Mum's turn!!

Crikey ...... I've succumbed!!  It's all hers. Sorry!! .... prepare to be bored to tears!!  Some of you actually asked to hear about it.  Fair dinkum ..... what sort of nut cases are you???????  Oh well ...... here you go Ma ..... take it away .....

Thanks Charlie ... I think!!    I'll try not to bore you to tears but will tell you just a little and then let the pictures tell the story.  There are a lot. I forgot to pack my good camera.  Who does things like that?? Me obviously!  It drove me crazy too as we were in a birdlife wonderland and if I had my good camera ... oh the bird photos I could have taken.  Have you ever heard a barking owl??  OMD!!  Do they ever sound like a dog barking?  We had a wonderful encounter with a pair of them when returning to our room from dinner one night.  We could hear them and all of a sudden one flew onto the ground right at our feet and was immediately joined by his mate.  They didn't stay long and flew into the tree directly in front of us but we did have a torch and managed to get a really good look at them.  Oh to have had my camera then.  But back to the beginning ..... We decided a bit of a holiday was in order. Between working, health problems and family commitments we were both feeling slightly jaded. We had 10 days with nothing much planned so arranged a trip to Darwin in the Northern Territory.  We hadn't been there for about 30 years so thought it was time to check it out again. Now I'm not one for cities, if you can call Darwin a city, so we only spent a few days there and then headed down to Litchfield National park and Berry springs for the day and our last five days we spent on a humungous cattle and buffalo station (Swim Creek station) right at the very top of Australia. Swim creek homestead is in fact the northernmost homestead in all of Australia and it is big ...  303 sq kms.  Not the homestead. That's the size of the station.  The accommodation was great. Not grand by any stretch of the imagination but all you needed. The rooms were big tents with flyscreening on 3 walls so you could see out at all the animal and birdlife right from the comfort of your king sized bed and completely private from other guests.  Oh .... its ALWAYS hot at the top of Australia so it was good to have all that fresh air.  No internet, phones or television.  Five days of absolute bliss.  Spent each day going out on the massive flood plains in an air boat in search of birdlife etc.  Didn't have to go far. There were birds EVERYWHERE.  Magpie geese in their hundreds.  We saw eagles, whistling kites, jabiru, brolgas, swamp hens, herons of all shapes and sizes, egrets ... oh way too many to name them all and tiny wee little kingfishers and bee catchers. Such pretty colours. We saw crocs too.  Real big ones but we didn't get any good photos of them.  They kinda take off when you get close and remember I left my camera at home. There were big salties and little freshies too. On land there were huge flocks of corellas and cockatoos. They kept us amused on the days we didn't go on the boat.  There were also the most adorable wallabies hopping around everywhere. Between them, the birds and the buffalo we had plenty to look at and although I tried to read a book I found I was too busy watching the antics of the animal and birdlife around me.  So relaxing.  Our meals were all served in a communal dining room and we enjoyed the company of our fellow guests over some very well prepared and delicious meals. Such interesting people some of them.  One couple we really got on well with were from South Australia. They were both Vets but he was an Ophthalmologist Vet. They were bird watchers and taught us ever so much about bird watching.  There was a couple  and their sons from Michigan. She was a track and field star and a Rhodes scholar. A Rhodes scholar??  Crikey ..... Charlie would say!!! If we had been there a week earlier we would have been dining with Pippa Middleton and her new husband.  Apparently they spent several nights and loved every minute of their stay.  No special treatment for them.  They stayed in the same accommodation we did and ate the same food around the same table. Only the guests were different but they weren't hand picked. Just whoever happened to be there at the time.

Hey Mum .......  you said you wouldn't bore my friends to tears!!!  For how much longer are you going to go on?  You said you'd let the pictures tell the story so how about it, aye??  I'll even let you show the pics over two days if it will shut you up NOW.  I saw how many you picked out.  Fair dinkum.  The things up with which I have to put!!!

Florence falls in Litchfield National park. 

There were a million steps down to the falls but we had to do it.  This was a creek crossing on the way to the falls. 

Wow ... the water was crystal clear and not even cold. It runs all year round as it is spring fed.  So beautiful and clean. You could see the fish swimming around.  There are fresh water crocs but you leave them alone and they leave you alone.  Salties not so much ..... but they are only there in the wet season.  The park is closed in the wet season. Way too dangerous and too much water, anyway.   

These next photos are at Berry springs.  So, so beautiful but quite close to Darwin so a lot more people there.  

The colour of the water is amazing.  Such a pretty place.  

Ok Charlie is getting impatient so I'll quickly show you this one of Swim Creek station and I'll show you the rest tomorrow or the next day.  This is one of the guest rooms.  Looks like walls in the pic but it is flyscreen of a sorts.  You can see out but not in during the day. At night with lights on, however you can see in.  Mmmmmm!  I didn't take this photo. I stole it from the station site.  Hope they don't mind.  

