There was great excitement a couple of nights ago. We were walking Monty on the little beach at the bottom of our road when three dolphins decided to join us! They must have been less than 12 feet from the shore and they were just bobbing along happily with Monty running beside them. People had told us it was not unusual to see dolphins here but we thought they would be far out in the marina and only seen with binoculars, not joining us on our evening walk.
The tenant moved in to our house this week so we have had a little more time to ourselves so we decided to find out whether there were any spots near us where it was possible to see the whales migrating from the beach as the area is gripped with whale watching fever at the moment. The middle of winter,so last week in June and first couple in July are the really busy times although the whales can be seen from April to November. No chance of seeing Migaloo, the white whale though as he was spotted in Byron Bay last week so has already passed us. The lady in the tourist information office suggested Anna Bay so we went to Birubi Point which is nice and high. 
We settled down with binoculars and cameras fully expecting this to be one of those occasions when you convince yourself that the little splash you saw on the horizon was really something out there, but no, there was a constant procession of whales in the distance! They could be spotted by the spouts of water coming out of their blow holes, they were a long way off but this could be seen with the naked eye. They were very difficult to photograph because wherever the camera was pointed, one would jump out of the water somewhere else but I did manage to get a snap of a bit of a tail and a back. 
Now we no longer have to work on the investment house we are turning our attention to this one. It is OK on the inside but the plan is to enclose some of the underneath area and terrace the garden so we have started the first of what will be many retaining walls. As you can see, the garden is currently like the North face of the Eiger so it is going to take a bit of work.

Every travel book I read before coming to Australia had mentioned the 'Big Things' which can be found in towns all around Australia, usually featuring something the town or area is known for but not always. They occasionally double up as something else, like a cafe and can sometimes be completely random like the Big Uluru which is in the Port Stephens area while the real Uluru is nearly 3000km away!
Anyway, I have been sorely disappointed as far as big things are concerned. I enthusiastically set up a special page on the blog just for all the Big Things I was going to see but I've been here seven months now and only seen three, The Big Peach, Big Prawn and Big Uluru, which was a bit rubbish and smaller than the real Uluru so I'm not sure it counts as a Big Thing. Hopefully we will see more now we finally have a bit of spare time to get out and about.
Another group of Big Things are heading our way now, the whale watching season has begun. Between May and November thousands of whales swim north from the Southern Ocean along the New South Wales coast and we live right by one of the best spots for seeing them.
The first sign that the season has begun is when the seals arrive at Cabbage Tree Island then the whale migration starts. There are so many that in the first week of July the whale cruises guarantee whale sightings or your money back. The whale watching crews are obviously very used to whale sightings but even they get excited if they spot Migaloo, a white whale who is spotted every few years and has been seen as far away as Hawaii.
We were going to wait until Zoe and Shaun were here to go on a whale watching trip but they can't get away until September now and we can't wait so will just have to go twice.

It was the Queen's birthday weekend last week and Zoe flew in to Newcastle airport on Thursday for a five day visit, which is the longest period of time we have spent together in the past 18 months.
On Friday, Ian dropped us at the station to catch the 7.30am train to Sydney. We had decided to go on our own because Ian is not that bothered about having a touristy time in a city that was his home for many years. I have only visited Sydney a few times since our arrival and Zoe has not been there since 2005. Even though Ian and I stayed in the city for a few days when we first arrived, we were running around buying cars and camping gear so I didn't have much time for sightseeing.
We were in Sydney by 10am and started the day with Jaffles (toasted sandwiches) in a cafe in Circular Quay. Then it was off to book ourselves onto a Captain Cook's harbour cruise. Ian had told us to go on the Middle Harbour route so we managed to get booked for the 2.30pm trip.
We strolled off around Circular Quay and, after a few failed selfies in front of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House because of our lack of a selfie stick, a nice lady offered to take our picture for us. We watched the groups of people taking the Harbour Bridge walk, there are about six groups doing the walk at any one time and it is like that all day, but we knew that would never be for us, especially not for me.
Next was a stroll through the beautiful Botanic Gardens and a look at Government House then onto The Rocks which is the historic area next to Circular Quay. The Rocks Market was great and the whole neighbourhood really gives you an idea of what the area would have looked like when Sydney was first starting to develop.
The time had now come around for the highlight of the day, the Captain Cook Cruise. It was 2 hours long and an excellent way of getting the layout of the city a bit more sorted out in our heads, the commentary was informative too, all this came with tea, coffee and cakes, what more could we ask for?
We had noticed when we first arrived that Vivid Sydney was still on. This is a festival of light where the buildings are lit up with light shows and animations so we decided to stay and see a bit of it. The lights came on as soon as it got dark at 6pm and they were sensational, especially on the Opera House which is a perfect canvas for a light show.
The remainder of Zoe's visit passed quickly with days out in Newcastle, where we introduced her to Nobby's Beach and the Olive Tree Market and Nelson Bay where we encountered a shark on a bus (?).

