All Alone - 26. Alo Chapter 26

“Good morning boss, a nice early start for you today” Troy said to me.

“Yes, I wanted to give the P & W Rangers copies of this list of station staff, so they don’t go fining you for breaches to their new signage, I suggest that you let everyone know, that the rangers will give on the spot fines, for anyone taking vehicles onto the beaches, and a 6 month ban from entering the station, which is my bit of input, and fines for camping outside the designated camping areas, that we recently set, which is basically on the East side of the access track, no exceptions” I announced.

“That sounds fair enough, we will let the rangers do most of the hard work, but we will do our patrols too” Troy responded.

“That is all that I ask, have a good day” I said, as I spotted the two rangers stepping out onto the veranda and looking out towards the ocean, and I walked towards them.

“Good morning gents, I have a list of staff that work on this station, including the two caretaker couples, my senior station hand and his wife, two junior station hands, and the mechanic and his apprentice, who won’t be here until mid-next week” I said and I handed over the three copies.

“Thank you, I hadn’t thought of that when we left your centre yesterday, now we know who not to fine and penalise” Scott said smiling broadly, and Tony laughed. After a brief chat, I jumped back into the buggy, patted Angus, and we set off south to the boundary, as I wanted to check everything, before returning to the office.

A very long 3 ½ hours later, we arrived back at the visitor centre, having done the full length of the station, and back to the homestead compound, having completed 80 kilometres of rough track driving, and I was feeling quite tired, as I staggered into the centre, with Angus close behind me.

“Good morning boss, my you look worn out, and it isn’t even 10am yet” Sue commented to me.

“That would because I have been from the bottom boundary to the top boundary and back down here in the past 3 odd hours” I replied, as I lead the way to the apartment, to get Angus some water.

Back in my office, I sat back and relaxed a little until I heard the radio call. “Matt to homestead, over” I heard him say and I groaned as I reached for the radio mic.

“Go ahead Matt, over”.

“Boss, we have some idiots who have already got themselves well and truly bogged on the beach, one km north of the paddock fence above Pelican Point, over” Matt said.

“How far away are they from the water edge, over?” I asked, “They are in it, the wheels are at axle depth, and the water is almost to the bottom of the door, over” Matt replied.

“Ok, I will bring the tractor to pull them out, tell the vehicle owners to expect a heavy towing fee, payable before leaving the station” I responded.

“Tony Ellington to Mr Templeton, over” came a new voice on the radio.

“Go ahead Tony” I replied, “I am almost there at the centre, and would like to follow, you so I too can deal with this matter, over”, “Very well Tony, I will be down at the machinery shed, over and out” I replied.

“Sue, we have trouble just south of Sandy Point, Matt is already there, I need to go and pull an idiot out of the sand, can you look after Angus please” I said as I came out of the admin area.

“Yes sure, not a problem, good luck” Sue replied, just as the phone rang, and I left the building before I could hear about the call.

Once I had fuelled up the tractor, checked the water and oil, Tony had arrived, and placing a water container and a small esky of snacks on the back of the trailer, I climbed up and set off, going the same way as before, around via the airfield, and following the station track, alongside all of the burnt area, with Tony following behind me.

Once through the gate, which I relocked, I followed the fence line to the coast, and turned onto a disused track, and headed north, where it wasn’t long before, I spotted the bogged ute, and Matt standing by the station ute, well away from the beach.

When I climbed out, I noticed that Tony had stopped some way back, and I smiled, the poor bloke was about to be hit with a huge towing fee, and a 6-month ban, plus a P & W fine. “Err hi, are you able to get me out?” the owner of the vehicle asked me.

“What made you do a stupid thing like get too close to the water, in an area that is off limits to all vehicles” I snapped back.

“I am sorry, I was distracted by the sheer beauty of the place, I sort of drifted to close, and before I could do anything, it was too late” the man replied, who looked kind of familiar in some way, but I couldn’t work out why.

