantic get-away, so they'll be able to take care of customers for that too.

The big room will be ready a while after that, so sleeping rooms will not be a problem!

I'm off on a few traipsing around Europe trips in Spring, Summer and Autumn this year as, I have not travelled much in those 3 nice months over here as my previous tripping around times were always in Winter and both shoulder seasons...to get the cooler weather and snow, so this year will be fun indeed.

Gosh, that's the challenge that happens when you renovate and complete it...you have to maintain it! Hahaha, no wonder I really love the excitement and unknown factors of reno sites, there is no boring maintenance!

Something like this for England or France

All is in the pre-planning and ideas stage just now, but think I'll go to Greece, the Greek Islands, Italy, Venice, Croatia again, via Vienna and the Eagles Nest which is just over the Austrian border into Germany, do a few cruises around either Dalmatian Coast and across to Italy, and tour around that area and head back.

Then maybe duck across to the English canals and hire a flat long boat later on in the year. That has been on the bucket list a while now.
Then pop into Amsterdam and see my mate there and spend a few days at his invite, at his place too, about 3 hrs out of Amsterdam.

Actually, it might be a good idea to invite him on the long boat trip too!

It's all a jumble of places just now, but what I wanted to do when in Split, in Croatia 2 yrs ago. I had it all planned out and suddenly realised at the last minute, actually on the way to the boat/ferry across to Italy, all the places I had planned to visit were in Schengen zone and I was in time out! Dohhh..

So, all those places are still on the list and I'll drag them out in the next week and sort it all out.

If anyone wants to come join me on this upcoming adventure, or parts thereof...let me know if it interests you.
I'll price it out for you in sections then you can select any part you'd like, so you can budget your way across here!

I always keep a few things really strict when doing these trips.

The first is the return fare to OZ...always under or around $1400 return.
For example, if you click the dates a few days back or forth, usually you can save about $400!
That is a whole week of touring over here!

The other is setting a weekly budget, and making things fit into it!
This is the most fun bit of it all as no matter how much cash you have to spend, it will get spent, so I figured there must be a basic cost for all this stuff and I set out to find it.
I set a basic budget of $50 Ausd a day and even got change in the 3 main years I travelled.

Touring, accom and food, plus all stuff listed below, averages a lot less than $300 Ausd a week for me...that has been winter touring, bus and train tickets, entry to shows, Phantom in London, Vienna, Liverpool, Cats in Edinburgh, all travel to Castles, Palaces, Balls, accom. etc included in the weekly budget, plus a champers or beer or 2 here and there each week if desired.

I toured for 3 years on average of $238.50 a week...not including my $1400 plane fares to OZ, return, which over the year averages out to $27 a week. So, put $30 a week away and come visit me every year! Simple really when you know your numbers. You must know the numbers to achieve any lofty ideals, budget or no budget.
.
During Schengen times out for the required 3 months I'd stay in great hostels with wifi and kitchens, mainly in Ireland and plan the next 3 months of touring...right down to the last penny. It was so much fun that way, learning about places, discovering trips and walks for free and so much more. Sure fills in time very pleasurably indeed.

It was an amazing 3 full on years and time's up for me of sitting still here, waiting for the grass to grow...just to mow it again!!!.
The call of the unknown and mysterious beckons me forth again and I heed the call!

Summer is a lot more costly, but if I do it on good shoulder periods, it should be pretty much like this..ya gotta budget it in ahead of time.
Otherwise it all runs away on you and you wonder what happened and never go anywhere.

I'm costing all this out now...selecting areas to visit, times to return here to check up on things and then back off on the trekking routes again.
If anyone really wants to come on an adventure, let me know the places and things you'd like to visit. I use hostels like this one below, which have free wifi, great kitchens and are virtually in the middle of town.

The kids you meet are amazing and so full of information, hints and tips, it is certainly not boring.

This hostel is in Belgrade...Euro 5 a night, right in town, near Astoria hotel, Moscow hotel and train and bus station.

You wouldn't believe I did not take any shots of the hostel in Buda! hahaha, only this window seat treatment in the hostel kitchen, including the heater, for Imre to copy if necessary when the time comes in August.

And the lights in Buda from the window in my room in the hostel in Centre of Budapest on 5th December 2016.

The hostel, a new custom built one I stayed at in Budapest recently, had free (cooked eggs) breakie, of tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, eggs, bread, rolls, cereal, tea, coffee, hot choc etc, free wifi, sep cubicles, lockers and free padlocks...ALL for 5 Euros a night...that's correct, $7.50 AUSD...ish a night, right in Octagon square, the centre of Budapest. Heaps of cheap cafes were just outside and the metro services were at the door. There is a brand new kitchen, stocked with tea, coffee and a big bowl of apples, on each floor too, so you really can't get better than that.

One of the really cheap restaurants just outside the new Budapest hostel I just used and will be using from now on. 

Imre has a handle on things now, so I can leave him to complete tasks while I'm away.

Can't wait to get it all underway and be off again.

Like this one! It is in France, but I'm sure they have the same or similar, in England

OK...so,remember, if you are interested in doing a part or many parts of this in total, about 6 months of travel...ish, let me know.

Do not buy your tickets to come over here without allowing me to help you pick a great fare.

This video here I made a few years ago, gives you an idea of how to buy cheap bus and train tickets in Europe and UK..., just for fun to let you see it's really easy to travel here!

I can't find the one I did on how to find really cheap air fares by the main carriers of course. No Tiger airways on the international agenda here.


OK...that is all for this week, so bye for now and I hope some of you can pop across , even for a few weeks, four weeks at least.
M
xxx