WA truck driver Noel Cassidy was driving alone on the North West Coastal Highway in the Pilbara last month when he decided to pull over at a parking bay to check the strappings on his load.
As he stood in the dark, somewhere between Exmouth and Onslow, out the corner of this eye he saw something moving on the back of his trailer.
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Thinking it was a dingo, Mr Cassidy ran to the safety of his cab and jumped up on his seat only to look down and see a red kelpie sitting by his door, looking up at him inquisitively.
"It just sat there looking at me, probably thinking, 'what's wrong with this guy?' [for running away]," he said.
"After I turned my torch on I realised that it wasn't a dingo but just a dog and a well-looked after one as well, as it had a nice shining coat which dingoes don't."
Mr Cassidy offered the dog some food, which he gently took out of his hand. After feeling safe to exit the cab again, the truckie noticed the dog following him, always standing beside him and rubbing his snout against his hand.
The unlikely pair were alone in the outback, 85 kilometres from the nearest town of Onslow, which led Mr Cassidy to believe the kelpie may have been accidentally left behind by another truckie.
"Once I lifted him up into the cab he jumped straight into my sleeper cab on my bed as if he's done this before, which is why I thought he belonged to another truck driver," he said.
![Truck driver Noel Cassidy took the mysterious red dog with him from Onslow to Perth.](/web/20170304163927im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/p/3/x/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gup0hl.png/1488436963742.jpg)
"When we arrived in Onslow I put him back on the ground and hopped back in my truck thinking he would go somewhere else, but he just ran around my truck and trailer a few times and then sat down again looking at me for 30 minutes so I opened my cab door and said to him, "up".
"I made him a bed on the floor and I went to sleep."
![Rusty was attempting to find his owner who had gone to Margaret River for a wedding.](/web/20170304163927im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/p/3/t/c/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gup0hl.png/1488436963742.jpg)
The next morning before he was due to drop off his delivery in town, the truckie tried to say farewell to his new-found friend again but the kelpie refused to leave his side.
"I delivered my load, dog and all," Mr Cassidy said.
Over the next two days, the duo travelled 1,400 kilometres together down to Perth.
"Once we left Onslow I started to call him 'dog' and he listened – that was cool I thought," Mr Cassidy said.
After hearing of his father's new travel companion, Mr Cassidy's son asked him to send through a photo of the dog so he could post it on Facebook and try to find its owner.
Within hours, a man named Reece called Mr Cassidy.
Reece, who lives in Onslow, told ABC North West Radio he was in Margaret River for a wedding when his dog, Rusty, escaped his backyard and somehow made his way to the highway - 85 kilometres away - before hitching a ride with Mr Cassidy down to Perth.
"We're not sure how he made his way out to the parking bay, then he was found by a truck driver...and jumped in the truck and rode all the way down to Perth," he said.
"He just decided to go on a road trip."
Rusty had been travelling in the direction of his owner, who was only 300 kilometres away from his adventurous pup when he arranged to collect him.
"We might just keep taking him with us now, he wants to come on holidays with us now," Reece said.
Rusty's hitchhiking stunt bares striking similarities to the Pilbara's most famous dog, Red Dog, who lived in Dampier, just north of Onslow, in the 1970s.
Also a red kelpie, Red Dog travelled the Pilbara and had a number of locals who looked after him in between his rumoured hitchhiking adventures as far as Perth, Broome and Port Hedland. Â
A film based on the life of Red Dog, released in 2011, remains one of the highest grossing Australian films of all time.Â
A prequel movie called Red Dog True Blue opened in Australian cinemas on December 26.Â