Chapter 8
Thunderstorm at Forty
Adam woke late after a good nights sleep and wondered what the day would bring. You can’t get much more, ‘out back,’ than where he found himself, the top of Western Australia, near the Northern Territory border is well and truly, ‘out back’.
He decided to walk the main street of Kununura, so he walked from the Motel the short distance to what could be called the main street. But the main street was only made up of three buildings, a shop, the Pub and the farmer’s co-op.
Adam went into the shop and purchased a few snacks and a bottle of water, before asking at the check out, ‘if she knew of any jobs going in the district?” She didn’t but she suggested he, “try the farmer’s co-op.” So he wondered into the farmer’s co-op and made the same enquiry, they suggested he try the Pub.
Walking into the Pub, Adam found it empty as it wasn’t open yet, the bar man was cleaning and tidying up from the night before.
“Gooda mate,” said Adam.
“Gooda mate, we’re not open,” replied the Bar Man.
“I guessed, do you know of any work going in the district?” asked Adam.
“No mate, I haven’t heard of any,” replied the Bar Man.
“Well, that is enough job hunting for today,” said Adam, he paused for a moment before adding, “I might go and have a look at that big lake you have around here.”
“Lake Argyle, it’s a fair drive and a lake is a lake, yer know, there’s nothing much out there,” replied the Bar Man.
“Oh well, I might as well, seeing I’ve come this far. Now I know you’re not open yet but you couldn’t sell me an orange juice?” asked Adam.
The Bar Man stoped what he was doing, went behind the bar and poured an orange juice with lots of ice, he then put the glass on the bar.
Adam handed him a five dollar note.
“On the house, I haven’t set the til up yet,” said the Bar Man.
Adam left the money on the bar and said, “keep the difference.”
as he walked out of the Pub and sat on one of the chairs on the Pub veranda. Adam sat there watching the hustle and bustle of the main street of Kununura, but the problem was that there was no hustle or bustle, in fact there was no movement at all, no people, no animals, not even a breeze to move the leaves on the bushes.
Adam sat there for a while, hoping to see something move, a car go bye, a bird fly bye, anything, but after fifteen minutes and finishing off his orange juice he gave up. He walked back to the Motel, got into his car and drove off in the direction of Lake Argyle.
The road to Lake Argyle was better than Adam expected, in fact it was all bitumen all the way and there was a lot of traffic on the road, mostly tour buses. It took just over an hour to get to Lake Argyle and it was impressive but like the Bar Man had said, “a lake is a lake.”
Adam drove around a bit, stoping now and then at look out points to admire the view. It was odd, looking at a large body of water in such a baron landscape, it just didn’t look right. He drove back to Kununura just in time to get a good meal at the Pub and he needed it, as all he had eaten all day were a few snacks.
After dinner Adam was sitting on the Pub veranda drinking an orange juice when a youngish man walked up to him. He was in his early thirty’s and unmistakably a farmer, He might as well have had a sign around his neck say, “I am a farmer.” He was wearing the farmer uniform, Akubra hat, blue shorts, check shirt, work boots with gaiters.
“Are you looking for some work?” asked the youngish man.
“Yes,” replied Adam.
“High, I’m Jeff,’ said Jeff, who then put his hand out and shook Adam by the hand, “can you drive a tractor?” asked Jeff, as he sat down at the table with Adam.
“Yes, but, I’ve been involved in two wheat harvests but both were with old tractors, I’ve never driven a modern one,” replied Adam.
“That’s alright my tractor is old,” said Jeff.
“It depends what you call old, these tractors were made in the seventy’s,” replied Adam.
“Awe mate, that is old, mine is not that old, but a tractor is a tractor, and mine would be easer than those old dinosaurs,” said Jeff, before adding, “I need someone to help with my corn harvest.”
“If you need someone to drive a tractor pulling, a hoper trailer, next to a harvester, then I can probable do it, but like I said, I’ve never driven a modern tractor,” replied Adam.
“Can you start tomorrow?” asked Jeff.
“Yer, I’m not doing anything,” replied Adam.
Jeff draw a bit of a mud map on the back of a coaster and handed it to Adam and said, “see you tomorrow at six.”
“Yer, know problem,” replied Adam.
Jeff got up and walked away from the Pub, not long after Adam headed back to his Motel.
Following Jeff’s map presented know problems for Adam, as he made his way to where Jeff had indicated on his mud map, paddock 628, on access road 24. Adam arrived about fifteen minutes early so he had a bit of time to have a look around at the corn crop as well as the tractor.
