My camera's DOOMED!

Hmmmmm .... I’m having a quiet chuckle .... my camera has natural DEADLY PREDATORS!!! Yep ... you heard me right .... my camera, the tool of my trade, is vulnerable!!
I’ve recently LIKED a page on FB called Picture Correct Photography and it was the title of their post today that caught my attention ... I HAD to go read it! The things that can kill my camera, particularly with it being a digital camera, are MOISTURE, Dust, Salt, SAND, Jerks and Bumps, and Creams and Lotions.

A gorgeous Indy!

Mine’s doomed .... it’s exposed to all of the above on a daily basis ... especially the moisture and sand.


For a while, when I first started rambling with the hound, I used to carry the little cyber-shot with me ... far more practical and easier to lug around than the big SLR. It doesn’t take the same quality of picture as my bigger buddy though ... so the bigger buddy gets hauled along too ... and gets exposed to all the predators that could KILL it. It’s an endangered species!!

Pepsi and Chocolat racing for the ball

Take this morning for instance ... we bumped into Jane and Pepsi whilst the hound was leaping off the stairs after her ball. Pepsi loves diving into the water from the steps almost as much as my hound ... he loves racing her for the ball and occasionally manages to beat her to it. The standard routine on retrieving the ball and swimming back to the steps is to race up to the pavement, drop the ball ... and shake .... regardless of who or 

Who's going to get there first?

what might be in the way. I’ve lost count of the number of unsuspecting pedestrians who’ve been given an impromptu shower as they walk past the steps. I always apologise, and fortunately the majority of them find it quite amusing ... most of them stay to watch the next huge leap into the waves!

Chocolat got it this time ....

... and they both got it next time.

The point of my story though is that often the camera gets showered by sea water when one or the other hound shakes ... it’s almost impossible to prevent as I’ve often been taking pics of the chase or race up the stairs!  How else would I capture the antics and expressions of our hounds if I didn’t always have the lens pointed in the right direction.

Neither's prepared to let go!

It’s the same with the sand ... kicking a rugby ball into the waves means sand is kicked around too. I end up with copious amounts in my hair and on the camera - another ‘impossible to prevent’ situation.

Indy, scratching his back!

It’s also impossible to prevent an “Indy attack”!  When Indy sees us on the beach for the first time each day and Julia lets him off lead, he’s like a charging Rhino .... a rather large, chocolate brown charging Rhino!! He races down the beach, hell for leather, looking for all intents and purposes as if he’s going to BOWL you over ... it’s so funny to see and is ONE of the highlights of my day! The only disadvantage is the doggy nose art he leaves on the lens if I’m not quick enough to lift the camera out the way. You’d think I’d have learnt by now, after all Julia and I have been walking the hounds together every day since Christmas ... I can only surmise that I must be a slow learner.

Dingle Dell

Regardless of the DANGERS my camera is exposed to every day, it isn’t going to stop me lugging it along on my rambles. How else would I be able to share the beauty of my sunrises, the sparkles in the waves, the raindrops on roses .... and especially the antics of my hound .... if I didn’t have a camera as an extra appendage.

Throw at us what you will world ... THIS camera is indestructible!

I think Julia's laughing cause it's so difficult to get the hounds to sit how we want them!

I'm looking for a translator in Jaffawood who speaks DOG.

One of these days I’m going to trip over the hound and do myself some damage. She’s like a shadow in the mornings ... follows me around from pillar to post until we depart for our ramble. Heaven knows what she thinks I’m going to do .... leaving without her would be unthinkable, and nigh on impossible as she doesn’t let me out of her sight ... even following me into the bathroom!!

Trying to sort a few chores before I leave is like moving through a minefield ..... not only have I the shadow to contend with but a bleating ... yes, bleating .... pussy cat too. He seems to think that when I wake Callum in the morning it means I’m going

to feed him ... the cat that is .... he’s wrong .... I have more than enough to do before I head out on my ramble without adding his breakfast to the list!


Julia and Indy rejoined us this morning ... they were supposed to be away until Thursday but came home early. Sometimes it’s good to

be made aware of how perfect everything in your home environment is .... we are so blessed with where we live. We have the waves right on our doorstep .... our daily fix just down the road ... plenty of humans with hounds to chat to ..... good company to ramble with ... what more could a girl possibly want!  Hmmm ... men didn’t even come into that equation .... but I guess they’re necessary sometimes too.

Our friendly bunny was out and about again!

It’s overcast again this morning and looks like it might rain ... not that any rain will deter us from rambling. Julia was on the rocks between the two bays when the hound and I hit the beach. I was shocked at the amount of gull guano on the rocks ... there’d been none yesterday but the rocks were covered with

it today.  I can only assume the tide has been higher than normal and fish have been stranded on the rocks ... that would explain the huge flock of gulls I’d seen yesterday and the resultant mess today.


The hounds were delighted to see one

another and sniffed noses and bums and talked DOG for a while .... I’m still looking for a translator in Jaffawood who speaks DOG.


