My Byron Bay Holiday!

 

Last weekend – as a special treat for Paul’s birthday – my humans took me to a wonderful place! It is called Byron Bay and you have to drive south from Brisbane for 2 hours in the car machine to get there. In fact, it is actually in another part of Australia called New South Wales:

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So last Friday evening, instead of taking me for my usual walk, my humans started rushing around the house as soon as Paul came home – putting lots of things in bags and then putting lots of bags in the car machine!

I was bit a worried that they would forget my Giant Beanbag Bed – I just can’t get comfortable sleeping on anything else! – but thank goodness, my humans remembered to put that in the car machine too. The only problem was…would it fit?

Push, Hsin-Yi! PUSH!

It was so puffy that it took up all the space in the back seat and nearly didn’t leave any room for anything else!

Look – by the time I got in the car machine too (and lay down like I always do), you could barely even see me – hee! hee!

Anyway, after a lot of huffing and puffing (and grumbling from Hsin-Yi about getting a Chihuahua next time…) we finally set off! It was already dark so I couldn’t see anything out the windows but it seemed a long way away ‘coz we just kept on driving and driving…but then finally, we arrived!

We were staying in a lovely place called Gillies Cottage, in a small town called Bangalow, up in the mountains of the Byron Bay Hinterlands. My humans had searched and searched for a dog-friendly holiday place where I was allowed INSIDE the house (‘coz a lot of places that say they are “dog-friendly” actually only allow doggies to stay in the garden or on the deck!) – and they were so happy with the place they found! They kept walking around the cottage oohing and aahing, saying how pretty it was. Hsin-Yi said it was “full of character” – hmm…who cares about that – I was just worried that I wasn’t “full of DINNER”!! When were they going to feed me??

Ah! Finally, Paul got the hint and took out my food bowl. As you know, I’m on the Raw Diet and normally, I get mostly different raw meaty bones like chicken wings and lamb brisket, with a bit of commercial raw mixture in the evenings - but when we go away on holiday, my humans just take my commercial raw mixture because it is easier.

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Now, I have to confess a little embarrassing secret to you: I know there are some doggies that get a bit stressy when humans come near their food – it is called “resource guarding” and it’s not really a good habit to have ‘coz it can make doggies grumpy and even bite humans – so it’s important for you to get help if you have this problem.

For those interested, there is a very good little book written by a famous dog behaviourist in the USA called Jean Donaldson, to help you overcome this problem: Mine! by Jean Donaldson

Also, here are a few articles on resource guarding from Dog Star Daily, Dr Ian Dunbar’s fantastic website full of info on dog training and behaviour:

• http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/puppy-behavior-emergency-resource-guarding (this dog has a specific problem with bones)
• http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/update-chaos-resource-guarding” (this is an update)
• http://www.dogstardaily.com/radio/302-resource-guarding

Well, for me – I hate to say this – but I have the opposite problem. See, I get a bit scared when my bowl knocks against something and makes a scary clangy noise.

Back in Auckland, I had a special feeding table outside in the garden which had holes exactly the same size as my food bowls and so they wouldn’t move around - but sometimes if it was raining, I would have to eat inside the house and then my humans put my bowl on a chair…and then if I push it around when I’m trying to lick all the food up, sometimes it suddenly BANGS! and CLANGS! and Oh! It’s so scary! Once it even fell off the chair and went SPLAT on the floor with a HUGE CLANG! And it looked different – it was sort of upside-down and all my food was stuck under it – so I jumped back and started barking and barking at this scary Bowl Monster…until my humans came to see what the fuss was and started laughing at me. But I refused to eat again unless they held my bowl for me so that it wouldn’t bang around and turn into a Bowl Monster again.

So ever since then, if my humans are feeding me on a chair, they have to hold my food bowl for me otherwise I am too scared to eat. Hey – don’t call me a big baby – you don’t know how scary it is to have an Upside-down Food Bowl until you have experienced it!

Well, now that my tummy was full, it was time for bed! The cottage had 2 lovely bedrooms but my humans told me that doggies are not allowed in the bedrooms so I only had a peek from the doorway…

…but that’s OK because I have always slept in the living room and I’m used to that. As long as I have my Giant Beanbag Bed, I’m happy!

