Travelling Vets - 13. TV Chapter 13

“Thank you, sir. That is much appreciated, we didn’t think we would have this much trouble when we purchased the Double Decker in Tamborine,” Marcus responded. “Yes, well it is certainly an eye-catching vehicle, with all the graphics on it,” the officer said. “Can you let your colleagues know that we will be stopping overnight in Tambo, as we prefer to take this journey at a steady pace, as we have no rush to get home,” I said to the officer, and I offered to give him a tour of our bus and the trailer, which he accepted.

On leaving the town of Roma, we continued our journey, with our next overnight stop being the small town of Tambo. We saw from the information we had, that the service station was on the edge of town, so we would refuel first, before heading to the caravan park on the other side of town, and as we found as we drove through previous towns, we seemed to attract a lot of attention.

Once we had booked in and set up for our overnight stop, which was a bit of a struggle, as the power lines were drooping down very low, and we had to make sure that the roof of the bus wasn’t going to damage them, and this time we detached the trailer and parked it alongside and just 1.5 metres from the bus, so that awning was partially over the trailer, creating a sheltered and private space to set up our outside space to relax.

Since leaving Tamborine in our new mobile home, five days ago, we had travelled a distance of just over 890 kilometres and we still had a long way to go yet. The boys had settled in fairly well, now having a routine of reading a book or watching a nature documentary on the television, when we are travelling, and while Marcus and I are setting up camp and preparing dinner, the boys are doing their school work.

As the distances between towns increased, we decided that extend our driving each day from around 200 to about 400 kilometres, preferably stopping in a town overnight, and stopping at a truck bay or rest area for our lunchtime break. Our next overnight stop will be Longreach, which is just over 300 kilometres away from Tambo, and where we cross over the Tropic of Capricorn, as well been the original operation base for Qantas, when it first started and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre.

All of these interesting bits of history, Marcus put to good use, assigning homework for the boys, to research and write about things that we see during our journey. We would not be able to fit into the two caravan parks in town, so we were directed to the Riverside Tourist Park, located 6 kilometres out of town on the banks of the Longreach Waterhole, and there are several other larger vehicles and caravans also camping there, due to the size restrictions.

With so much interesting history in Longreach, we decided to stay for three days, and having the jeep was handy, to get around and visit all the interesting places. After our first overnight stay, we had drawn a lot of attention from the locals, who had come to check out the double-decker bus and trailer, with all the graphics on it. Once again, we had parked the trailer alongside the bus, and the jeep parked at the front between the two, to give us more shelter and privacy, during our stay.

The boys were amazed at all the chickens that seem to be just roaming around free, and on our first morning while having breakfast, we were stunned to see several emus wandering around as well, and they even came close to the bus to check us out, which had the boys a little worried at first, and Marcus whispered to them to stay still, as they won't harm us, as they are just checking us out.

“Oi, you bastard, that was mine, go and find your own breakfast, you little thief,” I called out when my piece of toast was snatched out of my hand by one of them, which had the boys laughing out loud, while Marcus had his phone out taking photos of the emu eating my toast.

As we were cleaning up from breakfast, we heard a scream, and we all dashed out to see what the problem was, “Stay with the boys, I will go and find out what the problem is,” I said to Marcus, as I followed others towards the river, where I came across a girl crying and a small dog laying on the ground nearby. “What has happened?” I asked. “A snake has bitten my puppy dog… is it going to die?” the girl who was about ten years old replied, as I stepped forward.

“Not if I can help it, young lady, as it happens, I am a vet, and I have all I need back at my trailer,” I said as I gently scooped up the dog, and turned to head back to the bus, almost crashing into a lady. “That is our dog, what is the matter? Rebecca was that you that screamed?’ the woman asked.

“Snakebite, I am a vet. I will be at the double-decker bus treating your dog, give me half an hour and I will have news on how she is,” I said to the woman, as I dashed off back to the bus and trailer, and when Marcus saw me carrying a dog, he quickly opened the trailer and switched on the aircon and lights. “Do we know what sort of snake?” Marcus asked, as he quickly got to work to prepare the area, as I placed the dog on the workbench, and retrieved a stethoscope to check her heart rate.

