Practical, experienced house sitters looking to escape our Australian summer

About this sitter

Paul and I are practical, semi retired, non-smoking academic and health care professionals, who enjoy travel, cold weather, camping, and skiing. We are looking for winter assignments in the northern hemisphere of 2 weeks to 2 months duration. Homes we sit need to be those of non-smokers, with efficient internet access, and for longer assignments would ideally be within an hour or so of a ski-field for occasional day trips. We have experience with snow clearing, driving, and caring for pets in northern hemisphere winters. Our dream assignment would include access to a car - something we have been very fortunate to receive in our last two house sits.

Why they want to house sit

We are experienced travellers, both nationally (including many months of self sufficient camping and touring) and internationally (including living and working in the UK and Canada). Our previous house sits have enabled us to extend our travels by staying longer in interesting places, and to get to know smaller local communities. However we miss our pets when we travel, so making new four legged friends when we house sit adds enormously to our experience. We are interested in people, how they live their lives, and we also want to escape at least part of our Australian summers.

Their experience

Our three house sit arrangements in North America have been highly successful experiences for ourselves and for the home owners. The house sits have ranged from 2 to 4 weeks, in lovely homes with multiple pets to care for. We have dealt with unexpected issues on both occasions: needing to clear the extensive driveway and make access paths for the little dogs through unexpected heavy snowfalls on Vancouver Island, and having an old cat suddenly need daily vet care for an extreme health issue requiring urgent communication arrangements and rearrangement of our daily plans which we happily did.

What can they bring to the assignment

We take our house sitting responsibilities very seriously and look after the homes, and the occupants, in the same way we do our own. Paul and I have cared for pets all our lives, (cats, dogs and horses in my teenage years) and I foster cats & kitten litters for a local animal shelter. We are proud home owners ourselves, with a 1920s timber home that we would be happy to show you around at interview. Paul is a worthy handyman who does most of our home maintenance himself, and I enjoy and work hard in our garden.