Chapter 6
Thunderstorm at Forty
Adam woke in the back seat of his Subaru alone, he tried to sit up to look out through the window but he was all tangled in the blankets. He eventually managed to sit up but he could not see out as the car was all missed up. He opened the door only to see that Zoe’s Land Rover was gone.
He struggled to get his pants on within the confines of the car and then find his boots. Once sort of dressed Adam got out of the car and looked around, there was no sign of Zoe.
It was a fine sunny day as he stood next to his car just looking around, trying to take it in, he was alone in the middle of know where. Was it all a dream, but know, he could see the tyre track of Zoe’s Land Rover in the mud.
He finished getting dressed, organized the car and drove off. Zoe was right, only a few km’s down the road he came to a ‘T’ junction, he turned right, the sign post read Bourke. It would take about five hours to get to Bourke on what would be all bitumen roads.
Adam could not work out why Zoe had left without saying a word, how did he get it so wrong, miss read her so badly, may be, he was seeing what he wanted to see, rather then what was real. He dwelled on it for hours, constantly chastising himself for being a fool. As the km’s went on he started telling himself that he would have to take the good with the bad during this trip. Last night was good, today is bad, and that was that.
The traffic was light, he only saw the occasional caravan go the other way and he only court up to one truck full, of cattle, he had to pass it as it was generating a very interesting smell.
Try as he might, his mind kept coming back to Zoe and why she didn’t say goodbye, may be this way is easier, but it would have been nice if see had said, ‘goodbye.’
The sound of the Subaru engine just groaning away, km after km, made the time pass slowly. At one point, Adam did not touch the break peddle for over sixty km’s.
Bourke came into view just after three in the afternoon and it was a welcome site as Adam had not really stoped all day, only a few times to walk around the car. He had not eaten all day other then chocolate and an energy bar. After finding a Motel he headed out to look for somewhere to eat. Adam eventually found a bakery that sold good old Australian food, a meat pie and chips.
The only thing Adam new about Bourke was the saying, ‘out the back of Bourke’ and now that he was there, he understood the meaning of the saying.
Bright and early the next morning Adam filled the car with petrol and headed towards Narrabri, which would take about five hours. According to the internet Narrabri was a big cotton growing area.
Adam was aware that the cotton industry was run by big companies rather than independent farmers, so work might be harder to get. He did not know how he new that, it must have been something he picked up from TV. If the farms are run by big business than its more likely they will require things Adam does not have, like a licence to drive a tractor. Businesses tend to worry about pieces of paper more than farmers, who are more concerned about your ability to do the job.
Time would tell but first he had to get there. The roads were all bitumen and like the day before, it was all about covering the km’s as there was nothing to see but treeless country side.
The closer Adam got to Narrabri the less desert like the country side become, still flat and treeless but more grass and crops, mostly cotton. Adam arrived in Narrabri just after two in the afternoon, he stoped to buy petrol and as he opened the cars door a wall of heat hit him like a sledge hammer. It was too early to book into a Motel and as he had not had any lunch he found the nearest Pub. The Pub was like all country Pubs, a bit old world charming, a bit seedy, a bit unwelcoming at first and a bit of a snap shot from a bygone era.
Adam got talking to one of the locals, who told him that most of the work in the cotton industry was through employment agents but he also pointed out a notice board near the entrance of the Pub. He said that some of the independent farmers sometime advertise there for workers.
As he was leaving Adam checked the notice board and found one ‘wanted’ add, but not for cotton work. It was for tractor drivers to help with harvesting wheat, he rang the number and arranged to meet the farmer the next day.
Adam could not find a Motel, they were all full, so he had to settle for a camp site at a caravan park. He set up his tent, which took some doing as the ground was like concrete, he bent one of his tent pegs trying to drive into the ground.
The next morning Adam travelled the twenty odd km’s to a wheat farm to the west of Narrabri. He following the directions he was given by the farmer, which took him along the main road out of town before turning onto a dirt road for about ten km’s. The country side in this part of the country was harsh, it felt threatening, it felt like it could reach out and swot you if it wanted to.
