My Road Trip!

Mum and Dad had just finished a very hectic fortnight at their shop. They needed a time out and Dad had some stuff down in Melbourne that needed to come up to Sydney so we decided we would go and get it. That meant a road trip!

Mum had a book called Holidays with Dogs that listed all the pet friendly accommodations around Australia. She booked a nights stay at a B and B in Trawool just near Seymour in Victoria, about an hour and a half from Melbourne, and a farm cottage in Holbrook New South Wales for on the way home.

Early in the morning as we were driving through Goulbourn, we saw kangaroos hopping along everywhere. There wasn’t a paddock that didn’t seem to have them. We had kangaroos in Camden, your typical grey variety, and Mum had seen red ones up north, but there was something different about these ones. Two kangaroos bounded along the grassy edge of the road and Mum could not believe one was jet black and the other was light beige with chocolate brown accents, quite like the colourings of a Siamese cat. Neither Mum nor Dad had ever seen anything like these before.

We arrived at Trawool at around 4pm, unpacked the car and had time for a little exploration. The property used to have a railway cut through it but was now long gone, but there was a lovely walking trail left by the former line for us to enjoy. There was also a fully fenced paddock where Mum and Dad could let me off leash and I found amazing toys to play with in the way of pinecones which I enticed Dad to throw for me to retrieve.

That night the three of us all went to bed together. That’s what I love most about holidays – I get to sleep with Mum and Dad. I’m not sure if that’s the highlight of Mum and Dads holiday though.

The next morning I woke Mum and Dad up nice and early so we could take another frolic in the pinecone paddock. I sniffed all the smells and got very wet with the morning dew and therefore made sure I took the opportunity to roll in the dirt and get as filthy as possible. So filthy in fact that I could not go back into the B and B for breakfast so our hosts set up an out door table for us and brought us out our bacon and eggs.

After breaky Mum wiped me all over with baby wipes in an attempt to clean me up so I could get into the car and head off to Melbourne. We drove though Brunswick to pick up our merchandise, dodging trams and negotiating peculiar Melbourne driving and pedestrian techniques. We got out of there as quickly as we could keen to get back to enjoying the beautiful Victorian countryside.

A quick stop at MacDonald’s for lunch then a leisurely cruise to Holbrook, the midway point between Melbourne and Sydney. Holbrook is situated in pristine pastureland for sheep and cattle and is famous for having an enormous submarine sitting in a park hundreds of kilometres from any ocean.

We had a booking to spend the night in an old cottage in the middle of 4000 acres of farm land. The setting was paradise for the three of us. There were wide open spaces for me to run like the wind without coming a gutser and peace and quiet that Dad longed for. There wee the stars Mum always talked about but rarely saw. They were so close that Mum could just put her hand out and touch them, and so bright and shiny I think even I could see them!

The decor in the cottage was left over from the 1960’s and boasted burnt orange bedspreads and dried flower arrangements in similar toning from the same era including the original dust. Green vinyl chairs from a time when women only came in size 12 or less and few men were more than 5’9. A variety of oddly patterned carpet squares covered the floors and the water Fawcett’s were merely for decoration as large plastic bottles of tank water were provided, even for toilet flushing. Good thing I use the yard.

That night we ate dinner and watched the radio together as there was no TV. There was a great radio station called 2WG am with a nostalgic crackle, and they played all the music Mum and Dad love. There was Telegram Sam by T-Rex, Devil Gate Drive by Suzy Quatro and a favourite of Mum’s – Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney and Wings.

It was blissful. I barked at the curious cows who were fascinated with me and I rolled in their poo. I even discovered the other use for cow poo – a culinary delight! Mum and Dad were the happiest I have ever seen them. All to soon it was time for another baby wipe bath and back in the car to head home.

On the way home I had a chance to meet that other famous Australian dog. The one that sits on the tuckerbox 5 miles from Gundagai. Not many are aware that the line of the great Aussie folksong was not originally – “And the dog sat on the tuckerbox 5 miles from Gundagai,” but rather, - “And the dog ‘shat’ on the tuckerbox 5 miles from Gundagai.” Sadly the wording was changed over the years for wider appeal. When I found out the truth about the story of the dog, he became my hero!

We called in to the country town Yass for a lunch of KFC and a wee in the park. Again with Mum and those irritating baby wipes, then back in the car and homeward bound. We had the best time ever though I was quite miffed that when we went to bed that night in our own home, Mum and Dad made me sleep in my doggy bed just outside their bedroom door with the baby gate up! I was not impressed.