We are really enjoying the wildlife at our new house, it is in the same street as the previous house but the experience is quite different. This is the quieter end of the road and we have a balcony and a garden with plenty of trees so we get lots of visitors.
The Rainbow Lorikeets came to check us out as soon as we arrived and now turn up at 7am and 4.15pm waiting to be fed, if we are more than 15 minutes late they give up and presumably move on to the next person who feeds them. We can get as many as forty on the balcony at any one time, which brings its own problems poo-wise so Ian is going to make a feeder that juts out from the balcony. The Rainbow Lorikeets are now being joined by Scaly Breasted Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas, which are more shy and take longer to risk trusting us. They put on a good show when we spoke to my Mum and sister Gill yesterday, we set up a Skype call for 6.45am to make sure they would see them.
The Kookaburras are starting to show an interest in us too, they are meat eaters so we have to be prepared with bits of bacon or sausage. We have seen people feeding Kookaburras by hand but they are a bit big with very large beaks so I don't know if I will be going that far.
We had a real treat a couple of days ago when Ian spotted a Tawny Frogmouth (a type of owl) in the front garden next door, they have such confidence in their camouflage, you can walk right up to them and they won't move.
It is officially winter now but, as you can see from the picture of our evening walk, the weather is still very pleasant. We have acclimatised however and think seventeen degrees is freezing, when we spoke to Mum and Gill it was the same temperature here as in England and we were shivering while they were just thinking they were having a bit of a disappointing summer day.
The big news this week is that the washing machine we managed to drop down seven steps and ended up in several pieces, all dented....still works! Our good fortune doesn't end there either, we won a staggering three prizes in the seafood raffle on Friday, these things are free so what with our regular quiz night prizes we have worked out that Club Lemon Tree had given us more money than we have spent there!
Zoe arrives today and is staying until Tuesday, it is a holiday weekend here for the Queen's Birthday - Australians get a day off for this - so we will see what events we can go to.

Today's post is to show what we have been up to for the past 5 months since we bought this grotty little house. We made our last run to the DIY store yesterday and, apart from a few little finishing touches, it is ready for tenants.
The agent has put it on the market and we hope to have some potential tenants around to view it over the next few days. So we will not pat ourselves on the back until it is occupied but we are ready to show off! I hope you will be able to tell which are the before pictures and which are afters.
                   
The outside now has a car port, parking for two cars and some nice plants which thrive on neglect.
We hope the kitchen speaks for itself and the bathroom, which was absolutely revolting, is now clean and pleasant. It was hard not to add bits and pieces we liked but, whenever the temptation arose we reminded each other of Sarah Beeney's mantra, 'You are not doing this for yourself' and managed to resist most of the time.
The bedrooms all now have built in wardrobes and ceiling fans,  but my favourite places are the outside seating areas (alfresco dining in the agent's ad.) Ian has been working on. He was very insistent about doing them, even though I thought it would be more important to spend time on the inside of the house but, I think you will agree he was right. He has even created a soft matting area for any children to play on.
We had to be careful not to get carried away and put in a garden which would probably be neglected but, in Australia you need to be able to live outside especially when eating,and I think what he has come up with is just the ticket.

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front for the last week because we finally managed to get the keys to our house! We lost our patience with the agent who seemed incapable of telling the tenant they had to hand over the keys as they had chosen not to pay rent for the last two months and were no longer at the property. You can imagine how frustrating it was walking past the empty house we could be living in while clambering over all our boxes and furniture in the house we are trying to renovate. So we met up with the owner of the letting agency who dealt with the situation post haste and we were in that afternoon.
Now the long job of moving all our worldly possessions up the road bit by bit is well under way and we are doing quite well. There have been a few comedy capers, notably when we tried to carry the washing machine into the new house. Have you ever tried to lift a washing machine? The house is on a slope and there are about ten steps down then seven up into the entrance, we got all the way to the second step from the top when Ian fell off the steps and I couldn't hold the machine which went crashing down to the bottom of the steps. Luckily Ian had fallen off the side of the steps so it didn't land on him and nobody was hurt. We also got to see why it was so heavy, there is a big concrete slab inside! It was not a very expensive machine and we were not that keen on it so, if it doesn't work when we put it back together, it isn't the end of the world.
There was a silver lining to this mishap as the man next door came running out when he heard the crash and insisted on helping Ian carry any more really heavy stuff. Result!
We are in now and we love it. This is a pole house and has fabulous big windows leading out onto our balcony which is up in the tree tops with a view of the shore line through the trees. Once we have trimmed a couple we will have a fantastic outlook. It is still warm enough to have breakfast on the balcony and we are joined each day by Rainbow Lorikeets, Australian magpies and Mynah Birds, fantastic.

Our container full of stuff arrived from England on Friday and I am not sure how I feel about it. Although it is undeniably brilliant to be reacquainted with things like our bed and my bathrobe, it was strangely liberating to live for six months with just the contents of our suitcases.
Unfortunately the tenant in our house has been messing us around by saying she will move her stuff out every weekend for the last four weeks and not doing it. She has not been living there for the past month and has paid no rent but is technically still the tenant until she hands back the keys. All this means we had to have everything delivered to the house we are renovating and then schlep it all up the road when she finally goes.
Great excitement Saturday morning however, when the man who lives next door to the house (we befriended him and his wife when our power came on days before theirs after the storm and we let them come and use our shower) came trotting down the road to tell us that the tenants were there moving their furniture out, yippee! So we are hoping to get a call from the agent today to say she has the keys.
We have gathered a few bits around us while waiting for our furniture because recycling and make do and mending comes naturally to Australians and they are far less of a throw away society than we Brits. There is a marvelous system for disposing of unwanted household goods called the large item pick up. The date for the pick up is announced a few weeks in advance and residents start to leave their junk at the roadside in front of their houses. And of course, one man's junk is another man's treasure so, while it sits there, everyone ferrets through and takes what they want. This is completely acceptable, in fact positively encouraged as it means there is far less for the council to pick up, I have heard stories of people furnishing their whole homes this way.
We picked up a sofa and a couple of chairs to tide us over, Ian started to become a bit addicted and turned up every day with something else under his arm, I'm still finding things now, so I was quite glad when Port Stephens Council finally came and collected it all.
Luckily it was all picked up before the storm or the mess would have been unimaginable with all that lot blowing around!
As it is, there is still some clearing up left to do after the storm but we are getting there and we certainly won't be short of firewood this winter.