Sarah

I will be going to the UK all going to plan 3 May and not sure if my return as yet. I'll update my profile upon my return.

I am a very well travelled, English language university lecturer (now only doing casual/relief teaching), who owns an apartment in Mosman Park. Although I had done some housesitting previously from time to time mainly in Perth, I really fully utilised housesitting in 2015 while studying to finish a Master degree at the Australian National University in Canberra and I've continued off and on from there.

After completing my degree, I went overseas and had a wonderful time housesitting in Spain and the UK, where I taught at Cambridge University over the summer. I returned to Australia and then went to Nauru Island in the South Pacific to teach refugees until Dec, 2016.

Until the end of Oct 2018, I was teaching on a casual basis in Canberra at ANU College and teaching refugees and new migrants with Navitas and housesitting so I could go on writing a very drawn out book!

Now I am back in my home base of Perth and am quite addicted to housesitting one way or the other! I love experiencing living in different suburbs and most importantly, being able to have the company of lots of lovely and loving pets. New, attractive home environments often help inspire me to go on writing as well - a change being as good as a break!

As I continue to housesit in West Australia, I am seeking to develop a network of house/pet owners so I can go on housesitting long into the future. After finally selling one property, I have moved into my Mosman Park apartment. It's in a great location, but I don't like to keep pets in confined spaces, and with housesitting I can be a Granpetter (?) and still enjoy the company of animals without the long term responsibility! Also, with housesitting I can feel
I can go on with my beloved traveling, even though confined by our WA border!

I've also been thinking I would like experience managing Airbnb accommodation on site. I have noticed that some housesits involve maintaining Airbnbs while the owners are away in return for some financial remuneration,...so if you have an Airbnb and are hoping to go away for a spell, think of me!

In my time housesitting, I have looked after a wide variety of dogs, cats, horses, exotic birds, reptiles, a pig and chickens! I've helped in training a young lab, and had to give daily medication, including pills, to dogs, cats and horses. Some rescued animals in particular had personality issues reacting badly to other dogs and so on, which I coped with well. I've had to take animals occasionally to vets - one emergency, otherwise routine, fortunately all survived (most notable was a large cross breed dog suffering from paralysis in its back legs after a tick bite - speedy intervention saved her!) I previously looked after two sickly cats who both took pill medication twice a day and one had to have weekly visits to the vet for cancer treatment.

I enjoy weeding when it comes to gardens if I have the time, as I find it very relaxing. I am also accustomed to tending/watering veggie gardens, looking after pools and mowing.

Because I love housesitting so much and take it very seriously, I am extremely conscientious and give above average attention to the houses, animals and gardens in my care as my numerous 5 star housesitting references concur. You can see some more of my references from Trustedhousesitters.com, which is an international housesitting site, and Mindahome.com.au in my photograph section on this site or on the Web sites themselves- I can provide links.

For teaching at ANU College and Canberra Institute of Technology (Navitas) while studying in 2015 in Canberra, I had to have police checks done, plus I have a valid Australian Working With Vulnerable People clearance For ACT & NSW. I also have police clearances for Australia, UK, Japan, and Oman up to 2010 which were necessary for gaining permanent residency for the USA. I had received a police and working with vulnerable people clearance for teaching at Cambridge University. Most recently I had to have a medical and police check for teaching on Nauru, and then with a Carer organisation in Canberra. I now have police and Working with Children clearances for WA.

I have had an ongoing connection with Zanzibar, Tanzania, volunteering and organising other volunteers, as well as being the co-organiser of a project to bring 40 donated computers to a village from Oman in 2010. Also see Volunteering Zanzibar Facebook which I oversee. You can find my resume of work and life experience on Linkedin.

Phew, enough about me - I just keep adding to this but it needs a "good trim"! I look forward to hearing from you if you think we can help each other out :)

Sarah