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Sitter available

Australian Couple- Experienced, reliable active retired couple

Australia

Testimonials

They have 4 testimonials (view below)

Pet experience

Dog(s), Cat(s)

Police check

They don't have a police check

Availability

From: 25 Apr 2024
Until: 20 Oct 2025

Occupation

Retired

References

They have referees/references (view below)

About this sitter

My husband Harley and I are an active, retired couple from Perth, Australia. I worked as medical receptionist/accounts clerk in medical practices and hospitals. Harley worked in electronics before running his own business paving and landscaping.
We love travelling and discovering new places and different cultures.
We are clean, house proud and non-smoking. We love gardening and being outdoors and being with animals. We enjoy walking, which works well with exercising dogs plus appreciating the local scenery.

Why they want to house sit

After extensive touring holidays we now prefer to base ourselves in one region and get to appreciate in depth a region’s culture, customs and attractions. We also love tasting (and learning to cook) the local cuisine.
As animal lovers we find it rewarding caring for other peoples pets.

Their experience

Harley and I have extensive experience housesitting here in Australia as well as France, Canada and Costa Rica.
Our experience includes looking after cats, dogs and chickens, as well as baby kangaroos and a dingo pup.
We have housesat various types of homes each with differing maintenance, gardening and technical requirements, as well as pools (we have our own at home).
Our longest housesit was three months in a small village near Strasbourg where we had the responsibility of looking after two active dogs, Taki care of house and garden and proactive in the maintenance.
A housesit was in Costa Rica (pre Covid), where the heat, humidity and high rainfall presented a wide range of maintenance issues including ventilation, normalisation of electrical equipment and general pool maintenance.
Most recently we did a housesit in Ireland where we looked after a large property with extensive lawns, a greenhouse and a beautiful border collie.

What can they bring to the assignment

Harley and I are experienced, independent and extremely reliable, we are also resourceful and knowledgeable in handyman issues. We love gardening and being outdoors.
We are respectful and aware of the importance of privacy and discretion, particularly how this pertains to looking after a person’s home.
We love animals and understand that each pet has its own personality and needs, and we ensure that these needs are met.

Last updated: 19 Jul 2024

Available to house sit

Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom

Availability dates

From: 25 Apr 2024
Until: 20 Oct 2025

Do they charge?

They don't charge for house sitting services

Personal details

Age: 56-65 years old
Family status: Couple

Membership

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Testimonials

A 5-STAR review for Sylvia & Harley; just fabulous!

We feel as though we struck gold when finding Sylvia & Harley from Australia! They were thoughtful and cared for our home in ways that completely exceeded our expectations. We did not worry about anything while we were gone, even when my husband had a life-threatening medical emergency. Sylvia communicated via Whatsapp about anything of importance, reduced our stress, and our home was left immaculately clean. It was evident that they are both terrific at home sitting! Our Kitty Roo was a good girl with them and enjoyed their company, extra attention, and treats. She felt safe with them and was completely relaxed when we arrived back home. We appreciated being able to share photos whenever we wanted, and the entire time we were away we knew our home and kitty were in good hands. We had such a positive experience that we hope to have them back again! Mahalos & Much Aloha!

Sonja, United States, 20 Nov 2024

  • Tidy
  • Organised
  • Good at pet care
  • Reliable
  • Kept in contact
  • Friendly

A great Couple

Sylvia and Harley are a delightful couple. We had arranged a house sit with them which had to be cancelled at the start of Covid. So when we had the opportunity to start travelling again, we contacted them to see if they were still interested in a house sit in Ireland. We were delighted they wanted to come. They spend a month on our property this September and took excellent care of our much loved dog ’ Kiwi ‘. They were a very responsible couple and took great care of our home and garden while we were away. They kept in touch and we were very much at ease with them looking after the place. I think they enjoyed their Irish experience too. Sylvia very kindly cooked some goodies for our arrival home, a very tasty zucchini slice and some mixed berry crumble, which was very much appreciated. We would have no hesitation in recommending them for house sits, and would be very happy to have them back if they wanted to visit Ireland again. I would like to wish them the very best in their future housesits. Trish

Trish, Ireland, 4 Nov 2023

  • Tidy
  • Organised
  • Good at pet care
  • Reliable
  • Kept in contact
  • Friendly
  • Good in the garden
  • Handy around the house

Perfect Sitters!

Sylvia and Harley house and pet sat for us in Costa Rica for the month of June, 2019 while we visited family and friends in the U.S. The confidence that we felt from our pre-sit Face Time chats with Sylvia and Harley was certainly proven correct. They truly took excellent care of our dog, cat and property...learning our routine and particular needs/expectations and carrying them out religiously. Sylvia prepared some great meals for us the day before we left and also on our return home. She even offered to do our laundry and change the sheets on our bed, so all would be fresh when we got back. Harley enjoyed walking our dog every morning up and down our mountain road, which is quite a workout! He expertly kept up with the pool maintenance - it was sparkling on our return. The house was spotless, too. We hope to have Sylvia and Harley sit for us again. We highly recommend them for your sit.

Ed, Costa Rica, 6 Jul 2019

  • Tidy
  • Organised
  • Good at pet care
  • Reliable
  • Kept in contact
  • Friendly
  • Good in the garden
  • Handy around the house

Match made in heaven

We first were contacted by Sylvia and Harley 5 months before our trip to Australia. We knew we had picked the perfect couple, when we spoke on skype and whatsapp. We had so much in common, and as our holiday included a visit yo Perth their home city, it was not long before tourist info was winging its way to us as well as advice from them. They arrived 3 days before we departed and seemed to be instantly at home, making friends immediately with our rather eccentric old cat. I had explained her " you are the staff" attitude and they complied admiribley ! They kept us informed of anything that happened whilst we were away, via whatapp and mobile phone, Facebook kept us up with their exploring of our region . They quickly answered questions we had about home. I received an email whilst on holiday from a friend who had a sudden death in the family, and to make matters worse had no working phone to phone hme (California) Sylvia and Harley drove to my friends home and told them that we had said they should use our phone, and invited them for a meal too.we were so relieved that even from the otherside of the world, we could through Sylvia and Harley offer some help. When we returned 5 1/2 weeks later, we were stunned to find the house and garden in a much better state than when we left. Harley had not only kept the grass down with the strimmer, he had finished off building garden walls, which were half built, made stone paths, created new planting beds in odd corners and generally tidied up the whole space...he had done a fantastic job. We were so overwhelmed . Sylvia had also done weeding and looking after my huge succulent collection she had replanted a large amount of succulents which I was propagating but had not had time to repot. The house was spotless and on our return, and she cooked us a delicious meal....l am sure we will find other jobs they have done and not mentioned after they go. Our neighbour who is French absolutely adored them and came to say welcome back to us, but almost a tearful goodbye to Sylvia and Harley. I would have no worries in recomending this couple for house sitting to anyone....

jane, France, 19 May 2018

  • Tidy
  • Organised
  • Good at pet care
  • Reliable
  • Kept in contact
  • Friendly
  • Good in the garden
  • Handy around the house

References

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