Adam found the farm and the farmer, who was working on all the machinery needed for the harvest, which were all lined up in front of a dilapidated machinery shed. There was an old farm house to one side of the shed with a row of Red Gums on the other side. In between the shed and the Red Gums was an unused chook yard all over grown with a choko vine. On the other side of the house was an old Tennis court, all over grown with weeds and with it’s fencing all falling down. Behind the shed there was a row of silo’s towering above the shed roof.
Adam got out of his car and walked over to the farmer, “Hi, I’m Adam, I rang about a job,” said Adam.
The farmer put down a spanner and wiped his hand on his overall before shaking Adam’s hand and saying, “I’m Matt.”
The setup looked much the same as with the last farm Adam worked on harvesting wheat. Except that the machinery here was older, a lot older, everything looked like it was on its last legs.
Matt was no spring chicken either, he looked about eighty in the shad. He was about Adam’s hight, bald and thin, he looked weathered, like he had lived a very hard life. He looked tired, not like he needed some sleep, more like he was tired with life, tired of endless farm work, or the endless march of time.
“Like I said on the phone, I drove a tractor for five weeks, harvesting wheat near Gunnedah about six or seven weeks ago,” said Adam.
“Awe mate, that’s fine,” said Matt, he then paused for a moment and then added, “now mate, we start tomorrow, awe yer.”
“That suits me, I’m staying at a Caravan Park in town and there is nothing to do and no escaping the heat,” replied Adam.
“Awe mate, you can camp out here if you like, awe yer, some off the others will be doing that, you know what I mean, there’s a shower and everything in the shed, awe yer,” said Matt.
“That’s great, I’ll just go back into town to get my tent, I’ll see you after lunch,” replied Adam.
Adam drove back into town, packed up his tent, found a car wash and washed the red dust and mud of the car before heading back out to Matt’s farm. Once there he pitched his tent in the shad of one, off a line of old Red Guns.
Matt was still working on one of the tractors so Adam offered his help but he was all but finished. He did help Matt hitch up all the hoper trailers to the tractors and do a drive around check.
While checking the machinery, a four wheel drive with caravan arrived and parked in the shad of one of the Red Gums.
An older couple, may be in their mid to late seventies, got out of the four wheel drive and walked over towards Matt and Adam. Everything about them cried out, ‘grey nomads’ and that is what they were. The man was heavy set with a full head of grey hair, he was wearing a ‘T’ shirt with, ‘made in Australia’ written on it. The woman was also heavy set but with long dark hair, she was wearing a pair of Dame Edna Everage glasses and a ‘T’ shirt with, ‘hello possums’ written on it.
“Hello Matt, all ready for tomorrow?” asked the man.
“Awe mate, awe mate, all good,” replied Matt.
The man put his hand out towards Adam and while shacking hands he said, “I’m Richard and this is the wife, Nancy.”
“Hi I’m Adam,” replied Adam.
“Are you part of tomorrows harvest?” asked Richard.
“Yes,” replied Adam.
Richard turned to Matt and asked, “are we alright to set up camp where we are?”
“Awe mate, yer, you’ll be fine there, awe yer,” replied Matt.
“How many workers did you get?” asked Richard.
“You and Adam as well as my neighbours, Charlie, driving tractors, me driving the header, my other neighbour, Tom on the auger and Nancy looking after the cooking,” replied Matt.
“Alright, we’ll just get set up,” said Richard.
Richard and Nancy walked back to there caravan and started setting it up, folding out annexes, and generally making everything comfortable.
“Well I’ll see you bright and early in the morrow,” said Adam, he then asked, “what time?”
“About five,” replied Matt.
Matt walked off toward the farm house while Adam wondered over to his tent. After a while, Adam went over to Richard and Nancy’s caravan to ask if he could get some hot water for a cup-a-soup. But they invited him to have a sausage sandwich which he accepted.
“What brings you out here?” asked Nancy.
