We got a dog!

Well... kinda. Encouraged by the Ekka show holiday falling midweek, we decided to extend our break to the weekend and check into The Tin Dog for a bit of R&R. To explain the title of the post, we picked up a new friend for the house to help us in the garden and help scare off pesky vermin that may savage our fruit and vegetable pots. Rusty isn't especially lively but we think he's made of strong stuff.



It should come as no surprise that most of our time was once again spent eating and shopping. We've walked past a little hole in the wall fish and chip shop in Byron that I've been keen on trying so that became our first stop. I'd never seen it so busy before but the asian in me figured that anywhere with people queueing out the door for food would be worth checking out. For a gourmet fish and chippery the menu wasn't as pretentious as The Fish Monger's Wife so I decided to order something on the "simpler" side for a change, and the baby octopus and chips with a side serving of corn certainly satisfied. The little suckers were oh so succulent.



Our stay at The Tin Dog itself was gorgeous once again, though it was a shame to discover that the owners plan on closing down in the next month to take a much needed break. Breakfasts were of course the highlight as Sue and Mark know how to put on a great spread with local produce. Als and I were also happy to see that Sesame, the ageing bovine we met on our last trip, was still kicking on strong.

Shopping efforts were largely directed at checking out funky clothes for Alison (a diminished ordeal thanks to handy audiobooks on the iPhone) as well as scouring antique stores for odd bits and bobs for our upcoming outdoor area. We ended up being quite successful on both fronts and more besides. One vision Alison has for the garden is to have eclectic containers and barrels to grow plants, and I'm sure it'll take us a happy lifetime of hunting to collect enough to satisfy.



Though most of the work in the garden will have to wait for our renovations to finish, we just had to get started on something small to slake our enthusiasm. A quick trip to Bunnings and we now nurture small barrels of strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce and lavender in the hope that we won't kill them too quickly. Rusty would help out but he's been placed on guard duty at the front door until we can find a more settled home for him in the finished backyard. At least we have a friendly face to greet us when we come home. Isn't that why most people get dogs?