Driving to the beach from our four-bedroom suburban house in a shiny SUV with a big, gentle Rhodesian Ridgeback in the back, the Talking Heads song “Once in a Lifetime” played on repeat in my mind: 
You may find yourself
In another part of the world
You may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself
In a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself
Well, how did I get here?

We were in Tauranga, a working port and popular vacation destination on the North Island, where both cruise ships and container ships dock and people flock to the miles-long golden-sand beach. At the start of the summer holidays here in what’s known as the Bay of Plenty, local campgrounds are packed with RVs and campervans, where families outfit their campsites with comfy chairs, awnings, and picnic tables, seemingly settling in for weeks. All manner of families at play, surfers and boogie-boarders, ball-tossers and dog-walkers spread out along the beach to enjoy the sun, sand, and waves. We joined them, tossing sticks for Jack the Ridgeback to retrieve from the water, jumping in ourselves for some body surfing, all the while amazed at our good fortune. Well, how did we get here?

Way back in July, we had been planning ahead for our time in New Zealand and discovered that lodging during their summer holidays—particularly in beach towns like Tauranga—was already in short supply and beyond our budget. So on a whim, we decided to see if we could find any house-sits. Typically house-sits involve a pet as well; a website will match people who need a sitter with people who are willing. Other than the website membership fee, no money changes hands; it’s free lodging in exchange for free caretaking.

Turns out New Zealand has its own website for this purpose called Kiwi Housesitters and it’s a very popular thing to do here. We quickly found some possibilities in places we wanted to visit anyway and reached out. Two families liked what they saw, contacted us, and we subsequently met them on video calls. They gave us brief tours of the house and answered questions, and then we both took the leap and confirmed the sits. Both the sitters and the owners have profiles and sometimes reviews online, so we could learn a little about each other. But beyond that it’s all based on friendly, relationship-driven trust, something that seems to be abundant in New Zealand. 

Tauranga was our second sit and we booked it for (gulp) three weeks. Lucky for us, we could have stayed longer, we enjoyed it so much. It was a great example of the best side of house-sitting: comfortable, clean, airy, sunny, spacious accommodations (in this case with the use of the family car!); a sweet, smart, gentle dog; a pleasant location; and hosts so kind and welcoming that we felt like instant family friends. 

But with a house-sit that is “blind” other than a video call, you never really know what you’ll find until you get there. At another sit, on the southern coast of the South Island, the owners were also very kind, friendly, and trusting, but let’s just say that our standards of cleanliness were a bit different from theirs. We spent the first day vacuuming, scouring, and dusting just to feel like we could breathe easily. And at night, the dog spent hours barking—perhaps because he is deaf and barks whenever he sees movement, or perhaps because he was used to sleeping in the owners’ bed, which was not part of the package with us. In any case, that sit was only for a week, and we used it as a base to explore the southern coast, which we loved. We also learned a few good lessons for future sits:

1. Keep our expectations in check. A video tour can only show us so much and we need to remember this is free lodging, not an Airbnb or hotel. House-sitting requires even more flexibility than typical travel, as we are not moving into a place that’s designed for travelers (there may not even be an empty dresser drawer or hanger!), but is set up for someone else’s life.
2. Spot the signs. Try to tell from photos, the video tour, or reviews whether the house is more or less clean and tidy. People are comfortable in their own spaces, often not noticing things that might be uncomfortable for guests, so it’s on us to try to suss out whether a space is one we can be comfortable in.
3. Ask where the dog sleeps. Many owners think having a dog in the bed with them is fine and don’t mention it unless you ask; others set strict guidelines about their pets not getting onto any furniture or begging at the dinner table. We know now the latter is what we are looking for.

We have also found that house- and pet-sitting is about much more than just free lodging. It’s a chance to experience a place much more like locals. While we often use house-sits as a base to explore an area, sometimes we just settle in and find the good local fish and chips takeaway. We explore local parks instead of national forests; walk around neighborhoods where people live rather than sites where tourists visit; check out the local cricket teams playing in the park on a Sunday afternoon instead of going to a big arena somewhere. (Yes, we watched part of a cricket match in Tauranga and after a couple of hours even began to make some sense of it.) 

While we try to choose house-sits in places we want to visit, they are typically out of the city centers and in areas where people tend their gardens, go to school, and know their neighbors. We would likely not visit these neighborhoods otherwise, and it feels like a much truer glimpse of what it would be like to live in New Zealand than renting a studio apartment in high-tourist areas. 

House-sits also give us a chance to return to more or less our “normal” life. Because these are all someone else’s home, rather than rented flats, they typically have fully equipped kitchens, back yards, and stocked cupboards. So Rachel can bake a batch of granola, I can grill up some fish, and we can relax on a deck with a breeze and, if we’re lucky, a view. We begin to picture how we might live in this place.

Because they typically involve caring for pets, these sits also come with important responsibilities and restrictions. We need to learn our new four-footed friend’s routine, whatever it may be: breakfast at 7, dinner at 6, walks morning and evening, bark at the mailman at 3, toss a ball before bed. Be sure you’ve got a poop bag—and don’t be squeamish about using it. If we go out during the day, how many hours can the dog safely be alone? When do we need to be back? We begin to see things from the perspective of dog-owners: In which parks are pets welcome? Is this an on- or off-leash area? Are there other dogs we need to worry about? Where are the trash cans? (It’s always about the poop bags!) 

But the benefits of pups usually outweigh the restrictions. First, any pet owner knows the joy of coming home to a wagging tail, someone who’s always happy to see you, someone to take walks with every day. In the best house-sits, we bond quickly with the dog and they with us. They show us around the neighborhood, teach us the routines, and reward us with joy. They can also spark social encounters with folks we would never have met otherwise.

We have done house- and pet-sits before—in Spain and South Africa, to name two—but in New Zealand we have taken it to an extreme. To our surprise, the postings have kept coming since we arrived. By the time we leave here, we will have been caretakers for seven different houses and the pets that live in them. What started as a cost-saving measure has become something we have actively sought out. With each sit, we learn new things, meet new people, gain new perspectives, and see new places. And that sounds a lot like the reasons we travel in the first place.