We were there in December just before Christmas. It was quite the experience seeing the houses with Christmas decorations and at the same time enjoying hot weather and the beaches. We were invited to a block party in Ballina. In Sydney, I managed to get a pic with Santa who rode up on a motorcycle! I’d love to back to Australia but it’s a long way from Canada!
Don’t know where you’re staying but obviously the fireworks with NY are famous. You have to either come really really early to snag a good spot.
Or do as I used to do when I lived there - I was living in Darling Point, which is just outside the ‘tourist zone’ but it’s right on the harbour with views of the bridge. There’s several little parks at the top of Darling Point where the locals go and watch the fireworks. You can just rock up at 20 minutes to midnight and you’ll be fine (dont tell anyone else… 
)
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@Bluehorse wow, that tip alone is worth its weight in gold!!
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Congratulations! We did a cat sit in Sydney over Christmas 2022/New Year’s 2023. It was amazing! We spent 2 months in Australia but did not do any other sits as we wanted the freedom to see the country without the obligations of caring for pets. Have a wonderful time and feel free to message me with any questions about how we spent our time there.
Hi @petlover ! Thanks for your offer to DM you. Yes, we are excited and are contemplating doing 1 or 2 more smaller sits with breaks in between to see different parts of the country. This was not part of my 6 month travel plans but sometimes it’s exciting to go with the flow.
Our favorite part of our trip was 3 weeks in Tasmania. So awesome with unique animals and lots of beautiful nature, plus delicious food and wine. We also did a week long dive trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef, visited the Sunshine Coast, spent a week in Melbourne and saw the Australian Open and attended a Chinese New Year parade, and did the Great Ocean Road drive, culminating in wine tasting in the Barossa Valley. So much fun!
@petlover wow that sounds like a trip of a lifetime! I learn so much from this forum from awesome members like yourself.
fyi - I just got declined AGAIN on Aussiehousesitters for one of the rather scarce not-dog-but-something-else sits in Sydney or Melbourne. In this case it was a 1 week cat-sit in mid January in Sydney, although a good 45 minutes by bus from the CBD (no train). So definitely not central.
I asked the HO if she could let me know what made her decline my application, because I’d like to learn from it.
She came back to me and said that she’d received over 40 applications in less than 24 hours!!
So I’m afraid that urban housesits are significantly outnumbered by sitters on Aussiehousesitters well…
I’ve used Aussiehousesitters as a host for years and never had a problem finding sitters. I’ve decided to upgrade my THS and have dual membership and test out what the sitters are like through this company. I’m in WA. Good luck finding a place @Bluehorse and @IHeartAnimals - maybe you two could do a meet up if you’re both there at the same time 
As a host you will probably have plenty of choice indeed! I’m a sitter and so far only hearing from hosts on Aussiehousesitters again and again that they’ve been inundated/flooded with applications
wow 40 applications? I know I see posts on here about the limitations about the 5 application rule. Your post might just convince me it’s not entirely a bad idea. 40 applications is annoying both for everyone involved. Just think about the time this pet parent will have to spend reviewing and then overthinking about who to invite.
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If they as some said use weeks to find «the finalists» it will also greatly impact travel plans and cost of travel for sitters, I can imagine. It must be quite overwhelming for hosts, most people are not used to handling recruiting processes.
Reminds me of the old recruiter-story. A company got a big pile of applications. The recruiter took half of the pile and put in the bin. «Why did you do that?» «They’re out of luck. We can’t use people that are out of luck.» Kind of illustrate the situation of all being «qualified» - how do you really separate candidates? You just have to find something to go further.
But you realise they don’t have to go through all 40? If they read through 5-10 and find 1-2 good matches, make contact and decide to invite someone to sit, then that’s great, they found someone. There’s no rule to go through every single application.
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I realise that. I’m an experienced recruiter. I refer to the post (-s) over where it is referred to hosts going through them all. That’s what happens when decent unexperienced hosts get a pile of applications. They want to do a good job and give everyone «a fair chance», or somehow get «the best» sitter without really knowing how to sort that out.
If I were the pet parent, I would first throw out anyone who doesn’t have reviews, then if there are still too many applicants throw out people with less than X number of reviews until I’m left with maybe 5-10 applications. I know there will be great sitters who will be passed over, but I’m sure they have a system.
And also, a sit close to Sydney/Melbourne, in the summer holiday period, without dogs: that will be sure to attract quite a lot of interest!
It was clear that also on THS some HOs were getting inundated with applications before the 5 appl rule came into place.
However now it has swung in the opposite direction, where the applications have been capped to a very small number. I’m a broken record, but as many have said before a cutoff at 10 would have felt more meaningful for both sides - and would have avoided the behaviour that we now see on the side of sitters and given a fairer chance to sitters who can’t spend all day glued to their screen
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I’ve never felt on THS that the majority of sits involve dogs - it feels reasonably even, especially as in cities it may make more sense for people to have a cat as a pet than a (big) dog if living in an apartment.
For AussieHouseSitters though I get the impression that dogs make up the majority of sits. And I have no dog sitting references…
I did a few food tours in Sydney on a trip years ago. Can’t remember whether I booked through eatwith, withlocals, or airbnb experiences or just searched for food tours. But one of the real highlights was a tour with Vientnamese chef Angie Hong. The tour was in a suburb - Marrickville, I think, and Chef Angie knew or was known by everyone. (As she tells it) She was one of the first to introduce Vietnamese food to Australia when she settled there when Vietnam was unified (is that the politically/culturally correct way to say it?). Not sure if she still does them but you might try searching for “Chef Angie - Sydney”.
And the Chau Chak Wing museum at the University of Sydney - anthropology, art, culture, pop culture - all in one museum. A lego reproduction of Pompeii?
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Thanks for the info