I managed to get leave between the Christmas and New Year public holidays, we decided to go on an epic road trip up to Exmouth, WA. I also got myself a car which would comfortably fit us, the dogs, and all of our gear.
I've yoinked this map from somewhere on the internet to show some major towns in Western Australia. We used to live out to the east in Kalgoorlie and make road trips down to Esperance.
On Christmas Eve, we packed up and headed off to our first stop - Geraldton, about 450 kilometres North of Perth.
Bender was hyper in the back of the car for almost the whole trip - he took ages to settle, but did eventually. Luxury of luxuries, we got to stay in a house at Geraldton. This place has a huge backyard. The dogs enjoyed the grass and the wide open space.
There was one problem. Bender ran to the back of the yard and he found his arch nemesis. A horse.
Of course, he barked. I had no idea what he was barking at, but I knew he was afraid. He was barking with a bit of a snarl on his face, but he was keeping his distance from the fence, and creeping backwards with each bark. N ran down there and saw the horse, who was totally freaking out and galloping around in small circles. He had run into a star picket in his pen and had a flesh wound on his chest.
N went next door to tell the neighbours that Bender had spooked their horse, and that it had hurt itself in a panic. The neighbour came around and was telling us the horse was only in the little pen because it had been recently attacked by a dog - no wonder it reacted the way it did. While N and the neighbour were chatting through the gate, Barbie slipped out the front of the house.
The neighbour had been saying that she really liked Greyhounds and was thinking about getting one as her next dog. Barbie slipped out of N's grip and stood in the front yard. N took her time getting out to her, and couldn't see her anymore. Barbie had headed towards the neighbour's house, as they have two dogs and I think she wanted to introduce herself.
I called her name - she looked up, then spotted the sheep across the road, so went over to their house. She refused to come back to me, and instead trotted circles in this person's yard, sniffing around very close to the house. She finally stopped and stared at the sheep. I caught her and bought her inside - she was not going to be trusted off leash on our holiday now, except for on one beach. Hopefully she didn't put the neighbour off Greyhounds for life!!
In the morning the dogs were given their Christmas presents, and I got the best present from N - a brand new camera to replace my ailing Panasonic Lumix FT-1 which turned out to be not-so-tough.
I didn't get any pictures of Barbie with her Christmas present - a new stuffie. She seemed to lose interest in it fairly quickly. Bender loved his toy though. Here he is enjoying it!
