Colin Harries Apologises

Hello everyone! This is a NON-POST, I can hear you all thinking...and it probably is! Our big adventure in the caravan has started. I have some great photos to show you and I'm having a fabo time with ALL of my time spent with my mum and dad...however, we haven't stopped long enough for me to get my paws on the 'puter. My friends have been giving me some hurry-up, so I promise to get my furry little bum into gear soon...love from Colin Harries

A RETROSPECTIVE

Hello everyone! It's coolish and drizzly rain today - Autumn in the Blue Mountains in Australia will do that I s'pose. Mum has put the heaters on, so it's a good time to sit in the warmth and say g'day to you. Last night, my dad found some mobile phone photos to show me, so I want to share them with you.


This is my very most precious photo. My mum and dad said I must keep it very safe and close to my heart, cos it's a photo of Jack Harries, who crossed the rainbow bridge in December 2007, before my mum and dad brought me home. My mum said he was my 'older-brother' and that I would have LUVVED him very much and he would have been very kind to me, even when I was being a nuisance.





My dad and my Uncle Stevie went to a motorcycle show last month and there was "Bundy" on a motorbike. Bundy is an Australian 'blue cattle dog' and rides with Tex. My mum and dad know Tex (he was a member of their motorcycle club for a while). They told me they would NEVER do this to me...'cos they don't approve of putting me (or Bundy or anyone) in danger.





I tried to tell my mum that standing on a chair in a cafe is dangerous, but she said she wouldn't let me fall. It was November 2008 and I had only just come to live with my mum and dad and we went out for coffee with Noah and his sissies. I was a bit shy with them then. NOT NOW THO! When they visited our house for dinner last night, their mum took a video of them and me 'rumbling'...perhaps Noah will share the video with you soon 'cos he does that sort of thing really well.

LOOK AT 'EM ALL! We were out with four of 'em at one time and maybe I will admit to being just a TEENSY-WEENSY bit of a 'fraidy-cat'...but they're really cool mates now and I can't for the life of me think why I was worried!

Hope you think that 'old photos' are as interesting as 'new stuff'. Anyway, avagoodun...(do ya understand 'Strine'? It's an Aussie way of saying "Australian") - and I just wished that you "Have a Good One". The world seems to think that we drop some letters off our words, but I dunno 'bout that... Love from Colin Harries xx

My Drizabone and Packing Up the House

As you know, I've had some problems with my messages to you. Noah and his mum and dad came to help...so here we go...hope all goes according to my 'puter plan.




Boy, oh boy - packing up the house is SUCH an exhausting process. My dad has decided to begin his retirement on May 1 (only 7-8 weeks to go)! And we're going to rent out our house while we're travelling around Australia in the caravan. So, here I am, lying amongst the boxes on some chintzy old rag that mum found for me - all of my lovely blankets have been packed - and keeping a wary eye out just in case "she" comes at me with tissue paper and a packing box.

We're FINALLY going out! I've had to wait ALL DAY for some attention - why is packing the house up more important than me? Anyway, here is a shot of my DRIZABONE coat which I told you about in another message, but without photos. Cool huh! I do 'full-frontal' and 'swish turn to the right' just like real models on the catwalk. (Aussies wear these coats when they're riding their horses and droving sheep and cattle).

I've been absent

Hello everyone. I've had blog problems that come and go...and have had Noah's mum and dad helping to find a fix! As you can see, I am currently ON, but that may or may not remain the case. So, I'll spend some time today thinking about nice things to show you and hopefully will be able to put something up for you soon...love...Colin Harries. Oh, by the way, the "big trip" is definitely getting closer because our house is in a shambles. If I don't move quickly enough my mum will wrap me in tissue and put me in a packing case...C.xx

I didn't know about holidays

We went to Shellharbour (1 hour's drive south of Sydney) for ten days in our caravan. My mum and dad said that soon we won't have to come home again because we'll be 'on the road' for as long as we like as they'll be retired and won't have to go to work. (I don't go to work at all, so I don't understand any of this). Anyway, I thought you might like to see some of my holiday shots. I have lots and lots of lovely photos that show our wonderful beaches, plus me being very hunky, but mum says I have to show just a few at a time, otherwise people will get sick of me. (NOBODY EVER gets sick of me - and I've been adopted for a whole 5 months now).





