About

Tinderbox is a beautiful, bush area, 25 mins south from the Hobart CBD, overlooking the Derwent River Estuary. It is hilly, full of wonderful views and plenty of wildlife. We have many different bird species, wallabies, potoroos, bandicoots, possums and echidnas. My house is in 7 1/2 acres of bush. It is not fenced, as are most of the surrounding properties. It is very private, with a view of the water, framed by sloping hills. I have a fenced garden and an enclosed vegetable garden. We are a five minute drive from two beaches, one of which (Tinderbox beach) has a boat ramp. Kingston Beach, a ten minute drive away, has a section which is open to dogs. There is access, via a neighbour’s drive, to climb the Tinderbox Hills and walk along the ridge top, where there are marvellous views across the Estuary as far as the Tasman Peninsular and also across to North West Bay and Margate and the hills beyond. The climb is steep, a great heart starter if you like to keep fit. There are a number of other pleasant walks in the area either through the bush, along cliff tops or to the water. My house has very large windows, which bring the outside in, so to speak. and faces north, north east, so it is quite sunny. There is a large deck opening off the living room. and a paved area on the eastern side which is great if you like to eat outside under the climbing roses. The house has a well equipped kitchen, dining area, living room, sun room and music room, bathroom, two separate toilets and a separate laundry. There is also a separate bedroom, sitting room and bathroom just outside the kitchen. This, downstairs bedroom, overlooking the garden will be the best bedroom for the house sitter(s). Please note that I currently do not own a television or a DVD player. Internet is available. The house is on tank water with separate garden water tanks for the garden. Blackmans Bay is a five minute drive away with shops, doctor and three restaurants. Kingston is ten minutes away with a much larger shopping centre, doctors, dentists and a couple of vets.

Pets & farm animals

I have an eight year old Border Collie named Eve. She is gentle, affectionate, submissive and smart. She does require either company or activity. She is friendly and adores affection, which makes it easy to win her friendship. I do not leave Eve alone at home, as she is an escape artist. I pretty much take her with me wherever I go. This will be a restriction for the house sitter, so this is not the sort of place to house sit if you want to go off on day trips to Tasmania's National Parks. This sit will suit someone who wants to enjoy a change of scene and who loves the company of a dog!

House Tasks

I have a garden and a vegie garden. In February the daily task is watering these two gardens. There is also weeding to be done, as in any garden! Some of the vegetable will need to be harvested. It will take about an hour a day to achieve these different tasks. The mail comes, not much of it, and needs to be brought in. My drive is steep. I would say you need to be reasonably fit to live here, that is if you want to enjoy the environment. Tinderbox is hilly. (It is Tinderbox, not Howden but the system does not have "Tinderbox" in it for some reason!!) If you are not fit, you may well be when you leave! There are two lawns that may need mowing. Possibly not if it is hot. Eve needs to be exercised for about one hour a day. This is not hard as she is happy to chase balls while you are gardening or just sitting on the front deck!. She is happy to be with you, whatever you are doing and expects to be with someone on a daily basis while they work in the garden. There are plenty of places to take Eve and yourself for a walk .. In the early mornings I often just walk around on the land here and throw balls for her to fetch for half an hour. Of course the dog needs to be fed! Occasionally, if it rains much you will need to pump water to the top tank/ This is easy, but requires that you do not forget that the pump is on!