Tourists in the Outback

Since we left Townsville we have been tourists. We stopped at Charters Towers where we posed for the pic from the lookout there. We had a night at Richmond where we went for a walk round the lake and a swim. Tiffany would not come out and when Keith went to get her, he slipped and fell in the lake with all his clothes on. We could not stop laughing all night. Next stop was Mt Isa where we barked at a man that climbed on the roof of the caravan to fix the air-conditioned. Lucky for us that he did because the next stop was the Barkly Homestead where it was hot and we needed the air con. Now we are in Tennant Creek having a days rest from traveling. Still hot and needing the air con so we can have our mid-afternoon nap in comfort. Moving on towards Alice Springs tomorrow.

Townsville Trials

The photo shows Hannah nailing the Scramble colour for 3 points on her way to her Gambler Dog Title at Townsville. She scored 25 points when she only needed 20 to get a 2nd place in the trial, and her 3rd GD Pass.
Hannah also got another JDX pass so she needs 1 more for her Jumping Dog Excellent Title.
I missed a Weaving pole in my ADM run, pulled out of the tunnel for my GDX run and Keith ran the wrong way for my JDM run so my Agility was three NQs. I did pass my first Rally Advanced/Excellent trials so only 9 more to go. Hannah also passed RAE which means she only has 6 to go.
In the Obedience, I did not do well in the heel work and lay down on the sit stay, but still got second place. At the end of the trial we managed 5 prizes, so we did not do too badly overall.

Atherton Trials

Look at us with our haul of prizes from the Atherton Trials over the weekend. Hannah passed her Rally Advanced and Excellent on both days to get two more RAE qualifications, both in 2nd place. I passed Rally Excellent in 1st place to get my RE title. Hannah then passed JDX on Sunday in 2nd Place. I passed Masters Agility in 1st place overall, then passed Masters Jumping in 4th place overall, 1st in 400 height. We got 2nd in SPDX, just 2 seconds over time, and we both got second and third places non qualifying to get some prizes. Hannah dropped a bar on one of her JDX runs and she was well under time for 2nd place, I lay down on a sit stay in Open Obedience so they gave me 3rd place, and we ended up with 9 prizes over the week end.
There were lots of dogs for us to meet, some were from last week in Cairns and some new ones too. Everybody made us welcome so we really enjoyed the whole week end. It was great to have the caravan on site so that we could have a sleep between runs in the cool of the caravan. We started at 8:am on Saturday and 7:am on Sunday and did not finish until about 10:pm Friday and Saturday. With those times we needed our nap times.

Lake Tinaroo

We have been at the Lakeside caravan park at Tinaroo Dam for a week. We have been tourists visiting the Waterfalls and Curtain Fig Tree  (dogs not allowed), the Nerada Tea Plantations, (dogs allowed in places), The Misty Mountains, (went to sleep) and best of all Lake Tinaroo next to the caravan park where we can swim. Every time we go for a walk Tiffany tries to drag Keith to the lake but he limits how much we can swim. One day we went in at the side of the caravan park and swam all the way round the peninsula to the other side of the caravan park while KnK just walked on the bank. It took us over an hour by which time I was ready for a biscuit and a lie down, but Tiffany had to be dragged out of the lake and she was tugging on the lead all the way back to the caravan.
Going out to dinner tonight, at the restaurant that allows dogs on their Pet Friendly Terrace. We have been bathed, brushed and beautified in readiness for the occasion, so I guess there will be no swimming this afternoon.

Explosive Detection Dogs

We paused for a few moments to think about these brave dogs that went to war with their humans. They were Explosive Detection Dogs and their job was to smell out explosives so they could be safely dis-armed. How many humans are alive now due to the superb nose of these dogs?
Unfortunately 5 of them did not make it back.

Merlin, Killed in Action 31/8/2007.
Razz, Killed in Action 21/9/2007.
Andy, Killed in Action 23/11/2007.
Nova, Killed in Action 23/10 2009.
Herbie, Killed in Action, 7/6/2010.

Their dedication reads:

I question not your commands
I follow faithfully wherever you go
I pledge my loyalty no matter what
I share the danger of your domain and will readily lay down my life for yours...
...for in this moment we are one.

The Afghan Avenue of Honour at Yungaburra, honouring the People and Dogs that gave their lives to make this world a better place.

Yungaburra.

We were tourists today, looking at lots of things in the tablelands near Atherton and Mareeba. KnK stopped for lunch at Yungaburra, and we were invited into the restaurant! Look at the picture. Hannah and I are sitting next to the table, with our own water bowl. KnK had coffee with their lunch, and we were as good as gold. Hannah barked at some people when they suddenly appeared, but apart from that we were great. The restaurant was The Vienna Inn and we were on their Pet Friendly Terrace.The photo was taken by the lady that runs the restaurant.
After lunch we had a big walk around Yungaburra then we looked at where we will stay next week, then went back to Mareeba Country Caravan Park for dinner. When we got home the caravan park owner put on a show singing old songs from way before we were born, but KnK knew them.

Cairns Trials

The Cairns Trials are over, we have had some good runs, a few qualifications and met some new friends. The pic shows us with some of the dogs that were trialling with us.
Tiffany got a 1st place in Masters Agility, a 2nd place in Snooker Excellent and 2nd place in Rally Excellent A. I got two 1st places in Rally Advanced B and Excellent B, and a 2nd place in Agility Excellent.
We had a few near misses too. Neither of us got a DQ and the worst runs had only 2 faults, so overall we had a good week end.
The Cairns City Kennel Club made us feel very welcome, even after Tiffany tried to pinch a biscuit on the first day. They let us join in their training night on Thursday which helped to get us back in Trialling mode. Didn't work for the Obedience though, we were far too distracted to do things like "Heel".
Nice People, Nice Dogs, Nice Judges and Nice courses. Cairns is a good place to trial.