The road trip part 1

Crikey how exciting is this .... A road trip! A BIG road trip ... We are going to be away for nearly two whole months. I packed my bag and I think I did a good job. I made sure I had my stretchy lead. I like my stretchy lead ... I get to sniff a lot when I'm on my stretchy lead but thanks to you blokes I also had to pack my training lead and also thanks to you blokes Mum went and bought me a straight jacket. There will be no more Roo chasing for me. I've tried to back out of that straight jacket like I do my collar and there is NO WAY I can get out of it. Mind you if some big Roo bloke takes off at a rate of knots in front of me I'm going to be chasing him even if I have to drag Mum or Dad along behind me.

My stretchy lead

The straight jacket and training lead.

Heading off!!

It's day 2 already ... The first day was pretty boring. We got 1 and a half hours down the road and it started to rain. We haven't seen rain at our place for yonks and yonks and just down the road it's pouring and has been for months. Everything is brown up our way and just down the road it's green, green, green. Funny place Australia! I was traveling really well so Dad just kept driving. Well who'd want to get out in all that rain? Not me that's for sure. When it stopped raining we stopped for me to have a comfort stop and a bit of a play around with my ball but mostly just drove till we reached our first stop. Coffs Harbour, about 580klms from home. Found the local dog beach and had a bit of a walk and a chase of my ball but I didn't get to meet any of the locals. Mum kept me in my straight jacket and woudn't let me of my lead. NO WAY!! She kept saying 'we don't want any trouble too early in our trip'. Hmmmmmph, ME ... Trouble? Fair dinkum ... What's she thinking? We had a nice first night. The accommodation was real nice with nice gardens to wander around in and the owners cooked Mum and Dad a real nice meal so we didn't have to go out. I would have liked to stay longer but no such luck. Early to bed to get ready for day 2.
We headed off very early. Crikey it was a beautiful morning after the rain. Mum couldn't keep quiet. The clouds were just beautiful and Mum kept seeing Harri and Lucy playing around up there. I could see them too. Hey Jelly ... we saw Jennifer!!! She was playing with Harri and Lucy. We saw lots of poodles and even a few of those frankfurter blokes. They were all having a real good time. There were lots of bunnies too. Looks like a whole heap of fun up there. Mum wanted Dad to stop so she could take a photo but once Dad gets behind the wheel of that car it's VERY hard stopping him and we did have to get to Sydney (our next stop) by a particular time. I'll never understand peoples obsession with what they call time. Dad has to work in Sydney so we will be there for 3 days and after that it's just fun times. Well it's fun for me and Mum all the time but poor Dad does have to do some work. Mum and I are going to be visiting some old friends and my Nan and my two legged sister, Jane and her poodle Remi and, oodle of some sort, Millie. Remi is real good value. He is just a little bit older than me but he can run like the wind too!! We have the best time when we are together.
I traveled really well again. I had a bit of trouble with the long trips at first but I enjoy it now. I can see everything from my crate and I feel safe. We stopped for "privacy please" at Grafton and what do you know .... not the best place to stop according to Mum. I just got out of the car and crikey!!!!!!! I got a whiff of a smell I know WELL!!!!!!   ROOS! It was daylight and you don't often see them in daylight hours but right in front of our eyes, behind a fence, and lounging under the shade of a tree was a small mob of them. 'Here's a good test for the straight jacket' thought Mum. Well she's right! There's no way out of that thing. I tried to back out of it like I do my collar but no such luck. Hmmmmmmmph!!!!! They were right there .... crikey ..... if they took off a runnin' I was off after them. Well take off they did. Mum had hold of me sooooooooo tight .... I had no hope. Dad packed me back into the car and we headed off for a more sensible privacy please area.

Can you see them? They look like tree stumps from a distance.

These 2 took off. Crikey I wanted to go after them!!!!

Crikey ... that was the most exciting part of the whole day and I was packed back in that car so fast!!!!! Hmmmmmph ... not fair, I say. We arrived in Sydney safely and without any more incidents and after settling into our accommodation headed off to my favourite Sydney dog park. It is in an old cemetry. Crikey it's good. I've been there before and it's so good. There's ALWAYS other playmates  and it's safe ... no critters ... so I can run and play all I like. I had the best time. We went to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner. I'm allowed too and after dinner we went back to the cemetry for another walk. It was dark and there were still playmates there. A kelpie came up to me and he really wanted to play and he wasn't on a lead so Mum let me off and we ran like the wind all around that cemetry. Mum was really stressed ..... silly Mum .... she couldn't see us .... we took off at a rate of knots and ran all over the place, dodging headstones and trees but we were ok. What was Mum stressing about? We didn't run into anything and we knew where she was. When we'd had enough running we went back to Mum and Dad and the kelpie's owner and all was well. The kelpie's owner wasn't worried ... what's wrong with my Mum? She's such a worry wart!! Who'd have thought you could have so much fun in a BIG city. I like Sydney. It was off to bed after that. Crikey I slept well ... such BIG days!!!!! It's day 3 now and Mum and I are just heading off to visit Nan ... more later ....

Wanna run ... love, Charlie.

At home ... dreaming of Enid!!!