Survival - 5. Surv Chapter 5

“They will have someone waiting for them when they get to Thredbo, I have a Sat phone with me, and I gave the local police a call, while I went for a walk to the pit toilet earlier”, Uncle Nat announced, and I chuckled at this bit of information. “Attempted robbery, and assaulting a minor at the very least, so they are in big trouble, Uncle Nat added, as we continued to walk.

When we stopped for a lunch break shortly after noon, the sound of the Sat phone made me jump with fright, and Uncle Nat smiled as he pulled the phone out of his backpack. “Major Blackwood speaking” he said on answering the call. “That is great news, I will pass the information onto the Cadet Sergeant Major, he will be very pleased, thanks for the call sir, bye”.

Uncle Nat turned and smiled to me, “They have caught him, our long-time stalker is in Federal Police Custody, as he was entering Australia from Vanuatu, seems he was trying to sneak back into the country” Uncle Nat informed me, “That is great news at last, now I don’t have to look over my shoulder so much now” I replied happily.

“We only have 18 kilometres to do tomorrow, and we will be staying in a B&B in Cabramurra that last night, with 16 kilometres to do on the last day” Uncle Nat announced, after consulting the map. “I am glad this is the last long day that we will have, but I have enjoyed every moment of this trip” I replied, as we continued to eat. Once we were packed up, we set off again with just over three hours of hiking ahead of us, so I estimated that we would be arriving at the next hut at around 4pm.

When we arrived at Round Mountain, it sounded like there was a party going on, and Uncle Nat suggested that I stay out of sight till he has seen what is happening, when he opened the door, there was a lot of laughter and a bit of out of tune singing, with a guitar being played. Uncle Nat soon reappeared, not looking to happy.

“Sorry to say, but we will not be staying there tonight, we still have at least three hours of daylight, lets’ see if we can hike another 1 ½ hours, so we are well clear ahead of them by tomorrow morning” Uncle Nat said, and reluctantly I agreed, not that I didn’t mind sleeping in the tent, it was just my feet were a little sore from all of today’s hiking.

Close to 90 minutes later, after spending the past half hour walking on the gravel Tooma Road, we reached a creek crossing, and decided that this would make a good overnight camp site, and once the tent was up, we set up the gas stove, and prepared our ration dinners, which I was starting to dislike. Uncle Nat announced that we only had 12 ½ kilometres to travel tomorrow, then we can relax in a comfortable bed, which I was very happy to hear.

Once it was dark, we retreated to the tent, to avoid any mosquitos, and I was soon fast asleep. When I woke in the morning, it was just as the dawn was breaking, and I sat on a log outside, and just watched as the daylight increased, taking a few photos, as it became brighter.

I also took some video footage of the landscape, and just as I was about to stop, Uncle Nat started to snore, which made me chuckle, “That is Uncle Nat snoring, he doesn’t do it often but when he does, oh man!” I said quietly before ending the video clip.

I made plenty of noise as I prepared breakfast, and I soon heard Uncle Nat getting up, “Enough with the noise, will you please nephew, I am awake and getting up” Uncle Nat grumbled, which made me chuckle again. A few minutes later we were eating our breakfast of cereal with UHT milk, and when we had finished, I cleaned up the kitchen, while Uncle Nat packed up the tent and his backpack.

Unfortunately, we had a steep climb to make near the end of our day’s trek, which Uncle Nat purposely neglected to tell me, after spending the first two hours heading on a slow downwards slope, and the short 80-metre high climb was quite difficult, which made me slow down a fair bit from my usual pace, and it was another 1 ½ hours before we arrived in the small town of Cabramurra.

Once we had booked into our accommodation, I had a shower, and changed into some fresh clothes, before Uncle Nat did the same, and while I went for a short walk around the small town, Uncle Nat organised for all our dirty washing to be cleaned. When I returned, my uncle was on his mobile speaking to someone, and I thought I better sent a text to Mum and Dad, to let them know that we are safe.

