Teutophile

Couldn't find any option to upgrade this Windows Live page to some decent blogging software, so I finally felt compelled to move. Here's the link to my personal blog.

 

Well, maybe he's not. But there were about 25 of these dogs in Centenntial Park Sydney yesterday for the bi-annual Berner Buddies picnic, and en masse that is quite something to see.

While it is still actually October (I have a few hours left) I thought I'd better post some pics from our brief trip to Coffs Harbour earlier this month. It's still not one of my favourite places I must say, but it has definitely improved from the tacky tourist haven of our last visit more than 10 years ago. And it was nice to relax briefly. David went to a conference while I did whatever. My highlights:

It all seems a long time ago already...

 

Thanks to friend Ian for bringing a new study into issues faced by older drivers to my attention. Researchers at the University of the West of England in Bristol believe that technology could compensate for the reduction in reaction time that affects many drivers as they get older and help to keep them behind the wheel longer. Not sure how throwing more technology at older drivers is a good thing... but I guess it would be in line with the views of the body that provided more than A$50K in funding for this study.

Just got home a few hours ago from a short trip to Wagga Wagga. In case you don't know it (and are still sniggering at the silly name), it is the largest inland regional city in NSW with more than 50,000 people and about 450km south west of Sydney. And the name? Pronounced 'wogga wogga', it supposedly comes from the English approximation of a local Aboriginal word Wagga which means 'crow'. Aboriginal languages create plurals by repetition, hence 'Wagga Wagga' = place of many crows.

 

Left home early Friday morning and by the time we stopped at Mittagong for breakfast it was still lightly raining. By the time we reached the next coffee stop at Gunning, it was overcast but dry. By the time we had lunch in the main street of Wagga, it was blue skies and brilliant sunshine - and that's pretty much how it stayed all weekend. The trip down took us a bit longer with Baerli in the back seat, but as you'll see from a couple of the photos, she loves a car ride. One of the most memorable things during the whole trip was the amazing display of wattle everywhere. So many trees flowering with the brightest yellow flowers. Time to take the allergy tablets!

 

On Friday night we stayed at David's aunt and uncle's farm at Gelston Park just south of Wagga. They have a lovely home on a beautiful piece of land which has mainly been used for cattle. In the afternoon, we hiked to the top of the hill opposite the house and climbed the rock for the 360 degree view. On the way up Baerli spotted some rabbits and took off after them. I shut my eyes as she leapt off a steeply eroded gully and tore up the opposite side (I was visualising 4 broken legs and a mammoth vet bill) but all we found on the other side was one very excited doofus. Almost immediately after that, as David was re-attaching Baerli's lead to prevent further rabbit chasing, we almost literally stumbled upon FOUR echidnas - check out the pics! You normally only see one at a time.

 

The next morning we headed out to the farm where David had spent many holidays as a kid. It's a large property at Rannock near Coolamon. It's not far from Wagga but a completely different landscape to the other farm. This one is flat with that typically Australian red earth and crops including wheat, canola and malt barley. As we were driving out there, I thought how tough it must have been for the original European settlers who farmed this land. The owner had a 9 month old labrador pup who ran rings around Baerli - she was exhausted afterward. Meanwhile Bruce drove us on a tour around the property. Amazing history just lying about the place. And who knew canola makes good hay?

 

By 2pm we were at Oura Beach, which is actually a campsite and picnic grounds on the Murrumbidgee River just outside Wagga. We spent the night there with a load of Bernese Mountain Dogs and their owners. The get-together was organised by the breeder we bought Baerli from, Nicole and Peter Lennon of Zanzebern. Check out their website or my pics in the Wagga album if you want to see the cutest puppies EVER and also pics of our camp. David and I managed to get the tent up without ending up in the divorce courts. After a doggy romp at the campsite, we all went for dinner at Wagga Wagga Winery - very nice cook-your-own BBQ dinner, decidedly average wine! Then we sat around the campfire talking and we worked out that Nicole and I were in the same class in kindergarten at Gymea North Public School. What a small world.

 

Baerli spent the night sleeping soundly on her bed in the annex of our tent and snoring loudly. Until 6am, that is, when it got light and she realised we were right next to her. She clambered over David (bear in mind that she weighs about as much as me) and lay down on the air mattress between us, head on the pillow. Cheeky beggar. She is never allowed on our bed or lounge at home. It was pretty cold and damp out there (guessing about 2 degrees overnight) but thanks to the 10 layers of clothing I was wearing and the super-duper sleeping bags we had borrowed from friends Uwe and Katja, I was toasty and warm and slept better than anticipated.

 

The next morning it was bacon and eggs on the camp BBQ, followed by a visit to Zanzebern. There were five 8-10 week old puppies left, and 12 two-week old pups being hand fed. Oh my god, how cute are those pups. I managed not to stick another one in my handbag to take home :-)  Not long before we left, Nicole's dogs joined all the visiting dogs for a paddock romp. Some of the Berners are truly enormous. Poor Baerli was a bit tired and overwhelmed by then, and unfortunately ended up being chased by a bunch of the bigger dogs. She ran with her tail between her legs and then leapt the wire fence in terror. Poor sausage, she was clearly near the bottom of the pack order!

 

On Sunday night David's cousins together with their husbands and kids (two sons each) came over for dinner. It was fantastic to catch up, we haven't seen them in about 6 years. Then it was back on the road to Sydney this morning, this time stopping at The Dog on the Tuckerbox (9 miles from Gundagai, where else...) and Berrima in the Southern Highlands. In Berrima, Baerli was a bit of a tourist attraction. Lots of people approached us asking for a pat and several wanted photos. Very funny.

 

Well that was a long post by my standards but it might save me boring you with the full story behind the photos at some later stage. Think I will sleep well tonight!