Wanna run away from this VERY boring post .... Love, Charlie.

Practising for Jo's birthday!!

Yeah, Yeah ..... I know ..... you still want to know what Mum did while I was in the slammer.  I will get to it .... one day!!  But it's birthday month at our house and we have serious cake stuff to see.  It's Jo's birthday next (it's Dad's really but he has to share his birthday with Miss Jo) and she wants a unicorn cake. I hope Dad likes unicorns.  If he's real lucky he might get a golf cake but it won't be anywhere near as impressive as Jo's.
Anyway Jen and the little girls came over the other day and Mum and Jen made all the decorations for the cake. Then they decided it was time for a cake decorating lesson for the girls.  SO ...... they made cupcakes and the girls got to decorate them.  Kept 'em occupied for ages. They had the best time.

Mum did these to demonstrate !!

Had a bit of trouble cause the icing bag wasn't big enough.  See the icing sausage coming out the top. Hahahaha!!

Pretty neat colours, aye??

Jo's effort!!  She was a natural .....  got the idea straight away but then .... she is our little crafty one.  

Miss Independence G made a pretty good fist of it too. 

Miss Izzi just couldn't get it right so needed a helping hand.  Well you can't be good at everything and she's our little Miss Gymnast.  Not really cut out for this sort of work.  Love that she tries though, aye??

They got to eat what they made along with a cup of hot chocolate.  Hot chocolate????? Just what you need when it's 27C, aye??  

And these are the ones Mum and Jen made.  They won't last until the birthday but they will make more and do a much better job of the next lot.  It's good to practise, aye??

Herbie came too.  Crikey ..... is he ever a nightmare. He's still obsessed with me.  Can't leave me alone. He's all over me and talk about messy.  He mightn't shed hair but he sure makes up for it in other ways.  He is water MAD!!!!!!  You should see him drink. Puts his whole head in the bowl. Feet too.  Then he walks all over Mum's clean floors.  He also walked through the garden and then came inside with VERY muddy paws and proceeded to jump on Mum's lounge.  OMD!!  What a mess ..... muddy paw prints everywhere. He also pooped inside but that was Mum's fault.  She forgot to open the door with the doggy flap in it so he couldn't get out first off.  He did try. I know because I saw him. He went to every door in the house before he pooped. Poor little bloke.  Did he ever get yelled at by our Jen.  It was a fun day though.  Everyone had fun.  You should have seen the house after they left though.  OMD!!  What a mess.  Poor Mum was pooped by the end of the day.  We went to bed very early that night.

See ..... everywhere I go there HE is!!!

Fair dinkum ......  the things up with which I have to put!!  Really, Herbie???????

Wanna run ..... love, Charlie.  

Remember Miss G???

Ok ..... so Mum still wants to tell you about her trip away and I will let her ..... one day ..... but right now I reckon you'd rather see Miss G's latest birthday pics.  You remember Miss G, aye??  She's the one that wouldn't wear clothes.  Couldn't keep 'em on her no matter how hard we tried.  Kidd'n' that hasn't changed.  Now she won't let anyone see her naked.  Not even ME!!! Would you believe she's turned 5??  Crikey ..... the baby of the family is 5?  Where did those years go??
You should have seen the cake decorating effort. What a disaster!!  Mum's 20, plus year mix master packed it in during the making of the all important icing and improvisation was needed in a hurry.  It was really hard to beat and couldn't be done by hand so Dad came to the rescue. I'll let the pictures tell the story.  I don't know if you remember but when Mum and Jen decorate the kids cakes they always give everyone a job to do. Well this time Dad sure had his work cut out but his actions saved the day.  Mind you .... my job is always to supervise and I reckon I did a pretty good job too.  The cake wasn't our best effort ever but Miss G loved it and that's the most important thing, aye??
We had the celebrations the day before I was put in the slammer and Mum and Dad took off to the bush so it was just a small family affair but we sure had a good day.  Wanna see the pics ..... of course you do ...

How good's Dad, aye??  It wasn't perfect but it did the trick and guess what?  Mum's got a brand new mixer for the next cake.  

All ready for Miss Jo's unicorn cake next week!!  She's 10 ..... oh my .... double figures!!

Looking' good so far!!

I'm the best supervisor!!

Pretty, aye??

How good is that mermaid tail?  Jen made that one.  The little girls made one each too but we couldn't put them on the cake. They didn't pass my quality control.  They did go on some cupcakes though.   

Wow ..... look at all that loot!!

I think she liked that pressy!!

She sure liked that mermaid doll.  

Time to blow the candles out.  Crikey Izzi ..... shut your mouth, mate.  A fly could fly in there.  

Well done Miss G!!

