All Alone - 8. Alo Chapter 8

“Well that explains the loud noise, I am amazed that it went across the building, hopefully there is no damage to the roof?” Matt commented as we walked around to the side of the building, and I put Angus down so he could go to the toilet and walk around a little.

As we rounded the corner, we saw what was left of the shearing shed, a lot of the walls were missing, and the vehicles inside looked like they had been tossed around, continuing walking around towards the back of the building, we found the vehicle shelter was still intact, the buggy was now pushed sideways against the back wall, while the Matt and my vehicles had been shoved backwards so the tailgates were now resting against the wall, as was the new generator.

I grabbed the 3-phase connecting cable, and plugged one end into the generator, then uncoiled the cable and plugged the other end into the power socket in the power box near the back corner of the building, and started up the generator, once I had done that, I whistled for Angus to come to me, and I picked him and went to catch up with the lads.

When I was standing next to the lads, I looked at the direction that they were looking, we could hear the wind turbine was still up and working, but I was not sure if it was producing any immediate power. The nearest building to the visitor’s centre, are the shearing shed, old shearers quarters, and the staff quarters, and even in the dim night, we were not sure if they had gone or not, as it was too dark to tell.

“Come on, everyone inside the centre, the winds will be returning shortly” Matt said as he turned and lead the way back into the building.

Just minutes after we had returned indoors, and locked the doors, the wind began to pick up again, with the howling noise getting louder and louder, as we quickly made our way into the hallway and closed the door, plus the door into the office, and returned to the apartment, were Angus returned to my bed to rest.

I called Jeremy back on the Sat phone, “Hey boss, we can hear the wind turbine so it must be still operating, no sound from the main generator thou, and the Shearing shed is virtually destroyed, the loud crash we heard was the shed roof going over the top of us and landing on the other side of the building, some of the walls in the shed are off or partly off, with the vehicles inside tossed around.

Matt and my vehicles are fine, just pushed up against the back wall, as is the jeep, while the buggy was swung around sideways and pushed against the wall, and the generator has just been pushed against the wall and is undamaged. We couldn’t tell about the other buildings as it is just too dark, we will have to wait till morning” I reported to Jem, and he told us to remain indoors until the cyclone has fully passed and said goodnight.

After the call I went and had a shower, before returning to bed and eventually fell asleep again, as the noise of the cyclone grew louder, waking me up again on several occasions. When I woke up, just after 5 am, I could see daylight showing through the loungeroom window from the patio, and I cautiously opened the door, hoping the wind had died down a lot, which it had.

It was still windy, but not blowing a gale, so I picked up Angus, and carried him towards the shop, which I carefully walked through the mess, and opened the front door. There was sunshine, but still a lot of cloud cover around, as I stepped outside, and put Angus down, so he could go to the toilet. I looked at the shearing shed roof, which had moved a fair way overnight, and I walked towards to west, and I was shocked at what I saw in front of me.

The diesel generator shed, where the generator and power storage batteries are kept was no longer there, just an empty bunt out smouldering shell, left of the building and the generator, which must have caught fire during the night. The wind turbine had collapsed, there was nothing left of the staff quarters, the backpacker’s quarters, the cottage or the old homestead, all which had been destroyed, but the machinery shed was still standing, only just, as was the nearby stables.

There was metal sheeting and bits and pieces of everything scattered everywhere, so I picked up Angus and carried him back inside, and down to the apartment, where I let him down on the floor, once the door was closed. Angus went out onto the patio, and looked around before coming back inside, and I closed the door, to stop the smell of his sand box drifting in.

After washing my hands, I began to prepare some breakfast for Angus, and then for myself, unsure how long it would be before the other two wake-up. Once I had eaten, and with no sign of the others getting up yet, I left Angus indoors, and I headed outside again, this time with work boots and thick leather gloves on. Walking around to the back of the building, I climbed into the jeep, and as quietly as I could, I started it up and headed over to the machinery shed to start cleaning up.

The machinery shed had come though the cyclone, with only a couple of sheets of corrugated iron missing or loose, and once I had the shed open and had access to the tools, I pulled out the large work trailer, and hitched it up to the jeep, then grabbing a cordless drill and two batteries, and putting a screwdriver piece into the bit, I grabbed a packet of long screws, and started to patch up the shed, and retrieving the ladder to get to the higher parts that needed repairs.

I had been working for about half an hour, when I heard a vehicle approaching, and saw that it was Jem’s work ute, and I had almost completed the patch up repairs of the shed. “Well we have a very early bird at work don’t we” Jem said as he and Angela looked around, to see what other damage there was and they stopped when they saw the burnt-out generator shed, and the wind turbine tower had collapsed into a heap.

“Maybe it was a good move for you to buy that generator after all” Angela commented. “Well that puts us out of action, for homestead paddock accommodation for a good year at least” Jem commented, as he continued to look around, stopping again when he saw the roof of the shearing shed laying on the ground, a fair distance on the other side of the visitors building. “Well it looks like you have two house mates for quite a while too” Angela said, as she looked at where the staff quarter once stood.

I continued to work on finishing fixing the machinery shed, to get that fully operational again, Jem commented that he was pleased that the two fuel tanks were still standing, as they had only just recently been refilled, but now we had no mains generator, so the fuel was just for the vehicles, and my new generator. Suddenly Jem’s sat phone began to ring, and Angela grabbed it from the vehicle.

“Yes, he is with us, we are at the machinery shed, which is still standing, not much else is, you and Greg will be staying with Lloyd for a while as your place is gone too” we heard Angela say into the phone, presuming that it was Matt she was talking too, as she walked closer to us, and handed me the phone. “Good morning sunshine” I said happily, “Hey Mr happy pants” Matt replied, which made me chuckle.

