InSafeHands

More information about this house sitter

Retired from professional backgrounds including Met Police, Security. Non smoking, non partying couple 66, 72. No family commitments, we consider our pets as family.

We have a page on Facebook "InSafeHands" where we post pictures of the lovely pets we have cared for.

We do require us of a car please. We spend a lot on flights, visas,site fees etc to sit for free. We cannot also afford to hire a car for the purposes of pet minding.
Not for touring around but for getting groceries, emergency pet care, staying local.

SITS IN NEWCASTLE, SUNSHINE COAST AND CAIRNS
No out of the way invites please and no to too many pets


A sample of our many references...

Robert - Caravonica QLD
• Sit Dates: 25 Jan to 11 Feb 2025 - 2 weeks 3 nights
 Their review of you: We had the pleasure of having Anita & Laury look after our house, garden and pets while we were away, and we couldn't be happier with their service. They took excellent care of everything, showing great attention to detail. Our pets were well looked after, and the house and garden were immaculate upon our return. Not to mention the 'catty' pillow covers :) that we found. Since we’re fairly inexperienced with house-sitting and the quirks/habits of/on the platform etc, Anita & Laury are easy-going and friendly, making the whole process smooth and stress-free. It was lovely to meet them and get to know them a bit. We highly recommend them to anyone in need of reliable and caring house sitters. We hope they have time to help us again the next time we go on holidays!

*****House care
***** Garden care
*****Pet care
***** Communication

 




Sherridan - Trinity Beach QLD

• Sit Dates: 24 Dec 2024 to 17 Jan 2025 - 3 weeks

 Their review of you: Anita and Laurence were great. So great we have asked them to come back again. They loved our dog as much as we do and we came home to a clean house and happy doggo. Thank you guys so much and we look forward to having you stay again 😊

☆☆☆☆☆  House care
☆☆☆☆☆Garden care
☆☆☆☆☆  Pet care
☆☆☆☆☆Communication

We came across Anita and Laurie by chance, after a panicked fb post needing a dog and house sitter for five weeks during December 2024. We are so so lucky Anita responded, as who knows who we could have ended up with. We are beyond grateful to the care they showed our home and even more so our little fluffy boy, Ruffy. This was our first real time away from him, but we knew from our first meeting these guys were the right ones for us. Ruffy just loved them, asking for love and attention, within the first few minutes, which isn’t usual for him. This love and attention was returned to him straight away and we could see from the photos while we were away, he was so happy. Being away during the wet and storm season was a worry, but it didn’t need to be. Anita and Laurie dealt the with downpours of rain, loss of power, looked after our pool and mowed our lawns. Even after finding out our mower needed repair, Laurie was onto it and the lawns looked great when we returned. Communication from them was great. The perfect amount. Making sure we knew what was going on, without overly bothering us while we were enjoying our time away. When we returned the house was so clean and we can see it was looked after. Our only problem now is that Ruffy is missing them and we can see he’s waiting for them to return, also sitting at the base of the bed they used. We would use Anita and Laurie again and would recommend them to anyone who is looking for someone to care for their home and treat their pets like family. We are so grateful to have found them, it made our overseas holiday so much more enjoyable, knowing everything was ok at home.

Catherine
Kewarra Beach, Queensland Australia



To whom it may concern 

It is a pleasure to supply a housesitter reference for Anita and Laurie.

Anita and Laurie have looked after our Cairns home, garden and pets for two years now (6 wks in 2023 and for 7 wks in 2024).  And we have booked them again for 2025 for 3 months!

We can't speak highly enough of their professionalism and care for our home.  

We had an elderly cat on their first visit, who required special attention and awareness.   He was happier, sleeker and more chirpy with them than us.  They sent regular photos of him and he was obviously enjoying their attention.  They both have a real love and affinity for animals, Laurie even managed to make friends easily with our very cranky chihuahua and neurotic toy poodle.  We completely trust Anita and Laurie with our fur babies.  They are very aware of the safety and health issues with pets e.g. gates being kept closed, hygiene,  exercise and feeding.

We are very house and garden proud enjoying a well kept home and tropical lush garden with lots of plants needing to be cared for.  Anita and Laurie kept and left everything immaculate.   It was a real pleasure to come home to a spotless, well-ordered home and garden.

We love our garden which requires regular and intentional care e.g. watering, mowing and whipper snippering.  Laurie kept everything "ship shape" and in good order even though the 2024 Spring was particularly dry.

They are excellent communicators with regular and timely emails regarding mail, deliveries and general community news.  Having many years of housesitting experience they know how to handle unexpected events.  Both Anita and Laurie have professional careers in the past and have many skill sets to draw upon.

We feel totally confident leaving our home, garden and pets with this lovely couple.

We wish Laurie and Anita all the best and highly recommend them as housesitters as they are all-round lovely people.

