Chapter 9
Thunderstorm at Forty
Angaston, in the Barossa Valley did not endear itself to Adam, it had a feel to it that had Adam on edge, he could not put his finger on what it was about the town, he just did not feel comfortable. May be it was the old world charm or the people, who did not seem to like his car, what ever it was he decided to move on, not very far only a few km’s, to Tanunda.
So after only one night in Angaston, Adam drove the eight km’s down the road to Tanunda. Outwardly the two towns seemed the same, both very old world but Angaston felt like a closed shop, a place where non locals were not welcome. Tanunda on the other hand felt welcoming, everyone from the service station where Adam filled with petrol to the Motel receptionist were happy to see him.
Adam planed to stay in Tanunda during his stay in the Barossa Valley, sort of use it as a base. He had no plans to look to hard for any work, he felt like a break from it, so a bit of relaxing, a bit of site seeing, were the order of the day or week.
The Motel rooms were nice enough, they were old farm building converted into Motel rooms so they had a rustic feel to them, ‘a she’ll be right’, ‘a that will do’, sort of feel.
There were some things that Adam had to deal with, it was coming up on twelve months off work, on long service leave. He needed to make a decision on his future, leave his job and continue his nomadic life, or go back to his old life. He still had six weeks before he had to make that decision, but it would have to be made. He didn’t much like the idea of going back to moving paper about, but he was not too sure about living a nomadic life for ever.
Adam had enjoyed his road trip adventure but he always had his job and house to go back to, if things started going wrong. If he gave up his job, the work he had been doing, ‘just doing when and what he liked,’ would become something he would have to find and do. That might take the fun away and turn it into, ‘work,’ much the same as what he ran away from, just under a year ago.
Without his pay from his long service leave, money might be a bit tight, he would need to economise. Motel life would have to stop, he would need to buy a camber type vehicle, like Zoe’s. Adam did not like that idea at all, one of the great things about this life was driving a proper car over great distances. The idea of driving some sort of slow, lumbering, top heavy truck did not impress Adam one little bit.
The other thing he needed to deal with was his house. Adam’s real estate agent friend had contacted him, wanting to know if the house would be staying as a rented house. Deciding what to do about the house was very much tired to his decision about his future, so the decision about the house would have to wait for a bit as well.
Adam spent the day driving around the Barossa Valley, site seeing, just getting a feel for the place. There were lots of grape vines and wineries, both large and small. The large wineries were large, big elaborate building, large car parks, tour buses, employing lots of people, they were big business. The small wineries were more rustic, small operations, family run, but they all seem to be doing good business.
Back in Tanunda, Adam walked the short distance to the local Pub, it was not really like the outback Pubs, it was built from stone, still very old world but very different in design. Inside the Pub was very different as well, no old advertising posters, no large TV’s, just some table and chairs, as well as some lounge chairs and low coffee style tables. The pictures on the walls were of well known Australian actors, as a number of movies had been filmed in the district.
Adam sat at the bar drinking an orange juice, reading the menu. The different styles in the Pubs, was also reflected in the meals they offered. No steak and chips or chicken and chips here, the meals were more healthy, with lots of salads, with everything marinated in some sort of concoction.
Adam could not find anything to eat so once he had finished his orange juice he said to the Bar Man, “There’s nothing eatable in your menu, do you know anywhere in town I can get a good meal?”
“There’s a Chinese Restraint just down the road,” said the Bar Man.
“I said eatable, not exotic, you know, Australian food,” replied Adam.
“There’s a bakery just down the road, they might have something,” said the Bar Man.
“Thanks,” replied Adam, but as he started to leave, the Cook came out and asked, “what would you like?”
“A bit of steak and some chips would be nice, but steak that has not been marinated in muck,” replied Adam.
“Alright, I’ll do it,” said the Cook.
“That’s great, thanks mate,” replied Adam.
The Cook disappeared out the back and Adam payed the Bar Man before saying, “I’ll be in town for the next week or two, can I eat here every night or is this a one off?”
