House Sitting For The Solo Traveller in Sydney

When I first heard of house sitting in Australia, I thought it was good for couples, only. But when I started digging, I was surprised to read about the stories of many solo travellers housesitting around the world.

As you may already know, housesitting is a great way to travel to Australia while taking care of a house while the owners are away. Many homeowners have pets, so looking after pets is very much part and parcel of any housesits.

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Housesitting in Australia – Taking care of homes and pets

Meet Thomas, the adorable cat at my first housesitting assignment in Australia. But before I tell you about this fantastic experience, let me first tell you a bit more about my housesitting saga!

How I all started with housesitting

I started reading blog posts from fellow bloggers, reading funny and successful housesitting stories, and housesitting nightmares and many more stories. All in all, it did sound intriguing, and it sparked my curiosity to make us want to try out housesitting on my solo trips.

But I was not aware of many things. First of all, I had nil experience nor any clue how to get suitable housesit assignments. While searching on the internet, I found out about housesitting websites where you can sign up for a fee ranging from 50-150 USD and search for suitable housesit assignments worldwide. After checking a few, I signed up for an Aussie housesitting site.

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The truth about Housesitting in Australia

After months of tiring searching, going through ads, sending off dozens of emails and hardly getting any replies, it felt as hard as looking for a job! I didn’t have any references, nor a police check, so my chances to get shortlisted were low, and my hope started to fade.

The reality is that there are so many people looking for house sits in Australia, not only travellers. Many Aussies retired, moving around the country, looking for a new place, a new challenge. Homeowners tend to prefer hiring people they know through friends, family, or simply word-of-mouth. Of course, anyone would prefer a house sitter referred from a trusted friend rather than a stranger.

Let the magic work for you – How my first housesit worked out.

While I was keen to try out housesitting in Australia, I wasn’t prepared to go through a stressful search, so I felt like throwing in the towel and let it go. At the same time, I started to visualise my ideal housesit. It is a comfortable house, an excellent location, biking and walking trails, a lovely neighbourhood, one cat to look after, and yes, of course, lovely homeowners.

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One day I opened my mailbox and read the notification of a new housesitting advert near Sydney. I clicked and read it through and thought: “This is mine” …and tried my luck again. I replied to the advert, and within a short time, I got a positive response back. “How exciting”, I thought…My visualisation must have activated the “law of attraction“… I don’t know what happened, but the magic seemed to have worked for me.

A warm welcome is a good start for housesitting in Australia.

I couldn’t have found a better home for my first housesit. It had everything I was looking for to make me feel comfortable, have a pleasant stay, and at the same time feel confident in meeting all housesit requirements. These were, no doubt, my priorities!

I had arranged to meet up with the homeowners the day before. I was happy that Karen could pick me up and bring me home, where we spend the first evening together. Everything was just perfect, from the warm welcome on the housedoor board to the vibrant atmosphere in the house.

Positive feelings, great music, a nice dinner with a lovely family of four plus one daughters’ friend, joined in their one-week holiday. I couldn’t have asked for more for my first house sit gig!

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Housesitting means feeling at home.

I spent a whole week on my own. The house was very comfortable and easy to run. Besides easy house chores like taking out the rubbish bins at night or collecting the post, I checked the pool was working fine, feed Thomas, the lovely cat. I had plenty of time to look after my things, catching up with my writing, blogging and relaxing at the pool, too.

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Housesitting and cooking

Spending time in a real home is gold to me, as it is a rare occasion for preparing fresh food and keeping up my healthy eating tips. I enjoyed my time housesitting while cooking my meals and trying out different things.

Housesitting and meeting the neighbours

While I was housesitting in Mona Vale north of Sydney, I was happy to catch up with the locals and get introduced to the lovely neighbourhood. I was invited over to meet their friends and cook dinner together. I was honoured to improvise a vegetarian and vegan salad for their guests too.

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Housesitting in Australia while discovering Sydney’s surroundings

During my housesitting week, I went off exploring Mona Vale surroundings. I could borrow Pippa’s bike to cycle around the area, ride past the golf courses, through green parks to Mona Vale beach and Bayview. Mona Vale is indeed a beautiful place on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

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Would I do it again?

Yes, definitely. I enjoyed my first housesitting experience in Australia. As a solo traveller in Australia, it is a great way to stay for free, in exchange for taking care of someone’s else house and pets. While it’s not easy to find suitable housesit jobs in Australia, it is worth trying. I can recommend it to all female solo travellers wishing to venture into long-term travel in Australia.

Interested in housesitting in Australia? I recommend checking out the Aussie House Sitters Site.

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More Posts About Travelling to Australia on a budget:

Tips for Travelling Australia On A Budget

Tips for Solo Travel in Australia

How to Save Money on Accommodation

First published in 2014, last updated in April 2021

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