Camel Ride

My Australian adventure in 2017 allowed me to have some unusual experiences. One of those was my first camel ride.  Camels were brought to Australia long ago as a beast of burden.  Once the work had been finished, the order was given to shoot the camels.  This order wasn't followed and the camels were released to fend for themselves.  After all, I'm sure the workers had become quite fond of these creatures and who would want to shoot the very beast that had helped you to accomplish your long days of labor in intense heat. Therefore, camels evolved into wild animals.

On one of our stops in the hot desert, we had the option to ride a camel.  Three camels were selected to serve our tour bus of adventurous tourists.  I still had not made up my mind if I was actually going to ride.  I watched others as they mounted...two at a time.  The guided would walk the camels around a large track, yell "CUSH", the camel would kneel, riders dismount, two more would load, camel would stand, and off they would go.  I immediately observed that each camel had a different personality.  One was compliant, one a little lazy, and one was a Contrary A$$ that fussed and balked at each command! The Cush command had to be repeated several times and often reinforced with the threat of a stick.   I calculated...if I was going to ride, I needed to get in line so that I didn't have to deal with old Contrary A$$.  I would ride with the lady in front of me, and we would be riding Compliant.  We were the last two in line.

As we started to mount, the camel guides told us, 'NO"!  The other lady was as blessed as I with weight and he was not going to let us ride double.  He helped the lady get on Compliant...then turned to me...and pointed for me to get on...wouldn't you know it....Old Contrary A$$!!!!   Now everyone else was watching. Not wanting to look like I couldn't do anything they just did, I walked over got a foot hold, and struggled to hoist my well nurtured body to the seat.  Just is I did, Old Contrary A$$ let out a bellow that resonated across the desert leaving the impression that he had just been neutered by a bob cat.  I could feel the blood rising in my face for both anger and embarrassment.  I could hear all those skinny little malnourished hussies laughing and snickering.   My mouth took over and before I could stop them, the words came out of my mouth, "Shut Up, Bitch, and Ride!"  Ride we did, slowly around the track.

As we rounded the corner and headed down the home stretch, the guide asked me if I would like to trot.  Actually, I really didn't, but I saw this as an opportunity to get revenge on Old Contrary A$$.  My response was, "Absolutely!" The guide took off running, holding on to the rope, and OCA had to follow.   As before, Cush did not come easy, but I walked away feeling that I had gotten the last word with Old Contrary A$$.