Pine Creek Railway

Look at us on this really old train at Pine Creek. A long time ago this narrow gauge train ran between Larrimah  and Darwin but it is now just a museum piece. We stopped at Pine Creek on our way to Katherine where we stayed over night. Next day just after we started out, there was a big bang and we had to stop because the caravan had broken the other suspension spring. KnK were on the phone, muttering strange words, and eventually a big truck came and took the van away. KnK are staying in a cabin, but we are not allowed inside! Lucky for us it is warm at night. We will have to sleep in the car tonight. We hope the van gets fixed soon.

Last Day in Darwin

Our last day in Darwin is today. We move on to travel down the west coast of Australia tomorrow so we will be leaving all our new friends behind.
Last night was the last night of trials where we had a little success. I got a Gamblers Excellent Qualification in 1st place which was my 5th pass  making me a Gamblers Dog Excellent (GDX) dog, and a Jumping Dog Open qualification, also in 1st place. Hannah got a Snooker Dog Excellent pass in 2nd place too. The pic shows us with our sashes and trophies.
We have had good time in Darwin. We lived in a tent for a week while we waited for the caravan to be fixed, we competed in the Darwin Royal Show and also in 2 local trials and trialed and trained with lots of dogs. We had a few trips out to see the sights and have a run in the warm sunshine.
It is sad to leave our friends behind, maybe we will come back one day to play with them again.

Freds Pass Trial

The trials at Fred"s Pass are over with no passes for either of us. The pic shows Hannah doing the See Saw, all her feet on the contact colour and the Up End firmly on the ground. She got that one right. Keith has been working at putting up Solar panels on roofs, and we missed training for the week before, so we were not fully coordinated. I popped weaving poles, missed contact colours and dropped bars all week end, and Hannah had troubles with tunnels. That should fix them for not taking us training!

Darwin Royal Results

Look what we did at the Darwin Royal! We posed with our sashes on the fence of the caravan.
Sashes are from left to right:
Tiffany; Master Jumping Qualification, 2nd Place Masters Jumping,
Hannah; 2nd Place Masters Agility, 2nd Place Rally Excellent A
Tiffany: 3rd Place Rally Advanced B and  3rd Place Rally Excellent B.
Hannah got her 11th RAE qualification and I got my 9th RAE qualification and my 4th Masters Jumping Qualification.
The Royal is over now so we are back to being tourists again.

Hannah- 4 Years Old

Hannah was 4 years old yesterday. We are in Darwin, where Hannah had her first birthday, and had a day of quiet walks, sleeps, extra chews and a visit to the dog grounds for some socializing.
It has been a good year for Hannah. She has been very well with no sign of that SRMA she had as a pup. This year she got her JDX and ADX titles in Agility, her RAE title in Rally, and competed in the National Agility Trials in Brisbane.
We have been to many places. Lots of trips in the caravan to South Australian places, we have been to Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory as tourists and competitors, and we are about to go into Western Australia next month.
 We have met many dogs from all over Australia, visited many places and been made welcome everywhere we go. What a life for a dog!

Darwin

We are in Darwin, and we are camping. KnK bought a tent and we have been living in it since Mt Isa. Something broke on the caravan again at Mt Isa so we left it there until the parts could be delivered and fitted. The pic shows us by the statue of Sabu Sing in Katherine, who was a famous Stockman in the Katherine district.
We spend our days here in Darwin relaxing under a tree, with a few walks to keep us fit. There are dog trials on for the next three days but we can not enter because Keith is judging.
Hopefully we will get the caravan back soon so we can use the air conditioning.

Tollers in Roma

These funny looking trees are called Bottle Trees here in Roma Central Queensland. They look like Boab trees but they are a different plant. We have stopped at Roma for a few days because something broke on the caravan and it needs a part to be sent from Melbourne. KnK were hoping to be on the way to Darwin, but we have to wait for the repairs. It does give us a chance to have lots of walks and ball chasing in the parks here in Roma.
We did OK at the Nationals. I got a qualification and 5th place in Gamblers Excellent and my best performance in the Agility heats was 13th place with just 2 time faults. Hannah's best place was 14th place with time faults only. When we made the time we had course faults and when we went clear we had time faults, but we did have a good time with some very good runs.