House Sitting in Noosa – Australia

You’ve Gotta Do House Sitting!

I’m writing this post from a luxurious home in an upscale residential neighborhood in Noosa Heads, itself the most chic town on Australia’s glorious Sunshine Coast. My plush bedroom easily competes with any 5-star resort room. But it’s better because I have a whole house.

I’ve been cooking in the spacious kitchen, watching DVDs on a huge LCD screen in the cushy living room and eating meals outside on the roomy patio while gazing at the beautifully landscaped gardens.

I’m sitting on the patio right now admiring the varied textures of the foliage, colorful flowers in full bloom and splashes of vibrantly tinted bushes. The sun is shining, Australian birds are squawking & tweeting, and a warm spring day is about to unfold.

grey heron visiting the patio!

A lovely grey heron and several boxy Kookaburra birds visit the patio regularly, seeking free meat hand outs. Horris, the heron, comes to the back door, waits patiently for someone to open it, steps delicately inside and waits for meat scraps. I feed him. Then he steps outside and takes his leave.

A family of three kookaburras come almost daily, too. The boldest one flies right into the patio and alights on a chair back or table. Yesterday he stood on my computer while I was typing. He and his family wait for bits of meat. I feed them by hand from my flattened palm. They carefully scoop it up and swallow it, clacking their beaks as they go.

I have free 24-7 wifi, a bicycle to ride and a library of interesting books, magazines and DVDs.

Several gorgeous beaches are located just 20 minutes away by bike. Noosa’s cute boutique & cafe shopping street is right beside the beach. Noosa Weekend Market, full of fresh produce and gourmet foods, is a 10-minute walk from the house. Noosa National Park, Noosa Spit, Weyba Creek and Noosa River are all an easy walk or bike ride from me.

my fabulous, plush bedroom in Noosa

Here I am, a budget traveler, living like a wealthy Australian. Not sharing a dorm with a group of giggly, starry-eyed, party-crazed 20-something Gap-year travelers. Not plonked in a tent amidst dozens of bulky caravans at one of Australia’s abundant caravan parks. But on my own in a spacious, peaceful, serene home. Ah, solitude, space and nature.

How did I land here? House Sitting!

enjoying my own private kitchen

A lovely retired couple has entrusted me to take care of their wonderful home for two weeks while they enjoy a cruise. Their main concern? That the gardens are watered and well-tended. That’s my main job.

Every three days I turn on all the sprinkling systems, water potted plants by hose or can, and make sure the gardens look tidy. It takes about one hour.

I bring in the daily mail and newspaper, take out the trash weekly, make sure the doors are locked when I go out, and generally show that the house is lived in, not vacant.

That’s it.

Oh, on this assignment I’m also looking after their AirBnB business. In case you’re not familiar with that, it’s an online site where home owners rent out guest bedrooms to travelers as an alternative to hotel rooms.

My job here is simply to check my host’s emails daily for any AirBnB requests, to schedule new requests into the calendar, and to communicate with any new guests or inquiries. So far, that has taken me a whopping five minutes per day.

cycling at Sunshine Coast in my free time

I also looked after one AirBnB guest who was already scheduled during the time of my house sitting.

In exchange, my hosts have completely stocked the fridge and pantry for me. Not only do I have free luxurious accommodation, but all my food is provided too! On top of that, they paid me half the nightly room rate for looking after the guest. Now here are some fair-minded people.

As you’re read this post, perhaps green with envy, you might be thinking, “Wow, she’s so lucky,” or “I wish I could do that,” or “That’s her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Yes, I am lucky. And, yes, this is a fantastic opportunity. But it is by no means a one-off chance or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve done this before. Plenty of times.

Just two months ago I took care of an even more luxurious house and two super-cute dogs. In Fiji!

enjoying the pool at my Fiji House Sit!

That home was built on three levels, with spiral staircases connecting them. Perched on a hillside in the chic suburbs of Fiji’s capital, Suva, the house sported a large open-air balcony commanding jaw-dropping views over the southern coast and interior mountains. A lower balcony held a swimming pool and sundeck. My bedroom looked out on that sparkling pool and to the distant mountains.

