* Sorry for being so quiet on the blog – and I’m behind again with visiting friends and replying to messages too! Hsin-Yi has been spending all her spare time working on the ‘Ian Dunbar video’ – even all through the weekend! – so she hasn’t been able to help me do much else. But I’ll be catching up as soon as I can!

Remember when I told you about going to visit my new vet, Hamilton Veterinary Clinic, just for a socialisation visit?

And I met this really nice lady vet called Dr Renee O’Duhring, who is a holistic vet and helps people with consultations about the Raw Diet and safe vaccinations and other holistic health stuff for pets?  ( www.roarkingdom.com.au )

Well, she has a lovely doggie called Miyuki who sent me an email aftewards and invited me to meet her for a playdate!

Now, Miyuki lives outside Newcastle – about 1 hrs drive in the car machine – in an area called Port Stephens which is further north up the NSW coast. It’s a really lovely place with lots of beautiful beaches and one of these is where Miyuki goes a lot. It’s called Birubi Beach and it’s got a fantastic big area of sand dunes right next to it, which is Miyuki’s favourite place to walk – so she said she would show it to me!

View larger map

Wow, what an incredible place! I hadn’t been in such a wonderful big area of open, natural space since we left NZ! It was sand dunes all the way to the horizon – as far as your eye could see.

 The first thing we saw when we arrived there were some really strange animals. I had never seen anything like them before! They looked sort of like horsies but they had strange pointy backs and these big floppy lips…almost like mine!

Hsin-Yi said they’re called “camels”. I got really excited when I saw them and wanted to go closer to say hello but Hsin-Yi wouldn’t let me – humph! She said she had grown up with camels when she was a human pup living in Dubai and they can be grumpy, nasty beasties who SPIT at you if they don’t like you!

(ETA: note from Hsin-Yi – in case anybody is wondering, camels aren’t native to Australia! They were imported in the 1800′s – I guess they were useful for pioneering expeditions ‘coz most of Australia is actually desert! Here is more info: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00128/en/camels/history_light.htm)

 They didn’t look that nasty to me – they were just sort of lying there, chewing stuff and looking bored. I think they were waiting for humans to come and ride on them so they could go for a walk.

And then on the other side of the camels, we saw Dr Renee waving to us and Miyuki coming to meet us!

Miyuki is an Italian Maremma Sheepdog (although her coat is shaved because of the hot Aussie summers – in case you’re wondering why she doesn’t look exactly like the pictures in the books!). She is 7 years old – like me! – and she is also very calm and laid-back like me, although she can still act like a puppy sometimes (again, like me!) - especially when she wants someone to play her favourite game of chasing her in circles!

She is also a bit of a ‘naughty scavenger’ – in fact, she was once in total disgrace because her humans were having a BBQ party and when nobody was looking, she stole the most expensive steak there! Hee! Hee!

Like me, Miyuki is on the Raw Diet although she gets hers packed into Kongs and (unlike me!) will work really hard for hours getting every last bit out!

You might be wondering why she has a Japanese name – that’s ’coz her humans love Japan and have been there to visit many times – and “miyuki” actually means “deep snow” which they feel is perfect for their ‘white wolf’!  

Maremma Sheepdogs (also known as  Maremmano-Abruzzese) are a ‘livestock guardian breed’ and traditionally, they live outside with the flocks of sheep to protect them from wolves. (In fact, working Maremma puppies are imprinted on sheep from as young as 3 ~ 4 weeks!). Most Maremmas still prefer big, wide, open spaces – that’s why Miyuki loves the dunes so much!  Miyuki is a great guard dog and really protects her ‘pack’ – including the ’chooks’ in the garden – and of course, her gorgeous little human pup – isn’t she beautiful? Hsin-Yi thought she looked like a little doll!

She was so clever, she learnt my name really quickly – and she was very good and gentle when patting me…she especially liked to feel my soft ears!

 And then we all set off on our walk across the sand dunes!

 There was nobody for miles and miles! It was so nice to be somewhere which wasn’t crowded with people and doggies for a change!

Like most Maremmas, Miyuki likes to likes to watch things from a height – like climbing up to the peak of a dune so she could see all around. So she showed me the best spots for the best views!