And the next morning when I woke up, I couldn’t wait to get exploring! Now that it was bright and sunny, I could see the cottage properly at last and my humans were right – it was so pretty, with a lovely little garden outside I could run around in!

 

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But wait! What’s that I smell? Mmmm…it smells like fresh bread toasting!  BREAD!!!!!! My favourite!! Quick – must head back to the kitchen…

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Hsin-Yi had said that because this was not our usual home, I didn’t have to follow the Out-Of-Kitchen rule here…

…but to be honest with you, once I’d done a bit of sniffing, I just stayed out of the kitchen by myself. I felt a bit weird being in the kitchen – it’s like the sofa – if we’ve never been allowed something, then us doggies just get used to it and that becomes what’s “normal”.

Besides, I could see that Paul had yummies that he was keeping all to himself on the kitchen bench! Mmm…I smell toast and marmalade! Can I have some?

My humans kept ignoring me – then I realised! Oh! I’d forgotten my manners! Of course, if any doggie wants anything – especially a yummy – we always have to say “Please” and everybody knows the doggie equivalent of ‘Please’ is a “SIT”!

Yay! As soon as I sat and waited nicely, my humans gave me some of that marmalade bread. And I can tell you – it was YUMMY!

Well, I had barely had time after breakfast to settle down for my mid-morning nap when my humans called me out to the car machine…we were going on an adventure!

First, we went driving around the other pretty little towns in the mountains of the Byron Bay Hinterlands and even had a little trek through the bush…

 

(can you see me leaning on Hsin-Yi in the collage? Hee! Hee! That’s one of the things us Danes are famous for – we are great leaners and can never prop our own weight up if there is a convenient human nearby to help prop us up instead!)

…and then just before lunch, we drove to the town of Byron Bay itself. It is right beside the beach and has lots of pretty shops selling cute and interesting things.

My humans say it is very “alternative” with lots of candles and massage oils and natural therapies and Arty Humans making strange but beautiful things and people doing that strange upside-down stretching called Yoga…

It also has lots of Surfer Humans because of the big waves on the beach. In fact, lots of people like to come here on holiday with their families because it has such a nice, relaxed feeling and such beautiful beaches and cafes with yummy food!

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Of course, the first thing we did when we arrived was to head for the beach! A lot of beaches in Australia don’t allow doggies – especially the nicer ones - but we were very lucky because there are quite a few beaches around Byron Bay that let doggies run free on them all the time and there are always clear signs telling you where to go:

The closest dog-friendly beach to Byron Bay town is Belongil Beach, which you can get to from the Main Beach Carpark.

I couldn’t wait to get on the sand – come on, humans! Why are you so slow?

Belongil Beach was quite busy with lots of doggies and their humans running and playing…

…I met lots of new doggie friends!

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I even met a Ridgeback like my blog friend, Nala, although this doggie wasn’t so friendly…in fact, she seemed a bit scared of me!

But the next moment, I didn’t mind because guess what? I found a stick!! Now, normally my humans don’t let me play with sticks because they can break and get stuck in our throats or poke us in the eye – sticks can be really dangerous! But my humans make an exception on the beach if I find a nice fat wet stick that has been in the sea for a long time and is very thick and heavy with water, so it doesn’t break easily. And they only throw it in the water so that it doesn’t hit something hard and bounce back in my face…

…and then I get a great game! Yay!

 Sadly, I finally lost the stick. It fell into the sea and I couldn’t rescue it before it drowned.

But never mind – there was still lots of beach to explore!

As we kept on walking up the beach, I saw some cliffs by the side of the sand so off I went to climb and explore…

Hah! Who says I’m a “senior doggie”? There’s lots of flexibility and agility in these limbs yet! Look at me!

And then Hsin-Yi decided that it would be a good place to prop the camera machine so we could get a self-timer family photo…

Hsin-Yi really likes the self-timer because otherwise we never get photos of us together as a whole family. And it’s hard to always find somebody to take a photo for you – besides, sometimes people don’t have any idea how to take a good photo, like they cut off your head or they put you right in front of the thing you want to take a picture with, so you’re blocking it or they make you really small in the corner, with lots of empty concrete ground in front!   Hsin-Yi says lots of people don’t think when they are “framing” a photo but she feels it’s rude being bossy to tell them what to do – so it is much easier to just use a self-timer so she can set up the picture exactly how she likes…well – as long as there is something convenient to prop the camera machine on! Sometimes it’s hard finding something at the right height and angle…especially when you’re in the middle of a big, wide beach!

