Friday 'flections Forgotten,Saturday Slipped away, so Sunday Summary it is !
Well here I finally am; Shazza here !
What a week it's been ; well ok slightly longer than a week.....
Back to last Friday morning and we were up bright and breezy having thankfully avoided the potential of 'hanging one on' at the BBC for one final beersie with friends and neighbours. We managed to pace ourselves and Von managed to reveal her 'purple' flash !
Dennis had a 0950 check-in and so was duly dropped at the Air New Zealand Cargo area to be met by the AeroPets chap,Tony and the Air NZ Live Export chap who incidentally had been there for 55yrs so I guess he knew what he was doing. Thankfully Dennis sat quite happily in his crate and we left swiftly to avoid a scene...us not him !
All was going swimmingly well ; and we took our seats in the Koru Lounge courtesy of Von's many work trips away. A cheeky glass of Prosecco to toast our new adventure which then ground to a halt with a 3.5 hour delay of the flight. Mmm poor Dennis 😱 Mind you at least he got his money's worth but it would appear for his price of a business class flight (crate, vet certificate, flight, and admin- $2k) there was no inflight meal or movie choice !
Suffice to say we were a little more distressed than he was, but were quickly calmed by (more) Prosecco and a Beef Rendang on the flight.
Arrival in Australia; we had prepared a list of articles to declare in a bid to be helpful and say YES however the sealed brand new bag (thankfully small) of ZiwiPeak to feed Dennis on collection was confiscated. Collected by our good friend Jan we got Dennis from the Quantas Cargo area after handing over $116 admin fee (obviously)! He was eventually delivered by fork lift as apparently he was too heavy at 17kg (including the crate). This meant the water in the container attached to the crate ended up all over him and his bed so needless to say he was very pleased to see us and told everyone in the cargo area !!
His consolation was meeting his first Australian doggie pal ; Sam & Jan's 'beagledor' Ted who after the initial language difficulty (kiwi v aussie) proved to be a bit of a distraction from his cross-Tasman adventure.
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And soon learnt to drag Dennis along the wooden floor which as his kiwi girlfriends, Brooke and Bertie, will confirm Dennis particularly enjoys ???
Given the dog food debacle Ted also very generously allowed Dennis to dine with him on his a la cart menu.
A trip to his first Australian dog park soon had Dennis back to his old self and he had a great weekend learning Australian dog etiquette.
How to sit and look cute for photos which clearly Dennis has already perfected but he was happy to go along with it !
This has Anzac Bridge in the background and in amongst the haze a glimpse of the Harbour Bridge.
So making a masterful attempt to get over his jet lag , Dennis had to further endure a car journey of over two hours, with Ted and luggage, down to Kangaroo Valley to meet his new home for the next foreseeable........
A logistical feat of genius which had two dogs, 3 adults, two large kit bags, one random square bag, and a dog crate all fitting into a Subaru SUV !
So Why Kangaroo Valley ??
For those who don't know, this is the home of 'Derek & Irene'. They took Von, and her friend Karen, in when they were young backpackers back in 1990 and although not always in touch have been pivotal in aspects of Von's life and then more recently mine when we lived in Sydney 2009-2012.
They have also been babysitting our Van "CILLA" since we purchased her back in July.
When we lived in Sydney we spent many a weekend down in the valley and all those we took with us during that time will know that it is an amazing experience of peace and tranquility. Australian wildlife in all its forms there to see. Wallabies and the very rarely seen Rock Wallaby; for which Irene & Derek have allowed the National Parks/Conservation Department to set up a breeding programme.
Kangaroos bound about as well as Wombats,Echidnas,Goannas and birds various.
Their guest cottage has an open fly screened area where you can feel like you're in the "Bush" but not "IN" the bush !
Our arrival here has meant we have been able to spend time getting to know our new home and test out all its new bits and alter certain cupboards to suit our purpose. It has also meant we have been able to go to the local councils and stores to sort out internet (wifi for the van ), dog registration for Dennis although he intends to wear his Auckland dogtag to ward off any dodgy Australian Sheilas!
It has been brilliant to have this time as we very quickly realised after one night away locally that in fact we had still overpacked despite our seemingly small amount of luggage !
It also meant we were able to spot early there was an issue with the shower pump ; so a quick sojourn up to Trakka HQ where we purchased 'Cilla' in order for them to fix it. We made use of their showroom car park to "free-camp" which meant we were first in once they turned up for work in the morning ! Little did we know that they started turning up at 7am...thankfully we were out of our pyjamas by then - thanks jet lag, haha.
Two hours later and they'd fixed the issue so off on the road we went but not before a visit to IKEA; for those who don't know it hasn't reached NZ yet so it was somewhat of a treat for us not having seen one for 7 years.
It was our time in Western Sydney and surrounds that made us realise some of the effects of the intense fires that are burning in NSW at the moment. The oppressive heat and smokey haze everywhere was hard to take and we weren't even that close. It got to 38C that day which was uncomfortable particularly as we also misjudged our departure and sat in heavy traffic for some of it. Friends of ours have friends who are significantly affected by the fires to the point of evacuation and fighting fires on their property which, having seen the news footage, must be frightening. All this and seemingly ignored by those in power in Canberra.
