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by Cody Jones
Last weekend Mum and Dad took Kelly, Whitney (the gromit) and I on a great adventure. It was a long drive all the way to Pemberton about an hour and a half away, but, boy, I can tell you it was worth it. I love going for drives anyway. We had to take the vetmobile as we were afraid that my marvelous moke might not make it.
The area we went to is called the Shannon Block, really close to the Donnelly River in the most picturesque part of the Southwest of the state. There has been a lot of controversy lately as the Greenies are trying to prevent clearfelling of the forest for woodchipping and paper products. They have had some pretty big run-ins with C.A.L.M. (Conservation and Land Management). Well, it was so beautiful and pristine I don't understand how anyone could want to chop it up for cardboard boxes. We went to a really dense part of the jarrah and tuart tree forest. There were great big roads all through, and I've never seen trees so big and majestic before, but the dense undergrowth was so thick that Kelly and I just could not leave the main track. Do you think Mum planned this to thwart my escape plans??
It was quite a bit colder than it is at home but once we started running we warmed up pretty quick. The new smells were just a delight, and Kelly has got a pretty darn good nose for a new smell. Kangaroos, wombats, possums and the odd fox--wow. We just didn't know where to start. We ran ourselves ragged. I clocked up some pretty impressive brownie points that day, because I figured if it was impossible to run off on my own excursions, I might as well ingratiate myself by coming dutifully whenever I was called. You should have seen the look on their faces--they were stunned into silence by this radical form change. It was Pyrfect. I was almost St. Cody by the time we left.
On the way home we went to visit our friends, Jan and Dave, who have a farm stay cottage business. Just five cottages right on the banks of the river in the heart of the forest and right next door to the Donnelly River Winery--no wonder Mum and Dad like it down there so much! The retired shire horses from the Swan Brewery live here. Alan Bond of America's Cup fame brought the team out from England. When he went bankrupt, Jan and Dave bought the horses as an attraction. They were going to use them to do winery and forest tours but Dave has not got around to that yet. Dad does their vet work and that is how they met.
When we arrived we were greeted by the two resident dogs, Tilly, a
red heeler, and Bomber, the beagle. Legend has it these two are pretty
aggressive guard dogs, but one look at how big Kelly and I were and
they were friendly as pie. After Mum and Dad had refreshed themselves
with some "grape juice" and lunch, we all went for a walk.
Because I had been "so excellent" (snicker) all day, Mum decided
it would be safe to let me go tied to Kelly. All was going just fine
until two kangaroos appeared out of the blue. Kelly and I just couldn't
help ourselves and off our legs went in hot pursuit under the barbed
wire fence into the vineyard full bore. Mum and Dad were yelling and
giving chase--you know, I never realized that they liked
chasing roos as well! It was great BUT abruptly we were flung to a
halt. Nearly knocked the wind out of us. What had happened? Well,
in our great haste Kelly had gone on one side of the vine trellis
and I had gone the other, and a sharp halt resulted. When Mum and
Dad caught up with us I was dismayed to learn that they actually didn't
chase roos at all, but my brownie point tally had diminished somewhat.
Oh, well. You can't win 'em all.