Colin on Holidays

I know my life is one big holiday, but South West Rocks for a whole month was really special. It's such a pretty town that I want to share it with you.
My mum and dad and Barbie and I had lunch on the grass behind our van.

I don't think my dad was really watching out for me in the surf....I stepped in a hole and could have gone under!!

This is our van in the SW Rocks van park. I'm sitting in a chair under the awning watching my dad do the washing.

We had lunch in the outside beer garden of this pub in a trendy little town called "Gladstone", about a half-hour drive from SW Rocks.

My brother, Matt, came to visit for the weekend and he and my dad tried more of that fishing thing....I say again, fish don't do much, do they? (except maybe get caught and then thrown back).

We went hunting for bait on a sandbank - and it was great fun. I could run and run through the mud and not get into trouble.

My dad set a fishing rod into the sand while he was hunting for more bait...and guess what?!...he caught a fish that he didn't have to throw back....BUT he wrapped it in a wet towel and then I had to sit still and guard it.

I would definitely much rather be running....I don't think that fish was going anywhere anyway!

I asked my mum could I go for a run and we ended up having this big discussion about guarding that darned FISH!!

So much responsibility for such a little guy (sigh).

Love from Colin Harries xx

When we were heading home for Christmas

I thought you might be interested in seeing a bit of the countryside we travelled through when we moved from Emerald in Central Queensland, to our 'holiday' stopover in South West Rocks (on our way home to the Blue Mountains for Christmas).
We spent an overnight at the base of a mountain not far out of Emerald. It's called "TheVirgin Rock" and you can see why, I think. The mountain has eroded and left the image (entirely natural).

Can you see The Virgin Mary on the left of the photo?

The countryside is flat and dry and the roads are STRAIGHT. The photos below are of our second night camp spot in a little town called Meeandarah. Very isolated, but the site (supplied by the local Council in a park) had water and electricity for our van at a cost of $5 for three nights. It's actually $5 for the first night and the next two nights are free

Looking from our van to the "town centre".

The river behind our van was particularly beautiful.

That's our van on the right of the photo. There was only one other van in the area.

Do hope you enjoyed the little "travel-dogue"...love from Colin Harries

Well, hello my good friends. Since I last wrote, we've been travelling more and have been "home" for Christmas and New Year. My last photos were from Emerald in Central Queensland, which is on the Tropic of Capricorn and is very warm in the summer. So, my dad finished his temporary bus driving job in Emerald and we hooked up the caravan and travelled south for the summer. On the way "home" to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, we holidayed for a whole month in a little beachside town named South West Rocks (about 6 hours' drive north of Sydney). These photos are from there...and you'll see what fun it is to travel in Australia (well, at least I had fun)!! Our dearest Barbie arrived to spend the first week in South West Rocks with us. She is my auntie-cum-grandma-cum-best friend and I love her so much. She loves to go fishing, so I thought if I stayed with her in the surf, it would be such a big help to her.

But a guy can't stand still forever! Fish don't do much, do they? So, a frolic through the surf was the obvious answer. I can run very fast, you know.

And then Barbie also realised that fish don't do much ... so I took her and my mum for a walk along the beach. What would they do if I wasn't there to keep them entertained??!

Uncle Harry and Auntie Sue (my cousin Jett's mum and dad - he who came with us for a caravanning weekend when I first came from the adoption place back 18 months ago) were also holidaying in SWR and we went back to their apartment for lunch....but I needed a big rest by then and my mum sat with me so I could sleep uninterrupted.

And then after lunch it was back to the water for (guess what).. YES...more fishing. I really can't understand it much...they seem to catch them and then throw them back. I asked why, and got grouched at "too b.... small" was my dad's answer.

This is our campsite at South West Rocks. So very comfortable and such a pretty place. I'll show you more in future blogs.

My Uncle Adrian also came to visit with us in South West Rocks. He came all the way in the train from Sydney. My full name is actually Colin Adrian Harries 'cos Uncle Adrian was the one who found my photo on the adoption place website and he phoned my mum and told her to come and get me.

So much to do and so little time!! We went pushbike riding and out to lunch at the local pub along the river. At the mouth of this river is the township of South West Rocks (about 4 kms away).

And finally...a view of the township of South West Rocks from along the beach - see how my mum and my Barbie prefer to look at me than at the view of the town??!

Enough for now because I don't want you to get sick of seeing me having such a good time... I'll drag it out until you run away screaming!! Haha!

Love from Colin Harries xx

Colin is Back!!

Well, hello again my bloggy friends. My mum and dad and I have been travelling...and busy...and I just haven't had my paws on the 'puter for months. I'm about to rectify that and we'll be back in blogland very soon again. This is just a little friendly warning! Love from Colin Harries xx

Part 2 of "Emerald is a Diamond"

Hello again (time for Part 2). I apologise for messing up, but 'sumthin' happened to my photos. I thought they were particularly important to include because I feature, with everyone adoring me!!

