Caribbean House Sitting – Luxury in the Tropics

Our trip to the Caribbean gave us one of our most luxurious house sitting assignments (as well as giving Claudia a couple of weeks’ break from house guests). We love pets and we love house sitting so Claudia didn’t hesitate to recommend us when her friends found themselves without care for their two puppies just days away from heading Northern Europe. After we met them, we didn’t hesitate to accept.

Coastal and Geronimo are two of the best trained dogs we’ve looked after. Only a year old at the time and still puppies, they were very obedient. Their owners had put in a lot of hard work to make sure they waited patiently (with pleading puppy dog eyes) until they were given a command to eat. The puppies worked for their treats, lying down, shaking hands, etc. It was great fun.

Coastal, as a beautiful white Labrador, might have been the bigger of the two but it was Geronimo, the teeny Yorkshire Terrier, who ruled the roost. We don’t think Coastal ever got to lie in his big bed.

Continue reading

Adventures in House Sitting – Melbourne

One of the best things about house sitting is exploring neighbourhoods you might never have had a reason for ever venturing to. This can be especially true of your home city and is definitely true of Melbourne. Many of Melbourne’s suburbs are like contained little villages with pubs, bars, restaurants, all within its small boundaries. There’s often so much going on that it’s hard to find a reason to get on a tram or train.

Barry and I found this happening to us while living with my sister in Hawthorn, one of Melbourne’s trendy inner suburbs. The colder and darker days of autumn and winter were not particularly inspiring either.

Continue reading