It’s a Dog’s Life!

Tutukaka Adventures with Suzie

Running on the beach, exploring the countryside, chasing balls, getting muddy in the mangroves and going on fishing expeditions. Does that sound like the best ever dog life?!

Meet Suzie, the Whangarei Rescue Dog that we love to bits!

She lives in Tutukaka, a beautiful part of the coastline of the North Island of New Zealand. We are lucky enough to get to stay with Suzie when her owners want to travel. She knows us well, and greets us when we arrive with her ball in her mouth, wagging her tail and ready to join in on what ever adventure is planned for the day.

This week’s adventure included a road trip to Whananaki. Suzie jumped in the car as soon as the door was open, we checked we had her favorite ball, a dog lead, the requisite poop bags and we were off. We followed the winding gravel road from the turn off at Sandy Bay (oopsie, time to wash the car when we get home!).

Our first stop was Whananaki South beach - a beautiful sandy bay with miles of space for Suzie to run and play, and she ran and ran for that ball until she was panting hard with her tongue hanging out! So back in the car to catch her breath while we drove on to the longest footbridge in the Southern hemisphere….

The Whananaki Footbridge

The 395 metre footbridge was originally built by locals in 1947 to span the estuary between Whananaki North (where the school is) and Whananaki South. Prior to this bridge being built, the school teacher had to row across the estuary twice a day, ferrying the kids to and from school! The bridge also forms part of the Te Araroa Trail, a continuous 3,000 km walking track stretching from Cape Reinga in the North, to Bluff in the South. We loved walking part of the local history, watching the herons wading in the tide, and we treated ourselves to an icecream from the local dairy. Suzie had a minor drama, dropping her ball off the center of the bridge - which was waaay too high for us to be able to climb down and rescue it. She was so determined to get her ball back she jumped off the bridge at the end, and then swam the estuary back to the middle and managed to locate her precious ball. Well done Suzie!

On the way back across the bridge to the car, Graham decided the mangroves looked a promising spot for some oysters, so we took our shoes off, rolled up our trousers and waded in to the mud. You only find oysters if the mud is oozing between your toes and up to your ankles. Suzie didn’t care, the muddier the better. Unfortunately we had no luck with the oysters, so we dried Suzie off, and made plans for a fishing expedition closer to home.

As you can see from the pictures - the fishing expedition was more successful than the oyster hunt. We can follow a trail from Suzie’s home down to a rocky beach which is a perfect spot for fishing. We caught a snapper large enough to keep - Suzie was very excited to see it’s flapping tail, and she made sure the seagulls were not allowed to get too close! We then wandered our way home to cook it up with Fog Dog beer batter, and made a side salad to go with it. A successful end to a wonderful doggy day out.

Suzie is tired, too tired to play...

..... oh wait, no she is not!

We hope you loved this vet “tail” of adventures with our 4 legged friend, and we hope that you will follow us on our upcoming adventures full of animal encounters! We have a challenge for you too, see below….

Where is Suzie?

Your challenge for today is to spot Suzie in this photo!

I think the ball is a giveaway….

Doktor Blong Dog

Working as a Veterinarian (doktor blong dog) in multicultural Vanuatu is guaranteed to provide all sorts of entertainment, especially given my French is rusty, my Chinese non-existent, and the local Ni Van staff were laughingly teaching me Bislama.  I was the only vet on the island for three weeks, while the regular vets were on leave.  As you can imagine I have many stories to tell about this adventure!

My husband Graham accompanied me on this island adventure, and so I put his ship’s medic training to good use over Christmas, when I had no support staff available to help….

A puppy gets checked at the Vanuatu Vet Clinic -photo credit to the Vanuatu Vet Clinic

I was a little hesitant when presented with a dog fight victim that had a proptosed globe – yes its eyeball was not where it should be!  Graham stepped up admirably, acting as my assistant, theatre nurse and anaesthetist while we sutured with dog’s eyeball back into place.

