My current housesit sees me on a lifestyle block amongst the hills of rural Glen Murray, in the Waikato. I’m here until the weekend then it’s back down to Raetihi. It’s nice out here in Glen Murray. It can be quite remote with the nearest supermarket (Te Kauwhata New World) being a good 40-minute drive…
House Sitting In Whatawhata – Second Visit
My current house sit sees me back on a repeat property for a fortnight. This is my second visit here and for pretty much the exact same dates as last time. This is a rural home in the Whatawhata district, with a quick 10-minute drive to the shops in Dinsdale, Hamilton. It’s good to be…
Farm Sitting In Walton
I moved to a new farm sit just the other day. This property is in the Walton locality, and about 10kms from Matamata. The owners have taken off to London for a few weeks to visit family. I’ll be looking after this place until just after Christmas. It’s a nice modern house, and a tidy…
House Sitting In Hamilton – Fitzroy
After a brilliant week staying in Raetihi, I’m now on to my next property, and this is my current abode. It’s a nice new house in a newish part of the suburb of Fitzroy, in Hamilton. They’re all modern homes around this area, and it’s surprisingly super quiet. You can hardly hear the cars going…
House Sitting In Raetihi
For the past several days I’ve been in Raetihi, a small town located about 12kms south west of Ohakune, in the Ruapehu district. My current assignment is not so much a house sit, but more of a lodge sit. 🙂 Where I’m currently staying is Snowy Waters Lodge, which is an old nurses home. Not…
The Exit Handover
As a house sitter, your last day on a property is just as important (if not more so) than your first day. Absolutely, first impressions matter — but final impressions endure. A successful handover of the house (and pets) back to the homeowners is the quiet, often underestimated, finale of any house sit. And it’s…
When House Sitters Get Rejected
When applying for house sits, rejection is going to be an unavoidable part of the house sitting lifestyle. For every successful application, there will be several others that won’t go your way — especially if you’re competing with dozens of other sitters for the same appealing property. Even with all my 20 odd years of…
Soft Skills And How To Use Them
When it comes to house sitting, reliability, honesty, and a love of animals are the traits most often mentioned — and rightly so. But there’s another side to successful sitting that rarely makes it into the checklists and how-to guides. It’s the “soft skills” — the quiet, human abilities that determine whether an arrangement feels…
When Family Share The Same Property
In most house sits, the arrangement is nice and simple — the homeowners are away, and the sitter lives in the home, caring for it and any pets as agreed. But sometimes there’s a twist: a family member of the homeowner is living on the same property, albeit in separate accommodation, such as a tiny…
House Sitting In Ohiwa
My seven week stay at Rongotea has come to an end. Everything went really well and the owners have already booked me in for two more sits next year so I’m looking forward to going back there, it’s a nice area. Anyway, I’ve gone from there straight onto a new house and farm sit. This…