We made the decision to have a trip out to the coast and stay in a campsite in Gerringong which was far enough away from any of the fires and we could breathe some clean air and give Dennis a good run on an off leash beach. The next day heading back to Kangaroo Valley, which meant I got to have a very laid back Birthday whilst Von sorted out her IKEA purchases and re-packed the Van.
Dennis meanwhile has been adjusting to Australia ; completely flummoxed by the Kookaburras who keep laughing at him, waylaid by a Wombat the other evening, and the Wallabies are doing their best to play hide and seek. That said, he has firmly planted his feet with Irene his new treat go to ! And Derek whose legs he insists on cleaning !
Dennis adapting to his new Australian lifestyle ??
CILLA so called because :-
a) A tribute to Priscilla
b) Her rego is a bizarre mix of C's......you had to be there ?!
So here I am on a Sunday evening still feeling like this is a 2/3 week holiday ; and wondering what the next week will have in store ; all I do know is Von's alarm will not go off in the morning .........so you'll have to wait !
How to sit and look cute for photos which clearly Dennis has already perfected but he was happy to go along with it !
This has Anzac Bridge in the background and in amongst the haze a glimpse of the Harbour Bridge.
So making a masterful attempt to get over his jet lag , Dennis had to further endure a car journey of over two hours, with Ted and luggage, down to Kangaroo Valley to meet his new home for the next foreseeable........
A logistical feat of genius which had two dogs, 3 adults, two large kit bags, one random square bag, and a dog crate all fitting into a Subaru SUV !
So Why Kangaroo Valley ??
For those who don't know, this is the home of 'Derek & Irene'. They took Von, and her friend Karen, in when they were young backpackers back in 1990 and although not always in touch have been pivotal in aspects of Von's life and then more recently mine when we lived in Sydney 2009-2012.
They have also been babysitting our Van "CILLA" since we purchased her back in July.
When we lived in Sydney we spent many a weekend down in the valley and all those we took with us during that time will know that it is an amazing experience of peace and tranquility. Australian wildlife in all its forms there to see. Wallabies and the very rarely seen Rock Wallaby; for which Irene & Derek have allowed the National Parks/Conservation Department to set up a breeding programme.
Kangaroos bound about as well as Wombats,Echidnas,Goannas and birds various.
Their guest cottage has an open fly screened area where you can feel like you're in the "Bush" but not "IN" the bush !
Our arrival here has meant we have been able to spend time getting to know our new home and test out all its new bits and alter certain cupboards to suit our purpose. It has also meant we have been able to go to the local councils and stores to sort out internet (wifi for the van ), dog registration for Dennis although he intends to wear his Auckland dogtag to ward off any dodgy Australian Sheilas!
It has been brilliant to have this time as we very quickly realised after one night away locally that in fact we had still overpacked despite our seemingly small amount of luggage !
It also meant we were able to spot early there was an issue with the shower pump ; so a quick sojourn up to Trakka HQ where we purchased 'Cilla' in order for them to fix it. We made use of their showroom car park to "free-camp" which meant we were first in once they turned up for work in the morning ! Little did we know that they started turning up at 7am...thankfully we were out of our pyjamas by then - thanks jet lag, haha.
Two hours later and they'd fixed the issue so off on the road we went but not before a visit to IKEA; for those who don't know it hasn't reached NZ yet so it was somewhat of a treat for us not having seen one for 7 years.
It was our time in Western Sydney and surrounds that made us realise some of the effects of the intense fires that are burning in NSW at the moment. The oppressive heat and smokey haze everywhere was hard to take and we weren't even that close. It got to 38C that day which was uncomfortable particularly as we also misjudged our departure and sat in heavy traffic for some of it. Friends of ours have friends who are significantly affected by the fires to the point of evacuation and fighting fires on their property which, having seen the news footage, must be frightening. All this and seemingly ignored by those in power in Canberra.
We made the decision to have a trip out to the coast and stay in a campsite in Gerringong which was far enough away from any of the fires and we could breathe some clean air and give Dennis a good run on an off leash beach. The next day heading back to Kangaroo Valley, which meant I got to have a very laid back Birthday whilst Von sorted out her IKEA purchases and re-packed the Van.
Dennis meanwhile has been adjusting to Australia ; completely flummoxed by the Kookaburras who keep laughing at him, waylaid by a Wombat the other evening, and the Wallabies are doing their best to play hide and seek. That said, he has firmly planted his feet with Irene his new treat go to ! And Derek whose legs he insists on cleaning !
Dennis adapting to his new Australian lifestyle ??
CILLA so called because :-
a) A tribute to Priscilla
b) Her rego is a bizarre mix of C's......you had to be there ?!
So here I am on a Sunday evening still feeling like this is a 2/3 week holiday ; and wondering what the next week will have in store ; all I do know is Von's alarm will not go off in the morning .........so you'll have to wait !
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