This time, Hsin-Yi had to climb halfway up the cliffs, prop the camera in a crack in the rocks, hit the button and then come scurrying back down to sit next to me and Paul just in time before the shutter clicked!

And here’s the result - it’s not the best picture taken with self-timer but it’s not bad – considering!

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Of course, it can’t beat a photo taken by someone, that is framed properly with the right angle and perspective!

Anyway, Hsin-Yi said it was the worst time to take pictures by now because it was just past lunchtime and the sun was really strong and really high in the sky, so it puts dark shadows on everything, especially if you’re facing into the sun. (The best time for photos is late afternoon when the sun is low in the sky and the light is soft and warm – everyone always looks best in that light!)

Still, Hsin-Yi did manage to get some interesting photos even with the bright sun and shadows:

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And while she was busy doing that, guess what I found? Half of a HUGE fish lying in the sand!

It must have been lying there for a very long time because it was all dry and didn’t even smell stinky anymore. Shame. I could have had a good roll in it. But since my humans told me to “Leave It”, I left it alone.

Anyway, by now everybody’s tummies were rumbling so we decided to head back towards the carpark and start thinking about lunch…

But wait! What’s this? My goodness, they’re even doing that strange Yoga thing on the beach!

Back at the carpark, my humans were a bit worried about what to do for lunch. They really wanted to take me with them to a cafe but you know, taking a Dane anywhere into town is like planning a military operation. They would need to find a dog-friendly cafe with LOTS of space around the tables for me and far enough away from the other tables – especially if there are other people there who might not like doggies.

My humans also like to sit in a quiet corner if possible so that people can’t see me easily – otherwise they will never be able to eat their lunch in peace because there would be hundreds of people constantly stopping to ask questions about me and pat me. And since it was the weekend and so busy-busy with lots of people in Byron Bay, they didn’t think they would be able to find anywhere to meet so many conditions…

But then they saw a cafe that was just perfect! It was called Fresh and it was right on the main Jonston St (beach end) but also on the corner with a side street…which meant that we could sit at the table at the very end, down the side street, without getting in anybody’s way and where most people couldn’t see me.

Mmm…soon the food started arriving and it looked DELICIOUS!!

Hsin-Yi had a big plate of pasta with garlic prawns, cherry tomatoes, rocket leaves and chilli - while Paul had a healthy roast pumpkin salad….

My humans (well, Hsin-Yi actually) also ordered a big bowl of chips with aioli…and because I was being very polite, lying down and drooling…er, I mean waiting nicely beside the table, they let me have some…mmm…YUMMY!

And then we asked our lovely waitress to take a photo for us!

(By the way, there were STILL tons of people that saw me and came up to pat me and ask questions! But at least it was fewer than it would have been if we were sitting right on the main street so at least my humans ate most of their lunch in peace! )

After lunch, we had a little walk around the streets of Byron Bay. My humans were surprised at how relaxed & dog-friendly everyone’s attitudes were – even though it was very crowded with lots of families and human pups and surfers and tourists in the streets, there were also lots of people with their doggies walking in the streets and nobody seemed to mind or give us doggies dirty looks, like they do in some other places. (NSW seems much more relaxed and dog-friendly than Queensland?)

To be honest, I wasn’t really that interested in exploring the town – all I wanted to do now was have a big sleep – after all the adventures…and exploring…and running…and fresh air…and chips! It was late afternoon by now and cooling down, so my humans left me in the car machine in the shade, with the windows open, and went for a ‘mooch’ by themselves around Byon Bay.

Hsin-Yi bought a little souvenir from one of the pretty shops – well, 3 souvenirs really: 3 little painted wooden kitties with long, long tails – aren’t they cute?

I was also a bit jealous to hear that my humans went and got themselves gelato! But at least they both saved a bit for me to lick when they came back to the car…mmm…coffee gelato from Paul and strawberry gelato from Hsin-Yi!

And then finally, it was time to go back to our cottage! It was dark by now and with the sun gone, it was starting to get very cold, especially up in the mountains! But the cottage was lovely and warm, with very good heater machines, so we were snug and cosy.