I noticed the boys peek in to see what was happening before they returned inside the bus, closing the door behind them, as Marcus and I worked to save the life of the dog. With us getting to the dog so fast, there was a very good chance that she would survive, as I had bought some antivenom while in Brisbane, as well as some intravenous fluids, and we located the bite site quickly.

Once the dog looked like it was showing signs of recovery, I left Marcus to watch over her, while I went to speak to the owners. “Hi, I am Dr Jex Kendrik, Veterinarian from northern WA on holiday,” I said to the girl and her mother. “Hello, I am Joyce Lennard, and this is my daughter Rebecca,” the woman replied. “Nice to meet you both. Now, because we were able to give immediate treatment, your dog appears to be on the mend, but we will have to monitor her for the next 24 hours, to make sure that the antivenom that I administered does its job.

She is resting now, and I will let you go and see her for a short while, but she needs to stay quiet for the rest of today and tonight. Hopefully, by morning, she will be well on the way to recovery. My partner and I will take turns to keep an eye on her for the rest of today and tonight, and depending on how she is by lunchtime tomorrow, we will see if she can return to her owners,” I said to them both.

“Thank you, Doctor, we are so thankful that you are camping here when this happened. It would have put a real dampener on our holidays if it was a lot more serious or tragic,” the women replied and I smiled and nodded my head in understanding, as I saw the boys approaching with spare blankets and a doona, and they entered the trailer, and I waited till they exited, before leading Mrs Lennard and her daughter to the side door of the trailer.

A bed had been set up on the floor, and with the back door of the trailer closed, the whole of the back area was empty, and I decided that I needed to get some supplies from somewhere. “Err, do you have a little tray and dog food for your pup?” I asked, as I saw the girl give her pup a light cuddle, “Yes, I will go and get them for you now, and once again thank you for all of this,” Mrs Lennard said, leaving her daughter to watch over the pup, while she went to get the supplies, which included a few cuddly toys.

While Marcus took the boys to explore more of the town, I stayed behind and watched over our first patient, checking her every fifteen minutes for the first two hours, then every half an hour after that. At lunchtime, Marcus took over watching the pup, while I prepared lunch, and afterwards, I took the boys into town to do some food shopping and to get a few other supplies, as we neared the start of our long and remote outback journey.

By lunchtime the following day, the pup was up and about and ready to return to her family, so we happily gave the all-clear for that to happen. And shortly after we had finished lunch, this time dining inside, there was a knock on our door, and with Marcus being the closest, he stood to answer the door.

“Hello, I am James, the local vet, I hear on the grapevine that you came to the rescue of a pup, belonging to visitors, who had a snakebite,” the gentleman said at the door. “Hello James, I am Marcus, and I am travelling with my life and business partner Jexon Kendrik,” Marcus replied as I stood and headed for the door. “I have heard of him, he’s the DVO for the Victoria River and Kimberly districts, and there is a rumour that you let a mob of cattle out of some yards to scare away some nosey reporters,” James said as I came up behind Marcus.

Marcus laughed at this while I smiled and nodded to the visitor, “That would be me, and it is not a rumour, it is all true. The bit that you didn’t mention is that the cattle yards were on the cattle station owned by my family, of which my mother is the general manager,” I said to James. “I see, does your family own many cattle stations?” James asked as Marcus stepped down and out of the bus, and I followed.

“My mother and my uncle own and manage four stations, three are in the Victoria River District and one is near Wyndham in the northern Kimberly. Marcus and I own a cattle station in the Pilbara district, along with a WW2 Airbase, plus a thriving Veterinary practice, that has four full-time vets, including one business partner, and 6 auxiliary staff, plus there are two senior partners who are out and about doing other things at the moment,” I replied, and Marcus chuckled. “That would be us two,” Marcus added.