“I’ll asked the Cook and let you know,” replied the Bar Man.
The Bar Man handed Adam a little sign with the number two on it, he then walked over and sat at a table by the window.
While he waited he looked out of the window of the Pub, the main street of Tanunda was full of historic building, take the cars away and replace the bitumen road with dirt and you could be way back in time. Know wonder this part of the world was popular for period film making, back when period films were all the go.
An old Peugeot 504 Ute pulled up outside, an older man got out, he got a case of wine from the back of the Ute and walked into the Pub. The Peugeot had a sign on its door, Adam could not fully read it but he could make out the word, ‘winery,’ written in italics across the bottom of the door. It was a rough looking old Ute, it looked like it had done a lot of work, it had a, ‘lived in,’ look to it.
The older man walked into the Pub still carrying the case of wine, he went over the door next to the bar, a door Adam thought to be the door into the kitchen. He turned around, so he had his back to the door, and then push against the door, disappearing into the kitchen backwoods. After awhile the older man re-emerged from the kitchen, looked around the bar, and then walked over to Adam.
“You have ordered a steak and chips?” asked the older man in a thick French accent.
“Yer mate,” replied Adam.
“We will serve you tonight, but we will not be able to on any other night,” said the older man, his accent making it hard for Adam to understand, but he got the gist.
“Know worries mate, is that a French accent?” asked Adam.
“Yes, I am French,” replied the older man.
“Can you tell me the proper pronunciation for Peugeot, is it ‘Purgeot’, or ‘Pewgeot’?” asked Adam.
The older man’s eye lite up and he smiled, “off course,” he said, in an even thicker French accent, before continuing “off course, it is ‘Pewgeot’.”
“What about, Renault, is it ‘Reno’ or ‘Renult’?” asked Adam.
The older man sat down at Adam’s table and replied, “off course, it is ‘Reno’,” his French accent even thicker to the point that Adam was struggling to understand, he then added, “my name is Alain.”
“My name is Adam,” said Adam, while shaking his hand.
“You like French cars?” asked Alain.
“No, but someone I worked with had one and I was curious about the correct pronation,” said Adam.
“What do you do?” asked Alain.
“For just on a year now I have been on a road trip doing what ever I can get, mostly driving a tractor,” said Adam.
“For sure, are you looking for work?” asked Alain.
“Well, I’ll take it if it comes my way, but I’m not actively looking,” replied Adam.
“I own a winery and I start harvesting in a few days, for sure I need a tractor driver, we are a small winery, you know, and we do things in a traditional way, said Alain.
“Yer, I can do that,” replied Adam.
Alain handed Adam a card and said, “the address is on there, see you on Monday at six,” said Alain.
The Bar Man walked over with Adam’s meal and he placed it on the table, he then removed the little sign with number two on it, and walked away with out saying anything.
Alain stud up and as he walked away he said, “see you on Monday.”
After Adam finished his meal he walked back to the Motel, tried unsuccessfully to work the TV menu, so he settled for an old movie about, boy gets girl, boy looses girl, boy gets girl.
The next few day Adam spent site seeing and relaxing, just sitting back and smelling the roses. He contemplated his future, and what to do, but made know decisions, just procrastinated. He drove out to Alain’s winery, just to make sure he known how to get there, it proved easy and not very far from the Motel.
At five in the morning on Monday, Adam’s phone made the noise and woke Adam. He struggled to get going, but using all his will power he eventually got out of bed and on the road to Alain’s winery. He got there at about five to six. Parked in the car park was, a couple of newish four wheel drives, a beat up old Toyota Hi Ace van and a daggy looking old Falcon station wagon.
Adam parked next to one of the four wheel drives and walked over to a group of people standing near the entrance to the winery. There were eight people standing there, four were older and had, ‘grey nomads’ written all over them. The other four were young, just out of school age, off on their first adventure, if Adam was guessing.
“Gooda,” said Adam, he then continued, “are we all here to harvest grapes?”
