Saturday 11 June 2016

Back in Glen Waverley

We have previously house sat for a lovely couple who live in Glen Waverley in Melbourne.  We were delighted when they contacted us and asked about our availability for April/May 2016 and we were able to assist.

We completed the period of the house sit a little differently this time.  Peter arrived on a flight from New Zealand and was at the home a couple of hours before the home owners left on their long planned trip to Europe.  There was plenty of time to re-familiarise him with the home requirements (in particular the pump and watering system) and the dog's feeding and walking needs.  We were very fortunate that the homeowners had also offered the use of their two vehicles.

So Peter completed the first week of the house sat on his own and then Gill joined him for the next ten days before he returned to New Zealand and Gill completed the final nine days on her own.  Throughout the period Nessie, the family pet, was very settled and enjoyed long walks Peter or with Gill for shorter walks and visits with the local dog squad who met daily at the local park.

As we had house sat at the property before we very easily slipped into the routine of walking Nessie, watering the hanging baskets of geraniums, sweeping up the falling leaves, a small amount of lawn mowing, bathing Nessie and generally maintaining the home.

Glen Waverley is a lovely suburb to live and stay.  The public transport services, with a bus at the end of the street connecting to the train service, is excellent.  For the shopaholic the local Glen Shopping Centre is a huge draw card.  For us, we have lots of friends and some family close by so it is just wonderful.  It is certainly a win/win for both ourselves and also the homeowners who returned to a happy settled pet in a well maintained property, and their cars cleaned and ready for them.





Thursday 28 March 2013

About us

Welcome



Thank you for checking out our blog.  Firstly, we would like to introduce ourselves to you.


We are Peter and Gill (pronounced Jill) and we are now experienced house sitters with excellent references. Gill is now 61 years of age and retired in July 2011 after working for a large manufacturing company where she managed their workplace injury claims.  Peter is now the ripe old age of 63, and he is also retired from a sales management position.  Nowadays he still has a very small company that has contracts with two overseas suppliers of training and assessment products and these are then on sold through representatives in Australia and New Zealand.  

We have always enjoyed travelling and have now visited many countries during various trips.  In 2000 we shifted from our homeland of New Zealand to Melbourne for work purposes.  Besides many trips back across the ditch we travelled extensively within Australia and on several overseas holidays.  It was during this time that we made the decision that we wished to undertake a lap of Australia as "grey nomads".

With the purchase of a new 4wd Nissan Patrol and a large caravan with all the facilities on board we set off from Melbourne in July 2011.  By late October 2012 we had travelled 52,500 kilometres and visited every state, the most northern, southern, eastern and western points and met lots of very interesting people.  It was during this time that we also initially house sat for some home and pet owners.

We decided to share this blog of our house sitting experiences - we hope that it might answer some questions for you and give you an insight into our experiences and a new and different way of travel.


What are we doing now?  We returned to New Zealand in December 2013 to spend time with our families and friends.  We have a home in Mt Maunganui, New Zealand (the favourite holiday destination for many people) and when it hasn't been rented out to holidaymakers we have enjoyed living in it.  In addition we have completed house sitting assignments in New Zealand.

What is next?  We will spend from May to November 2014 in Australia house sitting at a number of homes in various areas.  We will share those experiences throughout the year.

Our Assignments

2011  -  2012  -  2013  -  2014  -  References  -  The Future