Hi everyone! What a great community this is! My name is Kessie and I’m a 48 year old from Australia. I’ve been house/pet sitting for over 4 years and have only just joined this amazing site because I desire to start sitting Internationally! I have an established profile on Aussiehousesitters site but as a newbie to this site I’d love any advice or tips to get my first housesit. I’d love to travel to Europe/UK for over a year and am even thinking of purchasing a car when I get there as a lot of the sits seem to be in the countryside (which is so lovely!). I’m so glad I found this community - what a great support system it is to both sitters and pet owners! I absolutely LOVE dogs and cats and have also looked after chickens (we call them chooks here in Oz) and horses. I have such a passion for travel and it excites me that the world has opened up again after such a tough 2 years for every human. Community is really important to me as a solo traveller it can get lonely sometimes - thank goodness for the beautiful animals who give us that unconditional love!! So lovely to connect with everyone!
I see you’re a jigsaw fan…What is the largest one you’ve ever completed? I don’t have the patience for it myself but I am amazed by those who do.
Hi Kelly! Yes I love them! I prefer the smaller ones to be honest as they tend to take up too much room otherwise! My family and I love to do them together at Christmas time - last year we had about 6 of us sitting around doing a 5000 piece puzzle! 1000 - 2000 pieces are my favourite and I find when you lose patience it’s good to go distract yourself doing something else and then come back to it at another time otherwise it’s super frustrating ha ha.
well I applaud you all! Where abouts in Aus are you from? I’ve been fortunate enough to visit for about two months but I still have so much left to see of your country. Uluru is still very high on my bucket list!
I’m in central (coastal) Queensland but raised on the Gold Coast. I went to Uluru last Christmas and it was absolutely so much more than I thought it would be! It is incredible! We certainly have a huge country! I’ve seen most of it except Tasmania - still on my bucket list!! Where are you based Kelly?
That sounds so awesome! Yes Tasmania is also on my list.
I’m based in San Diego, CA.
Oh Lovely! I have been to LA but not San Diego - it’s also on my list ha ha!! So many places to see and experience.
Hya and welcome @Kessie
Make effort to get references from your previous pet owners for your new THS profile.
Make mention on your profile that you are established elsewhere and are now seeking to expand to new lands.
You will be flying in no time. Enjoy and don’t forget to smile.
All the best
Amparo
PS I have been solo traveling since 1979 and it is only now that I have a community I can click with 
Welcome to this great community of fellow pet lovers! We’ve only been members since Oct, but are currently spending 5 months traveling overseas and sitting in the UK for 3 of those months. It would be great to spend a year overseas and extend our time here, on our next visit, but as US passport holders, we must limit our stay. Several countries and areas have specific limits on passport holder’s extended visits. We have plans to be in Australia in fall of 23, and hope to secure sits in various areas, while we are visiting. Best of luck on your new adventures!
Thank you so much @Amparo. I just got my first housesit near Manchester! I can’t believe it only took a few days! Im extremely excited! Thank you for the tips - especially the smiling one!! Very important! Have an amazing day!
Thank you @Joanne ! Yes I can stay in the UK for 6 months within a year so I am keeping that in mind while Im in Europe and will visit other countries while I’m there too. I just got a sit near Manchester for a month around Christmas so I’m very excited indeed! You will love Australia - it is vast and lots of different climates and vistas from beaches, deserts, rainforests it’s a great place to experience. How wonderful to be spending 5 months travelling around housesitting! It is such a wonderful way to see the world! I feel so blessed!
Very well done! Congratulations!
Thank you! The adventure begins!!
Hi Kessie
Welcome to THS.
I’ve completed 45 sits via THS but am off to New Zealand’s South Island on 31/10. I had difficulty finding sits for the South Island via THS so joined Kiwihousesitters, where obviously I’m unknown. When I applied for sits I included a link to my reviews on THS so I would recommend you do the same with your Aussiehousesitters’ reviews each time you apply via THS. I’ve got 4 sits so far via Kiwihousesitters and a sit in Oz for next August via THS.
Good luck with your international travel and housesitting!
Hi there.
A great way to get started to love jig saw puzzles is to do them online. You choose how many pieces you want to work with from the same puzzle! The site breaks the pieces down for you. Plus it is portable as you do it on your computer! You can also see how long it takes you to complete one.
I get so frustrated with the big puzzles so I start small and add more challenges to my next puzzle. eg 60 pieces to 100 etc.
Interested to know how big your real puzzles are though! Our very first large real puzzle was of dog breeds. (kept us busy through covid times) I thought this should be easy loving dogs. Wrong…so hard we gave up frustrated. Thus why we do computer ones now.
I just did a 14 day tour of Uluru. I am a tour guide in my spare? retirement time. Central Australia is truly beautiful. We dined under the stars at Uluru…
I have been to San Diego Zoo and loved it!
Hubby and I love USA.
We did Route 66 3 years ago in a Ford pick up truck. Met so many interesting people!
Hi Kessie (from Broadbeach Gold Coast`)
Kelly this is an awesome site and thank you for all you do for us. Much appreciated!
Oh wow I was born and bred on the Gold Coast - are you close to Pacific Fair? I still have a lot of family there. Isn’t Uluru magic! simply breathtaking. It was too windy to dine under the stars when I was there but I bet that’s an experience you will remember for the rest of your life!!
Oooh how did I not know about this? How wonderful. I bet the dog puzzle was difficult! Just like ones with the ocean are so difficult! Blue ocean and blue skies ha ha ha!
Thank you so much! I have done this too thank you for the suggestion! You live in a beautiful part of the world!! I’ve only been to Queenstown and Arrowtown and oh my it was stunning!