It was a John Deere, and a lot newer than any tractor he had ever driven before, it had a fully enclosed cabin, which Jeff had told him, was air conditioned, it had power steering and was it was big really big. It had a large hoper trailer connected to its draw bar, the trailer had its own auger system for pumping the grain out. Driving this was going to be a big jump for Adam, like going from a ‘T’ model Ford to the latest Falcon GT, with nothing in between.
Jeff arrived driving a John Deere harvester, he gave Adam a quick run down on how to operate of the tractor and then said, “lets be at it.”
Jeff was a, ‘no nonsense,’ sort of person, who did not say much, only what was needed, a second generation farmer but he was not from the Ord River area, he was from the Atherton Tablelands of Queensland. The second son of a farmer, who needed to prove himself. He had that Queenslander confidence that some mistook for arrogance. He knew what to do and expected everyone around him to know the same.
Jeff drove into the corn field, lined up with the rows of corn and then started moving forward. The harvester harvested ten rows of corn at one pass and had its own hoper to store a small amount of grain. Adam drove, some what tentatively, the big John Deere tractor along beside the harvester, making sure the shut on the harvester was lined up with the hoper trailer.
Grain started pouring out of the shut into the hoper trailer, there was a camera on the trailer and a screen in the cab of the tractor so Adam could make sure the hoper trailer was filling evenly. Once full, Adam gave a wave to Jeff, who cut of the grain from coming out off the shut, while Adam drove back to the road.
A road train with two trailers had arrived and was waiting for Adam, he stoped next to one of the trailers, operated a hydraulic lever which in turn operated the shut, that swung out from the side of the trailer. Once it was lined up with the trucks trailer Adam pushed a button on the dash of the tractor and grain started pouring out into the trucks trailer.
It did not take long for the hoper trailer to empty and Adam was on his way back to the harvester. As soon as he was lined up next to the harvester, grain again started pouring out of that shut into the hoper trailer and it all started all over again. And that was the pattern for the rest of the day.
With the tractor being air conditioned and all of its operations being automatic the work was easier then the wheat harvest that Adam had been involved in a few months back. Though he wasn’t covered in dust, or suffering from heat exhaustion, his lungs were not full of the smell of diesel fumes but he was still exhausted bye the end of the day.
Sitting in the Pub that night eating steak and chips, Adam thought about the day with a since of accomplishment. He had masted driving a newer more complex tractor as well as its hoper trailer. But with all that, there was something missing, something primal. All the automatics, all the ease of operation, had taken something away from the process.
Adam continued harvesting corn for the next six weeks, once he had finished with Jeff he continued with his neighbour and then with the next neighbour.
With the corn harvest over Adam decided to head south, he decided to go to the Barossa Valley in South Australia, this would take about a week if taken as one trip. As there was know hurry, Adam would take his time but even taking his time, the trip would not take much more than a week as there is nothing to see in the out back of Australia unless you like desert.
Adam’s first day on the road had him heading to Katherine in the Northern Territory. Driving in the Australian outback was challenging for Adam, the roads were generally straight and if there was a bend in the road, it was very gentle, to the point of being hardly noticeable. These types of roads make concentrating difficult as the monotony of the straight, flat roads would take their toll.
Wild life were also a problem when driving in the outback, Kangaroos, Emus, and even Camels could appear from know where and non of them had any road sense. Driving during the middle part of the day was best for avoiding wild life, but it was the hottest part of the day. Luckily the Subaru’s air conditioning worked well, sometimes it did not feel like it was working but opening a window would soon correct that misconception.
After over knighting in Katherine, Adam headed to Eliott which was a six hour drive down the Stuart Hwy. Looking out the window of the Subaru, there was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see. Being the main road from Adelaide to Darwin, the Stuart Hwy was busy’ish, a car would go the other way every now and then, but it was the road trains that kept Adam awake.
Three trailers long they would thunder bye creating a vacuum that would suck the Subaru towards them, so Adam needed to have his wits about him. Catching up to a road train presented a bigger problem, stay behind them, and travel a bit slower, or pass them? To pass them Adam would need a good length of road with nothing coming the other way. Staying behind them was not too bad as they get along a bit, but if they were carrying cattle, staying behind them was not a realistic option, due to the smell.
While passing one road train laden with cattle, the Subaru was splattered with some very unpleasant martial, that took the whole contents of the windscreen washer bottle to clean off.
Eliott was a very small town, no Motel, so Adam had to resort to pitching his tent at the Caravan Park. After a cold restless night, Adam continued his journey, Ti Tree was his next destination, some six hours down the road.
