House Sitting in the Australian Capital Territory: A Capital Idea!

Mention the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra automatically comes to mind. However, there's a lot that the ACT has to offer to make your house sitting assignment a memorable experience.

The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave in the state of New South Wales, although there's a small portion of it at the southern end of the Beecroft Peninsula, forming a headland of Jervis Bay. The ACT has almost 400,000 people, most of whom live in Canberra. They are relatively young, mobile and highly educated – very likely to need house sitters when they travel for work, or go on holidays.

Within Canberra alone, there are many social and cultural events to make your house sitting time very enjoyable. Apart from all the excitement when high-profile heads of state pay a visit, Canberra offers many national monuments, parks, museums, galleries, festivals, and a vibrant night life.

You can spend your time after your house sitting is done visiting the National Museum of Australia, Parliament House, the Royal Australian Mint, the Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science, the National Film and Sound Archive and many more.

With the National Carillon keeping time, you can enjoy the specialties of Canberra like the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Questacon at the National Science and Technology Centre, the National Zoo and Aquarium, as well as the National Dinosaur Museum. Or, you can re-live the lifestyle of the early settlers at historic homes like Mugga-Mugga in Symonston, the Tuggeranong Homesteads, and Calthorpes' House in Red Hill.

On a more interactive level, there are live music and theatre presentations at Llewellyn Hall and festivals like Stonefest, the National Folk Festival, the Summernats car festival, and the Celebrate Canberra Festival. There's also plenty of live entertainment in the bars and nightclubs in areas like Dickson and Kingston.

Outside of the city of Canberra, you can find a lot to liven up your house sitting assignment. There are sheep and cattle farms and vineyards, and the Namadgi National Park with its mountain ranges, rivers and creeks. There are small towns and villages, each with its own attractions like Tidbinbilla, home of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex operated by NASA.

At the ACT portion of Jervis Bay, you can picnic on oysters by pearly-white beaches, bushwalk or go kayaking. For a relatively small part of the vast Australian continent, the ACT can more than match the larger states in the attractions it can add to your house sitting sojourn.