House Sitting Opportunity.   Madang, Papua New Guinea, South Pacific


House Sitting in Madang, Papua New Guinea, South Pacific

  • Homeowner is no longer accepting messages regarding future assignments.

Location:   Madang, Papua New Guinea, South Pacific

Assignment Description:

Great tropical location, less than 400 meters from the sea, in a safe neighbourhood of Madang. This property, consisting of 2 large houses needs house-sitting until it sells (which could take up to a year or more). Located 5-10 minutes drive from the city center. Fully furnished, free accommodation in exchange for a few care-taking responsibilities (supervise basic upkeep of lawns and gardens, maintain a presence in the property, manage 24 hour local security guards). Peaceful environment. Great for a retiree/retired couple, book writer, self-employed individual.


Ok. Thought I'd better add some more information, just to bring you back to reality. Now for the harder stuff. This is not a luxury house sit. It is quite simple and basic. There is no TV or car, so the house-sitter will have to walk, get their own bicycle or motor-bike, be willing to rent a taxi (approx $10/ride to town) or brave the local buses (PMVs - people moving vans) for $1 to get to/from town. Its probably a 30 minute walk, but hot and humid and often sunny. It is 'safe' enough during the day, but hold-ups on the street can occasionally occur. I would not walk around with large amounts of money on you. There are ATMs that work but occasionally they run out of cash (usually right when you need it the most). Occasionally electricity goes off, but at the most only for a few hours. 

Although there are other expats in town, there are not so many places to go out to in the evenings, and going out alone is probably not the wisest thing to do (especially if you are walking). Local market food is relatively cheap, but imported supermarket food seems more expensive than other places. It is not as cheap as Asia to live here, but if you cook yourself and eat in, you save a lot of money. If you are a drinker, alcohol is expensive.  There is a great resort (Jais Aben Resort) about 30 minutes out of town, which has great snorkelling and is a nice place to hang-out on weekends. 

Tourist visas last for 60 days and you can extend for another 30 days. I am not sure how complicated a process it  is to extend while living in Madang. In between the 60/90 days, you would have to go out and come back, which involves a flight to Port Moresby (the capital) and then with Air Niugini to Cairns or Brisbane (Australia) or to Singapore, Manilla, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu or Hong Kong. Flights to/from Port Moresby to Madang are approx USD $300-400, and then out of PNG for at another $500-700. We can provide free accommodation, but we cannot help with airfares. Internet is not cheap either and unfortunately only available via your phone data unless you want to set internet up yourself. Phone data costs USD $35 for 2.5 GB which is supposed to last 30 days, but i can go through it in 2 weeks.  

But don't let all of this put you off. If you are still interested, let me know and we can discuss further. If you have expressed interested, and are now no longer interested, please also let me know. We still would like to find someone who is willing to take up the challenge. Thanks.