New South Wales

[Reference] Thornleigh, New South Wales – One energetic greyhound and a very attentive moggie

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This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.

Occasionally I return to a suburb to housesit, sometimes for the same homeowner, sometimes for another.

But Thornleigh in Sydney’s far northern suburbs was a first for me: I housesat in three houses consecutively, all within the space of a couple of hundred metres on the same side of the street!

I was initially booked for one residence for a period of seven weeks (reference still on the way for that one), but before I’d arrived, the homeowner had been chatting to friends three doors down, and they booked me in for another couple of weeks to follow directly after the initial housesit.

Then while I was there, we jointly agreed on my filling in for a few days in between at the house directly next door to the initial housesit. This was very handy as late May to mid August, my transitions allowed me to pack my bag and move next door and then subsequently just four doors down. My Opal transport card got to feel extremely neglected.

This reference is from the last of those housesits, looking after a very low-maintenance greyhound who loved her walks and the occasional visit to the dog park, loved that I was around most of the time, but made very few demands of me.

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[Video] Bill The Housesitter’s 2017 Clients – From A to Y

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This is just about a comprehensive collection of all the pets I looked after in 2017 as Bill The Housesitter.

With the exception of a few fish and hamsters. And several chooks.

It literally is a collection from A to Y.

As I was compiling these photos, I realised I’d inadvertently put them in alphabetical location order: from Algester (Qld) to Yeppoon (Qld)!

In housesitting years gone by, I could have told you at any tick of the clock how many housesits I was up to for that year at that point in time.

But 2017 was such an absolute mess, I totally lost track along the way.

Just now, I’ve used a very scientific method (i.e. counting on fingers as this video ran through its paces) to come up with the definitive count for the year: twenty three (23).

From Machan’s Beach (Cairns) in the north to Baulkham Hills (Sydney) in the south.

(2017 housesit locations. Not pictured: Baulkham Hills (Sydney), New South Wales.)

So, with a little favourite music in the background, and arrayed in alphabetical order, here are my feathery, furry, and finned clients of 2017:

Here’s to 2018 and all who sail in her!

Bill Quinn
Bill The Housesitter

Sydney, New South Wales

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A Day In The Life Of Bill The Housesitter by Overheard Productions (Bill Quinn)

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Sergeant Schultz und Colonel Klink Mit Wilhelm Quinn Fur Ein Tag
Sergeant Schultz und Colonel Klink Mit Wilhelm Quinn Fur Ein Tag

Welcome to a Day In The Life of “Colonel Klink” und “Sergeant Schultz” von Liverpool, New South Wales, Australie.

Those are not their real names and the location given is the area rather than the actual localité.

Today I want to show you what a typical day…. wait, scratch that. I do not have typical days and neither do the pets.

NOT having a routine is a good thing for almost all sentient mammalian beings. Unless that being has severe chemical or physical or mental issues, in which case, the more strict the regime the better.

That is not the case with these two. Sure, Klink has traditionally been extremely anxious, and Schultz has had some real challenges in his lifetime, on the whole those have been nurture issues related to their environment.

And let me make this plainer than plain: it is NOT to do with the house and the others in it. The two homo sapien friends of C & S have provided a loving, caring, diverse, well-looked-after-without-over-pampering household.

BUT, on all three sides, over all three boundary fences are extremely nervous dogs with some severe behavioural challenges. And haven’t really fully clapped eyes on them all yet, but sight is not a sense needed to come to that conclusion.

That is not a problem; it’s an opportunity. I have been in-house friends with these two Germans now for three weeks and 3.6 days roughly.

Even in that time, I have NOT taught them commands or tricks or behaviours inconsistent with how I found them. BUT they have both calmed down considerably. Bear in mind that this is THE first time they have both been separated from their significant others who have significantly less fur.

Let’s begin.

Earlier on Woensday nacht before I ducked out shortly to the shops
Earlier on Woensday nacht before I ducked out shortly to the shops
Schultz: if he were any more laid back... no, I don't see how that would be possible!
Schultz: if he were any more laid back… no, I don’t see how that would be possible!

05:36 AEDST, Thor’s Day 29 Oktober (Festen?!) 2015 Continue reading →

Bill The Housesitter Video #2 – Bill, What Do You Do?

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This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.

People often ask me, Bill, what do you do?

You’ve got this Overheard Productions thing you say is a home-based operation mostly, and then there’s the house-siting. Can you provide salient examples and unpack the minutiae of your routinus caninus and entertainus (here we are now, entertain us).

Here within and thereto under, I pledge thee a trough. For the dogs’ water.

Here’s some moving pictures. (♪♪♪ What about me, it isn’t fair ♪♪♪ — True story. I house-sat next door to Gary the guitarist from Moving Pictures last year. Gave him some copies of my articles in Trad and Now magazine. He was rather impressed at my advice to artists article.)

Please press <PLAY>…

Here’s the result of the investment of about 20 minutes of my time in the wee small hours before this was shot:

 

Click on picture
Click on picture

Bill Quinn
Bill The Housesitter
23:36, Tuesday 20 October 2015

Holsworthy, New South Wales, Australia

[Reference] West Wollongong, New South Wales including reference

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This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.

West Wollongong
West Wollongong

This week-long house-sit straddled the start of October 2015 and came to me like manna from heaven. Book-ended by two x six week house-sits, it was an eight day stretch that was potentially going to be tough to fill, and possibly expensive if it meant heading to a youth hostel for the duration.

So when it bobbed up on a house-sitting web-site, I was onto it like a seagull on a chip.

It’s a good example of how sometimes a bit of mutual trust can work out beneficially for all concerned. The home-owners took me sight unseen, as they were flying out of the country the morning I was finishing up north of Newcastle. I used the NSW Transport Plan Your Trip site to plot this transport solution:

And strike me, with eight possible fail points, I arrived at the front door at 15:27!

You have to be a little wary of letting yourself into a strange place with a strange dog at the door, even a pint-sized one. The little Jack Russell took one look at me and seemed to think, ‘Right, well, I’d best be showing you around, then’, and we set off to the backyard to case the joint.

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[Reference] Corlette, New South Wales – Two energetic Cavoodles

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This is the blog section of the Bill The Housesitter site. See above tabs for ‘About’, ‘Availability’, ‘Contact’ and ‘References’.

Corlette, New South Wales
Corlette, New South Wales

My house-sit in August to September 2015 was in a locality I’d never heard of until I saw the ad. This happens quite often!

Corlette, New South Wales is at the end of a peninsula above Newcastle, bounded by Port Stephens and the Pacific Ocean, about an hour’s drive to Newcastle and two and a half hours to Sydney. Outside of the peak holiday times, it’s got the laid-back feel of a coastal resort, with the demographics skewed to the older echelons.

It was quiet in my street, though the daily fly-overs from the nearby air force base were noticeable.

My charges were two Cavoodles, one a Cavalier cross toy poodle and one a cross miniature poodle. Corlette, Nelson Bay and Salamander Bay are very popular with -oodles of all varieties and we met many out and about on our walks.

This was one thing that really struck me about the region: I’ve never met so many friendly dog-walkers so up for a chat. Some people said this was a characteristic of a rural area, but I’ve been in some country areas where people are hard-pressed to give you the time of day.

Either way, I got to talk to scores of people out and about during the five+ weeks I was there.

Apart from the regular walks to the marina at Nelson Bay and around the hilly streets of Corlette (much of it new and under new development), there was the enchanting Tomaree National Park. A walk to the top of Tomaree Head was breathtaking but worth it.

Tomaree Head
Tomaree Head

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