We’re taking photos at the moment of our empty beaches during March .... ammunition for Dog Friends to use to persuade Council to remove the summer restrictions earlier. Day light saving in NZ ends this month and our hounds will be allowed on the beaches off-lead until 10 in the morning from the Tuesday after Easter weekend until Labour Weekend in October. It will be bliss ... no more having to keep an eye out for the Dog Wardens .... no more rushing off the beaches at 9 in the morning.

My sand-dog!

My hound will be thrilled ..... she won’t have to sit on the boardwalk and whimper as the other hounds play in the waves ... she’ll be able to play in the waves herself!


I had such a chuckle at Carol this morning. I caught up with her and Denise after saying goodbye to Julia ... 

they’d been wondering where I was as neither had known that Julia was home early. They were delighted to see me as Carol had news for me. 


Yesterday when Carol and I had seen Denise, Carol had commented on a top Denise was wearing. Denise had said it was old and 

She's dementedly shaking the ball!

she’d probably be throwing it away soon as that’s what she does when she gets tired of her clothes. Carol, half jokingly, suggested throwing it her way if she wanted to get rid of it. Carol and I often comment on the clothes Denise wears ... we wear walking shorts and T’s for our rambles but Denise is a classy dresser and always looks nice.

Exploring Dingle Dell

Imagine Carol’s surprise when Denise arrived in the bay this morning with the top, all neatly washed and pressed, in a bag for Carol! It MADE my day ..... such a delightful gesture between friends .... now I know why I love these girls and their hounds ... they make me smile!! 

They are their own kind of beautiful!

Update on the migraine .... had to visit the doc today .... it just wouldn’t go away so more medication was necessary. I’m on a HIGH at the moment ... I guess it’s the meds .... but I’m not in pain and that can only be a GOOD thing!!

On of the entrances/exits to Dingle Dell ... there must be 4 or 5 access points

Another road going around Dingle Dell

The view Julia looks out on

We made another new friend on the beach today.

I'm a water-baby at heart .....

Sometimes the artwork in my sky is just so beautiful ....

I love walking at Dingle Dell ALMOST as much as I love my Bay of the Tree ... not quite as much, but almost as much. I can forget for a brief moment in time that we live in the heart of a busy metropolis ... that we’re surrounded by the paraphernalia of a modern society.  Dingle Dell is a wooded fairyland ... if

you listen carefully, you’ll hear those fairies whispering ... I’m sure that’s what the hounds can hear when we ramble there.


Rambling with the hound ... and with Julia and Indy ..... adds a semblance of balance to my life and restores my sanity ... not that there’s much of that left. I’m delighted to have found someone to ramble with who enjoys it as much as I do ... and who has a hound who’s so delightful and so FULL of character. He winds Chocolat up by pinching her logs or her ball ... there’s no malice in it ..... he just wants her to chase him .... typical male!

The gorgeous collies we met this mornig

I’m trying hard today NOT to be judgmental ... not to dislike those few individuals who’re making life on the beaches unpleasant for those of us with hounds.  Carol’s and my run in with the Dog Warden yesterday has stirred up emotions ... from those with hounds and those without.  I’m wondering if my very

visible collecting of signatures for our petition has anything to do with it ... particularly from the likes of GOM and GOB.  It shouldn’t be like this though .... we should ALL be able to use and enjoy ALL YEAR ROUND the abundance of wonderful beaches and public areas that are available to us in this country.  

Our run-in left Carol spitting mad but she wasn’t the only one ....  Julia said she’d felt the same after reading my blog yesterday ..... how can a few isolated individuals be allowed to determine when and where we walk our hounds! If anything, it makes me even more determined to get

signatures for this petition and ensure our restrictions are lifted earlier in the year. I get a huge lift when people come up to ask for petition forms .... they really care .... and they’re prepared to add to our numbers.  These are the people I have to think about when I’m exposed to the rude and unpleasant behaviour of the few GOM’s and GOB’s out there.  

Ha .... I’ve just had a thought .... the GOB really DID have a gob on her yesterday and she used it unpleasantly!  Would that a pigeon would poop on her head!


One of the things I’ve loved about NZ and where we live since I’ve been here is it’s proximity to the beach. 

Walking on the sand ... swimming in the waves ... it’s not something I was able to do on a daily basis in South Africa.  It’s bought back so many memories of the years before we had children.  We lived in Umhlanga Rocks, right on the beach .... every evening after work we’d head down to the beach for a swim and a walk.  I don’t think we realised at the time how very

lucky we were with the lifestyle we had as a young married couple .... we didn’t have much money but we lived in an awesome spot and had the ocean on our doorstep. 


Many years and several children later I’m beginning to understand at last how the ocean calls

me ... I’m a water-baby at heart ... I need to feel the sand between my toes and the waves washing over my feet. For some reason I’m in the right spot in the world at this moment in time ... walking in the waves is my therapy .... getting wet is a pre-requisite - and not just my feet ..... I have a hound that feels the same.

And to end ... a quote from TUT which is just SO applicable to my life at the moment:


“When something difficult or painful happens, always look to see what it makes possible that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible ..... like a new adventure, a closer friendship .... or icing on your chocolate cake!!”