Here is my thought, I am looking for sits in Melbourne, Australia from June onwards, but those available are either at least 45 minute drive to the CBD, an hour or more on public transport, or the owners don’t state the suburb in their location section but rave about shady trees, and further beach/parkland etc.
Would love it if actual suburb/and distance to train/tram or bus was included.
What are others thoughts on this?
Some owners are very clear on this. Thankfully.
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*please note that as i am a member of THS already, sending me a joining link is irrelevant, thanks anyway
Melbourne is a HUGE city spread across a vast area. It can also be classified as “Melbourne City” or “Greater Melbourne”.
Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, and Australia’s second-largest city. Focused around a central city, Greater Melbourne’s area of approximately 9900 km² of suburbs spread more than 40 km to the south, 30 km to the east, 20 km to the north and sprawl across vast, flat basalt plains to the west.
So I had a look on THS to see what Melbourne has to offer for your dates and each one I read clearly states where they are and most state how far from public transport etc.
Unlike London e.g. inner city Melbourne which you may be thinking of, is a huge city and quite unaffordable to live except for the mega rich or young, apartment sharing people. It is not where the majority of people with families and pets live. They live outside the City and some commute, as they do in most countries. Many people commute to London for example from an hour away, this is not unusual. Traffic is a nightmare driving to the city hence the time it takes to get into the city. Our population has outgrown the public transport system and roads making it harder again. And really, nobody here really WANTS to live in the city, it is definitely green and trees and good living outside of it.
Australia also has vast differences in where pets are allowed to be and most inner city living does not allow for pets even. Pets aren’t allowed on transport, in cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels, and only allowed off lead in specified parks and areas. So pet owners in Oz don’t have anywhere near the freedom that many other countries do. So! They buy affordable housing outside Melbourne City, commute if necessary, and have large yards and homes for pets to run free in.
THS does not have a huge amount of sits available in Australia like they did pre Covid, membership has dropped dramatically. There are two other sites that offer multitudes of sits in preference so you might be better off to have a look at them. Again, you will find the standard for pet freedom and general living very different to the Netherlands and a lot of other countries.
The Melbourne thing is as I explained and you will be hard pressed to find many if any, sits in Melbourne City itself, they will mostly all be in the outer suburbs of a VERY big city. I sound like a tourism business for Melbourne 
Thanks Ziggy
I am Australian, live in Melbourne and am trying sitting in Nederland.
When I return to Melbourne, in Juni I am trying to locate specifically cat sitting within 15km of CBD.
What were the other platforms.
Thanks Jo
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Hi Jo. Well that makes a difference then! I needn’t have written a novel 
Aussie Housesitters and MindaHome 
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Thx anyway. It might be goed to start a thread with your answer.
I am looking because the day after i left home my heating and hot water were condemned (gas) and as I return mid June having had to pay for airbnb for 66 out of 70 days holiday. Only one person accepted an application (thank fully) that I made, I have no cash for new systems before my return.
I work shiftwork, full time so cat comfort also.
Croydon, Pakenham, Berwick are ridiculously far.
@Jbl Cat sit - Melbourne apartment 3 June - 11 July
@temba sorry I will be available after June 16
Jo
I should have explained better @Jbl that I spotted that listing this morning!
To answer the original question, I’d save a search and jump quickly when a new listing pops up. I’ve not used THS in Melbourne, but I imagine the inner suburb listings get snapped up pretty quickly.
Obviously Melbourne’s suburbs are where a lot of the culture happens, but I agree, Croydon is too far out.