SEEKING -15 April 2022 onwards - We are booked out in Europe til 15 April where we will finish in Croatia - open to offers from there out - all time favourite cities - Paris / Rome / Amsterdam / most places in Spain with a strong fondness for pretty Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. Malta... Cyprus... We love spending time in Europe but will decamp for a wonderful sit - Just get in touch.
ABOUT US - James (Australian) and I (New Zealander) are addicted to travel. We lived in Sydney, Australia for approximately 20 years - and then... we travelled from July 2012 to July all around the world - A very belated Big OE (overseas experience) for both of us. From July June 2014 we spent our first year housesitting in Sydney which was sensational. And the rest is history. That's over 8 years of full time, international housesitting. Except for Covid. Of course. (Though we did some great sits in Sydney, between lockdowns of course!) After 19 months in Australia, we're vaccinated and ecstatic to be back in Europe - international housesitters of mystery once more.
James retired from the Royal Australian Navy after 23 years of service in December 2014 and we're now housesitting where ever the mood takes us - so far Europe has kept us very busy - we love the countryside but in particular love city-sits with culture galore! Our countries so far? New Zealand, Australia, Spain, France, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Malaysia, Georgia, Vietnam, Hungary and Bulgaria amongst others.. Several of our sits are now "regulars" and great friends too!
HIGHLIGHTS: Highlights of our housesitting career? Coming to the goat-pen in Ireland and finding Daisy had kidded within the last hour - looking after baby Stripey was incredible as it was touch and go a couple of times in her first few days. In Langkawi we were privileged to look after tiny Betty the cat who'd had a near-tragic, skull crushing encounter with a monitor lizard a couple of weeks prior to our arrival. Cleaning her various wounds (seeing her skull bone....!) and giving her medication twice a day was quite an adventure. Thankfully she came good - It's not the size of the cat in the fight... it's the size of the fight in the cat. We also enjoyed being Air BNB hosts of a guesthouse in Langkawi - keen to do more of that! Sounds strange but in Ireland we once 'played dead'... so the trained search and rescue dogs we were caring for could demonstrate their incredible skills and find us in the wild.
We are both police-checked and have excellent references. Housesitting is our way of life... The New Normal so to speak since we've chosen early retirement and extended travelling on a budget. The furry friends we have made whilst housesitting have loved having full time human company and miss us when we leave. We are generally homebodies in the evening.
By way of background, James and I are happily married, solvent, non-smokers. We are ridiculously house-proud and always leave homes cleaner than we found them (of course if your home is spotless... it will be as you left it!) We both love animals. 100% - if we had to put money on it and declare our allegiances, James is the "dog" person and I am the "cat" person - but I always enjoy our dog-sitting assignments because getting out for walks with company of the furry variety is huge fun (and I even have a timeshare Jack Russell in Ireland called Peanut who we've looked after since she was 6 weeks - she's my baby!) We spend every November minding a bunch of lovely cats in Co. Wicklow Ireland - then spend a couple of months missing them was to be our 5th year... a bit sad about not seeing them but we're back in 2021!)
We bring 8 years of full-time international housesitting to the table with excellent references & police checks. We have experience with a vast array of animals, swimming pools. jacuzzis, lawn & sprinkler systems. We have owned our home and investment properties for 15 years and we know how much your home means to you. We know the pleasure a furry companion brings and how sad they can be in a cattery/kennel - it's our privilege to care for them.
PS - You will see on some of James's references the name "Craig". That's his legal name - Craig Hardie - but since he joined the Navy 23 years ago he's been James