Thursday 14 January 2016

The Curious Incident Of The Stray Dog In The Working Holiday

On the fifth day of my fruit picking job in Mildura my roommates and I set out to replenish our food supply which was about to be depleted. 

Along the way to the nearest bus stop we discovered on the way back from our last trip, a stray dog unexpectedly ran up to us from behind and began to walk with us. It seemed to have came out of nowhere, so its home was not clear to us.



Startled and taken by surprised, we weren't sure what to do but continue walking. As we went on, this uninvited guest seemed content to accompany us. It had a chain collar around its neck but it did not disclose any information about our canine intruder. 


It followed us all the way to the bus stop after trailing us for 20 minutes. While we waited, the dog cleverly stayed under the shades of our umbrellas and stuck out its tongue to cool off from the scorching heat. 

Click on the photos to enlarge them!

After waiting for what seemed like an eon, a supervisor from the grape packing company we work for drove up to us to offer a ride. Thus we had to leave our peculiar interlude behind. We said our goodbyes reluctantly and hoped it is able to find its way back home. 

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Just when we thought the most surprising thing has had happened to us that day, a crude-looking van recklessly drove up dangerously close next to us against oncoming traffic and yelled at us to stop our vehicle. To avert any unnecessary disasters, we complied and pulled over to see what this ruckus was about. 

The man was all muscle and smelled of tobacco. He got out of the car and stood over the supervisor with his hands on the roof of the car and yelled obscenities about how we abandoned the dog on the side of the road. He also said something like: "you're lucky I don't hurt people because I will hurt you," and "If that dog got hit I would have rammed you off the road right there and then." 

Knowing we won't be able to talk sense into this madman, we tried our best to explain to him the situation - it was a stray dog that followed us along the walk - and waited for him to leave. When he had finally had enough he slammed the door into the supervisor's knees and stomped off back to his car. 

Signs of relieve left our mouths as we watched the van sped away, as we had never experienced this kind of encounters before. Next thing we know we all bursted out laughing, joking about what had seemed like fatal danger just a few seconds ago. 

What a thrilling and blood-pumping experience caused by a single stray dog!

Note: On the day that this blog is being written, I can confirm the dog was unharmed and had returned to its rightful owner. When it saw us again, it seemed overjoyed and greeted us with many salivary licks. 


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