House sitting as a family - Claire & Ben’s story

Claire & Ben are a self-employed couple with two daughters aged 10 and 13 who just adore animals. They initially started their house sitting journey in 2012 in Claire’s homeland, New Zealand as a way to travel around and see the beautiful country. 

“Our first sit was for a family friend which was a great way to introduce ourselves to what was required of us as house sitters. Then in late 2018 we moved to Australia and travelled with an off-road vehicle and rooftop tent for almost two years. After settling down for a couple of years in Perth, we decided to move to the east coast and on the way, we did another lap for two years but this time with an off-road caravan. 

As we travelled around Australia to film and photograph the amazing landscape, wildlife and people, we lived in very small spaces like our rooftop tent and small caravan. Being with Aussie House Sitters gave us the ability to work from ‘home’ during our post production work. It also allowed us to home-school our kids in a relaxed environment where we all felt cozy together which has been brilliant, especially after long drives between destinations. 

We all very much love animals but can’t have one due to our nomadic lifestyle, so house sitting enables us to have a pet or pets to love and care for, even if it’s just for a short period of time. It’s also given us the chance to feel what it’s like to be a ‘local’ resident in every major city and state in New Zealand and Australia. 

As house sitters, you definitely need to be able to connect and care for other people's animals as it’s difficult for both the pet owners and pets to be separated, and your role is to fill that gap. If the house sit is longer than a week, we usually try meeting the owners and pets before the sit to get a feel if we are suitable and the pets and property will feel right for us. Good communication skills and the willingness to text and send photos of the pets is something we’ve found owners always appreciate. As is the ability to take care of the property and animals as if they were your own. Owners also appreciate that being family orientated, we are always home at nights which helps create a happy, relaxed and familiar environment for their pets.

On our travels, we have been treated very generously by many home owners so in return we try to leave fresh food for them to start their day when they arrive home from a long journey, or sometimes even a small present for the pet to play with. 

We really love house sitting because it allows our children to experience the responsibility and joy of owning a pet, plus we get to have some downtime from being on the road full time. It’s also great knowing we get to help out the owners so they can go on holiday in peace with the knowledge that their animals will be taken care of.

We are currently based in Brisbane this year and have been enjoying our Queensland based house sits. We love being part of the Aussie House Sitters community and are excited for our family to continue to house sit for many years to come.”

If Claire & Ben’s story of travelling the country while house sitting sounds like your cup of tea, sign up with Aussie House Sitters to kick start your adventures.