Suzi and Rob Shennan 

Holloways Beach Sept/Oct 24

I recently travelled overseas and was pleased to find that Anita and Laurie “In Safe Hands” house and pet sitters were available to look after my house at Kewarra Beach, my rambunctious pup Wendy and my antisocial cat Ceecee. They’d previously looked after my house and animals in 2019. Anita and Laurie are great people who take their house-sitting duties very seriously. It was really a luxury to have Laurie drop me and pick me up from the airport, to receive pictures and videos of the animals while travelling and to return to a house that was cleaner and more ordered than when I left it. Upon my return I found the animals healthy and happy, although Wendy does miss Anita. Ceecee’s manners have definitely improved! From myself Wendy and Ceecee thank you Anita and Laurie and I hope you’re available next time I travel.
Steve Schwartz
1/3/2024

Hi guys, the house and garden both look amazing! A very shiny and happy cat greeted us at the gate. Thank you both so much for such excellent care of our home. We were very glad we had you in residence, considering how crispy dry the area is at present.
We will lodge a glowing testimonial with Mindahome very shortly, is that the right procedure?
You left everything in tip top shape, and it was so lovely to walk in and settle. We were thrilled to see another Sunbird egg in the nest, that would be our third batch this spring. We are glad you enjoyed our home, and look forward to this time next year. We will keep in touch and certainly closer to the time,sort out details, including airport pick up.
Hope the rest of your sits go well, and you stay well
All the best and thanks once again, Suzi and Rob and Denzie x

Zoe - Clifton Beach QLD

• SIT DATES: 2 Dec to 28 Dec 2023 - 3 weeks

 THEIR REVIEW OF YOU: Laurie and Anita housesat for us during cyclone Jasper and it's aftermath. We are extremely grateful to them for their impeccable communication, level headedness and practical approach to what ended up being a catastrophic event in Cairns. We arrived home to a beautifully cleaned house, mowed yard and a happy dog. Despite all the hardships of electricity outages, torrential rain and flooding they had managed to still care for our place as though it was their own. We have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone in the future looking for housesitters, infact we hope they continue to return to Cairns so that they might come back to sit for us next year!

 Hi Anita,

As promised, I have written a reference for you.

Laurie and Anita did an amazing job of caring for our two spaniels recently. It was the first time we have left them and gone away so I was a little nervous. No need, the dogs settled with them very quickly and we received regular updates and photos so that we could relax knowing they were well cared for.
We returned to a very tidy house and the garden had obviously been watered regularly.
Thanks Anita and Laurie for helping us to have a relaxing and carefree holiday knowing that everything was in capable hands. We'll certainly be asking you to come and stay again in the future.
Regards, Lisa and Bryan.

Alice - Edinburgh Scotland

• SIT DATE: Jul 2023 - 1 month

 THEIR REVIEW OF YOU: Anita looked after our cat and house for the whole month of July 2023. We could not have asked for a better sitter! Anita is such a kind person and she poured all her love onto our cat. House was immaculate upon arrival and Anita even froze garden strawberries for us! When we came back our cat was very happy and contented. We are extremely grateful to Anita for her lovingly done housesit.

Hi Anita and Laurie

Just want to thank you for the fantastic job you did house sitting for us.

For nearly five weeks you looked after our house and pets which included cats , birds and fish.

The photos of the cats you sent to us while we were are away were much appreciated.

We returned home to a clean and tidy house, and cats that had obviously been well looked after and spoiled.

We would have no hesitation in recommending you as housesitters to any future clients, and hopefully when go on our next holiday, you will be available to house sit for us again.

Thank you again
Steve and Maureen Giradi
 Recently had Laurie and Anita house sit for us while we traveled overseas. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats to care for so not a small ask!! We had regular updates from our babies which was much appreciated and our babies were spoilt rotten. Our house and gardens were also well cared for. Have no hesitation in recommending them for any sit that you require them for..

BRYAN AND KIM (Smithfield QLD, Sep 2017 - 3 weeks)

HEATHER (Cheltenham NSW, Jan 2023 - 16 days)

 Anita and Laurie were wonderful house sitters and delightful and completely trustworthy couple. We returned from our vacation to find our cat well pampered and the house was immaculate with fresh sheets on the beds and fresh flowers. The garden was regularly watered and Laurie mowed our lawns too and attended to some well overdue garden cleanup in our absence. Anita and Laurie also left food in the fridge such as an evening meal, bread and milk on our return which was so thoughtful. Anita kept us updated throughout our vacation with photos of our cat and a report on the house- Great communication. Highly recommend this couple who clearly love animals and take pride in looking after other peoples houses. Would definitely invite them back. Thanks Anita and Laurie


Thank you for looking after our property and our cat. We have a large house and garden and as such it is a huge responsibility, and Laurie and Anita maintained it all very well. We would be happy to have them sit for us again.

JO AND KEITH (Clifton Beach QLD, Jan 2017 - 2 months 2 weeks)

We returned to sit the above for 3 consecutive years.

In addition we have many repeats for May, June, July regular repeats for a black and white cat called Lola and a ragdoll called Mabel. Read more...