Hello Palmerston… And Sundae Rose!

 

One of the best things that has happened since we arrived in Palmerston (Darwin, Northern Territory) is within the first week of us getting here we got a puppy!

Now I know what some of you are thinking, crazy right? But it’s not as impulsive as you might think. We had planned on getting another fur baby after we got married. Since we got married in November we thought it could be a Christmas present to our new little family. But with all the moving and the fuss of travelling all over the countryside to see both sets of family (not to mention the financial constraints) during the Christmas season we though we would just wait until we got here to Darwin. I wanted a chocolate coloured mini labradoodle, a little girl. Pretty specific I know… But when we got here to Darwin we went into a few pet stores and spoke to a few people, did Google searches etc. and it seemed that there was not much chance of us getting such a specific dog up here. In the back of my mind I was thinking, oh well, when the time is right we might have to get one from Melbourne or something…

BUT then we walked into another pet store Pets Village.

Check out this youtube clip of a TV ad they did

Inside were about 5/6 Beaglier puppies!

As some of you may know we already have a Beagle called Bella.

She is a law unto her own and part of us wanting to get another dog was to keep her company as apparently Beagles are better behaved if they are in pairs and Bella suffers from anxiety

We had actually seen Beagliers before and had considered them as a dog option but I had been pretty set on a labradoodle. Just FYI Beagliers are the result of mating a Beagle (like Bella above) with  a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel like this dog below...

Also, I had said (as a flippant comment) that if we ever got a Beagle again I would like to get a lemon beagle which is a different type of colouring (they are a lot less common)… Guess what? There were two little Lemon Beaglier girls in Pets Village but one of them was already sold. Guess who was walking around the enclosure while all her brothers and sisters were asleep when we arrived at Pets Village? Our new baby!

We asked one of the girls in Pets Village if we could have a look (and asked what sex she was just to make sure) and honestly, she chose us! She looked up at us with her big brown eyes and then she started licking me and (although she was a bit drowsy) she started snuggling into me. So sweet. We asked if they could hold her for us and they said till the end of the day and we went home to think about it.

Well, I went home to think about it, Simon (the big softie) was already sold!

I googled Beagliers just to make sure we knew what we were getting ourselves in for. Already owning a Beagle had set us up nicely to know what to expect. Beagle’s aren’t necessarily just big brown eyed, velvet eared noses! They are naughty and escape artists and food controls their world! A lot of people who owned Beagliers had lots of really positive things to say about them and how much they loved them. Half of the owners said they were just like a Beagle with the gentle nature of the Cavalier and the other half said, nope, still got the Beagle temperament… So, we decided to jump in and went back to the pet store, had another look and cuddle with her and decided to go for it! She still had to be microchipped that afternoon so we weren’t able to pick her up until the next day but we paid for her in full and then came back the next day.

Her name is Sundae Rose and she is now 9 weeks old.

On Friday we took her for her first vet visit (with us) and we will be taking her back in the next few weeks for her next lot of immunisations. There’s lots of different things you have to consider in owning a dog up here in the Territory. The first one is that there is a different type of strain of parvo which is carried through the possums and rats up here that can kill your dog so they have to be immunised against that. Also because of the tropical environment there are a lot more really seriously nasty bacterias in the soil, particularly in the wet season (now). So the vet recommended we don’t take her out of the yard for walks etc. until two weeks after her third and final round of vaccines which is still a couple of months away… And lastly it gets a lot hotter and humid up here than most other places in Australia so you’ve really gotta think about what kind of access your dog is going to have to air-conditioning. Especially in the heat of the day when you might be at work… It’s just a little bit more work…

And we have found that a brand-new puppy that is just starting to teeth and needs to be toilet trained with an adult dog that suffers from anxiety in a new town while Simon and I are starting new jobs works out to a lot of stress… But we think it’s the good kind. The kind you want to go through for greater happiness overall!

Sundae Rose is super inquisitive, adventurous, brave and fun already and that’s just the first week! She is great to snuggle with and easy to play with. we just can’t wait for Bella to just relax and have fun with her!

Happy Day!***

We have left Bendigo… And The Old Green Bean…

 

It has been a long time between drinks and a lot has happened in the last few months. The biggest news of all, aside of course from Christmas and New Year and all that is that we have moved! We have left Bendigo in Northern Victoria (Australia) and have travelled up to the other side of the country to Darwin in the Northern Territory, specifically Palmerston!

We have had a lot of experiences along the way some good, some not so good but the biggest thing I have noticed since I arrived in Darwin (and possibly the biggest stressor) is the lack of quality coffee!

So, I would like to devote this post in memory of The Old Green Bean in Bendigo!

This is The Old Green Bean…

It is a cafe on the corner of Lyttleton Tce in a repurposed historical building in Bendigo.

This is Chris and Zoe~ the coolest cats in Bendigo

By the time we left Bendigo at the end of 2012 we certainly considered them friends (we even got them a Christmas card!) Their aim is to provide the best coffee (and food) they can in the hipest environment with the BEST service and they succeed on every level!

Firstly Chris (who is Scottish) is uber passionate about coffee, he has his own micro-roastery on-site and I am still searching literally the world for better coffee! That pose in the pic of the two of them above is how I would see Chris practically every time I walked in. That machine is his life and (rightly so) he is pretty protective about his position, the coffee is their livelihood.

Next, the atmosphere is about as current as you’re going to get it in Bendigo, but don’t let that stop you if you are a Melbourne snob, honestly, these guys are playing with the big boys. And all of the decor is re-purposed or hand-made, they are eco-conscious too!

One of the best things about TOGB is that it’s not just a cafe, it’s a vintage clothing store too!

That’s Zoe’s passion and she wears vintage every single day! I have never seen her in the same thing twice and it is always old, never brand-new!

Love!

And lastly, if you go into TOBG more than once they make it their business to remember your name and your order. Simon and I would literally just go in every morning and say (if it wasn’t Chris or Zoe serving us) ‘We’ll have a Simon and Renee thanks’, all we had to tell them was if we were dining in or taking away…

Honestly, what we miss most about living in Bendigo is going to The Old Green Bean! If you are in the area, you should absolutely check them out they are open 8.30-4pm Mon-Fri and 9-2pm Sat. Their food is really good too! Have an extra coffee for us (you won’t regret it)!

Happy Day! ***

 

P.S We have a new addition to the family, Sundae Rose arrived into our life last Saturday, she is a 9 week old Beaglier. More about her later!