“Well firstly you need to read and sign this form, to say that you are to pay the full amount of the towing fee, before leaving the station or have the vehicle impounded, until the fee is paid” is said, as I handed over the clip board and pen to the man, who looked to be about in his mid-30’s, and a boy was sitting on the beach not far away, and he looked miserable.

“Wow $1000 is fairly steep, but considering it was my stupid fault, I will agree to it” the man said as he filled in the paperwork and signed it.

“In addition to the towing fine, because you are in a restricted area, were vehicles are not permitted, you will also receive a …” I stopped speaking, when I looked at the paperwork, and saw the name the man had written.

“Davis Carter?” I asked.

“Yes, that is right” he replied, are you the older brother of Sarah Templeton, nee Carter?” I asked nervously?”

“Yes,right again, we came up here to visit my brother in law, who works around here somewhere, do you know him” the man replied. I was a little shocked at this news, and I glanced over to the boy, who I presumed to be my nephew by marriage.

“And that would be your son, Alistair?” I asked.

The man nodded his head and frowning, then he suddenly realised, “Lloyd?” he asked me, and I just smiled and nodded my head yes, and we shook hands, just as I spotted Tony approaching on foot.

“I will be right back” I said to Davis, and I headed towards Tony.

“Umm, I have an unusual request to make, I know this guy has broken all the rules and he should be fined and banned from the station, but I am asking if you can make an exception in this case” I said to Tony, about 150 metres away from the bogged ute, where Matt was pulling out the straps and he was duck diving under the vehicle to try and secure the strap to the vehicle.

“Matt, just wait a minute will you” I shouted out to him, after he came up spluttering, and Matt gave a wave of understanding, as I turned to face Tony again.

“It’s a long story, but in short, I first came to this station many years ago, and met this wonderful lady, who became my wife.

Last year when she died, I returned to release her ashes into the ocean, and I have been here since, first as an employee of the previous owners and now as the owner. This idiot is in fact my brother in law, who until today, I had not met, can I ask that you make the fine as small as possible please” I said to Tony.

“Well, since you asked so nicely, I will make an exception, and forgot that I even heard about it over the radio and I didn’t see a thing just now” Tony said smiling, and he turned around and headed back to his vehicle. As I walked back towards the bogged vehicle, the boy was now holding onto his dad’s hand, and they were talking softly.

“Alistair, this is your uncle Lloyd, you Aunty Sarah’s husband” Davis said making the introduction, and I squatted down so I was eye level with him, and he looked at me shyly, before sticking out his hand to shake.

“Hello Uncle, I am Alistair” the boy said shyly, and we shook hands.

“Well now, let’s see if we can get you out of this mess” I said as I stood up straight.

“Who was that, you were talking too?” Davis asked, “as you may be aware, this is the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park, and that was the District boss of Parks and Wildlife, who along with two others will be patrolling this coastline for the whole long weekend” I replied.

“So, what did you say to him?” Davis asked, “I just said, that the idiot who bogged his car, is my brother in law, and I asked for a minimum fine” I replied smiling, and Davis just laughed out loud.

“So what fine am I going to receive?” Davis asked.

“A good spanking from one of my dolphin friends, when I see her next, for being a naughty boy” I replied, and Davis just laughed harder.

“Are there really dolphins out here, Uncle Lloyd” Alistair asked.

“Yes there is nephew, in fact, one of them was with me when I said goodbye to your aunty Sarah, remind me to show you the video clip of it” I replied, and I turned to face Matt, who was standing close to the vehicle.

“It is difficult to get a strap around the axel boss” Matt said to me.

“Davis, do you have any goggles?” I asked, and he quickly retrieved them, and kicking off my boots and socks, and my shirt, I grabbed the goggles, and headed into the water. After a bit of a struggle, I managed to get the strap into place, and meanwhile Matt had backed the tractor enough to reach the other end of the strap, and still far enough away from the soft sand.