“Is your brother up yet?... well wake him up, have some breakfast, and get over to the machinery shed in the buggy, watch where you drive as there is a lot of stuff lying around everywhere… ok bye” I said and I ended the call, before handing the phone back to Angela. “You may want to call Telstra and have them redirect all calls to the station landlines to your sat phone” I suggested, as I looked over to where the telephone satellite dish once sat, and was now some where down the paddock, yet to be relocated.

“When the lads eventually arrived, they had Angus sitting in the back tray, which I wasn’t too pleased about, but after everything he went through last night, it was probably a good idea to let him come outside. “Stay on the buggy Angus” I said to my dog, and he wagged his tail then lay down snooze.

“Right now, that everyone is here, let’s leave the mess for now, we need to check on the stock first, our house is fine but the other two houses are severely damaged, and we will worry about that later. Angela and Greg, can you please take the jeep, and go and check the eastern paddocks, we have three mobs out that way, then head to the other two mobs in the northern paddocks, Matt and I will head south, to check on the six mobs of cattle in the southern paddocks.

Take some fencing repair equipment, a couple pairs of pliers and lots of wire, I have a feeling you will need it, you better take some pipe joiners and some short lengths of pipe, plus two stilsons, take Lloyd’s sat phone to stay in touch with me.

Lloyd, can you fuel up your vehicle, at the bowser, since this is a work job, and drive to the front gate, and swap over the signs, you will find two alternative signs in the shed, and relock the gates as you go through them.

If you see water on the road, take care as it may be very slippery. Just south of the main gate, can you check the Lyndon River for us, see if it has blocked off the Exmouth Road south to Minilya, if so, we will have to let the shire and Main Roads know about it.

Once you are through the northern gate, check out the northern campsite, to make sure no idiots are camping there, they may have snuck in somehow, if there are kick them of the property, send them to Coral Bay if the road is blocked south, you should have no problems getting back to the homestead on the internal station track, or if you feel better, go back through the north gate, and come back the way you came” Jem said to me.

Once the two vehicles had set off, I went into the shed to find the other two signs, and when I found them, I dragged them out of the shed and leaned them against the wall to read what it said. “Station closed to all visitors, for repairs and maintenance, till further notice. Keep Out - Any trespassers will be shot, questioned, then prosecuted by the law”.

I had to laugh at the last half of the sign, and after relocating Angus to the front passenger seat, I loaded the signs onto the back and strapped them down,

Once I had found some wire cutters, some coils of wire, and retrieved the spare set of gate keys, I headed back to the visitor centre to get some snacks and water for me and Angus, before relocating everything to my vehicle, and we set off down the main driveway, towards the main gate. I saw the freshly made tracks from the jeep, but when I came to the junction of the station tracks, I was a little annoyed when I spotted a second set of tracks heading north.

Continuing east towards the front gate, I saw the jeep parked near a watering point and I stopped to talk to Angela, “Yes we saw the tracks heading north” and I have already called Jem about it, he has suggested recording the rego plate of the car if we come across it, and we will pass it onto the police later” Angela said as she saw me approaching

“Ok, will do” I replied, and I walked back to my car, and ten minutes later I arrived at the front gate, where I found the chain had been cut, and the gate left partially open. I quickly checked the Lyndon River, which was running but still able to cross it, before returning to the gate and closed and locked it.

I headed back towards the Jeep, but there was no sign of it anywhere, after a little bit of searching, I saw that the Jeep had continued on a small track in a north east direction, so I followed it, even though the track was quite rough, and about twenty minutes later I came across the jeep at another water point. “What is it, is everything ok?” Angela asked, sounding a little worried.

“The front gate has had bolt cutters used to cut the chain, the gate was left slightly open as well” I informed Angela, who strode over to the jeep to retrieve the sat phone and handed it to me, and I called the other sat phone, “Yes Angela, what is it” Jem said when he answered.

“Err, I am pretty sure my name is Lloyd and not Angela” I replied, and Angela laughed when she heard this, “Sorry Lloyd, I just presumed it was Angela, what’s up?” Jem said, “I am with Angela, I followed her tracks because I found the chain on the front gate has been cut with bolt cutters, and there are fresh tracks going up the north internal road” I said to Jem.

“Damn, bloody idiots, ok, get Angela to track those idiots down and kick them off the station, can you go back to the machinery shed, you will find new heavy duty chains and padlocks in one of the shelves, near where the nails and screws are kept, take a spare one, in case the same has happened to the north gate, don’t go to the north campsite, let Angela and Matt do that, you just check the gates and change the signs over, we have found a few fences down, so we will be here for a while. Keep me posted” Jem said to me and ended the call.

I relayed Jem’s request to change of plans to Angela, as I handed the sat phone back, and headed back to the Homestead, while Angela and Matt went to track down the intruder. When I was driving back to the front gate, and I was approaching the intersection of the internal road, as a vehicle, came tearing around the corner, and continued heading east towards the gate, I slowed right down and looked up the road, but all I could see was a small amount of dust, and a fast exiting vehicle, so I continued towards the gate, arriving, just as the strange vehicle, roared off after breaking through the fence, and turned south.

I followed the vehicle, so I could try and get a rego plate reading, and as I stayed on the speed limit, the other car quickly disappeared out of sight. 25 kilometres down the road, I came to the main highway intersection, and I saw skid marks showing a vehicle heading south, so I turned right to follow, knowing that the Minilya Roadhouse and river were just 5 kilometres away.