“I’m just travelling, I’m sort of on a road trip, sort of working holiday, I’m actually on long service leave,” replied Adam, he then asked, “what bring you guy out here?”
“Same sort of thing, we are retired and we just decided to travel, working just helps cover the cost,” said Richard.
“How long have you been doing this?” asked Adam.
“Just over two years,” replied Richard.
“This is our second year here,” said Nancy, she paused for a moment and then continued, “Matt needs to retire, he’s eighty nine, that’s way too old to be doing what he’s doing.”
“May be it’s keeping alive,” said Adam.
“May be, but he can’t retire and stay on the farm, he’s not eligible for the pension while he owns the farm, even if he let it go back to nature,” said Richard.
“I think he is hoping to die here, like his parents and his two brothers,” added Nancy.
“And those neighbours Matt talked about are in their eights as well, so you’re the young man in this work force,” said Richard.
“Talk about, ‘Dad’s Army,” added Nancy.
“I better get to my tent, tomorrow is going to be a tough day, thanks for the sausage sandwich,” said Adam.
“See you tomorrow,” replied Richard.
Adam made his way over to his tent and his bed.
Adams phone alarm made the noise at four thirty the next morning, waking him from a deep sleep. The sun was not yet up but by the time Adam was dressed and ready for the day, the sun was starting the day.
As Adam walked towards the shed he heard the sound of a tractor starting, and before he got to the shed he heard another tractor burst into life. Once at the shed, he could see Matt siting on a tractor attempting to start it while the others were idled away. An old HR Holden Ute pulled up near the shed, two older men got out and walked over.
“Hi, I’m Tom and this is Charlie,” said Tom as they both shock Adam by the hand.
“Hi, I’m Adam,” said Adam.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” call out Tom at the top of his voice, as he walked over towards Matt. Tom seemed to be quite the extravert, loud and enthusiastic. Charlie followed along behind saying nothing, just giving Matt a bit of a wave.
Matt was not one for a lot of words, he just climbed on to the header and with a wave of his arm, the sort of wave you would see John Wayne do in a western movie, he drove off. Adam climbed on to the nearest tractor and followed him, Charlie was next in line with Richard running from his caravan to the last tractor and then coming up the rear. Tom stayed behind to operate the auger, transferring wheat from the hoper trailers to the silos.
The tractor Adam ended up on was an old John Deere, very old, it had a canopy of sorts, which was something, but it was, heavy to operate, smelly and it generated enough heat to run a small generator. They drove out into the wheat paddock in signal file like a wagon train in that John Wayne movie.
Once at the paddock, Matt drove straight into the wheat signalling the start of the harvest, Adam came along side and lined the trailer hoper up with the shut on the header. Wheat started pouring out of the shut into the trailer hoper and what a magical sight it was. Charlie was lined up behind ready to take over as soon as Adam’s trailer hoper was full. Richard hung back waiting for his turn.
Once Adam’s trailer hoper was full he headed back to the silos where Tom was waiting. Adam with Toms help unhitched the trailer hoper and hitched another up before heading back to the paddock. Tom, operated the auger, to transfer the wheat from the trailer hoper into the silo. On and on they went, back and forth, the old machinery made for slow progress. No time for a lunch break, Nancy handed out some sandwiches every now and then.
By day’s end they had managed to harvest about fifty acres, at that rate, it would take another five days to finish the harvest.
Nancy had spent some time during the day cleaning up an area at one end of the shed that was once a sort of entertaining area. There were a number of table and chairs, picnic area type tables and bench type seats. There was a wood fired BBQ at one end of the area that, like everything around Matt’s farm, was well past its use by date.
Everyone gathered around the BBQ for a good old fashioned fry up, steak, sausage sandwiches, eggs and bacon were the order of the day. Everyone except Adam had a can of beer in there hand and tall tails were being told by all. Given the age of the group, the conversation eventually came around to the folly of the younger generation and how the world was going to hell in a hand cart. Even Adam’s car came in for some comment.
