We check out of our hotel, do the big grocery shop and arrive at our new home away from home. I'm always a bit nervous at this point, because Dave puts all his faith in me to find appropriate accommodations - I love the challenge, but am always a bit scared that I've booked us into some raggedy, filthy old place with the neighbours from Hell! Suffice it to say, there was no need for worry. The owners were here working around the property, waiting to meet us. They were ever so nice and welcomed us as if we were family. As a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll "shut-up" and let you have a peek at the place:
The place is equipped with absolutely everything!!! is spotless and only a 5 minute walk from the beach.
Our walk to the beach takes us through an area of sand dunes:
and has re-educated me as to how dunes, although they may appear to be scruffy and dull, are in fact, a thriving echo system. We have seen two tortoises (is that a word?) and some bunnies. I was so excited to see a ~ 3 foot long snake skin - that is until I realised that there is a healthy, growing ~3 foot snake somewhere in there!!!! From that point on, Dave has had to walk ahead of Guinness and me :)
And speaking of Guinness, he thanks us every day for bringing him along. The love in his eyes is palpable:
He really is enjoying himself, and for the most part, we are really enjoying having him along - especially now that we are settled in to a "home" for 2 weeks. Guinness is very used to the place and raises no objection to being left in the air conditioned bedroom while we explore, go the beach or out to dinner. Truth be known, he probably prefers it - stays nice and cool, and no chance of getting any ticks on him (have picked 3 off so far).
Point of clarification - the pooch isn't always left behind when we go to the beach. He gets a very long beach walk every morning, and has even been invited to some beach afternoons with us - he generally just lays at my feet, in the shade of my umbrella. The only day of trouble was when the humans thought it would be fun for him to jump in the waves, so we took his Frisbee down. We had been advised that the beach was "dog friendly", but the rules were that all dogs had to be on lead at all times. Well, it was late in the day and folks were starting to clear out. We didn't think anyone would be bothered if we thew Mr G's Frisbee into the water for him to fetch ... well, were we wrong!!! Luckily, the first "event" only results in a warning citation - second time 'round results in a fine. As I said on my facebook post, "bad, bad sheriff!" From what we understand we are very luck to be on a beach that even allows dogs, and a few years back things got pretty bad and out of control - thus the on-leash rule which we now know is VERY strictly monitored!! On a positive note, the sheriff thanked us more than once for being "so nice about it". Apparently he has had some encounters with folks who aren't quite as understanding as us Canucks are.
Oh yea, there's a no alcohol rule too - we haven't had the guts to challenge that one yet :)
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