For days now the country side looked the same, desert, scrubby grasses and the occasional scrubby bush, nothing to say Adam was making any progress at all. No hills, no mountains, nothing on the horizon but heat haze, it was like driving towards something that was moving away from you. Like trying to catch the car in front of you, but never getting any closer, as you are travelling at the same speed.
No Motel at Ti Tree so Adam had to spend another night in his tent. The next morning Adam set of for Marla, the next town as he continued south on the Stuart Hwy. Ti Tree had a good size road house where Adam filled the car with petrol, they sold 98 octan which surprised Adam know end. They also sold fast food so he decided to have some unhealthy breakfast of pie and chips.
As Adam sat in the Road House looking out through the glass wall, he noticed a familiar looking Land Rover pull in for petrol, it was Zoe. He watched her while she filled the Land Rover, and he saw her notice the Subaru. She walked into the Road House and payed for her petrol and as she looked around, Adam waved at her. She waved back and then bought a coffee and sandwich, she then walked over to Adam’s table.
“Do you mine?” asked Zoe, as she pointed at the empty chair next to Adam.
“Know problem,” replied Adam, he then added, “How are you?”
Zoe sat down, put her sandwich and coffee on the table and said, “I’m fine.”
“It’s a small world,” replied Adam.
“Your car needs a wash,” said Zoe.
“It does, I was passing a cattle road train, when it got splattered,” replied Adam.
“It will eat the paint if you don’t wash it off,” said Zoe.
“The voice of experience,” replied Adam.
“Have you found what you’re looking for?” asked Zoe.
“I thought I had, but it turned out I was wrong,” replied Adam.
“So your still looking?” asked Zoe.
“I’m not sure, ‘looking,’ is the right word,” replied Adam, he paused for a moment before adding, “may be ‘waiting for it to find me,’ would be more acuate.”
“It,” asked Zoe.
“Exactly,” replied Adam.
Zoe got up, picked up her sandwich and coffee and said, “see you along the road.”
“I’m sure I will,” replied Adam.
Zoe walked away, before getting to the door, she turned and gave Adam a wave, before she walked to her Land Rover and drove off.
A few minutes later Adam drove off toward Marla, not far down the road he court up with Zoe’s, her Land Rover doing about eighty km per hour. There was nothing coming the other way so he flashed his head lights, turned on his indicator and flashed bye. He waved as he went passed, looking in his review mirror, he saw her flash her head lights. He smiled to himself as he watched her slowly disappearing in his review mirror. Seeing Zoe had brightened up his day, he turned the sound system on, turned it up loud, and bopped along to Dire Straits.
Another night in the tent for Adam, as Marla was a tinny place and only ninety five octan petrol, at the local service station. He half hoped that Zoe would show up, but she didn’t, more that likely bush camped somewhere along the road.
Adam made an early start the next morning as it was a fair way to Woomera, his next port of call. So much for taking his time, its just there was nothing to see or do for most of the length of the Stuart Hwy.
Woomera is well known for being used by the Poms in the early years of rocket technology and is still a military town. No Motel but it did have a Pub, so Adam had a bed for the night as well as a decent meal.
Sitting in the bar of the Pub, having just finished his chicken and chips, he noticed a couple sitting at a table across the room, the man looked familiar. But Adam could not place him, after a while, they got up and came over to Adam.
“Adam?” asked the man, who then added, “Adam Burgess?”
“Yes,” replied Adam, he then recognized the man, so he added, “Ted, Ted Brown.”
Adam stud up and shook hands with Ted.
“My goodness, what a small world,” said Adam, then adding, “sit down, sit down.”
“This is the wife, Maria,” said Ted.
“Hi,” said Adam, he then continued, “you know, we went to school together, we were as thick as thief’s back then.”
“Last time I saw you, you were working for the Dept of Transport,” said Ted.
“I still am, sort of, I’m on long service leave, sort of having an adventure,” replied Adam, he then asked, “I thought you were in the Army?”
“I was, I did my twenty years and now we are seeing Australia,” said Ted.
“Like grey nomads, but not grey,” replied Adam.
“I’ve got some grey,” said Ted.
“I still can’t get over seeing you out here, what are the odds? A Pub in the middle of no where,” replied Adam.
“It is a small world, we should by a lottery ticket,” said Maria, she then asked, “do you two want another drink?”
“Same again for me,” said Ted, as he pushed his glass towards Maria.
“Just orange juice for me,” said Adam.
Maria walked of towards the bar to buy some drinks.
“How long have you been married?” asked Adam.
“Ten years,” replied Ted.
“So its over ten years since I last saw you, you were about to go to the middle east,” said Adam.
“That was twelve years ago, we got married not long after I got back,” replied Ted.
“How long have you been doing the grey nomad thing?” asked Adam.
