Thursday, May 20, 2010

Trails & tripulations: Home, Schnauzer Home!

We made it home!

After a final morning walk along the river...



... we were on our way!

The way back was a bit different than the way there - even though it looks very similar.



We don't have many pictures for this post - my human had some pathetic excuse about having a bad cold and just wanting to concentrate on driving. What a wuss!

The first day we drove past Brisbane, and then back through Goondiwindi. We saw an emu on the side of the road! My human says she had never seen a wild emu before, just in zoos and nature parks. We also saw a lovely flock of pink and grey galahs later in the day, grazing in the dusk (you might need to click on the picture to biggify it so you can see them better).



That night we stayed at The Billion Bindy Farm, near Narrabri. That's not its real name, but it's what my human called it when we stopped later in the day and she had to spend 20 minutes pulling bindies out of my fur. And then she kept on finding them, even after we got home!

I loved the farmstay - there was lots of room for me to run around, and two very nice dogs called Molly and Bernie. In the morning we walked around the farm and out into the fields, where we saw cows, chickens, kangaroos and foxes. And I got to eat their poo! Cow poo is wonderful! My favouritist thing ever is grass, and my other favouritist thing ever is poo. And cow poo is a combination of them both! It comes in such large pieces - I could barely pick it up in my mouth. And then my human would chase me around until I dropped it - it was so much fun!

The second day we drove to Narrandera. On the way, we passed through the Shire of Bland. I can't remember anything specific about it.

We didn't arrive at the motel until after dark, and the road was really, really straight - the sky was dark, with stars, and all you could see was the line of red reflectors on the left-hand side of the road, and the white reflectors on the right-hand side. Every once in a while another car or truck would come from the opposite direction, and their headlights would start off looking like a single light, until they got closer and then would look like two headlights, just before they drove past.

The next morning was so cold I sat in the car and shivered and shivered. It was lovely and warm during the day, but so far inland the nights are very chilly at this time of year, especially with no clouds to hold the heat in. So my human threw a towel over me to warm me up until the car's heater was hot enough for me.

We went through a town called Urana, which had the prettiest lake. You can see some pictures here. (My human regrets not stopping there, because it was early enough in the morning that the light on the lake was beautiful, and it was such an unexpected sight after travelling through very flat fields.)

We finally reached Melbourne, but we didn't go straight home - my human took us to the dog park first. I was so happy to be back in my own park, I ran everywhere at once, and sniffed everything! Then we went back to our apartment, and after checking that my bed was back where it should be, and my water bowls were full, I lay in the sun by the open balcony door, and was just a very contented little puppy.






Some other doggies and their humans have been asking me where we stayed - so here's the list of the places that were Sasha-friendly. All of them let puppies sleep inside, as long as they don't go on the furniture, and as long as they sleep in their own bed.

Forbes
Town & Country Motor Inn
http://www.wotif.com/hotels/australia-nsw-forbes-pet-friendly-hotels.html

Goondiwindi
Goondiwindi Motel & Tracks Restaurant
www.goondiwindimotel.com.au

Edgeroi (north of Narrabri)
"Yera" Farm Stay B&B
http://www.yera.com.au/
http://www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/nsw/bigsky/narrabri/accommodation/pet-friendly/yera

Narrandera
Fig Tree Motel
http://www.figtreemotel.com.au/

We also took a book of pet-friendly accommodation with us, in case of emergency - Holidaying with dogs. Lots of places, even in the book, say they are pet-friendly, but won't let the pets go inside - they have to sleep in the car. I told my human that if I had to sleep in the car, then she did too, so she called ahead to check that I was allowed inside everywhere we stayed!




4 comments:

Unknown said...

THERE ARE WILD EMUS WANDERING AROUND BRISBANE??!! Yikes! :-)

Whew - what a road trip you had, Sasha!! Thanks for putting up those links to dog-friendly places...I hope my humans might get a chance to use them someday!

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

Oskar said...

Those emu things look crazy! I'm so glad that everything at home was just the way you left it.

JD and Max said...

Hi Sasha - we're glad you're home safe and sound - your FH is very pawsome to take you on such a great holiday! We lvoed meeting your cousins, your holiday posts were wonderful! Schnauzer snuggles - JD and Max.

Hotels Sydney said...

Hey, thanks for the list of places where we can bring our pups. I found not too many resources on Brisbane hotels where we can bring out pets.

Leigh