Joanna & Paul - Professionals with housesitting experience who love to travel

About this sitter

About us:
We are both Chartered Accountants from Perth, Western Australia. Paul is semi-retired after selling his accountancy practice a few years ago and Joanna works online. We are both mature professional adults, non smokers, very clean and tidy people, love cooking, taking long walks and travelling.
Pauls family was originally from Malta, Joanna emigrated from the UK to Australia over 10 years ago.
Our housesitting journey started in May 2018 when we did a road trip in Australia. Over the course of 8 months we drove along the coast from Perth to Queensland and back to Perth, we completed 10 house sits. Then in June 2019 we headed to Europe for a couple of years of travelling. Due to the Covid pandemic this turned into nearly 3.5 years. However, we still had an amazing journey & completed many housesits. The rest of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 seeing us travelling again, this time Asia, then the East Coast of Australia followed by New Zealand. We are hoping to find the odd housesit along the way!
We can both drive (manual and automatic cars), we hold full (and clean) driving licences and we always obtain International Driving Licences before travelling overseas. Paul has a Maltese Passport, Joanna has UK passport and we both have Australian passports too.
We regularly check our phones and email messages. We have WhatsApp, Viber, Skype and email as our main contact methods.

Why they want to house sit

Before we signed up to a couple of different housesitting websites, we did a few housesitting jobs for friends (in Australia and also Spain). This wet our appetite and we knew it was something we would love to do on a more long term basis.
With this in mind, we decided to start housesitting because it gives us greater opportunities to “live like a local” in different locations and explore areas we might not otherwise visit. Housesitting gives us the chance to experience living in many different environments, and have pets (even if only for the short term) that we cannot have ourselves whilst living our current lifestyle.
We never like to rush our travels (luckily we do not have to), and staying in any one particular location, whether that be a village, town or city for a few weeks, is the best experience anyone can get.
Since we have now completed over 20 housesits, it has become very obvious to us that this is definitely the best option for your pets. We are sometimes amazed at how quickly they accept us into their lives. They obviously feel so at ease being in their own environments and we become their new best friends over night!
Although we have our own homes, they are rented out and we don’t have any commitments. This means we have the flexibility to be able to housesit, and put all our energy into offering a 5star service and take the best possible care of your homes and pets.
Since we both work from ‘home’ we can be around for your pets most of the time if they prefer to have company. We do like to go out to explore the local area, visit local towns and sightsee, but we will always check with you first about the lengths of time we can leave your pets alone.
Being accountants, we have looked after people’s finances for years. Finances are very precious to people, just like your home and pets. We have the mindset to take care of what is most precious to people, and we can be trusted to look after what is most precious to you.

Their experience

We have now housesat in 8 different countries, obviously this means lots of different homes…normal suburban homes, exclusive houses in Sydney and Switzerland, small apartments in Athens, farmhouses in Ireland and Finca’s in Spain! There have been large gardens to care for, small yards, terraces and several pools. We have completed housesits ranging from 1 – 7 weeks.
As for the pets, we’ve had the pleasure to care for:
Dogs…..large, ‘very large’, small, cautious, boisterous, young puppies and some big softies. We have looked after 1, 2 and even 3 at a time. Some we have walked in forests and on beaches “off leash” and others have taken us for walk “on leash”!
Cats…… senior citizen cats, a beautiful Maine Coon, rescue cats, talkative siamese and the variety that just like to turn up and live you.
Fish (goldfish & tropical fish), an aviary of canaries & finches, rabbits, chickens, alpacas and even a worm farm.
We have experience in removing ticks, dispensing medication including ear drops, eye drops, oral tablet (via oral pill popper) and worming medication. We have even looked after a post-op (knee surgery) dog.
We only apply for assignments that we know we have the capability to complete to the full expectations of the owners. We love to housesit, and always do an assignment through choice, not necessity.
We really hope to hear from you!

What can they bring to the assignment

Professional, trustworthy, mature & highly organised
Plenty of housesitting experience
Animal lovers that will treat your pets as our own
Very clean and tidy (with lots of refernces to prove it)
Homely, with no need to be constantly out sightseeing
Excellent communicators