Beyond Frontier - 12. BF Chapter 12

“About time you called back. Where were you?” Jasper said as soon as he answered. “Sorry, mate, we went to the yacht club for dinner, and I left my mobile behind. I guess you are in Denham now?” I replied.

“Yes, we are. Now tell me what is this all about a charter back to Perth, and to see you for more details?” Jasper asked me. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t get a charter straight away, as we need the trimaran for a specific task,” I responded. “Oh, and what exactly is that task?” Jasper asked me.

“We need to transport all of the research equipment, plus the mini-sub back to Perth, as we are leaving the research vessel moored up here, so as to not waste fuel travelling up and down the coast all the time,” I replied.

“Ah, I see. So, does that mean we are accommodating all the crew as well?” Jasper asked me. “Yes, it does. That reminds me, have you done those changes to the study yet?” I asked him.

“Yes. Completed just before this charter, so it is a master cabin once more, but I had the bed base made bi-fold, so it can be folded up against the wall, so the desk space can still be used,” Jasper announced.

“Excellent, I will tell you more when you get here in just under two days’ time. Mathew isn’t here. His father is gravely ill, so he flew back to Perth this morning, I am about to give him a call back to see how he is coping. See you in a couple of days. Bye for now,” I said and ended the call, before I dialled Mathew’s phone number. It went to message bank, so I left a short message, explaining that the crew and I went out for dinner, and that I would try calling again in the morning.

Once I had changed into my nightwear, I brushed my teeth and climbed into bed, and as I lay there I realised that I hadn’t spoken to Gramps and the boys in a while. I made a mental note to call them in the morning. Soon the distant sound of small waves splashing against the hull had me falling asleep.

The following morning I called Gramps on his mobile. “Hello, Gramps, how are you and Isaac going on the farm?” I said as soon as he answered the call.

“I am good thanks, grandson, and what about you and the crew? Jasper told me that you have been busy with a research project,” Gramps replied.

“We have finished the first project, and we will be back in Jurien in a week. We are leaving the RV Beyond Frontier in Exmouth, so we will be coming back with Jasper on the trimaran,” I replied.

“The boys miss you dearly and are always asking how long till you come home. Anita would like you and me to take back responsibility of the boys. I am getting too old to look after two growing boys, so I am asking you if you can take the boys?” Gramps said to me.

“Let’s talk about this when I get back to Jurien. Give the boys my love, and I will talk to you in a few days. Bye,” I replied and I ended the call.

Next, I decided to try calling Mathew again, but when the call connected, it wasn’t Mathews voice. “Mattie, I think this call is for you. Wake up, lover boy, you have a phone call,” I overheard. I was so shocked that I ended the call, and switched my phone off. I had no idea what that was all about, and I staggered to the bathroom, stripped and had a long hot shower.

Sometime later, I heard loud knocking on the cabin door. I turned off the water and grabbed the towel which I wrapped around my waist, as I stepped out of the bathroom. My cabin door opened, and I just snapped. “Get out,” I shouted, just as I spotted Finn’s face appear then back off again. I slammed the door shut. Moments later I collapsed onto my bed and burst into tears. I must have fallen asleep, as I woke up to the sound of soft knocking on my cabin door.

“Anton buddy, it’s Simon here. Can I come in please?” I heard Simon say through the door. I sat up and looked around the room, then noticed that I still had just the towel wrapped around me.

“Just a moment,” I called out, as I stood up and quickly dressed, before I opened the door and let Simon in.

“You know you scared the hell out of Finn earlier. He came down stairs in tears, afraid that he had upset you somehow,” Simon said to me as he walked in, closed the door and sat on the end of my bed.

“Yeah, I am sorry about that. I didn’t mean to do that. I just discovered something really bad, and I lost my cool,” I replied.

“So, talk to me, buddy. What is this thing that has shaken you up so bad?” Simon asked me.

“I…I called Mathew’s mobile this morning, and another guy answered it. I heard him call him ‘lover boy’, as he tried to wake Mathew to take my call. I was so shocked, I ended the call and turned my phone off,” I replied.

