Manuela and Syd

More information about this house sitter

We are a fit retired couple who will care for and love your pets and respect your home .

We started housesitting in 2014 to visit our granddaughter in Brisbane and had over 10 house sits there with a range of pets and repeat sits. (See history below)
We then started to housesit in Darwin, also to visit family.
Our visits to Darwin usually involved hotel or camping stays as housesits there were harder to find earlier on, however since covid, we have had 2 house sits in Jingili;
one in Jan/Feb 2022 in Jingili with a lovely staffy,; then a longer one in Jan/Feb 2023 with 2 sweet cats for over a month and this year, a January sit with 2 loving dogs.
In all cases we cared for a swimming pool and large gardens.
We would like to add a future sit in Melbourne to revisit friends and some more regular short term housesitting in Darwin to pad out our visits during the year as we now travel there in early Jan and in July/August.
For sitting history:
Our first position ran for over 5 years and was bi-annual, for a period of 5-6 weeks each time, in a restored queenslander in Manly keeping company with a very loving 8 year old cat who adores company.
The second position ran for nearly 4 years and was once a year for a fortnight, in Kallangur where 3 very individual cats were dedicated to claiming personal time and fun.
The third position ran for 2 years in Moorooka, where we housesat a lovely old queenslander and 3 very affectionate dogs, (2 cattle dogs and 1 lab/bull mastif cross).
Since then, we have had a range of extra housesits; in Kenmore, Sandgate, Shorncliffe and Stafford, with repeat sits for Kenmore and Sandgate.
And then our more recent house sits in Darwin, Jingili 2022, 2023 and 2024.
In each household we perform light housekeeping to maintain the overall cleanliness as required, water plants/gardens, check the mail and put out bins if needed. My husband has and can well maintain a swimming pool and general gardening.
We are house proud, hardworking, with a high level of integrity and honesty. We respect private property and are responsible, quiet people.
We are non smokers and have our own transport for visits.
I provide my own internet access via mobile and my own mobile phone for communication. We are fit and active enough to make sure your animals will have some play and exercise when required.
Our main desire is to have some more regular positions over the year to enable us to be in Darwin more often and see our family more regularly and have some annual sits in Melbourne.

Preferred Locations: Darwin, Melbourne


I was working full time as an IT professional, and I held this position for nearly 13 years, working from home. I retired in January 2013, am married and l moved to Scarborough, Queensland with my retired husband in 2018.

Why we want to house sit
Our main interest in house and pet sitting is to be able to be near family in a personal setting with pets which allow us to experience home stay with fun and interest. Read more...