Have you noticed how most long-term house-sitters are international travellers? Almost to the point where it’s an assumption that if you sit you must be touring the world. But, just to break the rule, there are some people out there who house-sit without a passport - me, for one.
A decision I made primarily because I like the nomadic life, the variety, and (as cliche as it sounds) I like the fact that it enables other people to enjoy holidays they might not have had otherwise - plus both my passports (UK and Aussie) are out of date. Besides, look at Australia… It’s one of the largest countries in the world, has numerous climates, a diverse heritage… In fact, I could probably spend a lifetime exploring it and still miss bits. So staying makes perfect sense to me.
The risk, though, if you do want to travel within a country is that it’s easy to get too comfortable in one town or city. It’s not like you spent thousands on a plane ticket, so have a set time-frame. Plus, of course, if you do a good job you’ll get referrals, rebooks, become the go-to person and before you know it you’ll be booked up twelve months in advance. Of course, if that’s what you want, that’s fine. But, if it’s not, it’s easy for time to slip away.
Over the last few years, other than a handful of sits on rural blocks, all our bookings have been in and around Perth. Last year, we planned to head out of the state (or even just out of Perth) but we didn’t quite make it - people just kept requesting and we kept booking. It’s so easy when you know the people, homes and pets.
Still, this year will be different, this year we will travel! How do I know this? Because last month we bought a car (suitable for long distance travel and the occasional sleep-over) and yesterday I made a conscious decision and turned down a lovely-looking booking for September (when we plan to head out). I’m even looking for sits in Tasmania from September onwards! So it’s definite - we are going!
I have no doubt we could keep house-sitting in Perth for years. But the decision to move is all about not getting so settled that you forget your dreams. I’m not in a position where I need life to be predictable, I’m in the wonderful position where I can do just about anything I like. What a situation to be in, huh? And not one to waste, or regret ignoring later. So it’s official, this September I venture out of the comfort of Western Australia to start the next stage of house-sitting, and truly house-sitting in (and across) Australia.
Do you ever have one of those lurking premonitions that you ignore and then kick yourself later for ignoring? One of those that makes you think afterwards, ‘If only I’d listened. It’s my own (please insert preferred expletive) fault. I should have listened!’
Truth is, that’s exactly what happened to me last week.
As you may be aware, that was when I’d just completed my very first podcast interview. The topic itself was an insightful and important one, and something most (if not all) new sitters are eager to find the answer to.
So I was delighted when Suzanne agreed to discuss it with me. She was full of relevant information and had an honest answer to all my questions. The setting for the interview worked well, although a little warm (it was 38 degrees outside), but there were no rowdy neighbours, no low flying helicopters and no energetically barking dogs nearby… So why didn’t the interview come out quite as smoothly as I’d have liked?
‘This is where I realise I forgot to turn my mic on,’ I said as I turned Suzanne’s off. And there you go, that’s exactly what had happened. I wasn’t even able to blame the computer for playing up - there were no glitches or software hiccups! The only possible cause was that I’d forgotten to press the bright red (perfectly visible) button on my monitor. How frustrating is that… the lack of a complete recording was bad enough, but having to accept the blame as well… and on such a sought after topic too.
Still, there was an obvious lesson to be learned while spending hours piecing together all the retrieved audio into a decent podcast. Because, let’s face it, can you imagine all the teasing that would go on if I forgot to press the bright red button a second time? Ugh! No, thank you! From now on I’ll always double, if not triple, check the microphone is on… I hope.
And, as to the other important house-sitting insights to be gained from the podcast, (you know, the actual topic) they’re all clearly audible and available to everyone, just click here to listen.
I’ve been having fun putting together an article on Australian Public Holidays for housesittinginAustralia.com. No mean feat when you consider how many national holidays we have that are celebrated by different states on different dates.
Not that I’m unfamiliar with the seemingly illogical timing of public holidays though. After all, when I was growing up in England, I always found it interesting that the Queen had two birthdays - her real one (April 21st) and the Queen’s Birthday public holiday (the second Saturday in June).
At some particular stage of my childhood I started to reason that the public holiday was on a different day simply so that on her actual birthday she could open her presents, eat what she wanted and do whatever she wanted without having to go out in public. It all seemed quite logical, even as I got older.
However, having written the above website article, I’m now left with another Queen’s Birthday conundrum… because… along with the original two birthdays, I’ve discovered there are now three more official days to bake a cake and blow out candles. There’s the second Monday in June for everywhere Aussie (except Queensland and Western Australia), then the first Monday in October for Queensland, and somewhere between September and October for us Sandgropers.
I have yet to figure out a logical reason why it’s necessary to have all these dates - who knows maybe the Queen likes cakes and birthday whistles, or maybe it’s because she has too many parties and presents for one day. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m simply being way too whimsical about the whole thing and the dates were picked purely so that they didn’t clash with other celebrations and holidays around the world…
Either way, it’s probably a good thing that Australia doesn’t have any more states and territories, otherwise we’d have had even more opportunities to eat birthday cake. Plus, my article would have been longer… which would have left me wondering where to list each states’ names for the days around Easter. To say nothing of how to briefly describe the impact Melbourne Cup Day can have across the country - even though it’s only a public holiday in one state!
