Response rating:
Preferred locations
Brisbane
Additional Info
References available, Police check available, Non smoker, Experience with Domestic Animals
About
Update - April 2023 - now living in Shannonvale on rural acreage, near Port Douglas and Mossman, Far North Queensland. Peter has retired from the General Manager of Mossman Sugar Mill, and I am still retired, enjoying renovating our new home and planning / developing new gardens in our tropical paradise.
Animal lovers, lovers of travel, Peter and I have been living and working recently in a very remote part of Papua New Guinea for 18 months. Our home is in Northern NSW, on the beautiful Clarence River.
We returned to Australia at the end of our contract in December 2018 and would like to travel in between future contracts.
When we moved to PNG, we had to re-home our 2 beautiful cats, which was one the most difficult things I have ever had to do. We were fortunate in that our good friends, who had also been house sitters for us on and off over the previous 2 years, decided to take them into their home. Our cats are adored by their new owners and have never looked back.
We are a healthy, friendly and active couple. Both keen golfers and beach lovers. Peter enjoys road and mountain bike cycling, tennis, wake boarding and water skiing, and I enjoy walking, swimming laps, bird watching and gym workouts. We love to snow ski. We love sailing and motor boating.
Peter is a very capable handyman, and I am passionate about gardening and growing food. We are both non-smokers and keep a very tidy and clean home. We will respect your home and treat it as our own.
I am a retired School Administration Officer and Peter is a Sugar Technologist, managing Sugar Mills and Refineries.
We have loved having free ranging chickens for the past 25 years, all with names and our flock has consisted of many beautiful breeds over the years.
Growing up on a sugar cane farm, Peter has lots of experience with dogs, having had many pets throughout his childhood. Dogs respond to him in a special way.
Whilst I have not owned a dog, I have taken a big interest in various neighbours’ puppies and dogs, helping their owners by walking them daily, assisting with training and generally enjoying their company and loving their antics. Also providing complete care when their owners are away. I aim to have a dog one day when we settle down again.
As a teenager, my family had a very large tropical fish tank, which I maintained and cared for the fish. As a mother, I bought a small fish bowl for our children, who were taught to and enjoyed caring for the 4 goldfish, with great success and longevity.
And of course, we have loved and cared for our two beautiful cats, 14 and 12, who were rehomed. We are fortunate to be able to stay with our friends when we are not travelling and we therefore get to spend treasured time with Milly and Oliver. And I have been known to chat to our cats over video skype ??.
My previous cat, Nella was found by Peter at a sugar mill at 10 days of age with no mother in sight. I bottle fed her and took her to work with me, until she was independent. She lived a wonderful 17 years with us.
I have been a wildlife carer with WIRES Australia (Wildlife Information and Rescue Service) in my 20s, prior to having our own children. I cared for possums, birds and a flying fox.
I love all wildlife and in PNG I raised orphaned baby birds (peaceful doves, pied bush chats, chestnut breasted mannikins), and rehabilitated injured birds (quail, black kites, barn owls, grass owls) all with successful releases. This was a highlight of my time in PNG.
We have always been resourceful people and living in a remote region like PNG, we have felt very comfortable in our ability to adapt to local conditions, traditions and culture.
We love to travel and have been to China, Japan, Hong Kong x 3, Taiwan x 2, Singapore, Micronesia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, USA x 3, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, UK, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands South Korea and Brazil. Peter has also been to Dominican Republic, Hawaii and France.
We have police checks.
We would be delighted to look after your home, garden, pool and pets as if they were our own.
We are flexible with dates and locations and look forward to discussing your requirements.