Chapter 4.
Thunderstorm at Forty
Since starting this adventure, this road trip, around five weeks ago, Adam has worked as a brickies labourer, and as a tractor driver harvesting wheat. Both these jobs were not planed, they sort of fell into his lap. This trip did not start out as some sort of working holiday, it was more to do with getting away from his life as a clerk with the Dept of Transport. But the work he has done has been an eye opener, a window into how the other half live. And he was enjoying it, not so much the hard work but more to do with the experience and the people he has met.
Adam started thinking, may be he should look for work. So he was heading toward Broken Hill to see what the mining industry had to offer.
It would take two days driving to get to Broken Hill, with a stop over at Cobar. The drive to Cobar took just over six hours and consisted of long straight roads, mostly in good condition. Grey nomads driving four wheel drives with large caravan in tow were plentiful. They tendered to drive a bit slower than Adam but not so slow that he felt the need to get passed, so he waited for the right opportunity. This took some time and km’s on some occasion, but Adam was in know hurry, so it did not matter. The country side was much the same for km after km, open plains or scrubby bush.
Adam stoped at Nevertire for petrol and something to eat, he didn’t hang around long as there was not much in Nevertire, not even some shade to park under. And the temperature was in the high thirties so it was cooler to keep driving with the air conditioning on.
Cobar was a welcome sight for Adam as the long straight roads and sameness of the country side made the trip seem longer than it was. He found a Motel that looked nice enough and booked in for the night. The room was very much like all Motel rooms, it would do for one night.
After settling in Adam walked the few hundred metres to the main street in the hope of finding something to eat. There did not seem to be many places to eat, so he ended up at the Pub. The Pub was very much the typical Australian country Pub, as were the patroness, a mixture of tradies, miners and locals. Adam was the only outsider there and it was like John Wayne walking into a Hotel in a western, everybody stoped talking, turned and looked at him.
Adam walked up to the bar and ordered an orange juice and then a steak with chips, the bar man gave him a device that would light up and vibrate when his meal was ready. He walked over to an empty table and sat down, looking around the room, Adam concluded that this was very much ‘a working mans Pub’.
The device lit up and vibrated telling Adam it was time to pick up his meal. Pub food as a rule is basic but good, but in this case Adam found the steak a bit tough and the chips cold. He was part way through his meal when a short, weather hardened man walked into the Pub and in a loud voice said, ”I’m Rodger from ‘Outback Road Works,” he then asked, “is anyone interested in a weeks labouring work?”
Adam was thinking about it when someone sitting at the bar said, “yer I’ll do it.”
“That’s great, anyone else interested?” asked Rodger again, who then walked over to Adam and continued, “how about you?”
“What sort of work is it?” asked Adam.
“Just roustabout, labouring work with a road maintained gang,” replied Rodger.
“Yes alright, I’ll give it a go,” said Adam.
Rodger gestated to the man at the bar to come over and sit with Adam, he walked over and sat with them and said as he shook hands both Adam and Rodger hands, “Hi, I’m George.”
“OK, I’m talking about seven days work, doing road repairs to Mulya Rd, about fifteen km out of town, its just labouring and well doing what ever is needed. It pays three hundred a day, in cash, that’s a ten hour days, and there is a chance it will last longer,” said Rodger.
“That’s fine with me,” said George.”
“No problem,” said Adam.
“Start time is six thirty tomorrow morning, location is around fifteen km’s out of town on Mulya Rd, which is the first left just down the road from here,” said Rodger, as he pointed in the direction of Mulya Rd.
Rodger stud up and said, “see you blokes tomorrow at six thirty,” he then walked out of the Pub.
“Your not from around here are you?” asked George.
“No, I’m just passing through,” replied Adam.
“Where are you staying?” asked George.
“The Motel just down the road.” replied Adam as he pointed in the direction of the Motel.
“Could you give me a lift tomorrow, save taking two cars?” asked George.
“Know problem,” replied Adam.
“Pick me up outside here at six, alright?” asked George.
“Alright, know problem,” replied Adam.
“See you tomorrow,” said George, as he got up and walked out of the Pub.
Adam did not warm to either man, Rodger was aggressive, like an Army Sargent Major, which made him think that he might be a hard boss, and George, well he did not seem to want the job. As he walked back to his Motel room Adam questioned his decision to take this job, he had enjoyed the last two jobs, may be it was just apprehension about this one.
As Adam walked back to the Motel he passed a take away food shop so he purchased a sandwich and bottle of water for lunch the next day.
Bright and early the next day Adam found himself parked outside the Pub waiting for George, he was late. George said nothing as they drove along Mulya Rd, he just sat there looking out the passenger window, Adam did not know what to make of George. A few km’s out of town Mulya Rd become a dirt road, that red dirt that gets everywhere.
