Pushers and stuff!!

Well I found out what the Dandenongs were. Not very exciting. It probably would have been but when we woke up it was raining. Not only raining but pouring. Melbourne weather is ridiculous. Everyone in Australia knows that and, believe me, it’s true. You can wake up in the morning and it can be cold and raining  but not too bad and then a big wind can get up and it can be REALLY cold and then the sun can come out and it can be so hot you think you’re in Hawaii or somewhere like that. Our Dandenong day was a bit like that.  We headed off in the wet and cold and travelled through heaps of traffic again until we got to the road up into the Dandenong ranges. It was a very windy road and very pretty ….. if we could have seen it, that is. It was misty and foggy but still it was nice. There were real pretty little houses with beautiful gardens and the villages were just lovely. Lots of beautiful craft shops. Yeah …. I know …… yaaaaawn!!!! But the Mum’s and Momma’s love ‘em, aye, Zoe?????  I wouldn’t let Mum take any pictures of the craft shops. She’s not taking over my blog. Those little girls’ dresses in my last blog is as far as I will let her go. Besides it was too wet to take piccies. Mum wanted to go walking in some of the gardens but they weren’t open.  We wandered the shops in some of the villages and had a Devonshire tea at a cute little cottage and headed back down into Melbourne. I got a teeny bit of scone with jam and cream but NO ICECREAM! There were some lookout points on the road down and it was so foggy you couldn’t see a thing and about halfway down,  would you believe, the sun came out and so did the heat. It was sooooooo hot. Mum was rugged up like an eskimo and was really sweltering so we had to go straight back to our house so she could strip off a bit. We went to dog park for my afternoon run and then back home once more. Tomorrow we leave the big smoke and head off to our next destination, Rutherglen, Victoria. A small country town known for its fortified wines. It is also supposed to be extremely dog friendly. I sure hope so!

Well we made a final visit to the dog park before heading out of Melbourne. Crikey it will be good to get away from all that traffic AND those trams. What a nightmare but all in all Melbourne was fun. Dad and I had a good time and I think, in her strange way, so did Mum. It wasn’t a very long drive to Rutherglen but for some reason, known only to me, I was not the happy little vegemite I usually am these days. I started barking very soon after leaving the built up traffic area and Dad stopped the car and let me out thinking I might need to ‘pwivacy pwease’. Well I did …. But no sooner was I back in the car than I started barking again. Now Dad wasn’t a very happy little vegemite. He thought we’d never get to Rutherglen. Mum and Dad decided to leave the big highway and stop at another little village and give me a big walk around thinking that would calm me down. This we did. We stopped at Benalla and Mum spotted an antique shop. She collects children’s pushers. You’ve probably never heard of them but Mum had one when she was a little girl (who knew she was EVER little?) and she still has hers and for some reason or other she started collecting them. She hasn’t got all that many and they are the only thing she collects but whenever she sees an antique shop in she goes to check if they have any.  Mind you she has been to heaps of stores on this trip and had no luck in picking one up but you guessed it …. At Benalla …. Thanks to my barking ….she found a really nice little pusher for $5. Thankyou VERY much Charlie ….. now where’s my ICECREAM???????  Hmmmmmph … still no icecream but we did have a big walk around the gardens and river at Benalla before heading off once again and … thank goodness (said Dad) I settled down nicely and behaved for the rest of the trip. 

The pusher

We travelled through lots of wheat and sheep country again but it was looking a lot greener than it did on the way down to Melbourne. We did have quite a bit of rain whilst there. Mum took some photos whilst driving along to see if they would turn out. She thought as Dad is hard to stop once in driving mode and the pictures of Melbourne turned out all right she might be able to get some photos that she would otherwise miss. 

This is the one Mum took whilst driving along. Turned out ok, aye? She'll take more now.

As we got closer to Rutherglen we started seeing signs to wineries and also lots of grape vines. 

Vineyards!!

More vineyards but this had a nice old house!!

We found our new little house and I set out to explore it. Crikey …. How good is it?? Another garden for me to discover. Well it got my stamp of approval and Mum and dad like it too. There’s heaps of room and it is VERY clean and tidy. 

Our Rutherglen house!!

Exploring the backyard!

Smelling the roses!! Always a good thing to do ...

Yeah ... I think it passes!!

This beautiful gumtree is growing next door but Mum took this from our yard!! Pretty, aye??

Wonder what we are going to do tomorrow!!!!!

Wanna run …. Love, Charlie!!