Finding a long-term rental house was a struggle. We looked at several properties when we first arrived. There were a couple right next to the ocean, like the grass of the yard met with inlet water…hmmm…not with 3 little kids, especially with deadly creatures in the water. There were a couple on busy streets…hmmmm…what if Johanna managed to get out of the house or yard without me? No, I think we will hold out. There was one very large house in a good neighborhood…hmmm…this has some potential. Then we went to see it...the massive windows on the front of the house on the second floor looked directly into a large apartment building right across the street. Hmmm, I am willing to bet the apartment building came after they built the house. Then we found a really good option a couple weeks later, went to see it the day it went on the market, and were then outbid by another couple. Probably best as it was only going to be a 1 year rental – the new owner is planning on moving up here next fall. Moving again in a year didn’t sound like an ideal plan forward.
Then we found another property that was cheaper than our Conoco housing allowance but didn’t have a pool. I know what you are thinking…how picky we were being??? But honestly we were told by other Conoco employees that we would regret it if we got a property without a pool, especially during “build up” – that time of the year after the dry season, before the wet season, when it is just unbearably hot and muggy. It was the” build up” when we arrived in November, so we had already experienced that kind of heat and believed what we were told. No amount of aircon can cool you off like a dip in a pool. Anyway, lucky for us the owners of this property were keen to rent to ConocoPhillips so they agreed to install a pool for our full monthly allowance. Then Conoco told us they didn’t want to get involved in a lease with a condition that the owner install a pool. It could become a battle if the owners started to drag their feet. We understood this – we didn’t want a battle either. And the owner needed a signed lease in order to get the funding from a bank to install a pool. But there was just nothing else on the market. We were getting tired of living out of a suitcase. Our pets were not going to be allowed to stay in our temporary housing. So we decided to just go for it and trust that the owner would put in the pool. Our agent knew the owners and their agent. We put in the paperwork, got everything lined up. When the owners got the paperwork from Conoco they decided to fire their agent, manage the rental themselves and rent it at the cheaper rate without a pool. Sure wish they decided that 3 weeks previous and saved us all the torment.
The big problem that resulted from it all was we were left in a pickle. The pets were now showing up in two days, we were not going to be moving into this long-term rental property and the place we were staying had a strict no-pet policy. We were scrambling to find another temporary housing option. Our agent found something, but we couldn’t get in there until the following week. We were told we would have to put our pets in a kennel here in Darwin for 4 days. No thank you. That was NOT going to happen. Not to the pets and not to our kids. The kids and I had started counting down from 52 days and were down to 1. We were not going to pick them up from the airport, only to drive them down the road to another kennel and come home empty handed.
I started making calls myself. We would just go to a hotel for a few nights on our own dime if we had to. The kids and I went to see management at the townshouse complex we were staying in. We begged. The nice lady said to come back in the morning – the lady in charge wouldn’t be back until then. I kept making calls. I got some other people in town trying to find a solution for us. The only hotel rooms I could find were one at a discounted rate of $300/night and another at a questionable location. One lady I spoke with told me to have a glass of wine and give her a few minutes to try to help. She called the lady in charge of the rental we could move into the next week. There was someone coming from overseas the next day who had booked the house. They were going to try to move them somewhere else so we could move in right away. But the person coming in was travelling and they couldn’t reach them.
The next morning we still didn’t have anywhere to go. We went to the townhouse complex management again. We begged. We begged some more. Finally she agreed to a couple days. We just had to try to keep it as secret as we could. Yippee!!
The pets arrived. The kids were vibrating, pacing the floor, waiting for the plane to land, then waiting for the pets to be delivered to the pick-up place. We waited. We looked. The kids asked me every 30 seconds how many more minutes. We had arrived early because I wasn’t sure where the place was and didn’t want to be rushed or late. When we arrived the plane was still in the air. It was 20 more minutes before it was on the ground, another 20 before the pets first appeared in our view. We recognized their kennels, the kids started calling out to the pets, the pets responded. The pets were pressing against their doors before they were even in front of us. Aine had her tongue going, licking the air before she could even touch our skin. The guy working there couldn’t break the seal on their kennels fast enough. The other people waiting gave us space to do our chaotic reunion. It was pure sweetness. Our immediate family was whole again.
After getting the pets pottied, watered and fed we loaded up and headed for an open field. The kids and I had found a place to let Aine out before we went to the pick-up spot so we quickly arrived at the location. We had a toy to throw for Aine and she went after it with everything she had. It was obvious she was happy to be with us and happy to have a wide open space to run again.
After about 10 minutes it became obvious that Aine wasn’t doing well in the heat. After a few throws of her ball we put her back in the air conditioned SUV. She was panting too hard. I rearranged things so I could put her up front and let her rest with the cold air blowing directly on her. It took her about 20 minutes before she stopped panting at an alarming rate. We are going to have to be more careful with her. We’ve adjusted to the heat some, so it didn’t feel really hot to us because it was almost 4 pm. But we were not wearing a fur coat, were not dehydrated, and were not running full out. And we’ve been here for over 7 weeks.
Harmony is now lying on my lap purring. All my kids are under one roof. Life is good. It has been quite an ordeal (and a LOT of money) to get our pets over here. There were numerous times when we debated if we were doing the right thing. Was it the best for the animals? For us? Since we arrived in Darwin it has been obvious that we did the right thing. We were missing them so much, it was nice to know that they were at least in the same country. If there was any doubt in our minds, Ryland drove them away shortly after we got our pets back. He woke up crying his little heart out – he had had a nightmare that some man was trying to take away his pets. Poor little guy. I was so happy that he could see his beloved cat and dog and go back to sleep. Worth every hour, every day, and every dollar.
No comments:
Post a Comment