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THE Australian trip,
8th - 18th of February 2008 |
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Wednesday the 30th of January, I am sitting, as many other nights, in front of the computer looking for beautiful RR's. I am especially looking for a suitable, handsome male for our stunning "logo-girl" Shona, the mother of African Braveheart's first litter. I found a lot of beautiful males, but I really wanted to meet them in real life.
 Friday the 8th of February, my good friend and the co owner of AB FOURever Yours - "Nike", Maria said Yes! to my invitation to come an join me on this journey.
We landed in Melbourne late night Saturday.
 Sunday morning. Rise and shine. We just have to see some Australian animals. Our great host Richard took us on a traditonal Australian Sunday brunch and then to
Healseville Sanctuary. We saw the kangaroo and... the dingo  and finally.... the sweet koala. Then we went to visit Vicki Stoneham, Rijstone Rhodesian Ridgebacks.
It was so interesting for us to meet Vicki since she bred Marias Australian import
Rijstone Aussie Rules - "Navy".  My absolute favourite, beautiful Rijstone Rose Thorn - "Rosie", 1 year old.
Vicki, if you ever change your mind, I will come and get herJ Marias "apple of her eye" at the Rijstones, stunning Amashutu Milkshake - "Kalis".
We spoke continuously about ridgebacks for about 4 hours at the Rijstones, forgot to eat AND forgot about Richard.....Sorry!
Later on we went for some Chinese food and a good nights sleep. Monday morning. A propeller-driven aircraft took us to Albury. Darrel Mills at Zimbalooba welcomed us with open arms, yet we weren't "the blond girls from Sweden"J.
From left, me & Zimbalooba Boom Man -"Dudley", Zimbalooba She the One - "Pepper", Darrel & Chilolo SX Ice on Fire - "Cracker" The lovely Zimbalooba pack! With Zimbalooba Empire Rose -"Tuli" 13 years in the middle. Unfortunately "Big Tuli" passed away 2 weeks later.... Beautiful Zimbalooba Steffi Graf - "Zali". We just chilled out around the pool side looking at pictures and had a fantastic Australian barbeque. And with the night came the rain...
it hadn't rained so much in 15 years, and Darrel told me the other day, it has not rained since..... Tuesday, lunch time, we flew to Brisbane. A smiling Linda Costa (my RR icon) of Sarula Ridgebacks came and picked us up. We had a nice chat in the car and were installed in our guestroom with a nice pool view. We had a fabulous dinner! Fresh prawns and..... yes, you tell me?! But it was delicious together with chilled white wine. After that we had marvellous mussels. And suddenly I realize that I am sitting in Linda Costas home eating a fantastic dinner. I just had to say it loud around the table, Lindas children giggled a little bit at me. We then looked into Lindas fantastic RR library that included her own book "Rhodesian Ridgeback Pioneers". We opened Linda's "golden box", a box full of RR history, so exciting, especially for me since my Shonas grandmother was "THE RR":
Sarula Chikadzi. We spoke until almost 3 o'clock in the morning and fell a sleep like 2 little babies. Wednesday, up early. We had a good 3 hour drive ahead of us, Linda was to take us to the Chilolo Kennels. But first I had to check my reflection in the "magic mirror".
The frame was made from the porch were the first ridgeback meeting took place.... Chilolo Rhodesian Ridgebacks, from left, Rosemary Green, me, Maria & Emma Marshall. The dog that Maria spoke about the most during this trip, Chilolo Copper Bandit - "Bandit". This bitch really had everything and more, Chilolo Eternity Ring - "Beansy", 7,5 years old. This was my "pick" out of the "Chilolos".
 and of course this stunning girl, Chilolo BH Tee Martoonies - "Martini", or is it "Minty"? Rosemary....help! Then Rosemary took us to Jessica Reilly at Amakhosi Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We met Jessicas "rookie" 5,5 months old Amakhosi Springs to Mind - "Kisima" and the rest of Jessicas fine RR's.
 Not far from Amakhosi lives Sharron Taylor, Usakose Rhodesian Ridgebacks. She had a bunch of lovely puppies that we cuddled. I really liked the mother of the puppies, Usakose Secret Kiss - "Kiss", and of course Maria found a livernose that she fell for, Usakose Succes by Design - "Murphy" Sharron also had a litter brother to "Kisima", Amakhosi Springbok Siege - "Siege". Promising siblings! Then we were picked up by Dale Blinco, Riginal Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We went to by some fine Australian wine, then headed off to the Riginals were Cyndy Burton, Starridge ridgebacks was waiting for us. Then Mick made an awesome Australian barbeque while we were talking about....RR's. After dinner we looked at videos (RR's) and petted the dogs. Dusk came and we were forced to head off to Cyndy Burtons place.
We arrived in the middle of the night and went straight to bed, totally knocked out.
Picture from left, me, Dale, Maria & Cyndy. Behind the camera, Mick! The nice Riginal Pack, from left sweet Riginal Dark N Stormi - "Storm", handsome Riginal Do U Get Excited - "Doug", cute Riginal SV Harley N Rose - "Harley" and beautiful Riginal Patience - "Patience". Or am I wrong, Dale? Thursday morning. Valentines Day. We flew to North Australia, 32 degrees hot Cairns. Bev Vanding, Vanridge Kennels picked us up at the airport and installed us at the Kuranda Resort. Nice bungalows in the middle of the rainforest. We were directly introduced to both big spiders and scorpions (and who is your hero Maria?J)
Some strawberry daiquiries and then off to the Vanridge's. We met Bev's husband Ken and stacked and ran with a lot of their RR's.
