We were lucky enough to be allowed to go on holiday with Bertie and his human family before they left to go home, we had so much fun.
We had packed our bag, being a beach holiday you actually don’t need to take much, so the three of us shared a pack. Bertie’s mum found us ready and waiting to go.
Our first stop once we had found our holiday home was to check out the pool. Bertie’s mum said it was far too cold to go swimming, but we said it is the Sunshine Coast of Sunny Queensland! “How can it be too cold to go swimming? We lost the battle and got bundled up and sent inside before any of us had a chance to jump in. Later Bertie’s dad had to go to the dentist. Dentists are like a dog doctor (vet) but for the human race. Anyway after he had seen this human he was a much better person to have around, and would even come for walks and have fun.
Uncle Gary arrived the next day and told us all about the adventures we were going to have over the next few days, well we waited in anticipation. Our first adventure this very same day was to a big paddock full of humans, Uncle Gary said it was called a market, and here we found all sorts of good things to buy and eat.
When we were out for a walk the next day, we came across a bunch of humans looking through a fence. Well we had to be in that as well. What could they see? Nothing, but a boring building being built. But it was fun trying to get through the fence to help.
After the excitement of trying to help the builders build we all went off for an ice cream. This is the life I thought, walks when you feel like it, eat when you get hungry, what more could a dog ask for.
After our snack we were allowed to venture onto the beach. Yah! We ran around like we had never been to a beach before, it was so exciting. It got even more exciting when we found a surf board just sitting on the beach. While we were sorting out our surfing positions and deciding who should stand where, a big wave hit us, and yes sent us flying. Uncle Gary came to our rescue and dragged us out of the water coughing and spluttering, you have no idea where the sand went. He, of course, had to have some help carrying our soggy bodies, so Aunty Susan came and helped to carry us back home so we could have a blow dry and get cleaned up.
Later that day we went back down to the beach for a walk and on the way we came across a far better float than what was our surf board. At least this way we didn’t get wet! We also got a real good view of the big birds. We had to be careful cause they were big enough to eat us. A bit further along we came across a diggy thing. Bert was in his element here as he was experienced in driving one of these as Uncle James back home had taught him all about them. So we sat and pretended to listen he went on and on and on about how they worked.
On our way home we came across a park that things to play on. We were allowed to play here till Bertie’s mum called us in for tea. Oh happy days!
The next morning we crawled out of bed after an excellent night’s sleep, amazing as to how fresh sea air can make you so tied, but we were horrified to find Bertie’s humans packing all our gear up. Oh no we thought back to the city we are going. But no. We cruised around the mountains, silly Aussies, they really are only hills, and after a while we stopped and had a cuppa, cause we had to drive in convoy as we had two cars instead of our normal one. I think Bertie’s mum and dad had got the idea from our trip out to Cunnamulla. After some more time of having to put up with what then seemed like a forever car ride, trying to count the gum trees as we went past them, we finally arrived at our next destination. Blackbutt. I thought what a funny name so I checked out the others and they didn’t have a black butt, so I was confused. I still have not got used to the funny town names they have here in Australia. By the time we had found our new holiday home is was getting quite cold, for local standards anyway.
The next morning dawned bright but not real early. Yeh Ha real dog stuff to do today down on the farm. After receiving our instructions we were off to round up the sheep. Once we had got them organised we explained to them that they really had to behave as we had heard that mutton chops lightly grilled were rather tasty. After the sheep were sorted, we were out chasing up the oranges, sorry picking the oranges. We then tried our sheep herding on the chooks. You know chooks are far harder to herd than sheep, but then Aunty Margaret explained that we were not meant to herd the chooks, only feed them. There is so much to learn about farming life. Mum and dad never had this many things on their farm
After all this excitement we went for a run with Tina, the farm dog, then we sat down with her and gave her all our farming tips so it would make her life easier later on.
The good days had finally come to an end. We wandered back to the farmhouse only to find Bertie’s humans loading the car with all our gear. This was not a good end to the day. We very begrudgingly climbed into the car and sat in the back not talking. What we wanted to know was how could this happen. All too soon we were back in the city, our holiday only a distant memory.
After our painful goodbyes it was time for Bertie to head home to the “Land of the Long White Cloud” or for you uneducated humans out there New Zealand. Before they left though my mum was talking to her mum back there and it had been on the square box a story about how the South Island (where Bertie comes from) was all covered in white stuff. No not cloud but snow. We had to of course ring them up to tell them to make sure they wore all their clothes home as it would be colder than here. They were impressed.
When Bertie got home after our holiday, he found it was very cold just like we had warned him. Not like here where people only think it is cold! But his adopted human New Zealand family always like taking him with them when they go out to play and Uncle James is ever so much fun.
What can one say. In some ways we envied him, sitting in front of the open fire while drinking a dram of whisky, but in other ways we didn’t like getting cold while sledding.
That’s all for now, I have a real big trip coming up with my dad. We are going to visit Uncle Warren in America. Check out that one.