The Mountains of Victoria

Hi all!

Mommy is busy watching the Obama Inauguration, so I have taken over the computer again and decided to take a moment to update our blog (I also bought some rawhide bones on E-Bay and chatted with some of my fellow Weimaraner friends on DogBook to catch up on the latest tricks of the trade, but don't tell Mommy!)

The big news is that after the Christmas and New Year holidays, we went to the mountains! We stayed in a city called Bright in the Australian Alps of Victoria. Our apartment was on the banks of a river called The Ovens and we had such a great time!

My Mommy and Daddy bought a collapsible crate to take with us on holidays, but since I set about tearing it apart when we were at Lakes Entrance last October, they decided that it might be better just to take my normal crate where I would feel more comfortable. They spent a long time trying to arrange everything in the car just so, so that everything would fit and we would all be happy and comfortable. I was to sit in the crate on the way there, which they had taken apart for the journey.

Only one problem: they forgot the door!!! Mommy realised it about halfway up to the mountains, and by then it was too late to go back for it. hahahaha. It was so great! It meant that I got to spend every single minute with my Mommy and Daddy! They couldn't go anywhere without me, not even dinner! It was the best holiday ever!


When we arrived on Monday evening, we had a quick walk around Bright town centre, and then we had a beer at the brewery. Well, Mommy and Daddy did. I just drank water.

Then we went to The Cosy Kangaroo which is a sort of typical Aussie restaurant. We were going to try to sit outside, but then Mommy and Daddy noticed that all the food on their menu was available for take-away, so we got our meals to go and ate them in the house.

After dinner we had a walk down to the river and relaxed during the evening.


The next two days involved lots of lovely walks along The Ovens, including one 45 minute walk and one 2 1/2 hour walk! We were all so tired, and it was hot every day too (30-35C/86-93F) but it cooled off during the night so it was always comfortable for sleeping. On Tuesday I fell into the river and almost died! Well, Mommy just laughed so maybe I wasn't quite as close to meeting my doom as I thought at the time, but I did float downstream a few feet until I was able to attach to a rock and then Daddy pulled me out. My Daddy is such a good man! Of course, being a fearless Weimaraner, I had to go back to the rock where I had fallen in to see where I went wrong. Mommy and Daddy were bemused and insisted that I leave the rock at once to get back on the trail. What's that about?


On Wednesday during our epic walk around the river and through the pine forest, it was very hot and we were out in the noon sun, so I took a moment to cool off with Mommy and Daddy in the river. We met another dog named Jasper who looked sort of like my old American friend, Charlie!


He went into the water more than I did, but I did chase some sticks and I went in somewhat. I'm still not much of a water dog but Mommy and Daddy were pleased with my forays into the river during the week.

I became more and more brave about it as time went on. By the end of the week I was rescuing large rocks from the bottom of the river! I have no idea how they got there but I was determined to get them all out!


On all of the walks we occasionally had to walk across a swing bridge. I wasn't crazy about them at all, but I did manage to get across every time!


Wednesday night, Mommy and Daddy decided to go out to dinner to a nice restaurant called Poplars. The brewery man told us that they were dog-friendly, so we sat outside under the trellis and they enjoyed a wonderful meal! (they stuck me with treats, but hey, that's better than nothing). They shared an appetizer of a gazpacho-style soup served with fresh, homemade bread and smoked salmon, and then Mommy had local rainbow trout in broth and Daddy had rabbit! Mommy tasted the rabbit and she really liked it as well. Turns out rabbit tastes good to humans too, and not just doggies. Only one thing was weird: the rabbit my Daddy ate had no fur on it and it came with potatoes and some sauce! I have never seen a rabbit like that running around outside! But they were happy with it so I guess this is just one of those things about humans that we dogs will probably never understand. Ruining a perfectly good piece of meat.

The service at the restaurant was impeccable, and the chef even gave us a loaf of sourdough bread when Mommy told the waiter how much she liked it and would love to find something like it in Bright! The waiter said he could probably sell us a loaf, but then the chef decided just to give it to us. They were so nice. Did I get any bread though? nooooooooooooo.

On Friday it was time to go home, and so we got in the car but stopped by Michelini Winery, one of many in the area, to pick up a bottle of Barbera, a grape that is from Daddy's region in Italy. It was a nice wine. The day before, Mommy and Daddy bought a painting from a local artist as their Christmas gift to each other. The painting is called "Autumn on The Ovens" by Stephen McCall and it's a good reminder of our time up there.



It was such a great holiday and I hope we get to do it again!

Leans 'n' Licks,

Silver

PS yesterday after dinner we all went to the beach to play with the other doggies, but Mommy and Daddy managed to lock both their keys in the car! So we had a much longer beach visit than we had originally anticipated. It was such fun!