Chapter 7
Thunderstorm at Forty
After a restless nights sleep, Adam ventured out to have a look around Innisfail, it was about nine thirty in the morning, and the main street was quite. He walked up and down the main street, stoping every now and then to look in a shop window. Like a lot of country towns the main street was a mix of old world shops, take away food shops and shops that have been converted into offices, Doctors, Solicitors and the like.
Some of the shops harked back in time, Adam could not resist going into one of them. It was a clothing shop and it was like he had stepped onto the set of the old TV show, ‘are you being served,’ he was even greeted by an older man wearing a suit who said to him, “can I help you?”
Adam felt obliged to buy something so he replied, “I’m looking for a shirt.”
The older man directed Adam deeper into the shop to the men’s wear department. Before he had the time to look around a younger man approached him with, “can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a shirt,” replied Adam.
The young man showed Adam a rack of shirts of many designs and colours.
Adam removed one from the rack and said, “this one will do,” as he looked at the size, and then added, “if you have one in medium.”
The young man took the shirt from Adam and checked the size before replacing it on the rack, he then searched around on the rack.
“Here’s one, would you like to try it on?” asked the young man.
“No thanks, it will be fine,” replied Adam.
“We have a no return policy on items not tried on,” said the young man.
“I’ll take the risk,” replied Adam.
Adam handed the young man some money, who then played around with an old cash register, before handing Adam his change and a plastic bag containing the shirt.
Adam walked out of the shop with a red check shirt that he would probably never wear, but the experience was worth it.
He continued walking along the main street of Innisfail, checking out the shops until he came upon a café, so he stoped for a cup of tea and biscuits.
As Adam sat outside the Café watching the locals going about there day, he wondered what he was doing sitting outside a Café in Innisfail, north Queensland. But he then reminded himself that if he wasn’t sitting there he would be sitting at a desk moving paper from his ‘In tray’ to his ‘Out try’. Sitting in the main street of a country town was so much better that sitting at a desk in an office.
Sitting at the Café looking around the town, Adam was struck by the Art Deco style of architecture that prevailed with most of the building in the main street. That placed them in the 1920’s, may be there were built between the wars, but before the great depression.
Adam walked back to the Motel, got into his car and headed off, driving around the district, just to get a feel for the place. During his walk up and down the main street he had not seen ‘wanted adds’ on notice boards or come across any employment agents, so he was not that confidant of finding any work.
While out driving he came across a park and lookout, so he stoped for a look. The view was spectacular, looking out over acres and acres of sugar cane, bananas and the Johnstone River.
There was a notice board at the park that gave a brief history of the area as well as general information. Amongst the information were warnings about the dangerous animals that lived in the area. Snakes, a number of poisonous snakes were common as well as, Cassowaries and Crocodiles. Then there were animals that would not kill you, but were pretty nasty, like spiders and leaches.
Adam got back into his car and continued his drive around the district, and as expected, there was a lot of Sugar Cane and lots of Bananas. Back in town Adam stoped at the local Pub for a cold drink, it was a typical Queensland Pub, two storey, with verandas. There was no notice board so no job search there. Inside the Pub was very old world, lots of wood grain panelling, old advertising posters and dark coloured carpet.
Adam was drinking his orange juice at the bar and thinking about his next move, when two tradies walked in and sat next to him. One was and older man, more than likely the boss, and a younger man who had, apprentice written all over him.
The Bar Man came over and asked, “what would you like?”
“Two middies,” said the older man, he then paused for a moment before saying to Adam, “don’t see strangers in here too often.”
“Really, I would of thought you would see plenty of tourists and grey nomads going through here,” replied Adam.
“No not really, they all go to Cairns,” said the older man, before adding, “your not one of those doll bludgers are you?”
“Know, I’ve never met a doll bludger, I’m not sure they actually exist,” replied Adam.
“Awe, they exist alright, there’s plenty around here,” said the older man.
“Really,” replied Adam.
“Are you after work?” asked the older man.
“No, I’m on holidays,” replied Adam.
The bar man brought the tradies drinks over and they both went over to a table and sat down.
Adam stayed in the Pub for the next few hours, just taking in the local atmosphere. The local Pub is a great place to find out all about a town and what’s happening. The sugar cane harvest was not due to start for another month, so no work there, there was some work about in bananas but generally it was contract work.
After eating a nice dinner of steak and chips he walked back to the Motel.
Adam was going off the idea of trying to get some work, he was too early for the sugar cane harvest and banana work did not grab him.
From talking to the locals, Adam had come to the conclusion that the working environment in this part of the world was not very pleasant. Apparently the generational farmers treated their workers with contempt and sea change farmers ran there farms like corporations, so their workers were on contracts. Neither of these had much attraction for Adam, he did not mind hard work but it needed some purpose, he enjoyed the team work, not work for works sake.
So Adam was thinking about doing some site seeing and then moving on. After all he did not need the money and this trip was more to do with getting away, doing something different, just forgetting about life for a while. It was a trip of discovery, not a trip of nasty jobs.