I curled up on my bed in the living room and watched the TV box with Paul. In the TV box, lots of men were running around, kicking a football to each other, just so they could win a big food bowl, even though it had no food in it (humans are so strange sometimes!) – and there were lots of people inside the TV box watching them too. I couldn’t work out if it was a happy game or a sad game because sometimes the people would shout in grumpy ways and sometimes they would cry and sometimes they would jump up screaming and hug each other!

My humans had originally planned to go out again for dinner but decided since it was so cold and dark, they couldn’t sit outside at a table with me (and doggies aren’t allowed to be left in Gillies Cottage alone) so in the end, Paul just went to get Thai takeaway. Anyway, my humans were very happy because the Postman had just brough a present for them from Amazon, before we left Brisbane : the X-Files Season 1 DVD set – so we all curled up in the living room and watched a movie about creepy alien worms…

…it had been a BIG day…zzzZZZzzz…

I could barely get up the next morning – Sunday – I was so exhausted from all my adventures  the day before, I could have slept for another week!

While my humans were having their breakfast…

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…I took my Ducky for a tour around the cottage to say goodbye:

 

Now that the sun was back again, it was lovely and warm. In fact, I’d just found myself a nice patch of sunshine to snooze in when my humans said it was time to pack up and leave!

But they said they were taking me to another beach before we headed back to Brisbane…yay!

This time we drove a bit further away, south of Byron Bay, to a place called Lake Ainsworth beside Lennox Head. And there we found a FANTASTIC dog-friendly beach called Seven Mile Beach.

My humans loved it because it was much more like the beaches we’re used to back in New Zealand (and which we really miss) - much more wild and empty, with miles of space that goes on and on and reaches the sky! A lot of the beaches we have been to here in Australia seem a bit crowded compared to what we were used to. My humans don’t mind it if there isn’t white sand and sunshine and blue skies like a postcard, because usually those beaches have tons of people as well – they like wild, lonely beaches much better. So do I!

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But “wild & lonely” doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun…

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…or meet new doggie friends either!

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Look – I even met a Labrador doggie like my blog friend, Dexter! He was just as bouncy ‘cracker dog’ too – this must be his Aussie cousin!

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And then I found something even more exciting than doggie friends – a GIANT STICK!

 

But the excitement wasn’t over. A bit further down the beach, I came across this…! Hmm….I think this sandcastle needs a bit of help…

Come on, Hsin-Yi, come and help me!

Hsin-Yi has taught me to Dig on command  – even though I’m not allowed to dig in the gardens at home but my humans say I can dig all I want when we go to the beach!

Yay! Dig…dig…dig…

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…hang on…wait! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??

 

My human was trying to bury me alive!

Hsin-Yi said she was making me into a “Sand Dog” and I couldn’t even move because I was in a “Down Stay”…Huh! So THIS is the real reason why humans teach us doggies ‘bomb-proof Down Stays’ – just so they can publicly humiliate us!

Really – the things that humans find amusing – and they call ME simple…!

Well, it was getting near lunchtime so it was time we were heading off – but before we left, Hsin-Yi wanted to get a photo of me & her standing together on a log. I was facing the wrong way with my bum to the camera – then I used the new pivoting trick that I’d learnt recently to swing my bum around so that I was facing the camera, without taking my front paws off the log - Hsin-Yi was very proud of me! She says it’s great when my training comes in handy for “everyday life”!   (can you see my 2 trails of slobber hanging down from my jowls and flapping in the wind, in the photo? Haven’t learnt any trick to deal with that yet! Hee! Hee!)

Last thing, we got another self-timer family photo. Hsin-Yi decided to do an “action shot” this time so she propped the camera up on a fence and made me and Paul walk with her, past it many times, grinning like idiots.

Poor Paul was very embarrassed – he thought all the people on the beach must have been thinking that we were mad (thank goodness it was such a “wild & lonely” beach with not many people about!) – but after being married to Hsin-Yi for nearly 13 years now, he is well-trained by now. Anyway, it’s easier to just give in to her because otherwise she will keep pestering you until you pose for her – and I have to admit, the pictures do come out very nice!

OK! Time for some lunch now!