They arrived at the site at around six thirty five, five minutes late, at which time Rodger expressed his disapproval. Telling them, that if they did not want the job, they should not have taken it. He then put them to work without introducing them to the other workers. Adam was told to help with the traffic lights, these needed to be assembled at either end of the road working, basically replacing the old ‘stop/go man.’ The person
in charge of this did not introduce himself, just barked out orders and instruction on how to assemble the traffic lights.
Rodger then shouted out more orders, this time telling Adam to, help the grader driver, which mostly involved moving small rocks out of the way of the grader. The grader driver did introduce himself, “Bob is my name,” he said in a gruff voice, then adding, “welcome to our gang.”
Bye morning smoko Adam had met all the other workers and it was not a happy work place, nothing like the other two jobs he had enjoyed since taking on this adventure. It was like none of them wanted to be there doing there job, like they all hated each other, it was a very hostile work place. Not the sort of place Adam wanted to work, he was now sure that it was a mistake to have taken this job and as he did not need the money he had know reason to stay. He did not like the idea of giving up on something or not doing what he had agreed to but this work environment was just not for Adam. He decided to see the rest off the day out and then call it a day.
After an unpleasant lunch break where two of Adam’s co-worked argued over nothing, the traffic lights stoped working. While they were being fixed Adam worked as a stop/go man and one of the cars was a familiar Land Rover. With the stop/go sign in his hand he walked over to it and said, “Hello Zoe, the Land Rover woman,”
“Hello Adam, Mr 98 octan man,” replied Zoe.
“I said I would see you along the road,” said Adam.
“I think I said that,” replied Zoe.
“So you did, you know it’s a small world, this is my first and last day here,” said Adam.
“Bad job,” replied Zoe.
“Shocker,” said Adam.
Adam’s radio crackled into life with Rodger yelling, “get them cars moving.”
“See what I mean,” said Adam as he turned the sign around to ‘go’ and waved the cars through.
Zoe waved and said, “see you along the road,” before driving away.
It took some time to fix the traffic lights so Adam had to be the ‘stop/go man’ until they were working again. By the time four thirty arrived Adam was well and truly over this job, not so much the job but the people he was working with. He was glad to see the end of the working day and the end of this job.
He walked over to Rodger and said, “that’s it for me, I want be back tomorrow.”
“Typical doll bludger, can’t take a hard days work, I should ‘dob’ you into the Social Security,” replied Rodger.
Adam just looked at Rodger for an uncomfortable time before saying, “firstly, that was not a hard day’s work and secondly, I’m not unemployed, so ‘dob’ till your hearts content.”
“Don’t expect to get payed for today,” replied Rodger.
“I didn’t, but I’m sure the tax Department will be interested in your accounting,” said Adam.
Rodger got his wallet out of his pocket, counted three hundred in one hundred dollar notes and through them towards Adam as he yelled, “there.” He then walked away towards his four wheel drive.
Adam ignored the money, turned around and walked towards his car. George came over, picked the money up and followed Adam to his car.
“I have never seen anyone stand up to him like that,” said George, he then continued, as he handed Adam the money, “here’s your money.”
“Have you worked for him before,” asked Adam.
“Off and on for a long time,” replied George.
“I thought this was your first day,” said Adam, before adding, “you shouldn’t work in such a toxic work place.”
“There is not much work in Cobar,” replied George.
Adam dropped George off outside the Pub and continued down the road to the Motel. The next morning he headed towards Broken Hill which was about 550 km’s away, which would take him just over five hours to drive. He stoped in Wilcannia for lunch but for the most part he just kept driving. The country side slowly changed as Adam got closer to Broken Hill, the scrubby bush gave way to grass and then desert, well not quite desert, but close to it.
Broken Hill was once a big mining town but these days it is less so, it’s still a mining town, it’s just that mining is not as bigger part of the town’s economy as it once was.
It did not take long for Adam to find a Motel and settle into his room. He had to drive into the centre of town to find something to eat but other wise it was quite comfortable. He had dinner at one of the many Pubs in town and after talking to some of the locals, he was told that the vast amount of employment in this town were through employment agents.
The next day Adam found an employment agent and walked in. He was asked to fill in a form covering his passed employment. After that he was shown to a private room to be interviewed.
The employment agent introduced himself as Michael but before he could start talking Adam asked, “what percentage do you take of my pay?”
“Fifteen percent, plus a joining fee three hundred dollars,” replied Michael.
“What sort of jobs can you get me?” asked Adam.
“First we need to talk about what you can do for us, before we talk about anything else,” said Michael.
Michael was about thirty five, he wore a cheap suit, and Adam guessed he studied business management at one of the lesser known Universities.
“This is an employment agency, is it not?” asked Adam.
“Yes,” replied Michael.
“What sort of jobs have you got on offer?” asked Adam.
“We have a good cross section of jobs,” replied Michael.
Adam looked at Michael for a moment and then said, “You’re not an employment agent are you? you’re an employer. You employ people and then sub contract them to other employers.”
