He's finally here! After 5 months of planning and bloodwork and paperwork and $$$, Jasper has finally arrived in Oz. Alan and I took a road trip to Sydney this weekend to pick up the pupperton. It would have been fairly easy to have Jasper flown from Sydney to Brisbane, but we figured his last plane ride was 14 hours so he'd be a little stressed out if he went on another one. And hey, what better way to see a country than by road-trip?
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| Yup, that's a windsock in the middle of the motorway... |
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| For a second there, I was worried about Harry Potter's house elf... But he's Dobby, not Nobby. Phew! |
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| My favourite billboard of the trip. "Road crashes affect more than just you. Don't rush" with a picture of a rather grumpy looking surgeon. |
By the time the weekend rolled around, we were quite glad of our decision to drive to Sydney and get him because SE Queensland and New South Wales experienced quite the heat wave this weekend, with temperatures around the 40 degree Celsius mark. Not exactly good pet flying conditions.
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| Hot! Thank goodness for A/C! |
We stayed overnight in the Eastern Creek area, close to the quarantine station. The quarantine station only releases animals between the hours of 10 and 10:30 in the morning on weekends, and we didn't want to be delayed by any traffic incidents or GPS issues, so I found the closest hotel to the quarantine station. And we were there waiting by 9:45 on Sunday morning. My dad would be proud. There were a few other families waiting to collect their pets as well. So we joined the queue and waited. By 10:00 the doors opened, and we were in! They checked our ID, and made sure there was nothing owing on our account, then they took us in where they had all the animals scheduled to be picked up that day. They had them in their crates on a truck, not sure why, I wonder what would happen if you didn't make it in time for the 30 minute collection window... Would they just leave him out on the road with his crate and a sign that says "Brisbane or Bust"?
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| Lots of stickers on his crate. |
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| Fit to fly checklist |
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| Baggage tag? |
Alan took a video of our reunion, but it basically shows me fidgeting (I was so nervous!) and Jasper's reaction was pretty much as follows.
Quarantine staff member brings him off the truck
Jasper - "Freedom! I'm so excited!"
He rushes past me, in a excited flurry, then catches our familiar scent
Jasper - "Oh hey I know you guys!" Sniffs some more. "Great, glad you're here. Okay, now, how do I get out of here? You have opposable thumbs, let's do this people!"
He was so anxious to find the exit that I'm not sure he totally realized who we were until we got to the car. Where he promptly pissed on Australian soil.
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| I just had the strangest dream, or wait... |
We drove past the quarantine station both going to and coming from the Blue Mountains and it is a massive facility. Check it out on Google Earth (Eastern Creek Animal Quarantine Intake Station).
We spent the night in Mullaway, just past Coff's Harbour, in a little beach shack. It was a great little spot, and we'll definitely be back, seeing as it's pet friendly and all. We took a walk on the beach on Sunday night, Jasper went for a swim, dug some holes on the beach, and tried to eat dead sea urchins and seaweed.
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| Mullaway Beach, just a short walk away |
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| Reunited and it feels so good |
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| Roo guard |
The next morning, I was up early and was doing dishes when a kangaroo hopped past our patio. So exciting! Prior to this, I had only seen kangaroos at the koala sanctuary, so this was pretty neat to see one in the wild, up close and personal. Jasper was shocked. It was the biggest rabbit he had ever seen. Ever. Of course, the camera wasn't closeby so we didn't get a photo, but it was pretty cool. (Last night, we saw a possum on our walk. The biggest squirrel he had ever seen. Ever. I think his first impression of Australia is that everything is bigger here.)
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| Our beach shack, the kangaroo stopped right on the wooden pathway beside the small green plant |
Having a dog here means that, aside from the poisonous spiders and snakes, there's also a paralysis tick to worry about. So our first stop in Brisbane was at the pet store, to pick up a tick collar, flea treatment and heartworm prevention. The tick collar has a minty odour so he smells minty fresh at the moment. And his first full day in Brisbane just happens to be the
hottest day in 11 years, so we have been hanging out indoors, enjoying the air conditioning.
It's quite strange actually, because as weird as it feels to finally have him here with us, at the same time, it feels as though he's always been here.
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| Home sweet home. |
Next post - Blue Mountains!
