It looks not too far on the map, but after spending the whole day driving to Adelaide, another 4 hours on top of that the next day felt like another 14 hours ...... glad I went and we all had a good time but I won't be repeating the experience unless I have a couple of weeks to do it in next time. My poor butt feels like it has done a lifetime of sitting in one trip and is still paying for it !
Some photos of the 'Whyalla Experience' :
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| Port Wakefield was so pretty - a town full of historic sandstone buildings that were beautifully maintained. |
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| 150 year old Peppercorn tree in Port Wakefield - visions of Treebeard from Lord of the Rings |
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| Fields of canola were the most common sight through the car window |
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| View over the trial ground. A lot of patchy red sand areas, but mainly grass and in reasonable condition. A bit challenging for the judges on the second day afer someone put a stake through a water pipe when securing the weave poles, creating a little swampy area which had to be covered by the dogwalk, resulting in some very quick thinking course design |
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| An interesting and cost effective solution to rubberising contacts - rubber gazebo matting ! |
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| This is the underside. Matting was glued down tight and then the contact area painted on. Must admit I had my doubts when I first saw it, but most dogs had very little issue with it, and it did the job for a fraction of the cost of wet pour rubber. Very innovative !  |
We had some mixed runs over the weekend - a few nice ones with just bars, one with a broken start line that I went back and reset, (and then of course it was a ripper run after that !) a couple of Masters Jumping runs where I enjoyed the courses a lot but found them very challenging to get into correct position with a fast dog, (although the courses themselves were probably not as technical as we tend to get in Vic.) plus we did manage a first place Qually in ADX on Saturday, which was very nice after having so long off agility to work on that dratted A Frame. (And which I am now revisiting yet again, but I won't go into the fact that I am a sucky A Frame trainer in this post - that probably deserves a whole post of its own !)
And Ivy's BFF and travelling companion Zee also had a first place Qually in ADX on Sunday, so at least the Vics managed to fly the flag in Excellent Agility for the weekend, LOL.
We didn't enter Sunday afternoon's trial so we could spend some time at the beach before driving back to Adelaide.
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| Ivy's buddy Zee waits patiently to be allowed out of the car to hit the beach |
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| Success ! Now throw the damned ball ! |
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| The tide goes out a loooooong way at Whyalla. Perfect for ball loving dogs ! |
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| Did I mention about throwing the damned ball ...... like now ! |
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| And again - I will stare you down until you comply ! |
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| There were dolphins playing near the marina, but my zoom isn't good enough to capture a photo |
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| And so finally back to Glenelg and our favourite motel ...... |
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| ........ and finally Ivy's travelling companions appear almost tired out - almost anyway ! |
Way too tired to photograph on the drive home but I couldn't resist stopping in Kaniva just over the Victorian border - obviously a town with a sense of humour. The sheep and kelpie are from an Arts project celebrating the role of the woollen industry in the district and the sign is proudly displayed outside the local pub. Enjoy !