“Oh man, that is not good. So, you are definitely sure that it was another guy with Mathew?” Simon asked.

“Yes, it wasn’t Mathew’s voice, and I have no idea what he was doing being with another guy,” I replied. Simon nodded his head, and scanning the room he spotted my mobile which he went to and turned it on. Almost right away, there were a number of chimes indicating a number of voicemail messages.

Simon pressed a button to receive the messages, and he held the phone to his ear. “Anton, babe please call me back, I really need to talk to you,” was the first message. “Anton, I am really sorry. I don’t know what happened last night. I went to a nightclub to try and relax, and next thing I know, this guy is in bed with me at some motel, trying to wake me up. Honestly, I don’t know what happened. Call me please,” Simon heard on the second message. “Anton, please talk to me. I love you. We can work this out. Please call me, babe,” was the third message.

Simon ended the voicemails and turned the phone off again. “I have shut it off for now, but you will need to talk to him sometime soon,” Simon said to me.

“But not now. Look, Si, I need to have some time on my own. I am going to go away for a little while so I can think about this a bit more,” I said to my best friend.

“Ok, buddy, but make sure that you keep in touch,” Simon said as he stood up and left my cabin.

Once Simon had left, I grabbed my small soft suitcase, and my backpack, and packed most of my casual clothes and shoes, my wallet, passport, work boots, my wide brim hat and a couple of books that I hadn’t read yet. Once I was all packed, I headed down to mid-deck, and walked to the backdoor, purposely leaving my mobile behind. I quickly went down the stairs, and off the vessel, and I made my way down the jetty very quickly, and jumped into a waiting taxi that I had called a few minutes before leaving my cabin.

Making a short stop to an ATM machine for some cash, and a shop to buy some water, I asked the taxi driver to drive me south out of town to Bullara Station on Burkett Road, then stop and let me out. The taxi driver said I was crazy, but when I showed him the cash, he agreed to do as I asked, and a little more than an hour later we arrived at the station gate. I paid the taxi driver $200, which was a little more than what the metre read. I asked that he not speak to anyone about where he dropped me off, which he agreed on, before turning around and heading back to Exmouth.

When I walked into the homestead area of the station on foot, the owners were a little surprised to see me. I mentioned that I had caught a lift from Exmouth to the front gate of the station, and I asked for accommodation until I could get a lift heading north. I was informed that there was a group of backpackers who arrived the day before that were heading north. I thanked the owner as I booked into a double cabin with private bathroom.

Once I had settled in, I went looking for the backpackers, and found them sitting around the swimming pool. I struck up a conversation with them. I learnt that they were German tourists, two guys and two girls. They had bought a cheap car in Perth, to travel around the top of Australia. I liked their idea of just being relaxed and taking their time travelling, as they had a six-month visa. They accepted my offer to pay for all the fuel, if they could give me a lift to Port Hedland. They told me we would be going via Karijini National Park, leaving early the next day, which I said was fine by me.

The next morning we all piled into the 1975 Holden Kingswood station wagon with all our luggage in the very back. Being an old car there was plenty of room for everyone, and for the first hour we travelled on a corrugated gravel road. We were all relieved when we finally reached the North West Coast Highway, and for the next hour we travelled in a north–east direction till we reached Nanutarra roadhouse, just south of where we were going to turn off to head east to the Hammersley Gorge.

I could tell that the old Kingswood was struggling with the journey, and I offered to have a look at her, but I was told that the radiator was partly blocked, so we just needed to let it cool down a little and top it up with some more water. I wasn’t too keen on their “it will do” attitude, but since I was getting a ride, I didn’t complain. Once we had bought some drinks and snacks, we climbed back into Bertha, as they had named the car, and we set off again, turning onto the Nanutarra road ten minutes later.