My main duty on that assignment was taking care of two of the most adorable dogs on the planet. Teddy & Rosie. I took them on twice-daily walks, fed them (too many scraps, no doubt) and gave them the occasional sink bath after walking in rainy weather.

pet sitting – Rosie & Teddy in Fiji

The pooches were ultra affectionate, often asking for petting, sitting by my side most times, and sleeping on the bed at night. They were fabulous!

I didn’t have any cleaning duties on that assignment since the home owners employ a cleaning woman. The only other things I had to do were let the pool guys in & out, pay them and the cleaner, and go pay an internet bill one day.

Otherwise, my days were free to do as I pleased in Suva, Fiji. I certainly spent some time appreciating & enjoying the house. I sat on the breezy balcony admiring the views, suntanned beside the pool, took one chilly dip, watched DVDs on the big screen TV and talked to the dogs.

I’ve done other great House Sitting assignments during the past two years, as well.

Several times I took care of perhaps the most amazing house of them all, in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. Those gigs lasted one week to one month each. I also enjoyed one dog sitting assignment at a cute high-rise apartment in Singapore.

But I’m far from the only traveler enjoying house sitting.

Several of my travel blogging friends are also taking up house sitting assignments, sometimes back to back, all over the world. And not just travel bloggers but retired couples, short-term vacationers and other adventurous people are taking care of peoples’ homes and pets. Assignments are in the USA & Canada, in UK & Europe, in Australia & New Zealand, and even a few in the Caribbean, Pacific Islands and Central America.

rooftop pool at my House Sit in KL, Malaysia

The thing is, all over the world home owners need people to take care of their homes, properties and pets while they’re away. People go on vacations and job assignments, go live in their second homes, escape cold winters or hot summers.

Sometimes they want a house sitter to simply stay in their house so it’s not standing vacant, susceptible to robbery. Other home owners might need someone to maintain their gardens, lawns and properties. Many of them have pets who need to be looked after.

Where do home owners find people to take care of their properties and pets? Besides asking relatives or friends, these people join various online house sitting sites, searching for willing house & pet sitters to ‘hold down the fort’ while they’re away.

You know what that means, don’t you? You can become a house sitter too!

enjoying the beach during my Noosa House Sit

There are a few prominent house sitting sites that have thousands of listings all over the world. Then there are smaller, region or country specific sites that have hundreds of listings in just one country.

The main sites are  House Carers  –  Mind My House  –  Trusted House Sitters

You can check out these sites and preview snippets of the listings before joining. But to read the full listings and contact the home owners, you need to join the site, add a great personal profile, then start contacting home owners in the countries or cities you’d like to visit.

As you might imagine, house & pet sitting is a very enticing prospect to lots and lots of hopeful travelers. There are way more hopeful house sitters than houses to sit. There is competition for these glorious, luxurious opportunities.

So if you’re serious about landing some house sitting assignments, then I also highly recommend learning how to go about that with more expertise guidance.

When I became serious about house sitting two years ago, I invested in my blogging friend’s great guidebook, How To Become a House Sitter by Pete & Dalene Heck. The book really helped me to craft a great profile, to decide which house sitting sites to join, and to interact effectively with prospective home owners.

I wrote a review about their book here.

This year, Pete and Dalene have updated the book. Not surprisingly, it’s even more informative and helpful than the first version. They give experienced, detailed advice on how create a great profile, apply to home owners, interact effectively with home owners and land your first gig.

dancing at my House Sit in Malaysia

They continue with advice on arriving and settling in, what to do if you run into problems or emergencies and what makes a great house sitter. They also include a detailed comparison of the major and minor house sitting sites, so you can decide which one is best for you to join.

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to land my next house sitting assignment!

In the meantime I’m here luxuriating in my serene paradise gardens for the next 10 days while enjoying Sunshine Coast’s amazing beaches, parks and cycling trails.

Writing from paradise, Lash

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 Read more house sitting tales from some of my travel buddies:

Dani at Globetrotter Girls: House Sitting in NYC

Talon at 1Dad1Kid: House Sitting in Yorkshire, England

Simon & Erin at Never Ending Voyage: House Sitting in Florida, USA

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