Released at last! Mr. Eko’s Sydney to GC Trip

Family Photo!

After 32 days away from us, Mr. Eko cleared quarantine! Whoohoo!

He's in! Barely..

DK and I boarded the plane for a whirlwind Sydney trip at 8:50 am on Tuesday, 12 July. Following our short flight (just over an hour), we grabbed a rental car and made a run for the quarantine facility in hopes of arriving before their 12pm lunch break closure – no problem, we made it by 11:30am!!

At long last - reunited! He was super excited, and as you can imagine, so were we! I think I even got a bit teary eyed.  It took a bit (and a borrowed screw driver) to dismantle his kennel so that it would fit in our super tiny Getz rental car. We managed to get the kennel split in half and in the car after folding seats and doing a bit of push and pull. Kudos to DK on that one! After lining the bottom with toys and bedding, it became Mr. Eko’s seat for the long haul drive home (11+ hours).

View from the Road

For those who were contemplating arriving in Sydney and then “driving up the coast” to visit us – don’t waste the vacation day unless you plan to pull out to the little coastal towns along the way. The highway is essentially a long drive on an inland highway surrounded by forest (most of the time) with very little in the way of scenic views. Internal flights are cheap and well worth the time saved.  However, for our purposes, this straightforward highway was a perfect and essentially direct route to home.

Sunrise at the Beach

 

David and I got a lot of practice driving on the left and took several breaks to play with the Mr.! We were essentially driving straight through the night so we eventually had to stop for a bit to sleep in the car at a rest area around 2 or 3am. At about 4am, we drove the remaining hour or so to the Gold Coast to make sunrise at the beach. Mr. Eko found himself spread between the two of us in the front seat as we cuddled him up while watching the spectacular sunrise! Once the sun was up, it was time for puppy play and a coffee.

No Photo Shop - Spectacular Sunrise!

The homecoming is bittersweet as we are currently without a permanent home and are staying (on an employee rate) in a non-pet friendly hotel. We tried everything we could think of to avoid this, but had to have Mr. Eko go into another kennel situation. Fortunately, it seems like a good spot – 10 acres, other dogs to play with and we can visit, but it is causing us a lot of angst. Please keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, anything - that we get pet friendly housing soon!!!