Aussie and one spoiled pup

So, I've finally gotten around to actually writing something! Have only had one day off work since getting home so there's been not enough waking hours to get things done.

We had a great time away, Ben dropped Pepper off to her holiday destination (with a wonderful lady who takes dogs into her home as daycare and holidays) because I had to work up until when we left, I'm glad I didn't have to drop her off, I hate leaving my animals and I would have been an embarrassing, blubbering mess.

We stayed in Sydney with my brother (also called Ben) and his girlfriend, they’ve just gotten a puppy. I was in a state of shock when I heard this, my brother was never an animal person and his girlfriend is scared of dogs. Charlie is a 15week old staffie.

I’m not a fan of staffies but she had heaps of personality and was very sweet, very trainable too, I got her doing sit, down, stay and paw in two days. (they thought I was a ‘dog whisperer’ it was quite funny). They’re doing all the right things, going to puppy class, have brought books on puppies, booked her in for spaying, vaccination etc. But….. I found it very hard as they feel that she is an “outside dog” at night (allowed inside while they are home) and I really didn’t cope with the fact they shut such a small, short coated baby outside with only a small lean-to for shelter and a wee unimpressive bed that was occasionally wet. There was a big storm one night and I couldn’t sleep for worrying about the poor wee pup. I certainly made my feelings known. Numerous times. But there's only so much you can do when its not your dog.

Anyhow, they live right near centennial park which is HUGE and there’s off leash areas so we took her down there for some socialising, she’s very bold, bouncing up to much bigger dogs and playing, it was nice to be round a puppy again.

We went out for fabulous meals, shopped and also walked around the waterfront of Bondi - saw a bat just hanging out in the trees, so cute.

And of course did all the touristy things - Harbour bridge, Opera house etc.
We then flew over to Perth where we caught up with some friends and went down to the Margaret River area, which is famous for wine, generally spending our time drinking and eating our way through the week, it was great! And I found a Pepper statue!

This is the beach where just two days ago a man died after being bitten by a shark - glad we didn't get in the water.And I spotted a Kookaburra on the side of the road so made Ben turn around so I could take pictures, he was very cheeky.

This is the famous Freemantle prison that we toured around.

There was a not so nice part to the trip - in Freemantle we stayed in an apartment that had an extreme sewerage issue - basically toilet flushings were flowing out from the shower - HIDEOUS! The owners had left no contact details and on getting back we asked for a partial refund (fully justified I think!) and they have just been so rude and unapologetic. Grrrr.

Anyhow, we got back last week, it was so good to see Pepper, I didn't buy anything for myself while away but Pepper got a new collar and lead, a tug toy and a ferret ball (brought from the airport on the way home with left over Aussie coins)

And her sore paw is all healed up now which is a relief.