Crikey ...... she sure looked dangerous with that knife.  

REALLY???????  I waited for the ice-cream to go with mine.  

Wanna run .... Love, Charlie.

I've been in the slammer!!

You'll never guess what THEY did to me!!  Put me in the slammer .... that's what!!  ME .... CHARLIE!!!!  YES .... in the slammer!!  Don't they know how delicate I am? Don't they know that I'm the most important thing in their lives??  Don't they know they can't live without ME??????  What the heck were they thinking??  Don't ask me ..... I was devo!  You should have seen this place.  I had to share with 10 other dogs. Dogs ..... not whippets.  Most of 'em were ok and I didn't have to share my room with them or my television set but there was this one bloke ..... oh my ..... he was HUGE!!!  Just as well I didn't have to share with him. I went for walks with him and you should have seen his poops.  They were humungous.  I got to eat horse poop and roo poop on our walks. That was the only good part about being in the slammer. Mum reckons I mustn't have eaten much else because I was only there for 2 weeks (two weeks ..... does she know what that is in dog terms ... forever ..... that's what it is) and I lost nearly 2 kilos in weight.  You should see me now. Skin and bone Mum says.  Well I can't say the same for her. I don't know what she did while I was in the slammer but she sure didn't lose 2 kilos. More like she put on 2 kilos.  Woe was me!!

This was BEFORE the slammer.  Get a load of that muscle!!   A finely tuned athlete .... that was me!!

I was sooooo fit.  I could do ANYTHING!!  

Have you ever seen a finer looking specimen??

Crikey .... look at me now.  All legs and I couldn't raise myself even if a cat walked by.  

Woe is Skinny me!!

I'm home again now ... thank goodness and I'm sure letting THEM know what I think of them.  Fair dinkum ..... what were they thinking??  Now Mum wants to take over my blog and tell you all about where she's been. Hmmmmmmmph!!!  Well that's not going to happen. Not tonight anyway!!  I'll think about it tomorrow ...... maybe!!

Wanna run ... Love, Charlie.

Remember these??

Do you remember this ...

AND this ....

Well they both grew ..... very, very, big. In fact they are both humungous.  Mum didn't know where to stop on the coat.  She must think I'm an elephant or something.  Well not quite but she certainly thinks I'm greyhound size.  She just kept knitting and knitting. It does keep me warm and there's sure room for expansion.  Maybe she'll feed me lots of ice-cream just so I fit into it better.  I sure hope so.

Looks ok, aye?

As you can see I just LOVE wearing it ..... not!!!!

Crikey .... it's like a furnace in here. 

And as for Herbie ..... oh my he's like a weed. He just keeps growing and growing. He weighs almost as much as me now.  AND he's famous. He does photo shoots for an advertising agency. Yes ..... Herbie!!  Everyone says he's very well behaved.  Could've fooled me.  You should see him here. He's out of control.  He's all over me like a rash.  He hangs off me.  I can't stand it. Mum says he LOVES me.  Fair dinkum ..... if that's love you can keep it.  

Look .... he's as long as Jo, almost.  

Mr Perfect at his photo shoot.  Who's he think he's fooling?  Not me that's for sure.  

Hmmmmmph!   Butter wouldn't melt in that mouth, aye??

Wanna run .... Love, Charlie.  

Crikey I've missed you!!

Crikey ..... it's been FOREVER, aye?  Well it sure seems like forever to me.  I've missed all you blokes and sheila.  Just stopping by to let you know that we are ok and hopefully we will be back in business again real soon. I have so much to tell you and I have so much to catch up on.  I've been reading your posts when I can and will be back commenting again soon.  I sure hope you are all well and happy.  I have heard about Mr Bailey.  Crikey Mr. Bailey. Stay well, aye??  I'm sure there will be others but I hope not too many.  Ok ... that's it for now BUT ..... I'll be back!!!!  Crikey I sound like that Arnie bloke, aye???

Wanna run ..... Love, Charlie!!

Flower gardens for Dory!!

Crikey ...... I'm so hopeless at this stuff and I have no idea how to join a blog hop thingoe. I've tried before and it's never worked so I won't even try this time but I had to join in with some flowers for Dory.  Well ...... not flowers from me.  She's going to get heaps of flowers today, aye?  So I though I'd show you some gardens where I know Dory will visit in her new travels.  Every summer I visit these gardens and I'm going to look out for Dory. I know she'll get round to them one day.  Crikey she's going to be missed, aye??  But today is Dory's day and we mustn't be sad.  I'm sure she won't be. She'll be in her element ... surrounded by flowers. We will miss you Dory but every time we look at a flower we will see your beautiful smile. Always filled with love.  I sure hope I spot you in one of my gardens.  I'm sure I will.  Visit soon, aye??

Come and run with me in one of my gardens Dory .... Love, Charlie.