The dunes are not actually an official “dog park” but Miyuki told me that lots of local doggies go there for their walks since nobody uses it anyway. We only saw one other set of doggies & humans though out for their walks – with a really cute Husky pup that reminded me of all my Husky blog friends – but in particular, of one little Husky princess: Ciara!

Hsin-Yi said she felt like we were in the first Star Wars movie - on Tatooine!

Although we had met at 4:30pm, it was still very sunny and hot – and although Hsin-Yi had brought a bottle of water for me to drink, I’d soon finished it! She had also wet me down before we started our walk, to try and keep me cool, but it was still a bit too hot for a giant doggie like me. I was soon panting really hard and Hsin-Yi started getting worried that I might get heatstroke – ‘coz if I collapsed, she wouldn’t be able to pick me up and rush me to the hospital!

So although there were still loads of dunes around us to explore, Hsin-Yi said it was better for us to turn around and head back. I guess I’ll have to come back and explore it next time!

Anyway, we’re going into autumn now so it’s going to get cooler and cooler…which is much better for me! And next time, Hsin-Yi said she will bring a bigger bottle of water for me (well, actually, what she really said was – why couldn’t I carry my own water in a hump on my back like the camels? How rude! )

I had a great time and I’m so glad Miyuki told me about this place! It’s a bit far from home so we can’t come regularly but Hsin-Yi said it’s so lovely that it’s worth the long drive just to go somewhere with big, open spaces where you can really stretch your legs and not see any yucky buildings or machines or other human stuff around you! So she is going to make the effort to take me again as often as possible.

And it’s so nice to make a doggie friend too! I haven’t made any doggie friends since arriving in Newcastle so I was so happy to meet Miyuki. Although we didn’t really play with each other this time, that was partly because it was just a bit too hot for me (when I get really hot, I just don’t want to do anything) – I think we might play when it’s cooler and we get to know each other better!

In any case, we’re both – ahem – mature girls now and so we can have fun and enjoy being together in other ways. People always think that doggies have to be chasing each other around and wrestling all the time to show that they’re happy and having a good time but that’s not true – especially once we get older, we often just like hanging out, doing walks and sniffing things and exploring together. I mean, middle-aged humans don’t run around a playground with each other when they socialise, do they? So why do they expect middle-aged doggies to? And I’m almost 61yrs old in human age!

(By the way, people usually think 1 dog year = 7 human years but that’s not really true – not all breeds age at the same rate and a lot of charts only show: “small/medium/large breeds” but a “large” breed is like a Golden Retriever – us “giant breeds” like Great Danes, St Bernards, Newfoundlands, Mastiffs and Irish Wolfhounds age even faster again – sadly!)

Anyway, I can’t wait until we go back to the Birubi Beach sand dunes again!

ps. we’re really behind in posting about Muesli’s progress too! She’s been doing loads more stuff! (she’s even learnt to Sit!) And she’s growing so fast – she doesn’t even look like a little kitten anymore but more like a little cat now! I keep telling Hsin-Yi that if she doesn’t hurry up and post about stuff from the last 2 weeks, Muesli won’t look like herself in her pictures anymore!

But today I wanted to tell you about this Awful Experience I had. My humans promised me it was going to be a “Fun Adventure” but they lied!

It all started when Hsin-Yi started making sniffy noises and yucky faces whenever she came near me – and saying that I had ‘doggie B.O.’ ! Really! What is she talking about? Just because she can’t appreciate my personal canine aroma – I’ve taken a long time developing this, you know. I’ve even been thinking I might release my own fragrance – L’Eau de la Honey: a carefully cultivated combination of encrusted dried drool and dirty rainwater, with topnotes of moist garden grime and salty beach sand – of course, all brought together by rolling in anything stinky I can find. Ahhh…

Well, we all know humans have pathetic noses that can’t smell anything, compared to us doggies – humph, so I don’t see why Hsin-Yi has to insult me just because her stupid nose can’t appreciate the subtle nuances of ‘poofume’. Especially when humans have an awful stink themselves of all sorts of disgusting stuff, like ‘lavender’ and ‘rose’ and (the worst!) ”vanilla’…

…But then I heard Hsin-Yi start muttering the dreaded word: “bath” – EEEEEEK!