“What’s that thing on the back for?” asked Tom.
“Is it a car or a plane?” asked Richard.
“Have you seen the exhaust on it, it’s like a twenty litre drum connected to a bit of drain pipe,” added Tom.
“Have you heard the noise it makes, it sounds like a cow with heart burn,” said Richard.
Adam just smiled and did not engage with the banter.
Leave him alone, he can’t help being young,” said Nancy.
Being refereed to as being, ‘young’ made Adam smile, given that he was on this ‘road trip of discovery’ because he turned forty.
The next day it all started again, the old machinery all started up as did all the workers. Adam was feeling the effects of driving the old tractor but give the fact that he was half the age of some of the others he soldiered on. Farming is a hard life yet these blokes in their seventies and eighties were still putting in a long hard days work, they were inspiring. Adam wondered if he would be as active as Richard, Tom, Nancy, Matt and Charlie when you got to their age. The way he was feeling as he drove along next to the header, made him think, ‘not’.
As the days passed, each day much the same as the day before, Adam found himself getting tireder and tireder. The old tractor was such a work out to drive that bye the end of each day he was completely exhausted. But it was all over now, he could relax for a while.
With the harvest done and dusted, Matt put on an end of harvest BBQ to celebrate. The last day of the harvest was a welcome sight for Adam, but the last day of the harvest was not the last day of work.
Matt decided to take a few days off before starting on the big job of making straw. Adam spent most of those days laying in the shade of a big old Red Gum reading a good book. But he did help Matt one afternoon doing some maintenance work on the baling machine.
Those two days passed very quickly and before he knew it, it was time to start baling straw. Adam drove a tractor cutting the stubble, Richard followed along raking it into rows and then Matt came along with the baling machine. It took four days to bale all the paddocks and another three days to bring them in from the paddocks and stack them in the hay shed.
Matt put on another BBQ as a thank you for the help baling the straw. Everyone was happy to see the job done and dusted except perhaps Matt, it was like he knew that this would be his last harvest, that the life style he had lived all his life was coming to an end.
The next day Richard and Nancy packed everything into their caravan, said their good byes, and headed off towards Queensland and their grey nomad life style. Adam pulling his tent down, packed his car, and got ready to leave. After saying his good byes to Richard and Nancy Matt came over to Adam.
“Thanks for all your work,” said Matt as he handed Adam an envelope containing his pay.
Adam folded the envelope and put it in his shirt pocket and said, “thanks.”
“Where are you heading now?” asked Matt.
“North Queensland, I thought I would have a go at harvesting sugar cane,” replied Adam.
“Awe mate, awe right, sugar cane hey, yer know mate, I hope you find the answers your looking for, awe yer,” said Matt.
“I hope so,” replied Adam.
During his time at Matt’s farm Adam had not talked about his ‘road trip of discovery,’ yet Matt through the wisdom of age had worked it out.
They shook hands, Adam got into his car and drove away. He drove into town, stoped at a super market to stock up on food, snacks and drinks before filling the car with petrol. As he pulled into the service station he saw a Land Rover, a Land Rover he knew well. He pulled up at the bourse opposite the Land Rover, he got out off his car and started filling it with petrol. Zoe was know where to be seen so he concluded that she was in the shop paying for her petrol.
With the Subaru full of petrol, Adam started walking towards the shop to pay for his petrol. Zoe came out of the shop and saw Adam, she hesitated for half a step, but there was know where to go. She walked towards Adam, looked straight at him with a half hearted smile and said, “Hi.”
“Hi,” replied Adam, as they passed each other. He desperately wanted to ask her why she ran off, but he didn’t.
He continued on into the shop to pay for his petrol while Zoe drove away.
Seeing Zoe unsettled Adam, rekindled his confusion over why she ‘ran off’, he found himself thinking about it as he drove out of town. He took a wrong turn and had to do a ‘U’ turn to get back onto the correct road. Once on the right road he headed towards Miles, a small town about six hours up the road.
