Still housesitting!

Just reading back on my last few entries, it became apparent that I have been exhibiting symptoms of housesitting burn out! Inevitable really after 34 moves in a little over 3 years - and that's not counting other trips away.

The last house was a bit of a nightmare on the insect front. Giant cockroaches in the dishwasher, a thousand ants if I dared leave a crumb on the kitchen bench top. Giant painful biting ants in the garden and (shudder) lice on the pigeons. Of course one has to expect these things in a subtropical climate - particularly now that the eight year drought has come to an end.

But what of my current circumstances? Yes, I'm still housesitting. But things are a bit different at present. I have two favourite houses, both on the north side of Brisbane. I looked after one of these for two short period in January. The old cat had died and been replaced with two very decorative and frisky white cats - barely more than kittens actually. They were a lot of fun and very pretty to look at.

I am now in my other favourite house and have been here since February. If I wish, I can stay on for the whole year. I have been hesitating a little because I am a bit of an inner city person at heart and this house is in the country on 10 acres with tank water. But it is only 35 minutes drive into the CBD and a fairly pleasant drive. Not too far to see my friends and engage in my usual activities - in particular yoga.

The house is perched on top of a hill which is surrounded on all sides by other hills. So one has the view and the space and light but feels sheltered at the same time. The house itself is a huge old queenslander with 12 foot ceilings and an 8 foot verandah arouund the entire house. There are beautiful paintings on the walls to look at which are a source of constant enjoyment. There is also a decent sized plasma TV and DVD player and an excellent stereo with an ipod dock.

For really hot weather there is a salt water pool which is just lovely to swim in. There used to be a few pets that came with the house, a cat, a dog and two tanks of lizards. The cat (an excellent cat) disappeared a couple of years ago - possibly bitten by a snake - and the dog and the lizards have been moved elsewhere by the owner who is currently living abroad. Although it took quite some getting used to being here without the company of the pets, it is actually a lot easier not having to rush home to feed them and keep them company. The lizards were fairly self sustaining providing they had an adequate supply of live crickets, but the dog and the cat needed care.

The peace and quiet of the house has been conducive to much productive thought and the beginning of organisation (!) It is also a relief just to be in one place for a decent length of time. Just before I moved here, a new and excellent flatmate moved in to my home base which also makes things generally easier and means I have the option of moving home. It has also been nice to see people I have invited out to lunch visibly relaxing in the peaceful environment.

Generously, the owner is paying electricity and phone line rental bills and wirelss broadband. This is really an exceptional opportunity amongst housesits. A lovely house for a whole year with the bills paid - what could be better? And how often do these kind of housesitting opportunities come up? Almost never, in my experience.

There have been a few maintenance issues with a broken water pump, dead envirocycle (waste water) pump and the driveway needs grading as it is seriously potholed after all the rain. None of this has been too serious and has not been too difficult to deal with. The owner also gets a lot of mail which I send to him via fedex when a sufficient quantity accumulates. A team of mowers come around every couple of weeks to deal with the exponential growth of grass occasioned by the rain and heat.

I still haven't decided whether I want to stay here for the whole year but I do seem to be settling in.