“That’s what employment agents do,” replied Michael.
“No they don’t, an employment agent would work for me and take a cut, you’re an employer who is misrepresenting yourself,” said Adam.
He then stud up and said, “thanks for your time, you are not suitable.” He then started to walk out.
“You want find an employment agent in this town that operates any different than us,” said Michael.
“Then I want be working in this town,” replied Adam as he walked through the door.
Walking down the street he found another employment agent but like the first it was really an employer.
While eating lunch at a Pub, Adam got talking to one of the locals who informed him that all employment in this town was controlled by employment agents.
After thinking about it for a short time Adam decided to head to Mildura in Victoria to try his hand at fruit picking. So the next morning he drove south towards Mildura, on the Murrey River. Mildura was only four hours from Broken Hill so he could take his time. But there was nothing to look at along the route, just flat dry country, not even tree’s, just grass and the occasional very small tree.
It was a lonely trip for Adam, only a few cars went the other way and he court up to no other travellers. There were no towns or even road houses, it was a very lonely road to travel. Just the sound of the Subaru engine droning out the same old tune.
He had a lot of time to think as he drove along through the never changing country side. May be he should take some time and stop doing the work thing, put the idea of fruit picking on hold, for a while anyway. Just take a break, ‘stop and smell the roses’ for a moment, and just may be, Mildura would be the right place to do that. May be buy a tent, a comfy chair, get a camp site by the river, and just sit in the shade reading a good book.
Adam arrived in Mildura around lunch time, to early to book into a Motel, so he parked in the main street and found somewhere to have some lunch. Not to far from where he had parked, Adam came across a Café that looked like a place he could find something suitable for lunch. He enjoyed a very traditional Australian meal, a meat pie and chips, before deciding to walk the main street, just to get the feel of the place.
He walked down one side of the street, cross over and started walking back when he noticed a camping store and right next door was a book shop. Adam took this as the world trying to tell him something, so he decided to listen, he had a good look around both of them.
In the camping store he purchased a tent, it was big enough to stand up in but not to big that it took up to much space in the car, when folded up. He also purchased a fold out chair and table as well as a blow up bed. Adam had never been camping in his life so he was in for a new experience, one he was not sure he would like.
Buying a book was more of a challenge, Adam was not a great reader, so he wanted something easy to read, so not, ‘War and Pease.’ But equally he did not want to read some sort of pulp so he browsed for a while before asking the shop assistant for advice. She suggested, Pride and Prejudice, Don Quixote or Great Expectations. Adam had a general knowledge of these books, in as much as he, knew what they were about. He was looking for something he knew nothing about, well may be the title.
An older shop assistant suggested a book by Australian author, Patrick White, called ‘The Tree Man’, which Adam new nothing, so why not, he thought to himself, and bought it.
All he needed now was a camp site bye the river, but that could wait till tomorrow. He made his way back to his car and drove around looking for a Motel. He found a nice Motel located on the banks of the Murrey River that would suit him for the night. As he competed the booking in formalities he noticed that the Motel also had a camping area, so once he had settled into his room he went for a walk around the camping area. It was perfect, good shaded positions, great views over the river and quietly located behind the Motel, he booked a space.
The next morning Adam moved his car to the camping site and unpacked the tent. A quick read of the instructions and he erected the tent without any problems. The blow up bed came with an air pump that worked by plugging it into the car, it was slow but easy. It only took him about an hour to get his camp set up, but it was pretty basic, no cooking equipment, no lights, no TV or music.
Adam had known intention to cook while camping, he would be going into town to one of the Pubs or Café’s. As far as TV and music go, well he had his lap top, which had access to the Motel’s internet. But, he would need some sort of light, so he headed into town to the camping store and purchased a few LED lights. He also went to the shopping centre to buy some niceties of life, blanket, pillow, snack food, just to make life a bit more comfortable. He was now set up and ready to camp.
That afternoon he started reading, ‘The Tree Man’, while sitting in the shad of a tree, looking out over the Murrey River. The afternoon passed very quickly as he sat there engrossed in his book. He went into town for dinner at the Pub and then returned, watched and old movie on the internet and was asleep by ten.
Adams first night camping went well, the blow up bed was comfortable enough but it was camping.
Adam had been camping, reading and relaxing for just on two weeks, he was on his third book, ‘Great Expectations’, and as he walked out of the Pub one night he saw on the notice board, a flyer. It was calling for fruit pickers, to pick oranges, they needed both pickers as well as tractor drivers, so he made a note of the number.
The next day Adam rang about a fruit picking job and was given details, it was real old school stuff. Be at the farm at six thirty and the farmer will pick who he needs for that day. Adam could remember his Grand Father talking about that type of thing during the great depression, he didn’t think it still happened. It was no big deal if they picked him or not except that he would have to be out of bed and drive out to the farm, early. Being forty may play against him but on the other hand, he could drive a tractor.
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