Once the vehicle was un-bogged and just off the station track, Matt stopped and let the tractor roll back a little to release the pressure on the strap, which I unhooked at both ends.

Matt, can you take the tractor back to the shed please, there is water and snacks in the cab for you to have, I will be along soon” I said to Matt, and now that he was free of the straps, drove off eastwards towards the main access road.

Once I was dressed again, I looked at the 4wd car, which had no snorkel, and I had doubt that it would start again, but to stop any further damage, I took the keys out of the ignition, would down two windows and closed the door. “He said boss, so are you the station manager?” Davis asked me.

“Yes, I am, now are you staying here on the station?” I asked Davis, “yes, we arrived late yesterday, and we are camped at the north end of Sandy Point” Davis replied.

“Ok hop into the ute, and we will go to your campsite” I instructed them, and we set off up the track.

“That one just there” Davis said to me, and I was expecting to see at least a camper trailer or something similar, but all I saw was a couple of camp chairs, a six-man dome tent and a toilet tent.

“That’s it, that is all you have?” I asked sounding surprised.

“Yes, we came a little unprepared, I was planning to make daily trips into Coral Bay for food and water, and showers” Davis replied.

“Man, you really are a city person, you know that you are meant to be fully self-sufficient, when you come out here, people can die out here, it is very easy to do and it has happened in the past” I said lecturing my brother in law.

“Yea, I get that now, I guess I didn’t think this out properly. We have been really struggling lately, I lost my job a few months ago, and I couldn’t pay the rent, so we ended up being homeless, and have been camping in a caravan park for the past few months.

I was getting really desperate, so I packed up what we had, and we headed up here, remembering that Sarah had mentioned this magical coastline, where she and you met and spent some time together” Davis said.

“Well mate you are very lucky, it could have got far worse for you, if one of the station staff hadn’t spotted your vehicle, as I said before, people have died because they are not prepared for the harshness of the land” I responded, as I calmed down a little, as I heard the down on their luck story.

We packed up the campsite and put everything that they owned into the back of the ute, and we began the journey back to the homestead. “Where are we going Uncle Lloyd?” Alistair asked, after about fifteen minutes of driving north to 14-mile and then east towards the main station road.

“I am taking you and your dad to a more comfortable place to stay” I replied.

Once on the main station road, I was able to increase the speed, and about 45 minutes later we arrived at the homestead complex, and I drove down to my new house and stopped near my car. “This is my house, you will have to share a bedroom, but it is more comfortable than camping in a tent” I said.

“This is more than just comfortable, we are so thankful that you rescued us” Davis replied.

I let Davis and Alistair to settle into the house, while I headed over to the visitor’s centre, where Sue was talking to someone, that had their backs to me when I walked in.

“Here he is now, Lloyd, this couple have come to speak to you” Sue said, and when the couple turned around, I stopped dead still.

“Well this is a very unexpected visit” I commented, what do you want, as I am quite busy, as you know Easter is a very busy time” I commented, as I began to walk towards the door to the hall.

“Please Lloyd, we have not come to abuse you or anything like that, wewere shocked, when we found out that it was you that bailed us out of the financial strife, that we had got ourselves into” Jeremy pleaded.

“It was you that offered the generous amount of money, when we had to relinquish the station, we just wanted to thank you for all you did for us, if the bank had still owned that loan, we would have left the station with absolutely nothing but our personal belongings” Angela Dalworth added.

“Yes, well, I guess I am just an old softy at heart” I responded, with a half-smile, as I saw the questioning expression on Sue’s face.

“Sorry Sue, this is Jeremy and Angela Dalworth, my former employers, and former owners of this station, this is Sue, she and her husband Dave, own the neighbouring farm to mine down at Northampton, and are now working on the station” I said, making the introductions.

“We heard about the earthquake, and that it destroyed the main house, I wondered how you were going since then and with the cyclone destruction before that” Jeremy stated.