Hiya, I'm Trace
I have just turned 52, I work as a Horticulturist. My partner Rob is 55 and a Carpenter. We have been house sitting for a couple of years now. In the near-ish future we hope to be housesitiing on a permanent basis and renting our house out, to pursue a dream of new places, people and experiences, before old age sets in!!!
Our Housesitting Experience
Our latest sit,(2 weeks in August) was 15 kms out of Port Macquarie on an acreage. Our new friends were 2 STAFFYS, one a VERY RECENT RESCUE, along with chooks and 11 COWS to hand feed in the mornings. When we left there were 12 COWS!!! Yes A gorgeous little Angus boy CALF WAS BORN on our 6th day there, a Thursday, so that it is his name, Thursday.....What a thrill.
The very first sit, we looked after an organic farm, in Gloucester NSW for 3 weeks over a warm Christmas We looked after around 60 free range chickens, 2 lots of mother and chicks, and 3 roosters. The temperature hit 40 a couple of days in a row. I needed to intervene and cool the 3 of the chickens down. Apart from that I loved watching their antics and the different personalities emerging. At night, we assisted Shella the Jack Russel to deter fox visitors!
Our second and third sit we looked after a beach house with a huge native and vegie garden. Not to mention 2 dogs and a cat. Woolfy, one of the dogs was a BLIND DIABETIC WITH TWICE DAILY INSULIN INJECTIONS and other DAILY meds. He had my heart immediately, with his can-do attitude:)We walked him and his sidekick Dudley twice a day and took them for rides in the car. Love them both still :)
Should a problem arise,being self-employed,we are used to taking initiative and problem solving. We enjoy spending an hour or two, here and there weeding, watering etc and generally taking care of your garden, and Rob being a superb handyman as well as a carpenter, could take care of most situations. Of course we look after the inside just as well, if I do say myself, and pride myself on this.
We are both animal lovers, and have no problems with snakes, lizards, rats, and any unusual pets. We do have Border Collies of our own named Tilly and Charlie. We had them along on the sit with Woolfy, the blind dog.They are sister and brother and are aged 8. We take one dog each on our workday and they get on really well with our client's doggies. On sits longer than 2 or so weeks, we would need to bring them along.
Any of our happy homeowners are happy to chat :)
Many thanks for your time,
Trace and Rob