I wonder if all these kids are gonna be 'on the road' with us too? I wasn't brave enough to ask, in case my mum and dad said "yes". I think they were just visiting to our caravan for the day because I heard them call mum and dad 'Uncle John' and 'Aunty Marilyn' and they kissed us all goodbye at the end of the day. They were good fun though and were very kind to me (strange - EVERYONE is very kind to me).







I think this photo from the front of our caravan is nice and shows the ocean in the background. Summer is wonderful for the beach...and it seems strange to me when I think of my northern hemisphere friends in the snow.










We had lots of visitors...neighbours came with their parents for drinks and dinner. I've just learned that I may not be the only one in the world with a mum and dad who think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. (I had a friend who read this and said that is a very Aussie saying - the sliced bread thing. Is that true or am I a student of international languages?)

Ah! FINALLY, just me and my dad. Isn't the water at Shellharbour boat harbour clean and beautiful. It was certainly cool on my toes.

This is me leading dad over the rocks (he has only two legs so can't run as fast as I can, and I also think he's quite old). That's our caravan park in the background and the water wasn't covering the rocks at this time of the day.

Dad said I was heavy to tow up the hill, so I suggested that I get out and have a run anyway. I actually think I might be doing ALL of the work, but it really is great fun to be out and 'on the road'. Wheee!








What about this photo? Just after I did the posing/looking handsome thing, we went running out onto this beach and I chased duck-things and got all wet and sandy and my mum insisted that I be dried out before being allowed back in my trailer. Beautiful place, huh?! It's only about 2 kms from our caravan park.

The Aussie Summer

I can run fast, even though it's 40 degrees celcius in Sydney on Christmas Day. Wot's 40 degrees C in 'real' language...well, my dad says it's almost 100F...don't know what that all means, but it sounds very clever, doesn't it?


This is my new family's family (howzat for a description)...on Christmas Day in Sydney. My Auntie Sue is on the left (she's my dad's cousin) and that's her daughter and grandsons and my dad in the crazy striped shirt. Can't help but comment on the difference in the weather in photos I've just seen from my other new friends....my mum showed me where the northern hemisphere is...she says it's a long, long way away. Perhaps I wouldn't be very good in the snow. Perhaps I'm really a warm-weather dog, although I do own a Drizabone (that's an Aussie-drover-kind-of-coat, cut down to my size)!



This is me and my dad outside Auntie Sue's house in Sydney on Christmas Day. Cousin Jett (remember him with the one eye who was in the Lake Lyell photos with me) and you can just see our caravan and Nissan 4wd across the road. We're ready to go home after spending five days with Auntie Sue and Uncle Harry.






Waddya call my Cousin Jett's mother's daughter's son? Well, that's him trying to fight me for the chair. His name is Ben and he's 2 yrs. I'm older so I get the chair, I told him.

My Life as a Harries - am I havin' fun yet?

We went to Lake Lyell for a weekend. It's only an hour's drive west of our home in the Blue Mountains (maybe 2 hours west of Sydney) and we met with other friends there who also have caravans. My cousin, Jett, was staying with us for the weekend, so he came along as well. He's very old and has an eye missing, but he's quite handsome when you get to know him - that's him with the checked coat on, sitting with my mum, while I was trying to get her to get up and play with me instead.


Here's me with my Uncle Adrian. He's the one who made mum go and get me from the adoption place. My full name is Colin Adrian Harries - and Uncle Adrian doesn't even mind if I put white fur on his black shirt when I sit on his lap. Do ya think it's significant that most of my time is spent sitting on people's laps...or on the seat next to them...do ya think they luv me?!



I didn't know how much responsibility I would have - looking after my dad all the time when he has to have a nap.

This is our caravan site at Shell Harbour van park. Mum and dad don't really trust me yet - they think I might try to get out to go back to the adoption place (NOT A CHANCE), so they designed a collapsible fence to take with us. Here's me and my mate, Dawson, whose mum and dad also have a caravan and often travel with us. Dawsie isn't really too keen on me, but the parents put us together to play and hope we'll learn to love each other (I luv him though, because I luv EVERYBODY). Perhaps Dawsie doesn't like me much because his mum does - that's her with me in our caravan.

I went on my first holiday in our big caravan and we walked on Shell Harbour beach (about an hour's drive south of Sydney). It's going to be such fun when we are really on our way around Australia - and I am going to have such a suntan!!