Adam dwelled on Zoe for some time as he drove through the country side but eventually put her out of his mind. The road was bitumen but not a highway, it was narrow and straight. The country side was flat, with scrubby trees growing along the road side and in the paddocks, with some crops being grown, mostly wheat. There was next to know traffic, with only a few cars going the other way and know one court up to Adam, nor did he catch up to any other cars.
He stoped a few times along the trip, just to break up the seemingly endless km’s and to stretch his legs, just walk around the car a few times to get the circulation going.
On arriving at Miles, Adam had no problem finding a Motel. He settled in and was looking forward to sleeping in a bed for a change. Dinner at the local Pub and an early night were the order of the day for Adam.
Another day and another day on the road, Rockhampton was the destination and it would take something like six hours to get there, on mostly main roads. The closer Adam got to Rockhampton the greener the vegetation got, not like rain forest, but the trees were less scrubby, and the country side less flat. Adam could even see hills on the horizon, something he had not seen in many weeks.
The roads were a lot busier on the trip to Rockhampton, with caravans, cattle trucks and four wheel drives going the other way every few km’s. Adam court up to a number of vehicles during the day, with caravans being the most difficult to deal with. But at least with the caravans he could just follow along behind as they got along quite quickly. The cattle trucks were slow up hills but got along quick enough on the flat but staying behind then was not really an option due the very interesting smell they generated.
Adam arrived in Rockhampton later in the afternoon than he expected but as it’s a large town there was many Motels to choice from so he had know problems finding a suitable Motel for the night. The Motel Adam choice was in walking distance of the main street so he walked up and down the main street looking for something to eat. He eventually found somewhere that served good food and ordered a steak and chips.
On getting back to the Motel, the sun was setting, a red sun set, setting over the hill in the distance. He sat outside the front door of his Motel room watching the sun going down. And as he watched the sun set he also noticed the comings and goings of the other Motel rooms. It become apparent that this Motel let its rooms by the hour. He retired to his room and watched an old movie on the TV, one of those, boy gets girl, boy losses girl, boy gets girl movies.
The next morning Adam woke refreshed after a good nights sleep and set out towards Bowen. He followed the highway all the way so there was a lot more traffic, trucks, caravans, and just lots of four wheel drives. Being a highway there were many long stretches of four lane road so there were know problems of being court behind a slow moving vehicle. The highway followed the coast so the country side was a lot greener and the trees a lot larger.
Adam felt less like he was in the middle of know where driving up the coast on the main highway, simply because there was so much more traffic about, also as the towns and villages were closer together. Adam was enjoying these days of travelling, just driving from town to town gave him a sense of freedom he had not known before.
Even though Adam was ultimately heading to Innisfail to try his hand at working in the sugar industry, if that did not play out, he did not care, he would simply try something else. He might try working in Bananas or may be there is work to be had on one of the tourist islands. And if nothing comes along, who cares, he would just keep travelling.
Adam arrived in Bowen around three in the afternoon but it took just on two hours to find a Motel room. There was some sort of sporting event in town that weekend and the Motels were all booked out. He eventually found one in a small village called Merina, about ten km’s out of Bowen. Merina was too small for a Pub, or anywhere to eat except for a road house so with know option, Adam had to have road house food, a pie and chips.
The Subaru had started making a noise every time Adam applied the brakes so he decided to stay in Bowen to try to have it fixed, hoping it was nothing to series.
The next morning dawned fine and sunny, very much like the weather you would expect in Queensland. He hoped to find someone too look at the Subaru and hopefully fix it.
The Motel was a small family run Motel and from a service stand point it was easily the best Motel he had stayed in so far. They told him were the Subaru Dealer was located and in case they were unable to help, they gave him details of another mechanic as a second option.
Being Saturday the Subaru Dealers maintenance department was not open so Adam tried the second option. This mechanic was also not open but he was there, working on his own car, a Subaru rally car. He agreed to, ‘have a look’ at it in the hope of finding the problem. He put the car on a hoist and looked around underneath, there was a lot of dried mud and the exhaust was damaged. Adam told him that would off happened when he ran off the road in a storm. The mechanic then removed the wheels to inspect the brakes, they were worn out and needed replacing.