Now, I don’t know what it is with humans and baths – they have some kind of unhealthy obsession with them, really. I mean, they actually have baths every day! Sometimes twice a day! *shudder* Ugh! And my human, Hsin-Yi, is worse than most. She is really obsessed with “clean dogs” and makes me do the Yucky Bath Thing every 2 weeks – sometimes even every week, if I’ve been rolling in lots of stinky stuff! She says that’s the price I have to pay for her letting me do natural doggie behaviour & enjoy myself when I’m out at the park.

But it’s been heaven in the last 4 weeks because what with all the packing up in Brisbane and then being on my roadtrip and then staying at the B&B for 2 weeks…Hah! NO BATHS!! It’s been wonderful and I must say, I smelled the best I’ve done my whole life – it’s amazing what extra odours can arise when you let things mature and develop, especially in a small, squashy B&B room which doesn’t have lots of air blowing through!

Anyway, I wasn’t too worried about Hsin-Yi’s mutterings since the bathroom in the B&B was small and squashy too and I knew my humans could never wash me there…and now in our new home, we can barely find our way through all the cardboard boxes to the bathroom – hee! hee! – so I knew I was safe as well!

But then my humans told me they were going to take me on a new adventure to a cool new place I’d never been to before called Dog Overboard…

Are there yummies involved?

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At first, it seemed pretty cool – there were all these interesting smells and toys and treats to investigate – and even a weird spotty wooden doggie!

But then we went into one corner of the place which had lots of things that looked suspiciously like bathtubs…hmm…but I told myself not to worry because everybody knows that bathtubs only live in “houses”, right? And this was definitely not a house!

Then Hsin-Yi told me that if I walked up a ramp, she would give me a treat. Oh easy! I learnt how to walk up ramps last year back in Brisbane when my friend, Loki the merle Dane very nicely lent me hers to practise on.

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But wait! What are you doing? Why are you shutting me in here?

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This is not funny. Let me out!

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Aaaarrrrgggghhh! What are you DOING? I'm getting WET!!!

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OH MY GOD - this isn't happening to me...they're making me do a BATH! In public!!

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Oh no! Not that "Coconut & Vanilla" stuff!

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Thank God I don't know anyone in Newcastle yet...I'd DIE if any of my doggie friends in Brisbane saw me now!

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Really. I don't see what's so funny...

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Oh yuck...more water...

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"Aaaa - pfft - pfft - *cough* - *splutter* - pfft - aarrrrggh!!"

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Oh thank God – it’s finished…time for a good shake…

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"Hon-Neey phone home..."

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Ow! Watch where you're pulling my jowls, woman!

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Thank God - freedom at last!

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At least there were no other doggies there at the time to witness my public humiliation…whew!

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But wait…just when I thought the nightmare was over…my humans dragged me over to the other corner – to THIS place!

GAH! What are you doing? This kind of place is for Poodle doggies and Bichon Frise doggies and other posh, dainty doggies with fluff – I’m a Dane! We’re “muscular, athletic ‘wash -N – wear’ doggies with a short, single coat that dries in 10 minutes”…why am I here??

Help! All this pink is killing me!

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Ohhhh…as if a public Bath Humiliation wasn’t bad enough, my humans then let strangers take me away into that horrible pink room and Clip My Toe Nails – while some small white Poodle doggie sat on the counter and laughed at me!

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My humans attempted to mollify me with a new stuffie toy but huh! I was having none of it! I have never been so humiliated in my life! And now I stink of ‘Coconut & Vanilla’ too! I think I’m going to report  my humans to the RSPCA for animal cruelty!

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The white Poodle doggie came out with her human and tried to say hello to me but I wasn’t interested. Sniff. Huh. Am not talking to doggies who laugh at me. Besides, she smelled even worse than I did – I think it was something called  ‘Frangipani’…ugh! Still, at least she wasn’t dyed pink like some of the other Poodle doggies I saw coming out of the Grooming Room. I saw a lot of pink Poodle doggies (and other colours!) back in Brisbane too. It’s really weird but the humans here in Australia seem to like to make their doggies funny colours!

No, Paul - we don't need a membership card...I'm not coming back here ever again!