“Hi Mum and Dad, Uncle Nat and I have just arrived in Cabramurra, at the north end of Kosciuszko National Park, after starting the hike 6 days ago from Thredbo, a total of 99 kilometres, not bad eh? We are heading back to Thredbo tomorrow to collect our hire car, then drive to Canberra, for an overnight stay, then flying home on Wednesday, love your son, Jacob”. “Glad to hear that you are both safe, see you on your return on Wednesday, love Mum” came a reply soon after, which made me smile.

Uncle Nat had finished with his call, and he was looking at the map again. “When I went to organise the laundry, the owner has offered us a lift to the next town, 56 kilometres down the main highway, so that is the end of our hiking trip, which is probably just as well, as the hike to the highway has some serious drops and climbs” Uncle Nat announced to me. “I have text mum to let her know where we are and that we are safe, and she said she is glad, and will see us on Wednesday” I said to my Uncle.

“Those European’s who I reported for attempted robbery, have been given no conviction, but fined $500 each, so that should teach them a lesson, not to try and steal, and that party mob from Round Mountain, will have some visitors waiting for them, when they arrive here in town” Uncle Nat said with a big smile. We found a small café in town, and spent up big on real food, which made me burp a little too loudly after drinking all my milkshake.

When we arrived home on Wednesday afternoon, Mum gave me a big hug, “Hello Jacob, did you have a good time?” Mum said to me as I returned the hug, “It was hard work but awesome, thanks Mum” I replied, before going to my room to sort my luggage, then I went to have a long shower.

When I returned to the lounge, I found Mum and Uncle Nat sitting on the lounge in deep discussion, and I sat in a single chair opposite them, “This looks very serious?” I commented, as I looked from my Mum, to my Uncle and back to Mum again. “You could say that, there has been a few events happening, while you have both been out roaming the bush” Mum started, and she glanced at her brother momentarily.

“It appears that the trip to Kokoda is on hold, as there is some political situation happening in Papua New Guinea, and we were just discussing other options, which I am not really certain off” Mum continued, “I was suggesting that maybe we could do the trip to Nepal” Uncle Nat commented. “Yes, please Mum, can I please go to Nepal with Uncle Nat, please” I said to Mum.

I will talk to your dad on the phone tonight, and we will see what is decided then” Mum said to me, “Ok, I guess that is better than a straight out no” I said thinking that I had very little hope of going. “I have also suggested an alternative trip to Tanzania and Kenya, to check out some of the National Parks in the region” Uncle Nat said, “Yes, I like that idea too, it would be great to see some wild animals, in their reserves” I responded.

I still had another eleven days, before the start of the new school year, and with Uncle Nat having to return to work, I was left with very little to do, so I just went on long walks around the city, to keep up my fitness, and checking out some of the main tourist features of the city, just to keep myself occupied.

Four days before I was to return to school, Dad unexpectantly arrived home. “Hey Dad, what are you doing home, you have only been gone for 3 weeks, what’s happening?” I asked, when I arrived home from a long jog, about an hour before dark. “Your Mum will be home shortly, we have something to tell you when she arrives, in the meantime, have a shower, and we will be heading out for dinner” Dad said to me, so I headed to my room to have a shower, and to change into some neat casuals.

When I came out to the lounge room, there was no sign of Dad, but I heard the shower running in their bathroom, so I sat down and waited for him. “Hi dear, Dad is just getting dressed, then we will be on our way” Mum said to me as she entered the lounge, freshly showered and dressed nicely.

“This is a rarity, for the family to be going out for dinner, this must be something really important”, I said to Mum who smiled to me, and checked her makeup in the mirror in the hallway. Ten minutes later, we were in the car and on our way to a restaurant, which ended up being quite a snazzy place, and I was surprised yet again, when I saw that Uncle Nat was already there.

