BJ and Tara

More information about this house sitter

Hello, we’re Bernhard (BJ) and Tara. We’re a couple entering our second decade of marriage and embarking on a new world of adventure for ourselves!

Tara is blessed with a career that she can take with her, wherever she goes. She works as a Support Coordinator in the disability field, and absolutely LOVES what she does. BJ worked for the first 32 years of his adult life across a range of government roles, gradually becoming more and more dissatisfied. In late 2021 we became the only South Australians who willingly moved to Victoria that year to manage the award-winning YHA youth hostel (accommodation business) at Halls Gap. We spent two years there and loved every minute. (If you search up BJ's current LinkedIn page, it lists some of the highlights from our time there.) From there, we moved to Port Fairy for BJ to work as the Assistant Manager at the YHA there, and we’ve loved that as well!

Those YHA management roles have seen us do a lot of housekeeping, so we’re well and truly on top of that. In Halls Gap we also, once we lost our beloved rescue fur-baby, began dog-sitting for people who wanted to spend their day in the nearby national park.

Because, dogs – we love dogs. (But we’re especially fond of labradors, golden retrievers and German shepherds!) Tara used to work as a home interviewer for Don’t Fret Pet, so she’s well and truly versed in the requirements for keeping home pets secure and cared for! However, when we were at Halls Gap we also became reacquainted with the beauty of looking after chickens! We loved looking after Simone, Michelle, Emma, Justine and Maria – we miss them.

BJ is a country boy by birth but Tara is loving the regional lifestyle. We've both house-sat at various times through our adult lives on a casual basis. We currently have our home rented out while we take the opportunity to travel around our wonderful homeland. We should have done this years ago.


(PLEASE NOTE - we are currently unable to do further house sits through 2024. We're having some lovely experiences in the winter of '24 and, frankly, our travel calendar is full! But as to when we do it again next, well, we've loved it this much, we might be doing it again sooner than we expected! Watch this space!) Read more...