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Well, actually, the humans there were all very nice to me and gave me lots of cuddles and said that I am a lovely, well-behaved girl.  And I suppose some doggies might enjoy all that Washy-Groomy stuff. (not me!) And my humans said it was “a great set-up!” – and doesn’t cost lots of money paper too (if our humans do the Bath Thing themselves, it’s only $5) – so I guess it’s not a terrible place. For humans. And pink Poodle doggies. But not for water-phobic Dane doggies! Boy, was I glad to finally get out of that place! A Bath in the privacy of my own home is bad enough but who knew there were places just full of bathtubs to publicly torture doggies?!

And now I have to start working on my personal aroma all over again! (sigh)

]]> http://bighoneydog.com/2011/01/bath-torture-place/feed/ 46 http://bighoneydog.com/2011/01/roadtrip/ http://bighoneydog.com/2011/01/roadtrip/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:37:44 +0000 bighoneydog http://bighoneydog.com/?p=9188 Continue reading →]]> First, thank you so much to everyone who sent me messages or comments, asking about the Queensland floods and if me & my humans are OK…it’s lovely to have friends who worry and care about you!

We are all fine – we were lucky because the really Big Floods were north of Brisbane (some towns are still under water and all the people had to leave their homes! ) and so there wasn’t really bad flooding where we were and we weren’t really in danger! In fact, on the day we were leaving, it was actually not even raining where we were!

And we have arrived safely to Newcastle! We are now in a little B&B but the internet here is awful, awful slow (it takes like a week to download a page with pictures!) so I’ve been having a really hard time trying to visit your blogs. I’m afraid I probably won’t be able visit anybody properly for a while, until we are settled in a proper home – I hope you’ll understand – and won’t forget about me!

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Now, I must tell you all about my very first road trip! It all started when I was settling down for my usual morning nap after breakfast…when suddenly, a strange man arrived at our door with lots and lots and lots of boxes!

What was happening to my home? Why was everything disappearing? Why were there so many boxes everywhere? I was feeling very worried…

And then more men arrived! They came in a HUGE car machine with a giant metal box on its back and they started putting all our things into that giant metal box!

Well, my humans explained to me that they were from the Moving Company and they were coming to help take all my stuffies to my new home in Newcastle! Of course, I’m a generous doggie so I said they could also put my humans’ things with my stuffies in that giant metal box too.

My humans said I mustn’t get in their way so I was a good girl and stayed on my bed in the corner…but I did make sure that I supervised everything!

Supervising people all day is really exhausting, you know. When they finally left in the afternoon, I was just looking forward to a nice nap when my humans said it was time for us to leave too!

But oh my goodness, would all our things fit in the car machine? My humans said we didn’t know how long we would have to stay in the B&B and keep looking for a home, so we had to take lots of stuff with us – they had their suitcases and bags – and I had my own bag with all my toys and towels and stuff – and my huge bed! Plus my humans had slowly swapped me onto dry kibble in the last week because it is easier for travelling than my usual Raw Diet and so they had to carry a big bag of that as well!

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Humph! There wasn’t a lot of space left for me, was there?

It is a long, long drive from Brisbane to Newcastle – about 10hrs in the car machine – some people do it in one day! – but my humans decided to just drive a bit every day and stop for 2 nights – so that I would not be squashed too long in the car machine each day. And also, the first day, we couldn’t leave Brisbane until late, after the Moving Humans had gone, so my humans didn’t want to drive too long in the dark.

• Day 1: Brisbane to Ballina
• Day 2: Ballina to Port Macquarie
• Day 3: Port Macquarie to Newcastle

We were very lucky that the rains had stopped for a bit so the roads weren’t very wet. In fact, it was lovely to get out of Brisbane and see the green countryside!

After we had been driving for a while, we suddenly saw the sea! Oh – it was so lovely to see the water! I’ve missed seeing the sea living in Brisbane this year – I was a very spoilt doggie back in Auckland which is a “habour city” so the sea was everywhere!

Then Paul had a wonderful idea – since I hadn’t had my daily walk yet and I had been a such good girl all day, lying quietly on my bed while the Moving Humans did their stuff…he said we could stop and let me have my walk on the beach!

Yay!

It wasn’t actually a dog beach and us doggies weren’t really allowed to run around on it – as usual! – but my humans said we could be a bit naughty! (Gosh, Hsin-Yi says the meanie Australian dog laws are turning us into regular criminals! Hee! Hee! ) It was such a beautiful beach and there was nobody else there anyway – it’s so unfair why us doggies can’t enjoy it!

