The Scenic Route Sitters

Scenic Route Sitters

The Scenic Route Sitters

Hiya! Our names are Harmonie and Kevin, a married Canadian couple going on our first trip to Australia for a year on the Working Holiday Visa. Having caught the travel bug on a trip to Portugal with friends, we started madly saving for our next adventure. After a year and a half of drudgery, we are finally off to Oz in April 2018!

We are primarily traveling by house sitting, taking care of homeowners' pets and properties while they are away. We prefer to travel slowly, getting to know this fascinating country through the local's viewpoint, while still seeing the famous sights. If you don't mind taking the scenic route, we would love to have you follow us along the way!

DISCLAIMER: As a general rule, we do not post details about the owners, home or pets we are taking care of to respect the privacy of the homeowners who have put us into their trust. Any posts about a house sit would only be through the owner's express permission.

References/Reviews

Heartily recommended - No one could have done better!
Harmonie and Kevin were our house and pet sitters from April 20 to May 1.

That is, they looked after 3 sheep, one congenitally lame, 6 ducks including one blind and some 14/16 years old, one old hen, blind, 18 years old, as well as 5 hens and a rooster, two geese and 4 feral cats (2 very timid) - and some complicated diets!
All were in good health and spirits when we returned.

Not only that, Kevin and Harmonie had found time to water our 1 acre garden - even the most needy plants were in fine condition.

Thank you, best of all house and pet sitters we have ever had!

Very best,
Jenny and Gerald Stanley

Coral from Taylors Lakes, Victoria

Harmonie and Kevin recently did a house/pet sit for us whilst we enjoyed a couple of days away. Sadly there was an incident with one of our cats which was handled with the upmost of care and compassion. I am eternally grateful to them for all that they did. Harmonie and Kevin are a lovely young couple full of life and so well organised. If anyone has a house sit coming up with this couple you will not be disappointed. Thanks again Harmonie and Kevin and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your travels around Australia. Travel safe and take care, it was an absolute pleasure to have met you both.

**Reference contacts available upon request

Exploration, Contemplation and Isolation in Queensland's Hinterland

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Beaudesert July 6th 2018

Abandoned Mining Shed near Purling Brook Falls, Springbrook National Park

Scenic Route Sitters

Well, it's been a while, friends! Apologies for the long break between posts, but we've shifted gears and the past few months have been a slower, more subdued and industrious part of the trip. The Working Holiday Visa gives the bearer permission to work in the country. After our exciting (and expensive) journey to the Red Centre, we were ready to take some time hunkering down and making money to fund the rest of our trip. We had arranged two house sits stretching over 5 months, both within driving distance of Brisbane. The first 10 weeks in the beautiful Scenic Rim region on a rural property with two beautiful, massive dogs and an affectionate Ragdoll cat. Then, we would spend 8 weeks in an Brisbane suburb on a housesit taking care of a sweet husky-shepherd mix ... read more

In the Centre of the Red

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Uluru June 28th 2018

Uluru at Sunset

Scenic Route Sitters

Uluru is 450 km north of Alice Springs. It's close to the bottom of the Northern Territory of Australia, and it is in the near dead center of the country. Harmonie and I signed up to take a three day tour of the area. We would start with Uluru, spend the night camping, head to nearby Kata-Tjuja, camp again, then see Kings Canyon in the south, returning to Alice Springs afterward. Our tour bus picked us up from the Hostel at five in the morning. The bus was a pretty simple design, with bench seating, like a school-bus. It was hitched to a trailer loaded up with sleeping bags and swags we would need later. There were already a half dozen other campers sitting inside, bundled up from the night cold and looking as drowsy like ... read more

At Home in Alice

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Alice Springs June 26th 2018

Welcome to Alice Springs!

Scenic Route Sitters

After our epic 3-day journey around the Red Centre, we had some time before we were due to arrive in Brisbane for our next long-term housesit. I had arranged through the website HelpX, to stay with a local woman who was generous enough to house and feed us for nine days. This was a really special part of our trip and cemented the fact that for me, Alice Springs has been my favourite place to visit so far. Margo, our host, is a really interesting, fantastic woman. She is a community worker who regularly finds herself out in the remote areas of the Norther Territory, supporting Indigenous associations and community programs. For the duration of our stay, she was based in her home office in Alice Springs, so we got the chance to enjoy Australian wine ... read more

Alice Springs: Everything in the Middle of Nowhere

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Alice Springs June 18th 2018

The Red Center from the sky!

