Hello everyone. Is this where I introduce myself and my wife Tracey? We are brand new to THS. It’s going to take us some time to get used to the app! We are a retired couple in our mid 60s. I was a Physical Education teacher and Tracey worked with adults with learning difficulties.
We both have our health at the moment, we don’t have any elderly parents to care for and, as yet, we have no grandchildren! We see this time as an opportunity to see some more of the world. We have taken the decision to rent out our house for 12 months and use that rental income, along with our pensions, to travel.
We are treating ourselves to start off with by staying in some fabulous Airbnb accommodations in Croatia at the beginning of May, 2026.Then off for a short stay in Istanbul before moving down through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This part of our journey we are just going to ‘wing it’ ! I’m guessing there won’t be many sits in this part of the world?
We have two sons, aged 29 and 31. Our youngest has recently moved to Perth, WA with his fiancée. This is where we would love to sit for a month or so around November 2026. After that off to New Zealand to sit, around The Bay of Islands hopefully.
I’m a keen but not very successful sea fisherman! I’m going to attempt to learn to draw on our travels. We both love to visit and explore new places and, of course, we are both animal lovers. All our married life we have had dogs. We regularly look after two, a Labrador / Retriever, Margot, and Connie, a French Bulldog.
And there we are! That’s us in a nutshell! We can’t wait to get going May 1 2026. Any comments or advice will be very welcomed.
Hi Huw and Tracy and Welcome.
That sounds like quite an adventure and your approach sounds very flexible, what a fabulous position to be in.
Why not apply for a few shorter sits closer to home in the run up to May? Good reviews will stand you in good stead when you come to apply for any sits that appeal to you along the way.
Good Luck and safe travels
Hello Huw and Tracey and welcome to THS. It sounds like a wonderful adventure. For Australia you might want to join Aussie House Sitters. THS do have sits in Australia but AHS has far more choice. It doesn’t cost a lot to join. Enjoy your trip
What an exciting adventure you’ve got ahead! We’ve been travelling and house sitting around the world since retiring in 2012 — it’s been an amazing way to experience new places and cultures.
Kudos for tackling Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam during the Wet Season — that’s the true traveller spirit!
We completely agree with @Cljk’s AHS recommendation and would add MiindAHome to the list. Between the two, you’ll find plenty of great house-sit opportunities across beautiful WA.
Hi. Thank you for your welcome message. Good to know that someone else has had a really positive experience doing what we plan to do. We will definitely follow your advice too! Thank you. Huw
Hello @Huw1
Welcome to you and Tracey to the wonderful world of housesitting.
I completely resonate with you as have done what you’re planning. I’m now 68. I rented my house out in January 2019, have two pensions and had a fabulous time before and after the pandemic. After 6 months housesitting in the UK to get experience and reviews I flew to NZ’s North Island for 6 months, housesitting and road tripping , then to Australia and was about to do my first Aussie sit when the pandemic hit. Back to my house, which I got into after 2 months, and 20 months later 6 months in NZ South Island and a year in and out of Australia. I went back to my house in July this year after full time housesitting and travelling.
I would advise you to join aussiehousesitters & kiwihousesitters in addition to THS. I also picked up 2 sits in Western Australia via Facebook housesitting sites, while they worked out very well I wouldn’t recommend that as the best way.
Other people will advise re SE Asia as I haven’t sat there, although have travelled there.
Good luck! It’s very exciting and becomes an obsession!
Fortunately accommodation in SE Asia can be as affordable or as expensive as you choose. Lots of fun and as an Aussie married to a kiwi all that will be good too. Have fun.
Thank you so much for your message. Hopefully we will have an equally enjoyable experience on our travels. I think we will follow the very good advice about signing up to other sitting apps in Australia and New Zealand. We really appreciate you spending time in sharing your experiences with us. As it is all very new and exciting, it is also a bit scary! It is reassuring that someone like yourself has been down that road and loved it. Thank you.
Nothing to be scared about at all. Just make sure you read the posts properly, read reviews by previous sitters and what the owner reviewed about those sitters and ensure you have a video call before accepting a sit.
Feel free to message me privately with any questions.
Welcome, Huw and Tracey. Sounds like a great attitude for a great adventure. I have learned something too from the replies you’ve had from other members! Good luck with your journey.
Our son and his wife are in Perth, we did x3 sits there Dec/Jan 2024/5. Save a search for that location and start ‘hearting/favouriting’ any that come up. Australians tend to leave it a bit last minute to post Xmas sits….it’s a thing there. The sits go very very quickly like within an hour to reach x5 applicants and frozen to other applicants until the HO decides or declines someone thus releasing a slot. Time zones affect when you’ll see the sits popping up….learn how to manage this. Many sits pop up for January as Perthites go skiing in Japan that month ok
It doesn’t work that way.The number of applicants received prior to a “pause” is often more than 5 and the host must manually unpause the listing, it’s not automatic when a spot opens up.
As soon as x5 applicant spots are filled it’s paused UNLESS ‘clever clogs’ already have an application open when the x5 spots are filled as these also seem to get through…. so technically you’re correct. In any case my point is it’s FAST. These are NEW sitters so it’s all about learning the early steps for them. As I’m a sitter I can only describe the sitter side of things….and the only thing that matters is getting a spot to apply for rather than the HO process that releases the spot. .
Right, there are certain functions only hosts are privy that sitters will know only if they’re told or read about it here on the forum. And vice-versa.
I didn’t realize it at first either, but yes once applications are paused they need to be manually restarted by the host.
— that’s the true traveller spirit!
