I won’t get to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), but, not to worry, I’m on my way to the world-famous Dog Rock.
What? You hadn’t heard of Dog Rock? Well, Maasdam is stopping in Albany, Western Australia, and my dogged pre-trip research has turned up a sight that no less than Charles Darwin supposedly visited in 1836.
Worth a postcard even before the Great War …
… there it is on the other side of the road.
Some see a golden retriever or Labrador, perhaps a basset hound or St. Bernard. Local wits claim it’s a rock-weiler.
As best as I can discover, a ‘collar’ was first added in the 1930s to prevent road mishaps at night.
The rock's frequented by dog walkers, some of whom may have just stopped at …
… the Dog Rock Vet.
The Dog Rock Motel has been cashing in on the nearby landmark for years.
Nearby is a shopping centre - pretentiously named Dog Rock Boulevarde - at which you’ll find …
… a Dog Rock bottle shop.
There’s also a Dog Rock Chemist and dog.
With such attractions, I’m amazed that not a single fellow passenger turns up to marvel at the sight. Perhaps they would if they’d read one tourist’s reaction:
‘I can't believe the earth could produce such a sublime work of art … and the painstakingly painted collar takes it to the next level. Get ready to have a religious experience if you go on a pilgrimage to Dog Rock’. (tripadvisor review)
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Headlines in the ship's newspapers. After a dogfight of an American campaign, a dog’s breakfast ( = confused mess) of an outcome.
‘Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon’. (Mother Goose)