Scenic Route Sitters

By the end of our 5 week home sit in Adelaide we were well and ready to move on to a new adventure. It was an absolutely fantastic place to stay. We had all the modern accoutrements, high speed internet, a Jacuzzi, access to a vehicle and the surrounding countryside, and memories of our temporary pet we'll have for many years to come, but near the end a sort of cabin fever began to take hold. We were comfortable, possibly too comfortable, as we have yet to get jobs to keep us feeling occupied (and productive) and we had seen all the top sites in the region, so by the time our hosts returned from their vacation we were ready to move on. We spent the last few nights getting the house into presentable shape for ... read more

A Month in Adelaide: Living the Life of Riley

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Adelaide June 13th 2018

Wild Kangaroos

Scenic Route Sitters

A swift and uneventful trip to return the camper van to the depot and a pleasant taxi ride to our new house sit 30 km south of Adelaide's city centre. How lovely it was to be met by our hosts. The couple invited us into their lovely bungalow, introduced us to their dapper black cat Nyles, and graciously gave us their car to use while on our 5 week stay. This would be the longest we would be in one place on our trip so far, and we were ready for some serious downtime. Adelaide was breezy and cool as winter approached. The night before our hosts left, they treated us to Chinese takeaway and shared a bottle of McLaren Vale Shiraz, only a 15 minute drive away. My favourite room in the house was the ... read more

The Great Ocean Road

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Great Ocean Road May 27th 2018

Scenic Route Sitters

We had an appointment in Adelaide that we needed to make. We had three days to get there. Harmonie had found us a possible method of transportation that I hadn't considered yet, but as it turned out was perfect for our needs. We would be leaving Melbourne the next morning. We had made arrangements with a local RV company to relocate one of their vans for them. We would drive one of their 4 berth campers to Adelaide for them, and they would let us rent it for free, minus the cost of gas. This solved a few problems for us at once. For one, we would be able to drive our way to Adelaide, for another we would be able to sleep in the camper, and finally we would be able to see one of ... read more

Wandillagong but not forgotten...

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Bright May 8th 2018

Chinese Memorial Bridge

Scenic Route Sitters

Our first house sit in Wyndham had lasted a little under two weeks. It was a memorable first kick at the can, and I think it was useful to get the largest menagerie of animals out of the way in the beginning because from here on out the work load will be much less time consuming. Having to look after a dozen animals at once is pretty time consuming, and having to be back at set times in order to put the birds away and give everyone their night time meal put some constraints on our ability to explore Melbourne as thouroughly as we wanted too. Hopefully we will be able to swing through again on this trip. Now that this first sit is over I must admit it was a lot of fun hanging out ... read more

House Sit #2 and Downtown Melbourne

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne » CBD May 6th 2018

Sweet Puppers

Scenic Route Sitters

Back on the train for our return trip to Melbourne, headed for our second house sit. This one would be a short term stay, looking after some animals while their humans went to a weekend birthday celebration. The train ride was more crowded than the one going up to Wandiligong, people who seemed to be commuters coming into the city for business. The train rides have all been comfortable. They even have a little food kiosk where you can buy meals and drinks for your trip. We caught another train at Southern Cross Station that would take us to our final destination at Taylors Lakes. We had met up with the homeowners the previous week while we were watching the sheep at Hoppers Crossing to discuss feeding routines and general house rules while we were at ... read more

Melbourne: Cafes, Koalas and Roller Coasters

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne April 29th 2018

Royal Arcade, Melbourne

Scenic Route Sitters

It was a long day travelling from Canberra to Melbourne, where we starting on a rather empty coach bus and then a pretty crowded intercity train. Kevin appreciated the chance to stretch out and nap during the bus ride, considering we were up and out pretty early. Our very lovely hosts greeted us in Melbourne at the expansive Southern Cross train station. They kept us entertained and informed as we timed our arrival to perfectly hit the rush hour traffic all the way to our first house sitting assignment in Oz. They have a one acre plot in a suburban neighborhood that they have converted to a makeshift wildlife sanctuary! Ducks, geese, chickens, sheep, and cats would be our companions for the next ten days, and it would be our responsibility to make sure they were ... read more

Canberra: Museums, Cockatoos, and Buses

Oceania » Australia » Australian Capital Territory April 17th 2018

A convict's love token.

Scenic Route Sitters

Not many international tourists visit Canberra, or Australian ones either despite it being their capital city. We've gotten an equal mix of surprise and bemusement from those we've told about our visit here. Even our AirBnB host (in Canberra) politely asked us why we came, as he was more used to people renting his place for business reasons than vacation ones. Most people prefer to go straight from Sydney to Melbourne, bypassing this city altogether. But I think they are doing Canberra a bit of a disservice, because while it certainly is less metropolitan than Sydney it has lots to offer a visitor. It is a planned city, built from scratch to a design in an era (the early 20th century) that seemed to assume private automobiles were going to dominate transport and link the various ... read more

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