And we struck lucky again because we found another great dog-friendly cafe! It’s called Treehouse on Belongil and it’s in a small side street near the other end of Belongil Beach, back in Byron Bay. And it really did look like a treehouse!

It was very interesting – all the tables & chairs were different shapes and kinds and sizes, some with soft cushions, even some beanbags! and on different levels…there were trees growing through the restaurant everywhere…and you could see into the kitchen where a man was making pizza next to a big wood fire! There was even a place where people come to play music at night.

I saw quite a few other doggies there…you know, even doggies at Byron Bay are trendy and “alternative” – look, they don’t even use leashes to keep hold of their humans – they use fancy tie-dyed scarves!

Of course, the moment I was really waiting for was when the FOOD arrived!

Mmm, I wonder what yummies I would get to taste this time?

I was STARVING! All that running and swimming on the beach had given me a HUGE appetite!

For their Starters, my humans had ordered potato wedges and spicy chicken wings… ooh, they looked good!

I know most doggies don’t like spicy foods but I actually really like it because Hsin-Yi eats LOTS of spicy stuff (she puts chillis in EVERYTHING!) and she’s always let me taste a bit of everything ever since I was a puppy so I guess I’ve sort of developed a taste for chilli! Hee! Hee!

For their main course, Paul had ordered a healthy roast turkey foccacia sandwich but Hsin-Yi had ordered a GINORMOUS pizza all for herself. It was so huge that even Hsin-Yi couldn’t finish it…so since I had been lying so politely by the table – and as a special treat because we’re on holiday – Hsin-Yi said I could help her finish the pizza. In fact, she didn’t just give me the measly crust like she usually does – she gave me a WHOLE slice all for myself!!

OK, I know a lot of you must be horrified by now, wondering how I could be allowed to eat so much “junk food” when I’m supposed to be on the healthy Raw Diet. Well, my humans believe that it is better to eat a natural, fresh, healthy raw diet with no chemicals for your every day life and then it’s OK to have some junk food once in a long while for special occasions – rather than eating a dogfood full of additives and preservatives and poor quality nutrition every day, which would give you bad health, even if you never ate any “human junkfood”!

Also a lot of humans believe that you should never let us doggies taste anything other than our own dog food because otherwise this will teach us to beg at the table and steal food…

 Actually, it is good training that teaches us not to beg or snatch or steal food. Even doggies that have never tasted any “junkfood” will beg and steal if they don’t get the right training – and lots of doggies (including me) get “human treats” all the time but never beg or steal food. We always wait politely and only come near the table when we have permission. But that is because my humans have taught me good manners and are very consistent with their ‘food manners’ rules.

Still, my humans think I must have a pretty tough tummy. Hsin-Yi says most doggies who had eaten all the “junk” I had would probably get an upset tummy and bad diarrhoea! (Do you know, in just this weekend, I had: pizza, potato wedges, spicy chicken wings, pasta, prawn, chips with aioli, gelato, marmalade, bread, watermelon, cookies…) Maybe I’m just lucky – or maybe it’s because Hsin-Yi always let me taste small bits of lots of different things ever since I was a puppy, so maybe my tummy was trained to get used to lots of different things! Hsin-Yi says human pups are like that too – and if humans only ever eat one kind of food then when they go to another country, they get upset tummies over the strange food – even if the strange food isn’t actually bad.

Well, my humans said if I got diarrhoea after all that, I would deserve it! – but don’t worry – I was fine and didn’t even have a hiccup!

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I was very sad after our lunch was over because it was time to drive back to Brisbane. I had had such a wonderful time in Byron Bay, I wanted to stay longer!

To finish off – here is a very short movie of me playing on Seven Mile Beach. My humans didn’t take much video this time so I couldn’t make a proper holiday movie like I did last year for my holiday in Rotorua - but I wanted to show you this so you could see how big and strong the waves were on Seven Mile Beach! Wasn’t I a brave girl? It took me until I was 5 years old to get me to wade out into the sea – but there’s no stopping me now! Not even sharks!!

(Actually, humans got a fright because after they threw my ball into the water, they suddenly remembered that other dog owners had warned them about sharks swimming up and down the beach, waiting to snatch doggies that go too far out into the sea! )

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If you would like to follow in my pawsteps…

…here are some links my humans used to plan our trip:

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