Many of the patients I saw belonged to the expat community, who were able to pay for medications and treatments for their pets.  The concept of ownership is very different in the Ni Van communities – dogs are loosely attached to the communities in which they live, but often do not have one owner who can take care of their health and welfare.  Poorer villages struggle to have enough resources to meet family needs, let alone pay for the care of a dog, so while living on a tropical island sounds like heaven, the street dogs of Vanuatu have a hard life.  Scavenging rice, coconuts or food scraps while dodging being hit by cars on the often-busy roads.  Contending with burdens of parasite no Kiwi dog has ever seen…. pot-bellied with tapeworms, short of breath from Heartworm, and ear canals packed tight with ticks feasting on their blood.

Is it really a dog’s life, living on the beach?

One local dog was brought in because it was having trouble walking.  It was very weak on its back legs and needed assistance even to stand.  This dog was a victim of fish poisoning – it had eaten offal of reef fish containing ciguatoxins.  These toxins are produced by microscopic organisms that get consumed by reef fish.  The only treatment available is supportive care and nursing.  Sometimes the poisoning is so severe it causes paralysis, coma or death.

Luckily the Vet Clinic works closely with SAM’S Animal welfare, to ensure the local dogs have access to parasite treatments, desexing and medical care.  Local families would arrive at the clinic, where I could examine their pets and medications would often be provided free of charge, or in return for whatever donation the family could afford.  SAM’S also helps with fostering and adoption of unwanted or stray animals. They do a great job!

The Vanuatu Vet Clinic

Aside from the veterinary stories and the knowledge that we had done something to help animals and communities, we were also left with many fond memories.  New Year’s Eve fireworks and dancing on the waterfront, and giving high-fives out the window of our car to all the locals we passed as we did a New Year’s Day circumnavigation of the island.  There were even not-so-fond memories; 6-inch-long centipedes that seem to travel at lightning speeds across the kitchen floor!

Vanuatu is a beautiful country with beautiful, friendly people.  If you are visiting the country, do consider helping the animals of Vanuatu with a donation of money or supplies to SAM’S. Follow this link to their website:

Sams Animal Welfare Vanuatu | Supporting Animals In Vanuatu

Beautiful Vanuatu!

Thank you for taking the time to read this veterinary story of ours - we hope you enjoyed it and hope you will follow along on our future adventures!

A Life Less Traveled

It all began with an Idea. A Dream of Escaping from the daily grind of exchanging hours for dollars, and the perpetual creep of expenses keeping in lock step with any salary increases. A Dream of being our own keepers, choosing when and where we want to work, on our own terms. And a Dream of a life of freedom to travel and live a life somehow less ordinary, less ‘normal’.

But where to start? How can you escape the rat race?

For us, it began with House and Pet Sitting. We realized we no longer needed to keep paying high rents for a house just for the two of us, if we could find a new form of accommodation. We were offered a farm sit for several weeks, close to the vet clinic where Alison worked, where we could stay for free in exchange for keeping the house and lawns in order, and supervising twenty sheep and twenty goats. We had a marvelous time, and really enjoyed the antics of the baby goats who turned the rocky cliffs into a rural parkour course.

We are both wanderers at heart, not bound by a need for stability or security, instead we are fired up by the thoughts of change, travel and adventure! So we gave notice to our landlord, sold a lot of possessions, and moved a few things in to Graham’s mum’s place so we had a place to stay if we had gaps between accommodation bookings.

We haven’t looked back!

One successful sit and glowing review lead to another, and another, and another…. all based in our home town within commuting distance to Alison’s vet clinic. We learned to reduce the amount of things we carry, learned to adapt to new homes and pets routines, and have a wonderful time caring for cute cats and crazy dogs. Our house sitting has now become our full time accommodation, and we treat our pet and home care as a profession, looking after every animal and every house as if it were our own.

Our story will continue in following blog posts, where we share how we transitioned to a location independent income and lifestyle, where we can travel wherever we have internet.

Subscribe and follow as we share our adventures, and our journey to become full time travellers. We update our newsletter regularly with animal encounters, tips on how you can start house sitting or developing your own location independent life!

Thank you for taking the time to read this house sitting story of ours - we hope you enjoyed it and hope you will follow along on our future adventures!

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