That night Adam spent some time on the internet looking for things to do in Innisfail and found a few things that might be of interest.
He started the day with an Art Deco tour of the town, which covered the stories of the building in the main street. After lunch at the Pub he visited the Sugar Museum to find out all about the sugar industry. An interesting day but not what Adam was really looking for as far as this trip was concerned. He found himself questioning weather to move on or do some more site seeing.
The next day Adam decided to move on but not that far, just about two hours up the road to Cairns. On the way he took a deviation to the near by Nation Park, just to look at the senary. He stoped at a lookout to admirer the view out over the mountains, but the low cloud obscured it.
Reading the plaque at the lookout Adam noticed that the mountains were named, ‘Misty Mountains.’ This was the name of a porn star, in a Russel Crowe movie, Adam had watched recently. He wondered if it was a coincidence or if the movie makers had names the character after the mountains.
Arriving in Cairns around lunch time, too early to find a Motel, so Adam found a Café on the water front and had some lunch, while admiring the view out over the water.
Adam found Cairns to be bigger than he expected and easily the biggest town he had visited on this trip, very much a tourist town and nothing like a rural country towns he had spent time in over the last few months.
Sitting outside the Café drinking an orange juice, looking out over the water front, Adam found it hard to believe that, he was in northern Queensland. Women walking bye wearing bikinis, some with, ‘hand bag,’ dogs on a lead, men wearing budgie smugglers, carrying surf boards, kids running and screaming all over the place. It just wasn’t the image Adam had in his head of a north Queensland town.
Adam walked along the road parallel to the water front, all the shops were, Café’s, take away food shops, souvenir shops, with the occasional swim wear shop. He crossed the road and walked through the park that was between the road and a path that followed the water front.
The park was landscaped with palm trees and grass, there were sculptures and memorials doted here and there as well as a large knee deep pool. He continued along the path that followed the water front, there was a half meter high wall between the path and what should of been the water, but the tide was out so there was a good fifty metres of mud before any water.
As Adam walked back to his car he found himself pondering on how different life was for him now, when compared to not that long ago. Here he was, walking along the water front of Cairns, the sun was shinning, pretty girls in bikinis everywhere. Not long ago he would off been sitting at a desk, in a stuffy office, wearing an old suit, moving paper around. So different, but had he only changed geography, he wasn’t sure.
He turned a corner into a side street, and literally bumped into a woman.
“Sorry,” said Adam, as he realised it was Zoe, then adding in surprise, “my goodness Zoe, how are you?”
“Fine,” replied Zoe, then adding, “how are you?”
“Alright,” said Adam, censing she was not that happy to see him, but never the less adding, “it’s a small world.”
“To small sometimes,” replied Zoe, she then continued as if she regretted saying it, “I’ll see you along the road.”
She started walking away, when Adam said, “yer, see you along the road.” He said it in a voice which conveyed, a certain amount of sadness.
Watching her walk away, he wondered what had gone wrong, a dark cloud formed over him. He then continued walking back to his car but while doing so he started to feel tired, not physically tired, just tired. Once back at his car he sat in it for a while just trying to think about nothing. After sitting in his car for about ten minutes, he searched the internet for Motels, found one, and drove to it.
The Motel room was like most Motel rooms, comfortable with all the services you would expect. Adam settled in, laid on the bed, found an old movie to watch on one of the streaming services and just lost himself in the movie.
The next day Adam headed out on a bit of a mini road trip, looping out of Cairns and back again, via Mareeda, Atherton and Goldsborough. The drive would take somewhere around three to four hours with out any stops.
The first part of the trip had some twisty, winding road that then opened out onto more open straight roads. Lots of crops could be seen on both sides of the road, bananas, as well as acres of corn.
Adam had finally managed to load some music into the sound system so he turned it up load and lost himself in the music. The km’s ticked by and after what seemed a short time he was driving into Mareeda. Adam thought about stoping for a tea break at Mareeda but the road skirts the town so there was know where to stop. So he just continued, following the signs to Atherton.
The road to Atherton was open and straight and Adam just cruised along at around ninety kmh, with the music playing and the sound of the Subaru engine drowning out all other noise.
Arriving at Atherton just before lunch, Adam stoped in the main street and found a bakery for a pie and chips for lunch. Adam was enjoying this drive, it was peaceful, relaxing and giving Adam some joy.
After lunch he continued on towards Cairns and the completion of this lop through the Atherton tablelands. Back in Cairns, Adam stoped at a Pub for a drink and then stayed for a while, he stayed long enough that he then had dinner there.
Getting back to the Motel at around seven, Adam gave some thought to what to do next. He decided to move on, but with know real plan other than to head in the general direction of the Ord River.
Leaving at his leisure the next day, Adam headed toward Georgetown. The route took him along the road to Atherton, the same road he travelled the day before and then on through Mount Surprise and on to Georgetown. Not far out of Atherton the country side started to change, giving way from green tall trees to brown grass and scabby bushes, with aspirations to being trees.
