From Kangaroo Island to Tropical North Queensland – Sheree & David’s house sitting journey

For Sheree & David, travelling around Australia had always been the dream and something they had been working towards for 10 years.

Before taking early retirement, David worked for the local council while Sheree owned her own gym and massage business. They also owned and managed holiday accommodation on Kangaroo Island, so they were confident their skills and experience would transfer to house sitting. 

Sheree - Many years ago, one of my clients used to housesit and it sounded like a great thing to do. In 2021, we sold our house and 2.5 acres of manicured gardens we had built ourselves. It was sad to see the beautiful house and gardens go, but it was something we had to do in order to pursue our dream. We purchased a smaller house as a retirement home and in January 2022, we packed our caravan and embarked on the journey of a lifetime travelling around Australia 

When we heard about house and pet sitting, it seemed like a win, win situation – Homeowners get reliable, honest people to look after their homes and we get to have cuddles with their pets. Our last little dog went to sleep in July 2021 at the age of almost 18 and we miss her terribly, so we love to shower our affection onto the animals we care for. For us, the most important part of this ‘job’ is the house and the pets – it’s not just free accommodation – the homeowners trust you with their most precious possessions so we treat them with love, and always respect the homeowners wishes regarding the animals.

Throughout our travels, house sitting has allowed us the freedom to know that during the busy holiday periods, we can always find somewhere to stay. That takes the stress out of full time travel for us as we don’t always like to book too far ahead. It also allows us to spend extra time in a region as accommodation can be quite expensive in some areas. 

We’re on our 8th house sit and we tend to just pick them up as we go. Sometimes people reach out to us and we will change our plans if it’s something we’re interested in but mostly it’s us looking for sits along the way. It helps us to save money during our travels and provides us with somewhere to stay especially during periods like Christmas, Easter and school holidays when van parks are often booked out.

One particular house sit in Canberra has probably been our favourite experience so far. It was a place we had never been before and we enjoyed a fantastic 10 days there - we wouldn’t have stayed that long without the house sit. There is so much to see and do around Canberra plus the home was stunning and the 2 Jack Russell’s and 2 cats certainly kept us entertained with their antics.

We are currently in northern QLD on a 2 week housesit in the Atherton Tablelands. In November, we’ll work our way south down the coastline to the Sunshine Coast and then head inland to a cattle station near Injune in South West Queensland. From December 2023 until December 2024 we will be managing their accommodation (glamping tents). We then plan to head home to Kangaroo Island for Christmas and drop the van off. From early 2025, we will hit the road travelling again and hope to do a lot more housesitting without the van as we realise that having a van limits the areas we can sit due to space restriction. There are still so many more adventures we have to look forward to. 

Feeling inspired?

Check out our other travel blogs to read more travel adventures from our house sitters.