About

If you love country living, wood fires, large gardens and having animals around you, then this might be your opportunity. We are heading off for 5 weeks on a road trip to WA. Primarily, we need some caring and pet-loving people to look after our animal "family". We live on a farm, though it's all leased out. You'll have sheep all around you, but won't have to tend to them. The farm is just 7km from the Grampians mountain range, so you will have a lovely view to look out upon every day. There are no neighbouring houses in view (except for our brother's/brother-in-law's house on the horizon) so it is very private and quiet with just the occasional hum of traffic from the highway a couple of kilometres away. Our house is a comfy 4 bedroom weatherboard with a big wood heater in the lounge and a slow combustion stove in the kitchen (this pumps out to six hydronic heater panels around the house) so you should be able to keep yourself nice and warm when it gets cold . It does mean you need to be confident with lighting and maintaining wood stoves/heaters and fit enough to cart wood. There are, of course, gas and electrical options as well, but we try to use wood. Our pets include Elsa, a beautiful 6-year-old Golden Retriever and Tilly, an equally affectionate 10-year-old Jack Russell Terrier. Clarrie is our funny, cross-eyed rag-doll cat and Poddy is our big black-and-white boy. All these pets love to be around people, enjoy cuddles and walks, and they sleep in the house at night. Elsa and Clarrie would also appreciate an occasional brush of their coat. We have 11 chooks which will need a daily feed and water. They are laying well right now but as the weather cools they usually slow down their laying. We also have four guinea fowl who like to chatter and be around the house, but they look after themselves. We don't need a lot of duties done around the place while we're gone, but since we are hosting our daughter’s wedding in our garden in Springtime, we are really hoping to get some sitters who are happy to do a bit of garden maintenance as well this year, just so that things don’t get out of control while we’re away. There is a large area of grass and lawn that will need the occasional mow, so we have both push and ride-on mowers. Some general cutting back or weeding would also be greatly appreciated, just to keep things tidy. Firewood will need to be collected on a regular basis from the woodshed, if you have the fires going, and the woodboxes at the side and back of the house regularly filled. Because the dogs like to come inside to be with their humans, quite a bit of feet cleaning with an old towel is required before they come in if it's wet outside. Feel free to go for a day trip whenever you like ( There is a large enclosed yard for the dogs to stay in)- you have countless bushwalks you can do in the Grampians and the coast is only an hour and a half away. It could be possible to have one night away at a time - all you will need to do is leave a large full bowl of food for both canines and felines and they can be safely left. Obviously we'd rather you were home with the pets a lot of the time though. There's not much more info you will need. It will hopefully be an enjoyable house/pet-sit for you, as well as peace of mind for us.

Pets & farm animals

There are sheep in our surrounding paddocks but you have no responsibility for them, as the farm is leased out. Just close any gates behind you when walking.

House Tasks

Feed and care for pets. Groom pets occasionally. Mow lawns. Tidy edges and possibly some weeding. Collect wood ( from supply in woodshed) and light wood heaters.