There were all these strange foamy things near the water…it was like a giant bubble bath!

…and there were also these strange rocks all over the beach – I had to check them out to make sure there weren’t any strange beasties hiding in them!

And then – oh! oh! – Paul brought out my favourite game: Chase the Tennis Ball! Ooh – gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

It was so nice to run and stretch my legs!

And Hsin-Yi was busy taking lots of photos with her camera machine – she was very excited because it was just Sunset Time and that’s one of the nicest light for photos!

But all too soon it was time to get in the car machine and back on the road!

As we got near Ballina, we saw the famous “Big Prawn”. Wow, Hsin-Yi loves eating prawns but I think she would need a long time to eat all of that one!

Because my humans had hoped to find us a home in Newcastle before we moved, they hadn’t really planned this road trip properly – then a few weeks ago, when my humans still hadn’t found a new home, Hsin-Yi had to suddenly start looking for places for us to stay.

Well, you know how hard it is to find dog-friendly hotels, especially for us big doggies – it’s even harder when you’re trying to do it at Christmas/New Year!

In the end, the only place Hsin-Yi could find in Ballina was a caravan holiday park which was on a sort of island and to get there, we had to go on a car ferry!

It was called the Ballina Beach Village and it was a lovely place.

The people were very welcoming to doggies and we were allowed to stay in our cabins with our families. I saw lots of other doggies there.

And it’s just by a dog-friendly beach too! I didn’t go to see it, though, coz we arrived really late at night and were leaving first thing in the morning.

Lots of people came in their own caravan machines or even in tents but we stayed in a cute little cabin.

It was a bit of a tight fit for me – especially if I wanted to turn around! – but we were cosy…!

Anyway, I was so exhausted from my big day, all I wanted to do was have my dinner and go to bed!

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, it was time to load up the car machine again!

But before we got on the road, my humans took me for a little walk around the holiday park so I could stretch my legs, before being squashed in the car machine again for the long drive…

…there were lots of families with loads and loads of human pups staying there – and they all wanted to come and say hello to me!

…and I even met some of the doggies staying there too! This is Dozer, who is a Great Dane / Irish Wolfhound-cross…isn’t he a handsome boy? He’s got the ‘Dane head’ but the Wolfhound’s wiry coat!

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Well, soon we were back on the road again!

Today, my humans had re-arranged the things in the car machine and put my bed in my space at the back – instead of trying to squish it into the back seat – and this worked much better! Now they could look back and see me in the car and check that I was OK and some of the bags that had to be put with me could now fit with the things in the back seat. Instead, my bed could go flat at the back and I could lie on it. OK, it was still a bit squashy to tell you the truth but I was pretty comfy!

Soon we were near Coffs Harbour where we planned to stop for lunch. This time the famous “big thing” we saw was the “Big Banana” although we were a bit disappointed – it wasn’t as big as we expected!

When we arrived at Coffs Harbour, we had a bit of nasty shock – because of the New Year public holidays, most of the cafes and restaurants were shut! And you know, it’s hard to take me to cafes anyway ‘coz I don’t fit easily under tables (hee! hee!) – my humans need to find a cafe with outside tables with enough space around them for me to lie next to them but not be in other people’s way (or taking up half the pavement! ) – so we had to drive around lots but thank goodness, finally we found a place we could have lunch!

After lunch, there was more driving! But finally we arrived in Port Macquarie - and this time, Hsin-Yi was very lucky and had managed to find a room for us in a dog-friendly motel.

It was called the Koala Tree Motel and it was really lovely – we had a big room with a huge flat TV box and very ”swanky” bathroom.

It was so nice to have lots of space after the tiny cabin last night!

…there was even a place you could cook BBQ’s nearby and a swimming pool!

After we unpacked a bit, my humans took me for a walk on the Port Macquarie cliffs, down by the sea. It was lovely to stretch my legs after being in the car machine all day!

There were loads and loads of Norfolk Pines all along the cliffs – these are one of Hsin-Yi’s favourite trees – she thinks their shape is so beautiful. We had lots of Norfolk Pines growing all over Auckland but we have missed seeing them in Brisbane.They look a bit strange because they look like all the pine needles are growing upwards!

Hsin-Yi even managed to do one of her famous “self-timer family photos”!

