Country Teachers - Avaliable School hols

More information about this house sitter

We started housesitting when we answered an ad in a teacher education monthly newsletter in 1996! And 50 sits later we are still looking after furry friends.
We're a pair of country teachers: my partner is the Deputy at our school and I'm the Careers teacher.

With extensive experience in both house sitting and a deep love for animals, our backgrounds differ—I grew up on a farm, while my partner is originally from the Gold Coast.

We own our own home. And do have our own pet that we share with my mother. We drop off our Kelpie to the farm to look after mum and run around on our way to work. She is 3.5 so we are familiar with puppy training.

Our house sitting adventures have taken us to various places: multiple stays in Sydney (Seaforth 4 times, Mosman, Middle Harbour, Balgowlah 4 times, Vaucluse, Haberfield, Castlehill, Monterey, Bexley, Stanmore, Mortdale, Concord, Croydon, West Ryde, Wollongong Waverly X 8 Rozelle, ), seven times in Melbourne with a repeat visit to Northcote, five occasions in Wollongong (Woonona and Shellharbour), Terrigal and twice in Tweed Heads.

Our journey has seen us caring for diverse homes and cherished pets, leading to some amusing experiences—one notably involved just staying there to preventing the family's teens from using every towel in the house for their pool parties!

House sitting opportunities typically come through word of mouth or referrals from homeowners we've assisted. Respect for homes, including our own, is fundamental to us. House sitting aligns perfectly with our desire to explore new destinations during school holidays while managing our work commitments. It's been a mutually beneficial arrangement thus far, combining our work with sits.

Rest assured, your home and pets will receive the utmost care, akin to our own, while respecting your privacy. We're laid-back yet incredibly responsible. Exploring new areas, discovering local spots, and engaging in various activities, especially sports for my partner, excites us.

Our love for animals extends to dogs, cats, fish, birds, and even chickens. We've cared for pets of all ages, from young puppies to elderly animals requiring special attention and medication. On return neighbours have commented that our presence has often had a calming effect on pets with one pet jumping in the car with us even when the owner returned!

Additionally, we're adept at tending to plants, pools and gardens. With our flexibility and personal transportation, we're available during New South Wales school holidays.

We eagerly await the opportunity to care for your home and beloved pets. Feel free to reach out, and we look forward to discussing how we can assist you during your absence.

* Please note that as we are teachers police checks are done otherwise, we cannot be employed with the Department, and we have references too.

Reviews note we have more from another website too.

Sally
We were so lucky that Melina & Richard were available to sit for us again recently! Once again, they were the perfect sitters, taking beautiful care of our home and pets. Melina's communication is fantastic - both in the lead up to the sit, and during, so we always felt like everything was under control and were able to enjoy our holiday knowing the pets were having a lovely time at home too! As happened the first time, we came home to an impeccably clean home and very healthy and happy pets. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and invite them back again!


Sally
Melina and Richard are a lovely, reliable couple who did a fantastic job looking after our dog, cat and house for 8 nights. They were organised, thorough, and showed real attention to detail when making sure our dog's special dietary needs were looked after. They were great communicators, sending us photos and updates each day, and left the house in impeccable condition at the end of their sit. We have no hesitation recommending Melina and Richard as pet sitters and hope they can sit for us again in the future!

Chris
We were delighted with Melina and her husband being able to pet sit for us for 10 days. It was our first time leaving our cats for an extended period but on meeting Melina I was confident they would be in good hands! Melina kept us informed regularly on the cats and we returned to very happy cats and a spotless home (plus a very generous gift of a bottle of wine ! ). We really hope that Melina is free and wanting to come to Sydney next time we go away. It would be lovely to repeat the pet sit with such lovely people!


Brigit
My pets loved being looked after By Melina and Richard. I came back to 2 healthy and happy cats and a Super tidy house. Melina and Richard provided regular updates and photos to let me know how my cats were. I would definitely have them back!

Eve
Melina and Richard looked after our two slightly mad dogs, the cat and our fish while we were overseas in Bali. They did the most amazing job - leaving the house in perfect condition and we came home to very happy pets. Can't recommend them enough. No hassles or worries - took everything in their stride - made sure we were kept up to date with the dogs' wellbeing etc.

Pauline
Melina and Richard are excellent house and pet sitters. I cannot recommend them highly enough. They are great with animals and fabulous house guests. We have come home to a happy and contented cavoodle and spotless house every time.
Happy to be contacted.