The mechanic told Adam that the car was fine to drive and to bring it back on Monday for repairs.
Adam was looking at the rally car when he asked, “Is that made from carbon fibre?” he pointing at a new sump guard the mechanic was fitting to his rally car.
“Yes, it’s lighter and stronger than the aluminium one I just removed,” replied the mechanic.
“Do you want to sell the aluminium one?” asked Adam.
“Yes, do you want me to fit it to your car on Monday?” asked the mechanic.
“That would be great,” replied Adam.
Adam offered the mechanic some money but he didn’t want any.
Adam then headed off on a bit of a scenic trip around Bowen, checking out the local sights. He drove to the local beach and then to the head land and looked out over the ocean, it was a great view, if you like that sort off thing.
After lunch Adam headed back to the Motel where he relaxed, watched a bit of TV and tried to think about nothing at all. On Sunday Adam spent a lot of time on the internet, bouncing around, looking for places to go, looking for work he could do, generally planning the coming months.
First thing Monday Adam took the Subaru to the mechanic and left it there for the day. He walked the few km’s into the town centre and had a bit of a look around. He purchased some work cloths and another pair of boots as well as some more gloves. After lunch he headed back the mechanic’s workshop but the car was not ready.
The mechanic’s name was Tony and he worked alone. He was in his forties and seemed to know what he was doing, he was tall, balding, and confidant in his own ability. The workshop had three car hoists, a bench down one wall, a small office in one corner and was clean and tidy. Tony’s Subaru rally car was parked in one corner of the workshop and there was a MGB on one of the hoists. Adams Subaru was on one of the other hoists being worked on by Tony.
Adam asked if he could wait and Tony said, “yes,” then showing him through a door that lead to an area out the back of the workshop. It was roofed in with a BBQ in one corner with some tables and chairs in the other corner. Along one wall was an old lounge chair with a coffee table in front of it.
“There’s an electric jug over there,” said Tony, as he pointed at a table near the BBQ, he then added, “coffee and tea as well some biscuits are just there.” he continued to point at the table next to the BBQ.
“Thanks,” said Adam.
Adam sat on the lounge, picked up a car magazine that was on the coffee table and he started reading a story about the latest Subaru WRX. After a while he made himself comfortable on the lounge by laying on it and continued reading the car magazine.
He must have been asleep for some time when he was awoken by the unmistakable sound of a Subaru WRX. Adam walked into the workshop to see Tony backing Adam’s Subaru out of the workshop and driving it away, returning a few minutes later.
Tony drove into the workshop, got out and said,”all fixed,”
“That’s great,” replied Adam.
“Come into the office and we can sort out the invoice,” said Tony, as he walked toward the office.
Adam followed him into the office and sat down.
“OK, I have replaced the brake pads and rotors as well as a new section of exhaust. I also have fitted the sump guard and cleaned all the dried up mud from under the guards, that’s a total, parts and labour of, $1,253.00.
“That’s good,” said Adam, as he handed Tony his credit card.
“Other wise the car seam’s to be in good nick,” said Tony, as he played around with the credit card machine, he then asked, “have you moved to this part of the world?”
“Know, I’m on a road trip,” replied Adam.
He thanked Tony for his work and then headed back towards the Motel,
purchasing some dinner from a Red Rooster outlet on the way. Then after dinner he searched around on the Motel’s Netflix, eventually finding an old movie to watch.
The next day Adam was on the road early as Innisfail was a long way and it would take a good seven hours to get there. The car was going better with its new exhaust letting it breath better. The km’s ticked away as the day went on, Adam stoped a number of times, for petrol, for something to eat and other times just to stretch his legs.
He arrived in Innisfail late in the afternoon and found somewhere to have dinner without much trouble. The first Motel he tried had a room so he took it. He was tied from the long day behind the wheel so it did not take much for him to fall asleep.
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