I went for a little sniff around the swimming baths just down the road. In summertime, the pool is full of kids jumping off the pontoons, teenagers lying around and soaking up the sun, and older folk calmly and steadily swimming back and forth in the ‘laps area’.

Whenever my family come to stay, I take all and any kids down there, because…well, surely it’s some kind of Auntie Law. Right?

Today, though, it was quiet. Peaceful and still. A perfect day for a little walk.

For the past 30 years it has been run as an art gallery and antiques showroom. Full of trinkets and treasures, it makes me wonder how many secrets and stories are quietly living in these objects, tucked away from the endless stream of tourism just down the hill.

It’s a tourist mecca. People come for the views back across to Sydney. For the spectacular sunsets. For the famous Doyles fish and chips.

Even on the cusp of winter, the ferry keeps ferrying people across.

Turns out my gut instinct kicks butt. Harvey is one of the most awesome dogs I’ve ever met. He’s happy, friendly, bouncy, cuddly and bundles of fun. He just radiates positive energy. In just under the week since we decided he was probably OK to go off-lead at the dog park, he has amassed a loyal group of besotted ladies who coo and fuss over him.

He’s made lots of doggie friends. He’s slowly working out that not every dog he meets wants to run and play with him, but he’ll certainly stick with it and try.

Harvey didn’t last long in foster care. I dropped him to his new home this morning. They are friends of mine, so it’s less sad knowing that I’ll see him again. Still, the house seemed very empty coming back in the afternoon.

This morning, we went for a final run and play up at the dog park.

I went out to see who is out and about in my area. I found a group of Chinese students on holiday. Turns out we all like taking pictures of each other.

Hooray!

Big thanks to Emma Finnie for the design and layout, Mat Price for his writing skills, and Shandel Burns for her amazing proofreading assistance.

It has been so rewarding to work on this project, I am just thrilled to bits with all we achieved together.

Copies of the book can be ordered from the link below, but before doing so drop me an email to see if there are any pre-ordered copies left.

I hope you enjoy flicking through the book, and meeting these lovely rescue animals and their families!

First, I ducked up to the Arctic to get a glimpse of those famed polar bears. This chappy seemed a bit interested in being friends initially. I can be quite boring company though, and before long he was lulled into a harmless sleep.

I then casually circumnavigated the globe, to whiz down to the bottom of the planet and acquaint myself with some penguin friends. I’m not sure what’s going on down in the South Pole, but I ended up with all sorts of funny spots dirtying up my lens.

All that traipsing around the Arctic and Antarctic makes a girl feel chilly, so I headed back to warmer climes for a spot of shark spotting. How brave am I? Normally, I am terrified of sharks, but on this day I managed to rise above my fear.

When I finally returned home, exhausted but pleased with all my adventures, my pet dolphins were so excited to see me, they spontaneously leaped out of the water to celebrate my homecoming. It’s nice to be missed!

* OK, OK, so maybe I went to Seaworld. It’s in Queensland at least, which did require getting on a plane.

My very first shoot for the SHELTER project was a particularly exciting one for me. I’ve kept it under wraps for now because I wanted to make sure that the project was really going to work out before I talked about this session. But now that we are at 2nd draft stage with the book, and just weeks away from publication, I figure that I can be confident that it is going to actually happen!

DCH Adoptions have a close relationship with Mark Lizotte – a musician who the Australians among you may better know as Diesel. Mark and his family have a lovely dog named Rufus, and poor Rufus suffered an accident when he was younger, resulting in losing the use of his back legs. It turned out, though, that there is type of ‘doggie mobility cart’ that has been designed to help paralysed animals remain active. And let me tell you, Rufus rocks his cart.

When approached for inclusion in the book, Mark gave us the thumbs up, and after a bit of back and forth with his agent, we agreed on a time and place. It was about April last year, and Sydney these days can be a pretty soggy place. I prayed and hoped for clear weather, but we were greeted with a drizzle of rain, that quickly turned into a downpour.

Mark’s a good sport though, and I can be stubborn as hell, so we did what we could in spite of the weather. After working through the files, I decided to be cheeky. It can’t hurt to ask for a reshoot, right? Mark was up for it, and so we met again a few weeks later.

We were given a slightly bigger window by the rain gods on that occasion,  and I got the opportunity to see first-hand just how well Rufus copes with his ‘disability’. Mark straps his legs into the wheels, and Rufus is off. Chasing balls, running around, sniffing the grass.

He was an awesome doggie model!

It was a really fun session. They are very patient boys, and we moved from room to room, trying lots of different backgrounds and approaches. I think they actually enjoyed having their pictures taken. But really – why wouldn’t they? They are good looking boys, and I have my charming ways!

We even got them surfing. OK, the board is sitting on the floor inside the house, but let’s not get bogged down in superficial details.