Only one Motel at Georgetown, and Adam had no problem getting a room, only one Pub as well, which served a good meal for dinner.
The next day Adam continued west, towards Normanton. The further west he travelled the scabbier the country side become, not really desert, but a long way from rain forest. The road was quite, only the occasional car going the other way and Adam never court up to any car or truck.
Normanton was a little bigger than Georgetown but still only one Motel, which had plenty of rooms available. Pub food was the order of the day again and an early night for Adam as it was a long day.
The mining town of Mount Isa was the next destination for Adam and it was a long day behind the wheel. Long straight bitumen roads were not conducive to keeping Adam awake so he had to stop many time to keep himself from falling asleep. But eventually the km’s ticked down and Mount Isa was on the horizon.
On the approach, Adam could see that it was a biggish town, very much like other outback towns, just a lot bigger. Wide streets and nose to kerb, angle parking are the hall marks of outback Queensland towns and Mount Isa is know different.
His choice of Motel had more to do with it being, ‘in walking distance to the main street,’ than the price or its star rating. As it turned out it was, ‘cheap and cheerful,’ but that did not matter, it was a bed for the night.
Adam walked down the street from the Motel, looking for a Pub so he could buy something for dinner. The first one he came to was, ‘old school,’ it was two storey with verandas along the front and very old world inside. He went up to the bar to order an orange juice when he noticed that the bar maid was topless, this was a topless bar.
“I’ll have an orange juice please,” said Adam.
The bar maid pawed him an orange juice and put it on the bar, “That will be two dollars fifty,” she said, somewhat gruffly.
The bar maid was in her late twenties, tall and slim, she had long blond hair, and she was wearing a short black mini skirt. Her tone was one off, ‘hurry up I have better things to do.’
Adam handed her a five dollar note and she gave him his change.
“Do I order a meal from you?” asked Adam.
“Yer, yer, what do you want?” asked the bar maid.
“Steak and chips,” replied Adam.
“That will be twenty eight dollars,” said the bar maid.
Adam handed her thirty dollars, she gave him his change and a little flag with the number five on it. He walked to a vacant table, placed the flag and his drink on the table and sat down.
Looking around the Pub, it was about half full of men of all ages and if Adam was a betting man, he would off put money on all of them being miners. They were all wearing dark blue denim shorts and dark blue “T’ shirts, with some wearing the traditional dark blue singlet. There was a bit of ‘atmosphere’ about the place and not in a good way, it felt like a rough Pub.
A topless waitress brought Adam’s meal over to him and took the little flag away. She was in her mid thirties, about average hight, with short brown hair, and she was wearing a short black mini skirt the same as the bar maid. No matter how Adam tried not to look, he could not help but notice that she was ‘well endowed.’ Their eye met for a moment as she noticed him ‘looking,’ Adam said, “sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s what this place is all about,” replied the waitress.
“I didn’t know it was a topless bar when I came in,” said Adam.
“But you stayed, anyway,” replied the waitress.
Adam smiled and said, “Yer, I guess I did, sorry about that chief.”
“Can I get you anything else, another drink?” asked the waitress.
“No, I’m right thanks,” replied Adam.
Adam quickly ate his meal and headed back to his Motel.
Early the next day, Adam headed toward Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. It was a long day on a flat straight road through dry, treeless country side. The car gowned along through the featureless country side, at around one hundred km’s per hour. The time dragged on, as Adam drove on and on through the stark landscape, only stoping now and then to break the boredom and too stretch his legs.
After arriving at Tennant Creek, Adam searched for a Motel, the first few were full, but the third had a room, so it would do. The Motel had a restaurant attached, so he had dinner there, chicken and chips were his choice. The Motel was a bit more up market, when compared to the Motels he had stayed at over the last few weeks, which was know bad thing.
Adam was on a bit of a mission, so there was know hanging about, the next day he was on his way to Katherine and another long day behind the wheel. He stoped for petrol, filled the Subaru with ninety five octan, the poor old car had not seen ninety eight octan in many weeks. Another day, and another day of flat, straight roads and featureless country side. Adam cranked the sound system up and settled into the driver’s seat for a long day.
These outback towns were starting to look all the same, Katherine looked very much like Tennant Creek, wide roads, nose first angle parking and small shopping centres. Adam arrived in Katherine late in the afternoon and, it was hot, really hot, he filled the car with petrol, before finding a Motel.
From here Adam liked the idea of going to the Ord River, thinking he might find some work there but after thinking about it, he thought he should check the internet first. He found nothing on the internet to indicate there was any work in the Ord River, but he decided to go there anyway. After all it wasn’t about work or money and the Ord River had some interesting history so going there would be something to do.
Adam set out early for the Ord River, it wasn’t as far as he had travelled in the last few days but it was still a good distance. The country side was dryer and a bit more desert like.
Arriving at Kununura, which is the biggest town in the Ord River, Adam found a bed for the night, had a bit of a look around town, which did not take long, as it is a tiny place.
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