Hello from NZ

Introductions
#1

I’m Zoe,

I’m usually a global sitter, though currently localised to North Canterbury in NZ where spring was teasing us because today there’s rain, winds, and snow across the country.

I’ve been pet sitting/nomadic for three years now, and love caring for all animals but have an extra space in my heart for the more senior pets and their little quirks. I’m aiming to get back to two senior pooches in Cape Town for December at a lovely beachfront home. The SA borders open this week.

Aside from giving cuddles and accosting every dog I meet on a walk, I am also a part-time life coach, energy healer, and travel writer.

Nice to meet you all! Zoe

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#2

Welcome to the community Forum Zoe, lucky you to be in NZ and during springtime … the dark days of winter are creeping slowly in the Northern Hemisphere.

Thank you for joining us and we look forward to finding out more about your amazing adventures and time with TrustedHousesitters.

#3

Oh New Zealand!! One of our two dream destinations (the other one is Japan). Really hope to get over there for a year sometime. One of our last house sits was for a couple that was spending 2 months visiting their son who had moved to New Zealand (from the US) and they came back absolutely raving about it. And as major Lord of the Rings fans, we will have to properly nerd out whenever we make it there!

One thing I’ve wondered about for New Zealand sitting is getting around. It seems like a car is definitely necessary?

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#4

It depends - if you’re in a city centre, you can manage but on the whole, the public transport kinda sucks here. If the sit doesn’t come with a car then renting is relatively affordable (I’m renting from Jucy). It’s worth asking if the homeowner will leave a car (if they are going overseas) for you, you never know! I’ve turned down sits before where there was a need to rent a car and it was so expensive!

If you were coming for a year and wanted to get a cheap run-around, then look on Trade Me - it’s a good place to buy first, and sell later. Not just cars, either, it’s a great site for lots of used products (and new).

And yes, LOADS of ways to LOTR geek-out! Zoe

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#5

Ooh all so good to know, thanks Zoe! Yeah we normally don’t rent as it’s usually prohibitively expensive. But seems like there are affordable options especially for long term. Will have to remember to come back to this post if/when we do get down there!

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#6

I think if you like it, it’ll get saved? @Angela-CommunityManager - how can peeps save interesting content?

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#7

Sorry to but-in, I think that if you select the three little dots below a post :arrow_down::speech_balloon:, there appears a bookmark symbol (hmm, no emoji for that one. It’s a rectangle with a cut-out bottom). I imagine that would do it.
On the other hand, I have previous for being a misguided smarty pants :upside_down_face:

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#8

Well there you go.

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#9

@Saltrams @zoemac … There you go indeed! Thank you Laura :clap:

#10

Hi Zoe,

Felt compelled to say hello as we love NZ and can’t wait to return.

My daughter lives in Auckland and we have visited a few times, traveling around while we’ve been there. We’ve never yet done a pet sit there but nowadays there do seem to be more available so hopefully next time, although not sure when that will be now :cry:

We love Cape Town too - spent 3 months there a good few years ago now before we were retired - so even more envious of you!

You say the border is open so you can get to SA but what are the procedures now when you return to NZ? Do you still have to quarantine yourself?

Look forward to hearing about your adventures but I suppose I should really go and introduce myself to the forum now!
All the best,
Emily

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#11

Hi Emily,

Thanks for the lovely message! Great to e-meet you!

Where does your daughter live in Auckland? And where are you now? You’ll definitely be able to sit one day - Kiwis are travelling (albeit domestically) in droves as the summer approaches.

Re coming back to NZ - I’m not planning to! I’m keen to go and explore a new destination, and find a base there for a while. South Africa turned out to be in the too-hard basket so it’s possibly Australia for now… Mallorca is calling at some point - though not anytime soon.

How long have you been on THS? It’s great, huh?

Chat soon, Zoe

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#12

Hi Zoe,
Sorry only just found your nice message. Must spend some more time getting up to speed on here - photo next! Juliet lives in Mount Wellington at the moment and is a Director of Bear Park child care centre in Remuera. She loves looking after animals too but at the moment just friends’ and neighbour’s cats and dogs! We have stayed with her a few times - in Parnell, Kingsland and Remuera and have done a fair bit of Airbnb around NZ as well as a Juicy Van! Now that NZ has more sits available we can’t wait to get back there, as well as to see Juliet again of course. Roll on vacinations! So sorry you didn’t get to Cape Town but I’m sure you will one day. So far we have only done sits in the UK (4) and Spain (2) (where we live when not travelling - so a long time this year!) and we are itching to do more.
All the best,
Emily

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#13

Hi @EmandK! Love the connection here - I used to live in Kingsland and I write for JUCY (I used to head up their marketing here and in the US, but now I freelance content write for them)!

I’m off to Sydney on Thursday - then up the coast to check out where the vibes feel good - see what happens!

Hope you get your own vacay soon when the world calms down. Stay in touch!

Cheers, Zoe

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