This is the fourth winter running that I've been able to spend in Perth, rather than in the colder climate of Mount Gambier, where I've offically lived since late 2006. Not that Perth is actually tropical, especially in winter, but it's five or ten degrees warmer than Mount Gambier much of the time.

I manage to spend so much time here by house-sitting for friends and friends of friends. In previous years, I have enjoyed at least one long house-sitting engagement of two months or more, but this year all the gigs have been relatively short, some as short as a week or even less. Now, while variety may be the spice of life, moving house several times a month is disconcerting and confusing. I sometimes find myself waking up in the morning quite unable to remember where I am!

I've just moved into a three-week sit, my longest for this winter, in South Fremantle, only a stone's throw from the beach. This is a lovely house with lots of livestock - laying hens, a worm farm, a veritable lake (far too grand to be called a pond) full of lovely big fish - and the star of the show, a furry four-footed friend called Nila.

Nila is a most interesting kind of bitza. Her mum was a Labrador-Blue Heeler cross and her dad was a Mastiff. She's a just a bit bigger than a Lab or a Heeler, but her head and feet are as big as those of a Mastiff so look as if she's never quite grown into them. She loves to play ball and she likes to herd the chooks, which characteristic no doubt comes from her Blue Heeler grandparent.

For the next three weeks, Nila is my New Best Friend. As with most of my canine fosterlings, she will no doubt claim a special place in my heart and I shall miss her when I move on. But meantime we will have fun!