I realise that I might be extremely late to this phenomena, and it has been going on for a while, but recently I have picked up some house sitting gigs. Currently I am house sitting for a family friend on the Gold Coast, and I must say that so far it has been a great experience.
The family has gone away for a couple of weeks so I am here keeping the dogs company, watering the plants, and making sure the house in general is still standing when the owners return. As I have also been living with my parents since I returned to Australia, it also gives me some nice time away in my own Fortress of Solitude, and time to get my life organised before my girlfriend and I make the big move to Melbourne. There are benefits on both sides of the agreement.
The disgusting view from my current house sit.
(As I am writing this, one of the dogs has bought a palm frond inside.)
Speaking of Melbourne, while we are getting ourselves organised, Claire and I are house sitting for a mate I met in London. Isn’t it funny how life sometimes just works?
Claire and I will not have to worry about paying rent for our first 5 weeks in Melbourne as we try to sort out our lives, get jobs and find a place to live. In return we will be watching over a couple of cats and keeping together a house while the couple travels the US, again mutual benefits.
Now I have been lucky as I have organised my house sits through personal contacts, but there are a variety of websites that offer this service, that try to match places with people. Some sites require a subscription while others require a personal reference so the owners knows that you aren’t going to total their place. I’ll include a couple of links to AUSTRALIAN websites below.
I think it is something people should consider if they are new to an area, or looking to just get away for a couple of weeks, while doing someone a huge favour, and accruing some good karma in the process.
Here are some of the more popular sites to organise house sitting gigs in Australia:
Twitter: @keeganbest
The Rainbow Road 