I had a nice time on my walk but I was quite glad to get back to our motel room, have my dinner – and go to bed!

The next morning, bright and early, we were on the road again! We only had about 2 & half hours left to drive to Newcastle so we were hoping to get there for lunchtime…but then there was really bad traffic on the Pacific Highway, with lots and lots and lots and LOTS of car machines! We had to crawl along for over 1 hour in just one car machine queue! And everybody got very hot and grumpy.

But FINALLY we saw the sign we had been waiting for!

Yay! Nearly there! I had fun on my road trip but I was sure glad we were finally arriving in Newcastle.

And I’ll tell you all about my adventures when we arrived there, in my next post!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8SMtwY0EI

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A couple of weekends ago, my humans took me to a really cool place – it is called Bribie Island and it is a little island in the sea, just a bit higher up the Queensland coast from Brisbane.

My humans had heard that there is a very good dog beach there – where you can walk for miles and miles and it is not crowded and full of other people and doggies, so I can run and play properly. So they decided to take me to check it out.

Bribie Island is special because it is connected to the main part of Australia by a long bridge and so you don’t have to go there by boat – you can just get there in the car machine! It is about 1 & half hour’s drive from Brisbane (if you live north of the river – longer if you live in the south).

The part of the water where the bridge crosses is very beautiful – it is called the Pumicestone Passage Marine Park and there are lots of fisherman and white boats called yachts there. There is also a wonderful view north to the Glasshouse Mountains.

It was quite exciting when we finlly drove off the long, long bridge and onto Bribie Island! We drove first through a little village which my humans said was very “quaint with a seaside resort atmosphere”. There are actually 5 little villages around the island and lots & lots of beaches! (although doggies are only allowed on one of them).

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* Unfortunately, it was very grey and even a bit rainy on the day we went so none of our photos came out very nice. My humans say the photos don’t do justice to how lovely Bribie Island really is – but you know a place is really beautiful when you enjoy it even when it is grey and rainy!

Here is a picture of Bribie Island from the Travelpod website:

A lot of the island is covered by Bribie Island National Park and it is a great place if you like to watch birds. You can also go biking and walking through the bush – or on the long, empty beaches. Because it is not as popular and well-known as the other parts of Queensland (like the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast), the tourist websites say it is a “hidden gem” and there are a lot less people going there – and my humans really liked that. They said it reminded them much more of NZ where the view is much more natural and wild and unspoilt by man-made things and it wasn’t full of noisy people and car machines.

Of course, we headed straight for the dog beach! This starts at Red Beach on the west side of the island and runs all along the bottom of the island, around to Woody Bay on the east side of the island. It can be a bit hard to find because you have to drive to the end of Welsby Parade, into South Esplanade and then turn into a dirt road leading into the trees, called Renton Lane – this will take you to Spowers St and then follow the signs for “Red Beach”.

We finally came to a little carpark in the forest covered in sand and saw this sign – we knew we had found it!

Come on, slow humans!

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Ooh! There were lots of interesting things on the beach to sniff and explore. Floaty sticks, stinky seaweed, pretty shells…even a strange squashy thing that my humans said was a real ‘natural sponge’ washed up from the sea!

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* By the way, see that beautiful bright pink bandana I’m wearing? That was a present from my blog friends, Max & JD the Schnauzer Brothers – their humans got it for me when they were on holiday to Egypt. You can’t see it in the photos but it even has my name “Honey” embroidered in a strange ancient writing called hieroglyphics – isn’t that cool? Thanks so much again, boys – you’ve made me the most stylish doggie on the beach!

We kept walking and walking – the beach went on for miles and miles! We met a few other doggies walking with their humans but lots of times, there was nobody else we could see – it was almost like our own private beach!

There was also a really interesting forest on the other side of the sand from the sea – it was like a forest from the time of the dinosaurs, with huge old trees reaching for the sky – and some that had fallen down and were lying on their sides, all dry and twisty, like giant monsters washed up from the sea and frozen on the sand…

I loved running through them and climbing and exploring them!

The beach kept going on but we decided we’d better start heading back as our lunch was still back in the car machine! Since my humans didn’t know if there would be any dog-friendly cafes on Bribie Island, they had decided to pack a picnic lunch for us to have on the beach together.

