Sian and Guy
Hi Siani and Guy here,
happily marooned in New Zealand, the safest and most beautiful country in the world, out of lock down, grateful to be healthy, fit and ready to help you with your homes and pets when you need. We are here for our first Winter in a few years comfortably travelling in own mobile home, “Lulu” the campervan.
After living in Sydney for 30 years, we sold our apartment and have been following the summer around the planet for the past three years. Between New Zealand, Australia and Southern Spain. In fact normally, at this time of year , we'd be in a wee town in Southern Spain, working on an art project together and running a local guest house.
The village is called Gaucin - a mountaintop Peublo Blanco in Andalucia - see here: https://www.andalucia.com/gaucin/home.htm . The guest house belongs to our friends a Dutch couple who have, moved back to Holland with their two young boys (now our god-sons).
Happily, for the last two summer seasons, we’ve achieved a 5-star rating for them, which has led us to appreciate the responsibility of looking after someone else’s house & business.
Guy has owned houses or apartments in Sydney and the UK, for over 40 years, & renovated 4 of them in that time, and our love of travel means that we have been on both sides of the fence, renting or arranging care for our own homes and pets while travelling elsewhere to do the same for someone else. We have always considered ourselves travellers rather than holiday makers, wanting to interact, get involved and experience local life wherever we go.
We don’t have our own kids, so we have poured love into our pets. In Sydney it was Junebug (a small Abyssinian who ran the gauntlet of 100s of dogs being walked in the park next door, & thus became an extraordinary tree-climber) and in Spain it’s Mr Ripley - our jet black Spanish street rescue cat.
‘Señor Reeplee’ is a favourite with the kids on our tiny street because he’s like a dog - he wags his tail for joy. Rip also has a unique way of calming & befriending dogs… he sidles up then eases himself down in a relaxed & confident pose, unafraid to break eye-contact with the looming threat - it’s amazing to witness.
(He also loves to ride inside Guy’s jacket, head only visible out the top, as he bikes down to our art studio… (there’s a photo somewhere, I think, on this site)
After running our own businesses for twenty odd years in Sydney, Guy and I, now work together on our fine art and design projects . We are both used to working from home offices/ studios, are creatively minded about resolving problems and not shy, so we’ll be sure to make ourselves known to your local community/support, and ensure we have all relevant numbers for vets &/or for other social friends the animals have. We’ll keep in easy touch - as much as you wish - while you are away, so you can be reassured your property and loved ones are in the best care.
What else? We both have a great love & appreciation of the outdoors and taking care of the environment.
With Guy’s love of fly fishing (more like obsession) he & we have visited the central plateau area around Taupo, many times over the past 20 years.
In fact Guy’s Aunt and Uncle once owned the wonderful Poronui - when it was a farm, and before it was transformed into the ritziest Trout Lodges in NZ.
One sometimes needs good communication to navigate the conflicting cultures of farming & fishing, especially as each summer we're usually far up a mountain valley,on farmland, or river plains in ‘Lulu' - our vintage, self-contained, solar-powered campervan.
Last year, we proudly became the first overseas members of the Gore Sheep Dog Trial Club (and the first without owning a dog) - T’was the best $4.00 we ever spent. I still love to watch country calendar whenever I can, but it’s a definite privilege to watch it live, and the characters you meet!… straight out of Footrot Flats.
Sian herself is a proud Kiwi, growing up on the beach of Sumner in Christchurch before moving to a hobby farm in Whangarei. Her three younger brothers still all live in New Zealand with their families, and all of them with their own lifestyle properties.
Sian is a graduate of Elam In Auckland University and continuing her art practise today, as well as being a qualified Remedial masseur and Pilates instructor, interested in all things healthy.
So that’s more or less us,
we look forward to meeting you and your pets in person or by zoom before any house sit you may require.
Very warmest regards,
Siani (& Guy)