“Yes,” said one of the grey nomads.
Before Adam could introduce himself to everyone, Alain appeared from around the building and called out, while waving his arm, “this way.”
Everyone followed Alain around the building and eventually into the back of the winery building. Here everyone, except Adam, were given tools and equipment needed to harvest grapes, a pair of secateurs, a shoulder bag and some gloves. Alain then took everyone over to a grape vine and showed them how to harvest grapes. He was passionate about the wine making process and the grapes had to be picked just the right way, he was very insistent about the how it should be done.
For Adam it was very much like picking oranges, he had to take large steel mesh crates out to the area being harvested and bring the full crates back. The difference being that the grapes had to be tipped onto a large table where they were sorted before they ended up in a large press. The press squashed the grapes and the resulting grape juice went on to make wine.
The tractor Adam was driving was a near new Komatsu and very easy to drive. It had a fork lift attachment that aloud it to turn the crates upside down. Meaning he could empty the grapes onto the table with ease.
With eight pickers, Adam was kept busy taking empty crates out to the grape vines and returning with full ones. Alain was doing the sorting with his wife as well as a couple of friends. By the end of the day everything was running like clockwork. Alain was having the occasional outburst as you would expect from a firry French man. Everyone seemed to understand that it was just him being a passionate French man, and to just let it pass.
Adam had little to no contact with the picking team, by the time he picked up a full crate, the pickers were well a head of him, and when he dropped off an empty crate, he was placing it well down the row from where the pickers were working. The same at the other end, he would empty the crate on the table and the head back to put the empty crate in the grape rows ahead of the pickers.
It took two weeks with no time off to get all the grapes picked, during that time, two of the younger pickers had called it a day, due to other commitments.
Alain put on a big end of harvest party, with plenty of wine and French food being served up. Like at most social functions, Adam found himself sitting by himself watching everyone enjoying themselves. Alain came over to him, gave him an envelope full of money and thanked him for all his work.
The next day, it was time for Adam to move on, the next stop would be Mildura in Victoria. He was hoping to pick oranges at the same farm as the year before, but only time would tell.
Adam really needed to make a decision about whether he was going to stay with his current life or go back to his old life. It was a very hard decision to make, on one hand he could stay with his current way of life, on the other hand he could go back to his old life. His new life was exciting but insecure, but his old life was secure but boring, he couldn’t work out what to do.
There was a third possibility, he could buy a small farm and become a farmer, but that fell into the risky category, and Adam has never been a risk taker.
Mildura would only take about four hours to get to, so there was no hurry to get on the road. Adam left about ten in the morning and drove off towards Mildura, with a lunch stop at Renmark. The country side was flat and featureless, just flat plains stretching out in front of him.
Adam pulled into a service station in Renmark to fill his car with petrol, no ninety eight octan again, so he had to fill it with ninety five. Adam was walking back to his car, after paying for his petrol, when he looked up to see a Land Rover parked next to the Subaru, it was a Land Rover he knew well, it was Zoe’s. As he got closer and could see down the side of the Land Rover, he could see that it was not Zoe filling it. It was a bloke, he was tall, good looking, blond, he looked like something out of a fashion magazine.
Adam walked to the back of the Subaru and opened the boot, he had no reason to do this, he just did, so he could talk to the bloke. He closed the boot of the car and then said, “gooda mate, that’s Zoe’s Land Rover isn’t it?”
“Yes, she’s just over there,” said the bloke, as he pointed towards a shop next to the service station, he then added, “she’ll be back in a minute.”
“Just tell her, ‘Adam said gooda’ that’s ninety eight octan Adam,” said Adam.
“Adam,” the bloke said, as a way to remember it.
Adam got into the Subaru and drove out of the service station, he gave it a bit of a rev as he drove away coursing the turbo ‘pop off’ valve to pop off, making the noise turbo cars make.
