Well, it's been a month since the inaugural Greyt Greyhound Gathering so I guess it's well past time I did a blog post about it! I took 260 photos but don't worry, I'm not going to put them all up:-) Just some of my favourites.
I had 2 wonderful travelling companions, Anthony (who is Jade's Dad ... and also Jazz and Leo's but they didn't come with us) and Claire (who is Indie's Mum). Anthony did a magnificent job driving as he was towing an amazing 6 berth greyhound trailer. Very luxurious mode of transport for the 6 girls who were in there. We took up 8 female greyhounds in all, 4 were being picked up by new parents or foster parents.
We had a lunch stop at Taumaranui on the way up, where we literally stopped traffic while we gave the girls a walk around under the lovely shady trees. Cars were slowing down and one car full of nice ladies turned around and got out to enjoy their first pat of Greyhounds:-)
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| Anthony and Claire with Jade, Bess, Sasha, Flash, Candy (?), Indie, Beryl and Molly |
We stayed Friday and Saturday night in a Greyhound friendly motel and while we were only supposed to have our own personal girls in there somehow we ended up with 7 (Flash having gone to her new home shortly after we arrived) hunkering down for the night:-) Floor space was at a premium!
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| Anthony with the girls. 7 Greyhounds don't take up that much room really:-) |
Late Saturday morning we headed out to Victoria's lovely gardens and quickly found a shady tree to call our own. It was HOT! There were about 52 hounds and 3 non-greyhounds there and most were wandering around off leash just visiting or chilling and trying not to get too hot!
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| Beryl in the coolest spot she could find! |
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Part of the crowd, with Arrow Wium sauntering past:-)
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And here is Helen, of
Aroundahound martingale collar fame, with Arrow and his little sister, Snoopy.
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Snoopy, Arrow and Noel-John Wium winning best Irish Brace:-)
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| Bess and Beryl minding our spot |
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| Bess with her new parents who are totally in love with her! |
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| Even non-black Greyhounds were feeling the heat! |
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| The very handsome Brodie:-) |
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| Claire's Indie looking after someone else's blanket! |
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| Helen with her stunning matching boys, Enzo and Cruzer |
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| A couple of our local 'lads', Bryce and Fish:-) |
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| Prettiest bitch line-up. Jill and her Mum, Lynda, in the middle taking it out. Our hostess, Victoria with Gillie on the right getting 2nd place and Gabby on the left was 3rd |
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| Jill again, with her Dad, Lincoln and Elizabeth. |
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| Me and Bess saying goodbye |
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| Stanley the lion! |
There was a fancy dress competition and I might do another blog with photos from that as there were some wonderful costumes. Stanley didn't win but I thought he looked gorgeous:-)
Later in the afternoon some of us took our dogs for a run in the neighbours big paddock. It was still hot and Sasha decided the best way to cool off was to lie in a trough. Jade thought splashing Sasha and Beryl would help them. I don't think Beryl was that impressed though, lol!
That evening a scrumptious BBQ was served and it was a feast! Spit roasted lamb, BBQ king fish, salads, spuds etc with the biggest strawberries I've ever seen for dessert if you still had room!
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| Me and Claire ... we BOTH look awful Claire, lol!! Great sunnies though:-) |
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Indie at the BBQ; again taking over someone else's blanket! Enzo and Cruzer's I suspect.
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| Hmmm, that's not my bed Beryl! |
Beryl decided to really make herself at home in the motel on Sunday morning! Molly soon joined her on Anthony's bed. Beryl does like her home comforts!
We had a fairly leisurely trip home, stopping at Taupo for an icecream for us and the 4 girls. And while we didn't stop traffic this time we did get plenty of looks and also some video taken of us walking through town.
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| Stunning scenery, Lake Taupo with Mt Ruapehu still with some snow on at the end of November! |
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| Me and Beryl at the lake. |
We all had a wonderful weekend away. It was great to put faces to names we see on the internet and meet so many lovely hounds. None of whom put a foot out of place the whole weekend:-) An amazing advertisement for the awesome nature of Greyhounds.
Our hosts, Victoria, Sam, Lily and Dougal the resident Airedale, did a splendid job organising everything and the whole weekend ran smoothly.
If you're still here you're possibly wondering where Frankie was for the weekend? I would have loved to have taken him too but there wasn't room and being obsessed over by 50 or so Greyhounds might have been a bit much for him:-) So he had a blast staying at
Creature Comforts Pet Lodge running around for 3 days with other dogs. I don't know who was the most tired, him, me or Beryl!
I hope everyone has had the best Christmas. Personally I've really enjoyed blobbing out with the kids and recharging the mental and physical batteries.
Here's something I haven't done for a while, joined in on the Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop. Details can be found at
Life with Dogs. Enjoy:-)