“Ok, what the hell is going on, and why are we having this family dinner in a ritzy restaurant” I said, starting to get annoyed with the silent treatment. “Well son, there is a big reason for this dinner, because there is going to be some major changes in our lives in the next two years” Dad said to me.

“I have accepted a position, as Chief Paediatrician at Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife, Canada” Mum announced to me, which made my jaw drop open. “I have managed to get a job with Rio Tinto, also at Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territory of Canada” Dad added, and I just sat there totally stunned at this news. “What about me, do I have to come with you” I eventually said once I had snapped out of the shock.

“Not necessarily, you have two choices actually, first that you go with your parents to Canada, where you can enrol into a boarding school, we located a Canadian Military style, Boarding school in Ontario, on the East Coast, or there is a boarding school in Edmonton, Alberta, or you could stay here in with me” Uncle Nat said to me.

“There is one condition, if you do stay here in Adelaide, with my brother, that is that you stay on the Army Base, when not at school, or with your uncle on adventure trips. If you are on a trip, it is not to interfere with your schooling in any way, and there is to be no extreme adventures of any type” Mum said to me sternly.

“Well apart from that being three conditions, I agree with those terms, and I choose to stay here, if that is ok with Uncle Nathan” I responded, and Uncle Nat chuckled at my correction. “Yes, that is fine by me, you already have full access to Woodside base, so that is not a problem, it just means that you will be having long days travelling to and from your school” my uncle said to me.

“Mum and I will be away for a minimum of two years, as that is the length of our contracts, and we will be leaving in two weeks, so I suggest you move over to the base before you start school next week” Dad said to me, “Sure Dad, that is fine with me, and thanks for letting me stay” I replied, “Maybe you can make one of your adventure trip to Canada, to visit us” Mum said to me, “Sure Mum, that sounds great” I replied.

After a very nice dinner, Uncle Nat headed back to the Base at Woodside, while we headed home. The following morning, I began to start packing all my belongings, of which half of them were still packed in boxes from the earlier house move. Mum and Dad were also busy organising for a storage facility to come and collect all our furniture, and anything that my parents would not be taking with them.

On Sunday afternoon, Mum and Dad drove me to the Army base, and I was taken to Uncle Nat’s two-bedroom apartment, where they helped me to get my luggage and belongings upstairs to the apartment. My parents promised to come and see me, the day before they fly out of Adelaide to Hong Kong, and onto Vancouver, Canada, and it was lunch time at school, on the following Wednesday, when my parents arrived, and we spent half an hour talking and saying goodbye, where I became quite upset, now that I was realising that my parents were moving to the other side of the world.

In the evening, I received a text message from Mum, saying they had arrived in Hong Kong, where they have a four-hour layover, before flying to Vancouver, Canada. The next few days, I was a real wreck, I didn’t concentrate very well at school, and I slept very poorly, even after I received a text from Mum, letting me know that they had landed in Vancouver, and they have an overnight stop, before they fly to Yellowknife.

Uncle Nat tried to talk to me, but I just preferred to be on my own, so I went for jogs around the base on most days after school. Half way through the first term of the year, Uncle Nat announced that we would be going on another trip in the Autumn holidays, and much to his shock, I told him, that I wasn’t interest any more.

“Now you listen here nephew, I have spent a lot of money for this trip, and I have no intention of wasting the money, staying at home babysitting you and watching you sulk, so snap out of it, and go and clean up your bedroom, it is a mess” Uncle Nat snapped at me, before going to his room and slamming the door shut.

“I am sorry Uncle Nat, I didn’t mean to upset you” I said as we sat down for dinner, about an hour later. “That is ok mate, I guess we are both settling into this new arrangement, but you must remember that we have to work together on this, and you need to pull your weight with keeping this place clean, and you keeping up with your studies at school, as I had a call from Miss Hampton today, saying that your grades have been dropping in the past week” uncle Nat replied.