“Just on a year now,” replied Ted.
“How are you finding it?” asked Adam.
“It’s great, just what I needed, we travel, then we stay in one place for a while, then we travel again,” replied Ted.
Maria came back with the drinks and said, “I’m going up to the room, to let you two talk about old times.”
“OK,” said Ted.
“Nice to have met you,” said Maria.
“Yes,” replied Adam.
Maria walked away towards the stairs that went up to the next level.
“You know mate, she’s the best thing to ever happen to me, I was a mess when I got back from the middle east and she fixed me, or I should say, she’s fixing me, as I’m a bit of a work in progress,” said Ted.
“You’re a lucky man, its know fun being alone,” replied Adam.
“So what’s this adventure is all about, ‘on the hunt’ are you?” asked Ted.
“I don’t know about being on the hunt, its more like running away from something,” replied Adam.
The two old friends talked the night away, they talked about old adventures when they were young, they talked about their troubles, their worries, even about their demons. In the end the bar man had to chase them out of the bar at closing time.
The next morning Adam was up early, he borrowed a few buckets of water from the Pub in order to wash the Subaru as he needed to remove the cow muck so it didn’t eat its way through the paint work. Maria came over to him while he was washing the car.
“Thanks for last night, I don’t know what you two talked about but it cheered Ted up know end,” said Maria.
“It cheered me up too, nothing like two old friends having a chat,” replied Adam.
Ted came out of the back of the Pub and walked over to Maria and Adam.
“Is this yours?” asked Ted, referring to Adam’s Subaru.
“Yes,” replied Adam.
“It’s just not you, it’s just not the sort of car I thought you would own, I was thinking a Toyota Corolla,” said Ted.
“It’s my new image,” replied Adam.
“You might as well sign write, ‘mid life crises,’ down the side in big letters,” said Ted.
“That is the image I was going for,” replied Adam.
“See yer before you leave?” asked Ted.
“Yer, I’ll just finish this, pack the car and I’ll ser you in the bar in half an hour,” replied Adam.
Ted and Maria walked back to the Pub holding hands.
Adam finished washing the car, well washing the car is perhaps over stating it a bit, washing the muck off would be a better way to put it. He then packed all his gear into the car, check his room to make sure he had not left any thing behind and headed to the Bar.
The Bar itself was not open but the Bar area was used for serving breakfast. Ted and Maria were sitting at a table eating their breakfast when Adam came over and sat down.
“Your not having any breakfast, it’s the most important meal of the day,” said Maria.
“Yes, I’ve ordered something,” replied Adam.
“Were are you heading today?” asked Ted.
“The Barossa Valley, I’m hoping to pick up some work in one of the wineries,” replied Adam.
“Between your long service leave and farm work aren’t you going to have a tax man problem?” asked Maria.
“I’m on half pay with the long service and I don’t make anything from the farm work, on paper, as they all pay with cash. Having said that I am renting my house, so it could be a close run thing when the tax man comes calling, I expect I will have to pay something but not much,” replied Adam.
“What do you know about wine or grapes?” asked Ted.
“Absolutely nothing, but this time last year I new nothing about brick laying, harvesting wheat or corn, picking oranges or driving a tractor, so I will just wing it,” replied Adam.
“Where are you guys heading next?” asked Adam.
“Today we are going to have a look at the rocket museum and go out and look at the rocket range, then tomorrow we are heading towards Darwin,” replied Ted.
Adams breakfast arrived and the waitress took Ted and Maria’s plates away.
“I hope you find what you’re looking for on this adventure,” said Marina.
“I hope so too,” said Adam, he paused while drinking some orange juice, and then added, “I hope you guys continue to enjoy the grey nomading.”
Maria got up walked over towards the music machine, Ted looked at Adam and said, “it was good to see you mate.”
The U2 song, ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,’ started to play on the music machine.
Ted and Adam smiled and Ted said, “she has a wicked side.”
They both stud up, shook hands and Adam said, “see you along the road.”
Adam walked towards the door, turn to wave at Ted and Maria but they were dancing to the music. So he walked outside, over to his car and drove away towards his next overnight stop at Angaston, in the Barossa Valley.
It took a few hundred km’s but as Adam drove along the Stuart Hwy the country side slowly started to change. Baron desert landscape of scrubby grass started to give way to a tree here and there, then to bigger trees and greener grass. After a few more km’s he started seeing wheat crops and then rows of grape vines, lots and lots of grape vines.
Adam arrived at Angaston, in the Barossa Valley, late in the afternoon, found a Motel for the night. It was nice to be in a good Motel after the Pub and tents over the previous few nights.
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