Our new friends also like me very much, they say, and I am really a very gracious host, inasmuch as I don't pee on their chairs.




Notice the stables in the background (that's my dad I'm standing with - I have to be careful to share myself around) - do you know that sometimes big trucks come in and unload all these horses and put them into the stables for the night and then the next morning they load them onto the trucks again and disappear. I'm glad I'm not a horse.

That's all for now.......we will be in Emerald until early in September...so I'm not sure how many new things I'll be showing you, but photos of me are always fascinating, I know. Hadehaha! Love from Colin Harries xx

Emerald is a Diamond

Hello everyone! I thought I would start the day by saying that the town of Emerald in Central Queensland is fast becoming a favourite place to stay, and stay, and stay. WHY? Because my dad has taken a "JOB" here. I get confused 'cos I thought my mum said that he didn't have a job any more after we went on the road. But here's the proof - the uniform he wears looks smart, doesn't it? It's got "Emerald Coaches" on the front and my dad is a bus driver again. He told me he thought it would be a fun for five or six weeks. So, we've set up camp in the Emerald Showgrounds...and made new friends as the photos below will show you.


I don't mind, as I get lots and lots of time with my mum and dad who have nothing better to do than focus on me and my happiness. Each morning, my dad and I have breakfast in the sunshine in the annexe attached to our caravan. (Actually, I've already had my breakfast - not a bad idea to be cute and loving and hope for something else though).

Here's our campsite...in glorious isolation, even though there are probably 30 other vans that stay and come and go in the Showgrounds. The local Council owns the grounds and it's where they can hold rodeos and flower shows and gymkhanas and there are stables and cattle pens for people travelling who have to rest themselves and their animals. There are no marked van sites - just put your van wherever it suits you and hook up to the water and electricity. It costs $15 a night to stay here.

And best of all, there is a five acre fully fenced car park where I run every morning....birds by the thousands and thousands to chase (they're mostly galahs and they're not very brave and fly off, but a couple of pee-wees dive bombed me the other day when I was in the middle of a four-wheel-drift turn to run back to my mum and dad - and I fell over!) Embarrassing, but nobody really noticed, I'm sure, as I leapt to my feet almost without missing stride (but after tumble-turning twice) - my mum made me put this bit in about the tumble-turns 'cos she said I wasn't really being truthful otherwise.

See our set-up. My fence wouldn't stop a fly from getting over it, and I don't even bother trying, but it makes my mum feel better that I am 'somewhat contained' (her words) and won't get run over or kidnapped.

My dad took this photo to show the main oval which is the view from the front window of our van.

And here are our new friends who came by for lunch at our van. We visited with them last week for lunch and have such a nice time together.

In this photo there's Rosemary and Anna and Graham and Alex and John (another John, not my dad) sitting to hook into his steak. The 'boys' are all bus drivers at Emerald Coaches and they also have vans in the Showgrounds. Like us, they are 'on the road', and like us, they thought it would be fun to stay a while and do a bit of work that is different. They are from Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

I have to do another post...I dunno what I did wrong, but one of my most important photos disappeared, so I'll see ya in just a minute...love from Colin Harriesxxx

On the Road Again

"On the road again...I can't wait to get on the road again..." (hey, somebody should write a song about being on the road). My last photos for you were taken in Brisbane, Queensland where we stayed for two weeks at Auntie Barbara's house. THEN, we drove a long way on the day we left (about 300 kms/180 miles) and met Dawson Coop and his mum and dad in a town called Miles. Dawson's family live near us in the Blue Mountains and were holidaying for a month so we made arrangements to catch up with them for a couple of nights. Here's out campsite by the river in Miles.



Dawsie's cousin, Coco, was also travelling with them. You can see that Coco's mum really likes me best (or is it because I was the tallest of them all and could reach her cereal bowl before them). We had a campfire that night but my camera ran out of batteries so you'll just have to imagine us all around the fire, with all of us sitting on either our mum or our dad's laps with blankets over us, because it was quite cold

The next night was also a "free-camp"...not quite as salubrious because it was just outside of a town called BANANA and we think it was a turnaround for a gravel pit. Anyway, we all fitted in there and it was rather good fun to be really in the middle of nowhere.

This is really "doing Australia"

We had to say goodbye to Dawson and Coco after two nights because they were heading east to the coast and back south to the Blue Mountains and their homes. My mum and dad and I headed west and stopped for lunch in a little town called Duaringa, which is getting into CQ (Central Queensland). Two days later we were still in Duaringa. This photo is taken in another freecamp park and it was great. Typically Australian red dirt out there and you should see the colour of my paws. I adored the warmth and the dust and just fell down asleep in the sun.

Then my dad found my trailer tyre had a puncture - oh no!! We studied it together and I said to him "yep - it's flat".

And then it all got too much for me - ho-hum - so I thought it best to leave him to his own devices. It's good for him to learn to do things for himself, anyway.

I DO eventually wake up and move....but you'll have to wait until next time to see where to and how and when....

Love from Colin Harries xx