Serafina

Updated as of mid-May, 2024!

Thank you for taking the time to read my profile. I’m a 55 year old (mature not old!) Canadian woman, I took my first ever cruise, spent 26 days at sea and I arrived in Sydney on October 23, 2023. I am open to any opportunity that comes my way, during the time I spend in your beautiful country!

I have very recently suffered a profound loss and I have come to Australia in part to heal. Even though I have never been here before, I have a deep spiritual and emotional connection to your land. I look forward to meeting you and sharing stories and experiences.

I have experienced the pride of owning my own home and I can assure you that I will treat your home as if it was my own, and all of my previous canine and feline fur babies could write you reference letters, I can assure you that they would be absolutely glowing! I’m a non-smoker, I’m straight forward, trustworthy, quirky and and polite. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to a chat!

Since arriving in Australia, I have looked after homes, dogs, cats and fish in Sydney, Canberra, Hindmarsh Island, Mandurah, Perth and Bargara. All of those house sits, save one, were facilitated through another house sit website. I’ve been incredibly blessed because each home owner has been so lovely and I’ve fallen in love with each and every fur baby that has been in my care!!! I’m always sad to say goodbye to them!!! Luckily for me, some of the home owners have asked me to return to house sit for them again, so I get to see them again!!!

Prior to coming to Australia, I was a home owner with both dogs and cats in Canada for over 30 years, which I can tell you that I kept impeccably, and if my fur babies were able to give you references, they would tell you that I am an excellent Dog & Cat Mum! I also did a house sit for my mate and her family in Canada, while they enjoyed a three weeks holiday in Bali. They of course would be happy to provide references, should you so desire. They had no four legged friends to take care of, but there were many plants to tend. My friends returned home to find that all plants had now been named, and there was a journal detailing the daily news & adventures of the house & garden.

During my house sits, I’ve facilitated ingress & egress for contractors when home owners are using using their time away from home to undertake renovation projects, and of course I put out the rubbish bins on the appropriate days, collect the mail, and keep the house spotless. Each home owner has received a daily update with photos of their happy fur babies!

DOG EXPERIENCE:
I’ve had dogs my whole life. A few large breeds (Old English Sheep Dogs) but mostly small dogs. We did have Show Dogs when I was young so I spent much of my time in professional Dog Show rings and so I’m very comfortable around dogs of all sizes and over the years have learned much about training and professional handling. I know how to be the Alpha, but in a loving way. I also know all about giving treats and snuggles. I’m that person that always says hello to every dog that I see walking outside on the street.

CAT EXPERIENCE:
I begged my mother for a cat from the time I was 4. I had to wait until I moved out on my own. Since then, I have become a devoted cat mum and have proven that dogs and cats can indeed live happily together. I’ve always had indoor cats, can give them meds, cut their nails, and have full conversations with them in “meow” (I told you I was quirky!)

FISH EXPERIENCE:
One of my house sits here in Australia had a lovely little pond with 4 large goldfish. They were very low maintenance, only requiriing a daily feed and the occasional pond top-up. Other than that, my only experience with fish is this: when I was 15, I ran a charity event that had a “fishing pond” for toddlers. There were leftover goldfish. The organizers were going to flush them and I wouldn’t allow that, so Seymour, Gladys and Persephone came home with me. Three weeks later, I departed for 2 months away at sleepover camp, leaving the fish in my older sister’s charge. They did not survive. If you have fish, I will not enlist my sister’s help. And now I will just ask you to hold a moment of silence in memory of Seymour, Gladys and Persephone.

BIRD EXPERIENCE:
We had a budgie when I was 7. I’ll be honest. I don’t have a lot of bird experience but I do remember that bottom of the cage cleaning was nasty! No worries. I’ve tackled much worse and survived!

RABBIT EXPERIENCE:
When my son was in Grade 4, his classroom had a “Class Rabbit” and every child got a turn taking home the rabbit for the weekend. When it was our turn, my son, of course, was SO excited. I was terrified. I had read online that rabbits’ hearts beat super fast and they can have heart attacks very easily and so I was convinced that our dog or our cat was going to scare the rabbit and kill it and then I would be the mother that killed the class pet. So Rabbit stayed in my son’s room all weekend, Cashmere (dog) and Fred (cat) were banned and unhappy, but Rabbit returned to school alive. That is the extent of my rabbit experience. I did not kill the class pet.

GUINEA PIG EXPERIENCE:
Very limited. I’ve never looked after them, I have no anecdotal stories about them, but I do know that they exist much happier when they live in pairs. Same sex pairs. Unless you want 500 Guinea Pigs. Oh - and when my son was little, he used to call them Gimme Pigs. But that’s only interesting to me, not you. Sorry about that!

REPTILE EXPERIENCE:
I’ve never had them but I love them and think they are so cool! I’ve had the opportunity to handle reptiles a lot. When I was 13, I had a friend who lived in the flat under mine who had two pythons and a boa and he used to let me hang out with them all the time. In my later years, whenever I visited a reptile zoo, I was first to volunteer to hold a snake, which irked the toddlers for some reason!

HORSE EXPERIENCE:
Semi-experienced rider, totally inexperienced groomer, but I completely connect with horses and have been wanting to live on a horse farm and learn more about horses for as long as I can remember. I love horses and, if I can sound a little full of myself again, horses usually love me.

CHICKEN EXPERIENCE:
None. But I think I’ve shown you that I have a willingness to learn!