While at the roadhouse, I had bought a tourist road map of the region, plus some more bottles of water, a cigarette lighter, some fruit, a loaf of bread, and some cans of soup and cans of tuna, just in case we became stuck, so I had something to eat. About two hours later, as I knew we were approaching the turnoff to Tom Price, I suggested that we make the detour to the mining town, as there are no fuel stops until well past Karijini. My travel mates agreed, and half an hour later we arrived in Tom Price, which I read has a population of about 3000 people.

With it past noon, we agreed to stop for an hour, to let the car cool and for us to have some lunch. I decided to keep my canned food and bread as backup supplies, and we headed inside where it was nice and cool, to buy some lunch. I noticed that my backpacker friends were buying very little, probably because it was so expensive, but I decided to eat well, since I had no idea where we would be stopping for the night. As I was walking out of the building, I spotted a For Sale sign for a 2010 Defender Land Rover. I stepped closer to read all the information.

It was a 4 cylinder, 4-wheel drive, 4 door, 6 speed manual 2.4 litre turbo diesel, with cab chassis, 130 thousand km’s on the speedo, air-conditioning, alloy tray with canvas canopy, with two 40 litre car fridges, two spare tyres, 4 steel - 25 litre fuel canisters, and two - 25 litre water containers inside, two solar power panels and a power converter, a bull bar and winch, tow bar, two fuel tanks with a range of 1200 kilometres, a Rhino rack with awning, spotlights, UHF radio, safari snorkel, dual batteries, with various power sockets in the back tray and a satellite phone. I liked the sound of it, so I called the mobile number at the bottom of the page, using the cheap phone I had picked up at our last stop. Just then a guy came out of the shop and answered his phone. His voice echoed from the phone, being near me, and I hung up.

“That was me calling you, mate. I wanted to enquire about your Land Rover that is for sale,” I said to the man who was looking at his phone wondering why the caller had hung up. On hearing me, he laughed.

“It’s just around the side if you want to take a look,” he said to me, and we walked to the side of the building where the vehicle sat.

“Can I take it for a short drive … with you in it of course?” I asked him. He handed me the vehicle ignition keys.

A few minutes later as I drove down the street, I spotted the bank, and parked the vehicle. “If you follow me inside, I can give you a bank cheque right away,” I said the vehicle owner, who opened his mouth in shock. I gave a short laugh as I climbed out. As I handed over the bank cheque and completed filling in the required vehicle transfer papers, I turned to him. “Would you do me a favour? I will give you $2000 cash, if you can take the old beast that my travel mates and I arrived in, and offer them $750 cash to take it off their hands, without telling them about this deal,” I said to the former owner, who just laughed.

“It’s that bad, is it?” he asked me.

“A 75 Holden Kingswood,” I replied with a smile.

“Oh not the Kingswood. I’m not taking the Kingswood,” he said loudly, and we both laughed at the joke, from the former Australian comedy tv show. We shook hands, before heading back around to the front of the shop, where my travel companions were looking at the car. It appeared to have sprung a leak, from a damaged radiator hose would be my guess.

“Not to worry, guys. I have come up with a solution. My friend Jim here has sold me his Land Rover, and he is willing to buy this station wagon off you. How much do you think it’s worth?” I said to my travel mates.

“We bought it for $1500, but we can sell it for $500 I guess,” one of the German lads said in broken English.

“How about I pay you $750. That way you don’t lose so much, as I got a good deal on selling my vehicle,” Jim replied.

“You have a deal,” the German lad replied and shook hands to seal the deal.

With one of the girls in the driver seat, we pushed the old station wagon around to the side of the building, where my new vehicle was standing. “Wow, this is awesome!” the two German ladies said, when they saw my new vehicle. The lads began to unpack the luggage from the back of the vehicle.

“There is a king size swag in the back. You can have that as a bonus,” Jim said to me.

“Thanks, mate, that will come in handy. Take care and thanks heaps,” I replied, and Jim began to look under the hood of the car to see if he could sort the problems.

Once all our luggage was in the back tray, under the canopy, and with Jim busy working on his new vehicle, we said goodbye and drove off in my new vehicle. I suggested that we go to the supermarket, to get some food, as I had two car fridges in the back.