EMAIL FEEDBACK from some of our sits. The latest

Pauline - lives in Balgowlah
On 16 Jul 2017, at 9:16 PM,
Pauline wrote: > > Hi Melina, > I hope you had a good trip home and made good time. Beautiful day for a road trip! > > Thank you so much again for taking such good care of Mango and our home. Mango was so happy to see us. He circled us wagging his tail for a good half hour!! Very cute! And to come home to food in the fridge, sheets already in the washing machine, wine, chocolate.... the list goes on... what a treat. You really went above and beyond. Thank you. > > Happy to be a reference if you ever need it in the future. Hope back to work tomorrow isn't too painful! I for one am not looking forward to it! > > Thanks again, > Pauline > Sent from my iPhone.
Monday 22 May 2017
Reference for Melina and Richard
We engaged Melina and Richard via the Mindahome website to look after our home and three dogs in Croydon Sydney, when we travelled to Tasmania in January 2014. The dogs included our own two dogs (a golden retriever and large schnauzer x), plus a small and nervous terrier x, a foster dog which we had at the time. We asked them to take care of the dogs – daily walking and feeding etc – and to look out for the property, including regular chlorinating and cleaning of our swimming pool. Melina and Richard did a fantastic job looking after both the dogs and the house. When we returned, the house and pool were spotless and the dogs were well fed, well exercised and very relaxed and happy. They are a delightful couple – very easy to deal with via phone and email, diligent with following instructions, and happy to give us regular phone and text updates on the antics of our (very spoilt) dogs. Both Melina and Richard are clearly very fond of animals, and experienced in looking after them in house sitting situations. When in February 2015, we were planning our Easter holiday, I contacted Melina directly, in the hope of engaging them again to look after the house and pets. The dates didn’t unfortunately work for both of us, but they were my first choice of house sitters, and I’d certainly always think about them as a first option in the future. I would recommend Melina and Richard without hesitation, to anyone seeking mature, responsible, reliable and animal-loving house sitters. I’ve tried various other options in the past, including young uni students (children of friends), but I was much happier – and I think the dogs were also much happier – to have the more mature experienced support of Melina and Richard. I’m happy to provide more information directly.
From: Louise & Patrick Sent: Thursday, 14 January 2010 6:09 PM
To: Melina
Subject: Greetings from Melbourne
Thanks for looking after our doggies and our house. It sounds like you had a good time in Melbourne. Thanks too for leaving the house so clean, it was lovely to walk in and find everything clean and secure. Leonie looked after the dogs after you left. I'm glad they behaved themselves. What did you see in Melbourne? Did you go to some nice restaurants or see something through half-tixs? We have booked a holiday in the mid-year school holidays to Bali for 10 days. You would be welcome to come down again if you want, but it will be cold!! in June/July. Let us know if you’re interested. Thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your break, Louise and Pat.
From: Patrick
Sent: Tuesday, 5 November 2013 7:46 PM
To: Melina
Re: Hello
Thanks for $ and all was good. Our time in Sydney was an excellent experience. We only had 4 hrs training with the office systems and other hands-on stuff but somehow all went like a well-oiled ship. The guests were a lot of fun and some challenges with w/end groups that required a bit more supervision. The boys (dogs)we missed too much but knew they were in good hands. Now we are at Kira beach gold coast for a 40th and go home tomorrow, phew! a lot of big trips this year. Trust you both are doing well wrote Patrick Lou cooking.
From: Heather
Sent: Sunday, 27 January 2013 6:41 PM
To: Melina
Subject: Hi from Rocky
Hi Melina and Richard, I hope you have travelled safely home, and have some cooler weather. Thank you so much for taking such good care of our home, pool and of course Rocky. He has indeed become a cafe dog. When I am free on Thursdays, I walk him a little later at the park, when there are 3 other pugs and some other dogs. After the walk, he followed the other dogs to the cafe and drank out of the cafe water bowl. Previously he won't drink out of other bowls at all and would hold out until he gets home. Funny. We unpacked the outdoor furniture and set it up in the outdoor area under cover. All the rain we have had would have collapsed the packaging anyway. They are not home upstairs yet. Thank you again for the way you looked after everything so well. It was so nice to come home to a clean house and a happy dog. If you are in Sydney please let us know. You are welcome to stay anytime. Hope you can ease back into work the first week. Cheers Heather Heather
Hi Melina, A big thank you from Mahei and I for looking after our cats and our home with such care. It was wonderful to walk into the house yesterday after a long flight and find it clean and inviting. The cats are happy little fur babies too. Both seem completely normal and chilled out ~ especially Noah who is being more cuddly than usual! We will definitely think of you and Richard again if we take a school holiday vacation, and we hope that you both had a relaxing and enjoyable stay in our home. Thank you for leaving the money and taking care of all the things on our watch list. We wish you all the best for 2015 and please feel free to use as a reference or any other house-sitting jobs you get.
All the best, Bridget. Chef, Consultant Read more...