Our spot

Balnarring Beach

Maya and I love this little spot, so much so that we think it's Paradise. It is Maya's most favorite spot in the whole world - although sometimes I get the impression with Maya that her favorite spot is where ever I am. Oh the love of a dog folks! It is just so pure and simple. You are just their whole world, their everything.

Maya knows when we are going to the beach. She senses it even before we leave the house sometimes. I don't do anything to indicate to her that we are going. I don't pack a towel. In fact, when we are going for a beach walk all I take is her lead and the car keys. That's it.

But she knows.

I wind down the window for her and she stands up and sticks her head out, ears streaming behind her, big smile on her face. We turn down the road leading to the beach and she starts to whimper excitedly. She smells the sea air and she's just one little bundle of pure joy.

At low tide we love peering into the rock pools that are left behind. 

On the beach she becomes happy and energetic. Lately she's been giving out short, excited yaps and bouncing about.

"You want to run, don't you girl?"

So we run a little way...and for a short while she seems like that energised puppy all over again. Her heart murmur that normally makes her heart thunder in her chest seems to have given some reprieve and she is able to run with me. We don't run far - not even 100 metres - but for that short time it is just Maya and me again, running for the sheer enjoyment of it.

She even loves paddling through the water with me - especially in the water of the rock pools. She won't go in for a swim, but loves a paddle.

I decided last Friday that every Friday for the next 12 months Maya and I will go to the beach - rain, hail, storm or shine. Maybe I'll take the camera with me. Maybe I won't. When we are on the beach I am enjoying being totally present - no phone, no camera, no Facebook, no Instagram. Just Maya and me, enjoying the sun, the sea, the smell of the salty air, the sound of the sea birds and the gentle waves rolling in.

I can't believe I finally live where I've always wanted to be - in a small country town near the sea.