JANUARY - MARCH 2004

Kellie & Breeze: In January we found ourselves, ever the adventurers, heading for the Point Hut Crossing on the Murrumbidgee River, way down south of here. It wasn't a bad spot for a dip, really, but the absence of lizards and water birds denied us the opportunity to give chase to a representative of another species and scare the living daylights out of it.


Kellie: Once again, my Mum (above) proved herself faster than me in the water. This is a tad embarrassing, given the fact that she is six years older than me. Ah, well, at least I can content myself with the knowledge that I am faster than her on land. (I'm also considerably faster than her in reducing a full supper bowl to an empty supper bowl, but you can put that down to the natural exuberance of youth.)


Breeze: We can't claim to look our best when we're sopping wet, we'll grant you that. In fact, when we're wet, the Pack Leader says that Kellie looks like a big furry blowfish and I look like a drowned rat. Not kind. Not kind at all. Kellie says that we should probably respond by telling the Pack Leader that, in similar circumstances, he looks like nothing so much as a big beached dugong. I advise against that action, given that such a cutting observation, even though arguably quite accurate, would almost certainly result in a serious long-term stoppage of treats and pats. And that, of course, would be an utterly intolerable situation.

Kellie: Sorry, Pack Leader. If you want us to come home now, you'll just have to wade across and get us. Har, har, har.

Breeze: Har, har, har.

Pack Leader: OK then, here's the deal. If you two rascals don't come here this instant, there'll be no treats for you when we get back to No 86. And probably very little in the way of pats, either.

Kellie and Breeze: OK. OK. We're coming. We're coming.

Kellie & Breeze: Early February found us out to the north west at the Uriarra Crossing, another favourite swimming spot on the Murrumbidgee River. We occasionally see the odd pelican here, but we've never been able to catch one, more's the pity. Then again, as the Pack Leader observed, if we did manage to catch one, what on earth would we do with it? To be frank, our thinking hadn't actually progressed to that stage. To us, the chase is all. What comes at the end of it is a matter of little, if any, consequence.

Kellie: One spot at the Uriarra Crossing is particularly enjoyable. Its a sort of miniature horizontal waterfall. I like to go down it facing forwards, with my motor idling and my flaps down.

Breeze: And I like to go down it in reverse gear, paddling furiously at maximum RPM. It's the challenge, you understand, together with the absolute thrill of not actually being able to see where I'm going.


Pack Leader: What on earth are you doing there, Kellie? Kellie: Well, I figure that, if I stay hidden behind this rock, the fish coming downstream will just jump into my mouth. Pack Leader: And what happens, young lady, if it's a snake that comes downstream, as opposed to an actual fish? Kellie: Then it's over to you, fearless leader, and I'm outa here.	Pack Leader: And exactly what, pray tell, are you doing up in those rocks, Breezie? Breeze: Hi there. Searching for lizards, Pack Leader, as is my wont. Pack Leader: Your wont, you say? And what happens if you encounter a snake instead? Breeze: I'll speak to it, counsel it, and try to persuade it to become a better person.

Kellie: Time out from all that exertion. Think I'll just stand on this rock for a while, looking gorgeous.	Breeze: Twenty four puppies I bring into this world, and fate decrees that I wind up living with the insufferably vain one. But that's my Kellie.

Kellie & Breeze: Later in February, Auntie Trish came down from Queensland to see us. Acting like the charming little hostesses that we are (hem, hem), we showed her around much of Canberra while she was here.


Kellie: So here's the Alpha Female and Auntie Trish at Lake Burley-Griffin. We're deep inside black swan territory here, hence the Alpha Female's vice-like grip on my leash.	Breeze: And here we all are outside the gates of Government House. We would have gone in to have afternoon tea with the Governor-General, but time was short. Honest.