We found a nice spot just beside a big fallen tree and made ourselves comfortable…I was really thirsting from all my exploring so I spent a long time slurping water…

…Paul had even brought his little magic stick which swallows music from the computer and then when he attaches a special  “speaker” mouth to it,  it vomits all the music back out again!

Hsin-Yi had found a very cool little speaker mouth which was so small it could fit in your hand. But she wished Paul hadn’t brought his magic music stick because she doesn’t like the music he listens to. Paul likes music from people like Coldplay and Pink… Hsin-Yi only likes music from the 80′s and 90′s or the soundtrack of ‘Dirty Dancing’ – and she thinks all the music on the radio now is rubbish (Paul says this is a sign she is getting old) – anyway, my humans always argue a lot when they put music on!

I don’t like any music really (except the kind which makes Hsin-Yi jump around and dance with me) – I think it is very noisy and it’s so much nicer to listen to the birds singing or the waves whispering or even just nothing at all. I think quietness sounds really nice. But I have noticed that humans don’t like it when it is quiet – they are really very noisy creatures.

Anyway, my humans finally found a NZ singer called Brooke Fraser who they both agreed sounds nice and we finally sat down to lunch on the beach!

Well, actually – the humans had lunch – I had to do a Down Stay on the blanket next to them and drool politely … er, wait politely until they had finished, to see if I could get any leftovers. So unfair! Still, both Hsin-Yi and Paul did save me some of their bread – you know bread is my most favouritist, favouritist treat in the world – better than liver or chicken or sausage – I’ll do ANYTHING for bread!

Oh! But before my humans had even finished their lunch, we had unexpected guests at our picnic! Two cheeky black & white birds suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sat on the fallen tree next to us, watching my humans eat.

.

I didn’t trust them at all – I knew their beady little eyes were watching the leftover bread that was supposed to be for ME.

SHOO!

But then – oh, shock horror! – Hsin-Yi started saying how cute they were and then she started feeding them a bit of the leftover bread that was supposed to be for ME!!! Oh, how could she? After I had been such a good girl, doing such a good Down Stay for so long and waiting so politely – and those piggy birds weren’t cute at all – they were UGLY! Humph!

Well, my humans did finally give me the rest of the leftover bread but I was still feeling very grumpy with them. In fact, I was feeling so grumpy, I refused to look at the camera machine when we were taking a family photo later – so there!

It had started to rain even more now so my humans decided it was time to go home. We packed up everything to walk back to the car machine. It had been a really lovely day (OK, yes, even with the stupid birds eating my bread!) and we were all very sad that Bribie Island is so far from home. My humans said they would like to take me to that beach every week! But it’s so far away that it’s not really practical, they say. (Oh, why oh why aren’t there nice, beautiful, big, uncrowded places where doggies can go off-leash in Brisbane? It is such an UN-dog-friendly city! )

Anyway, I do hope we get to go back to Bribie Island again some day – I had a fantastic time!

Well, at the beginning of this post was a little movie of my day on Bribie Island…you can see me doing zoomies with Hsin-Yi and rescuing sticks from the sea and yes, the camera even caught Hsin-Yi feeding MY leftover bread to those ugly birds – what do you think – don’t you agree that it was SO unfair?! (by the way, my humans didn’t really allow me to do zoomies after eating – that was actually before our lunch but Hsin-Yi sometimes changes things around when she edits movies because she thinks they look better that way – she says it is called ‘artistic licence’! )

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Why don’t you enter Tucker’s Staycation Contest too? It’s a great excuse to have a fun adventure with your  humans and discover someplace new in your home town! Here are the rules from Tucker’s site:

* Deadline September 6, 2010 (the un-official end to Summer in the States)
* The staycation must be a fairly local day trip that hoomans and doggies do together.
* The location can be anything but it needs to be NEW to both the hooman and the doggie.
* You must take pictures and do a blog post to share your great adventure!
* Please email me (tuckergreatdaneATgmail.com) with a link to your adventure post
* 1 entry per household
* I’ll pick the winner randomly from all the entries.

Some ideas could be a State / National Park, a Festival, or a Mountain Hike.  The winner will receive a package full of Hooman and Doggie Maine Made Touristy Treats.

For more information, you can check out Tucker’s Staycation Contest page.