Zoe having a bloke did not sit well with Adam, he still held a torch for her, even though he knew it was hopeless. He always held hope, but with her having a bloke, well, that meant, no hope. He had his chance with Zoe and he blow it, he didn’t know how he blow it, but he did. He should of moved on long ago, so it was time he did now.
He drove out of town heading towards Mildura, which was only a few hours away. He turn the sound system up loud and sang along with the music, trying to think about nothing at all.
Arriving in Mildura around mid afternoon, Adam found the Caravan Park he stayed at last year and booked in. He pitched his tent in much the same place as the year before and settle in. After getting back from buying some dinner, Adam just sat outside his tent, trying to think about what to do, but he could not find an answers.
The next day Adam drove out to see if the orange farmer, he worked for last year, needed anyone this year, to help harvest his oranges. As he pulled into the drive way he saw a ‘for sale’ sign on the front fence. He pulled up outside the farm shed and as he got out of his car, Fred, the farmer came out of the shed.
“Hi, can I help you?” asked Fred.
“I worked here last year harvesting oranges, I was just wondering if you needed anyone this year,” replied Adam.
“I remember, you drove the tractor for use,” said Fred.
“Yer, that’s right,” replied Adam.
“I will need people, I’m planing to start the harvest on Monday, you can drive the tractor like last year if you like,” said Fred.
“That’s great,” replied Adam.
Adam started to walk to his car, but turned and said, “I see you’re selling up, if I was interested, do I talk to you or the real estate agent?”
“Me, the real estate agent is all but useless,” said Fred.
“When would be a good time?” asked Adam.
“I was just about to have a cup of tea, so now would be fine, if it suit you,” said Fred.
Fred walked into the shed and Adam followed him, Fred had a kitchen area set up, he turned the hot water jug on and started organizing cups, tea and sugar.
“One or two?” asked Fred, as he pointed towards the sugar.
“One, thanks,” replied Adam.
With the tea made they walked out of the shed and sat at a table and chairs under a big old fig tree.
“I guess the first question has to be, why are you selling up?” asked Adam.
“I want to retire, and my son, Reg, doesn’t want it, he wants to go into cattle, so with know one to hand it down to, I’m sell up,” replied Fred.
“What’s the price?” asked Adam.
“$800,000.00,” replied Fred.
“What’s the income?” asked Adam.
“The oranges made a profit of $80,000.00 and the, farm accommodation made a profit of $20,000.00, give or take, so by the time you pay taxes, your not going to get rich,” replied Fred.
“I’m not interested in getting rich,” said Adam, and then asked, “who do you sell the oranges too?”
“I have a contract with an orange juice company, which goes with the sale, but there’s an out if you don’t want to use it,” replied Fred.
“How many acres?” asked Adam.
“The property is fifty acres, twenty five under oranges, the rest is just grass, we have a few cows grassing on it and they bring in a few grand as well,” replied Fred.
“How much time do you put in? Is it a fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, or more like eight hours a day, five days a week?” asked Adam.
“It’s a five days a week job, except for harvest time,” replied Fred.
“It all sound good, I don’t have much time as I’m on long service leave and it’s coming to an end, so I have to go back to my office job or quit and continue as a nomad, or buy something like this. I have to make that decision within the next three weeks, so I will think on it,” said Adam.
“I’ll hear from you, or I’ll see you next week for the harvest,” replied Fred, as he stud up and started walking toward the shed.
“Do you have anyone on the hook? I’m only asking, so I know whether I can take some time to think, or if I need to decide soon,” said Adam, as they walked along.
“There has been some lookers but I don’t think they were serous,” replied Fred.
“I’ll see you,” said Adam as he walked towards his car.
As Adam drove into town he kept thinking about buying the orange farm, he really liked the idea. He had enough money from his savings and an inheritance and he had his house in Sydney which was bringing in six hundred a week. So even if things did not work out, he would still be alright from the rent money.
Adam has never been someone who makes quick decisions, he had improved over the last year, but this was a big decision so he was going to think it through and take some time.
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