California Girls Introduce Themselves

Hello from Oakland,CALIFORNIA.

We are two recently retired public school teachers, fully vaccinated and enjoying our travels.

We have toyed with the idea of housesitting ever since we learned of it some years ago on an overnight trip across the Bay to the Marin Headlands Youth Hostel. Since then we considered Carmel as this is one of our favorite places to stay on short trips.

We are responsible folks who lived with and loved our Shitzu poodle mix pup for fifteen years and we love animals. We are putting off having our own for while as they can complicate traveling, as you well know.

We are also familiar with the demands of maintaining a garden and keeping good relations with neighbors, as well and hot tub maintenance.

Currently we do home exchange and enjoy that, as well. Airbnb is a platform we no longer use, but we have used it for many years and have lots of good reviews as guests and hosts.

All this by way of you introduction. We have yet to sign up as we are only starting our travels outside of visiting family and friends, in 2023.

We tend not to need house sitters as we have family and former students who enjoy having time away and consider staying at our place a vacation! Lucky us.

Our next trip in the planning stage is to the Barrier Reef and the coastal cities along the way between Sydney and Cairns. Still early stages.

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Hi @Jfalco,

On behalf of the forum team, a warm welcome to the TrustedHousesitter’s community. My husband and I love the Oakland area so I can see why you are never short on offers for people to take care of your home. In 2018 we spent a little over a month in the Cairns/Port Douglass area while housesitting using TrustedHousesitters and dove the GBR and had such a fantastic time! Are you divers? snorkelers? and may I ask what subjects you taught?

If at any time you need any help don’t hesitate to reach out to our community here which is full of helpful members who have been through the process themselves and will happily give advice and guidance. And don’t forget our membership support team are always on hand to give assistance.

All the very best,

Kelly & the Forum Team

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I would say “Go for it!” We also started with home exchanging, which we still do, but then we joined Trusted Housesitters and have really been enjoying this addition to our repertoire! It is a little bit different, feels different than exchanging, but imagine not having to get your home ready for an exchange! You get to stay in someone’s home, discover a new area, and spend time with some awesome pets! So fun! It can be hard to find your first sit, but once you have one great review in your profile, you will be able to land many sits!

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Thanks.Yes, we are longtime snorkels and relatively recent divers. And you?

It is so nice to hear from you. Let us know if ever you are heading in our direction.

Any tips or suggestions for Cairns?

Janis

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Congratulations @Jfalco on getting SCUBA certified! I was a very nervous novice diver…well I still am a novice diver with just about 40 dives under my belt. It is the best thing I have ever done for myself. Diving has opened up a whole new world to me that keeps me in awe every dive (although exhausting and expensive :rofl:)

We are actually headed up to the Bay area next month but this trip we have limited time so we’re sticking to the city.

We found the loading prices back in 2018 for AUS to be outrageous…so fortunately we were able to book a long term housesit for two dogs that we fell in love with. In Cairns itself we were walking distance to the botanic gardens which I was able to walk through daily. The gardens in general in the area are superb! The food at the restaurants are pretty forgettable (with very high prices) which was why it was great to make our own food at the house we were sitting. Make sure to book a day or two in the Daintree (the worlds oldest rainforest.)

If you would like more recommendations on a tour to dive the GBR with let me know I’d be happy to pass that info along as well. Happy planning!

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P.S. I taught high school English and ESL. My partner has taught it all except high school, last years language arts/social studies core.

As for diving: yes expensive and jury is still out for us after about 30 dives since we really enjoy snorkeling and it is often free and easy . If we were younger, shire diving would solve some of the cost: catting a load at our age is a bit much . Concierge diving these days!

Very interested in any suggestions about GBR appreciated.Thanks for the offer!

Janis

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