Here is stunning Vanridge Sunbear - "SB" stacked by Maria Dinner time for the Vanridge pack, half a raw chicken and rack of raw lamb ribs (BARF). Chicken was on our menu as well home at Bev & Ken's, but luckily enough it wasn't rawJ. I almost fell asleep at the dinner table, so Bev was kind enough to drive us back to our resort. No power, in the middle of the rainforest...jippi?! Not! Although I fell asleep at
half past 8, Maria stayed up a little longer to listen to all the wild animals!J Friday morning. Bev took us to Wendy & Rhonda and the Kelanco Ridgebacks.
I just have to say I loved their place! Such a marvellous garden with a big avocado tree and an even bigger mango tree.
Pictured under the mango tree, from left, me, Maria, Bev and Wendy & Rhonda  THE Mango tree The beautiful head of LaSimba Stand N Deliver - "Bailey" Worlds largest teddy bear with the most enormous brisket,
Kelanco ND Eye Say More - "DJ" The clown in the Kelanco pack, LaSimba Without a Doubt - "Kodi".
We drank some coffee and headed off to Julie to see two more RR's before lunch.... Stunning LaSimba Heart Throb - "Zeus" pictured below. Zeus lived together with his "ridgeback sister" from Vanridge, "Possum" and they had a great time together.
Bev went to work and we had some time for shopping in an air conditioned shopping center. Bev picked us up and dropped us off at Kuranda Resort. Maria chose to have a relaxing massage while I sat in front of the computer sipping on another strawberry daiquiri. We had a superb dinner at Kuranda Resort together with Bev.
The big rain caused power cut and we had to use our flashlight to find our bungalow.
The rain didn't stop me from sleeping... Saturday morning, 9 o'clock. After breakfast we were supposed to go to the airport, but we had some spare time and visited another offspring from the Vanridges,
Vanridge Kodatoo - "Koda" 1 year old. Stunning guy, a lot like "my own"
AB Double O SEVEN - "Shumba". Thank you Sarah for having us over with such a short notice. Then it was time to leave Cairns and take off for Sydney.
 I saw a lot of "signs" during this trip perhaps pointing out another "match made in heaven"!?! For example, the movie menu, see to the right, of course they played "Braveheart" and..... the name of the Cabin Supervisor speaks for itself!  Sue Temlett - Nkazimlo, Emma & Linda Friedland from Elangeni, me,
Daryl Friedland - Elangeni and Maria Finally we had arrived at the Elangeni family - Linda, Daryl & Emma Friedland. The home of the father to Marias Australian import Navy - Kargnieulan Hugo a Gogo - "Hugo".
It was like meeting Navy when we first met him. They were so much alike, both "in body and in mind". We had our share of puppy kissing and cuddling since the Elangeni's had 2 litters, 7½ weeks old. Of course I had to find out if there was a difference in stacking Australian puppies compared to Swedish ones. The answer is NOJ! "The dog, the myth, the concept" Poetry in motion with "Hugo"!
A tribute to the Elangeni family, Maria with Navy (son of Hugo) and
Cajsa with Xavi (grandson to Hugo). Click here for a BIG dose of this fantastic RR! The absolutely beautiful ridge of Elangeni Mango Mara - "Mara". After looking at all the RR's at the Elangeni kennel, we had another great Australian barbeque at the Friedlands home. Life was just perfect when we cuddled up in the sofa with a puppy each and looked at old videos playing... dog shows of course.
This final night I almost had an overload of ridgebacks on my mind.... Sunday morning started with a nice brunch, Daryl you really know how to cook! Then we had some more time together with the RR's and of course the two puppy litters. In one litter I found a guy that really caught my eye. He was around me all the time. We chose each other so to speak. I almost packed him in my back-pack...
Then we took off to see a dog show only 15 minutes away. We were introduced to a lot of people and RR breeders. So nice to finally meet people in person.
From left, Hodarirafiki x 2, Maria, Sanyati x 2, me and finally Veldhund. Beautiful HodariRafiki Sinbad - "Sinbad" His mighty litter brother HodariRafiki Titan - "Titan" Finally their stunning litter sister HodarRafiki Aus Pride - "Marina" A grand son to Springvalleys Great Gatsby, Marmatia Gunella Gusto - "Gus",
3,5 months old, owned by Janice - Veldhund. The representantive from Rhodepark Kennel, the Swedish export
Enigma on Stage - "Isak" At ten o'clock this Sunday evening Maria and I were on our way back home to Sweden. With so many new friends, contacts, pictures, videofilms and impressions.
We had met 16 RR breeders, 84 rr's and 7 puppy litters during our week in Australia.
 AND... we also brought this little guy to Sweden! Welcome Elangeni BraveheartRules!
He is/was a wonderful gift from Linda & Daryl from Elangeni Kennel to me and Maria!
And as Maria and I already own the Goddess of Victory - "Nike" together we will now own the God of Love - "Eros" together.
More pics of Eros here>> and for more info look under "Our Dogs" - "Eros"
THANK YOU Linda & Daryl! And for those of you who have wondered if I am going to the USA?! The answer is NO!
I don't need to! I found what I was looking for, and more, in Australia the beautiful land "down-unda'"! See ya mates! |
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