Christian and Judy Gruber will call Alexandra Hills, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, Austria, and acreage at Clear Mountain “home” this year.
The couple have become professional caretakers for the past six years, when they sold their house at Alexandra Hills and business interests to make the world their oyster.
In this time, they have looked after houses in France, Italy, Scotland, Austria and England as well as spending time on outback stations and even caretaking Wilson Island off the Great Barrier Reef.
“That was an amazing experience. I felt like Robinson Crusoe,” Christian said.
“We wanted to travel and decided to spend six months overseas and six months in Australia. To do this we have two properties that we rent out for income, and cars in Australia and Europe,” he said.
“This income buys us a lifestyle that allows us to experience some amazing places. And the cost is next to nothing.
“Our first house-sit was a villa in France, built in the 16th century but fully renovated. Our second was at a villa in Tuscany.”
Christian said most of his current caretaking requests were from repeat customers who took regular breaks.
There were also requests through house-sitter websites. Currently the Grubers are booked until February 2026.
“We take care of houses and much of this involves a pet – a cat or a dog. We don’t charge for this and our motto is to always leave the property in a better condition than we found it. I like doing handyman stuff and Judy cleans and we will always pick up at the airport and do some extra stuff to help. We are happy to have a place to call home,” he said.
“We have lived in some amazing places. We like to pick spots that we want to live in or that we want to discover.”
Christian and Judy adopted this new lifestyle once their daughters, now aged 30 and 26, finished school.
Their oldest daughter was living in London when they started.
Christian said the lifestyle also allowed for them to more regularly visit their respective families, in Austria and England.
