Ocean Research - 4. IOR Chapter 4

“Where in the tropics are you from exactly?” Flynn asked, “Oh all over the Pacific really, but our family is mainly based at Wake Island about an hour and a half flight north of the Marshall Islands,” Joshua responded.

“Wake Island”, Mum said loudly in shock. “Wait a minute, are you related to that man that owns all of those huge research submarines?” Dad asked, and I sat back in my chair and smiled, “Yes, that is his grandfather, Mr H.T Lloyd of Lloyd Family Corporation,” I said before Joshua could say anything. “Holy sh…eep dip,” Flynn said out loud, adjusting his wording, so as not to get in trouble for swearing in the house, which made me chuckle.

“It turns out that one of my Uni classmates, is one of the richest families in Australia,” I commented still smiling broadly, and now Joshua was chuckling. “Mr and Mrs Ashburton, I have come up here to convince your oldest son, to join me in a research project to be based in the West Coast of Australia, and that is why we are making a quick road trip up to Port Hedland, to check out the vessel that we will be using,” Joshua announced.

“You, lucky swine, I wish I could do something like that,” Flynn cursed, “Yeah, too bad you are needed at home on the station little bro,” I replied. “Maybe you can join us one weekend for a short fishing trip when we are in the area,” Joshua suggested to my brother, “That would be awesome, thanks heaps Joshua,” Flynn said happily.

After dinner, as is tradition, Flynn and I did the clean-up, including washing the dishes, while Mum and Dad relaxed out on the verandah, and Joshua just sat at the dining table checking it I-Pad, which he retrieved from his bag, and I gave him the Internet access code. “Um, Kip, would we be able to go up to Port Hedland like tomorrow, I know it is Christmas Day and all, but we have a slight problem,” Joshua said to me, and he turned his I-Pad around so I could see what he was talking about. As soon as I saw the screen, I dropped what I was doing and raced to the table to have a closer look.

“Mum, Dad, you better come and see this,” I called out, as I looked at the screen of a forming cyclone, that had already reached category one, in just a few hours. “Use the station phone to call your captain, they need to get out to sea asap,” I said to Joshua, “I was hoping you would say that,” he replied, before heading for the phone.

Mum and Dad looked over my shoulder and saw the screen showing the cyclone, which is currently located just north of Bedwell Island and heading in a south-westerly direction, straight towards us. Having been through a number of cyclones while growing up, I knew that they can be very serious and that we need to take action right away.

“Is everything at Pyramid secure?” Dad asked me, “Yes, for a small storm, but nothing like this, we better get back over there,” I said to Dad. “It is ok, the Captain has been monitoring the system for some time, and as a precaution, he recalled all crew and left Port Hedland yesterday at noon, heading south,” Joshua announced.

“Where are they now?” I asked, “At Cossack, waiting to get in contact with me, and now they have they are getting ready to continue south,” Joshua replied. “Do you want to go with them, I have to stay and help with the station since we are shorthanded at the moment,” I responded. “I would like to stay and help where I can, I have told the captain to head for Kalbarri, and wait there till after the cyclone has passed,” Joshua replied.

“Ok, go and pack your gear, as we are heading back to Pyramid Station, that way Dad can stay here with Flynn to take care of things here,” I said to Joshua. “I will pack you some supplies to last you for a week at least,” Mum announced, “Come to the shed son, and we will get your vehicle stocked up with fuel and water supplies, and anything else that you may need,” Dad said to me, and we headed outside.

An hour later, Joshua and I were on our way back to Pyramid Station, having only left there a few hours earlier, but I enjoyed Pyramid more than Warambie, I am not sure why, and it will be sad not to be with family on Christmas Day, but I won’t be alone, which is good.

The next morning, I spent twenty minutes talking to Dad on the phone, before having breakfast and set off to make sure that everything that needs to be tied down is tied down, in case the cyclone does come close to us, which it has in the past.

Using some railway iron, I placed it on the roof of the homestead using the front end loader to lift it into place, then using chains, we chained the ends of the iron down to the secure point, located beside the homestead, which is a short piece of railway iron sunk into the ground at an angle with a hook the end.

When we arrived back at the homestead after a long day, we had a light dinner, before watching the news and weather and retiring to our rooms early. The cyclone was now almost 320 kilometres due north of Port Hedland, and it was starting to head closer to a southerly direction when I last checked the cyclone tracking report, which had me very worried.

The following morning the first thing I did was check the tracking of the cyclone, which was now heading directly for Port Hedland, with Pardo to Point Sampson now on Yellow Alert, which included us, as I quickly dressed and headed for the kitchen where I found Jacob cooking already.

“I’ve just checked, we are already on Yellow alert, it is currently heading directly for Port Hedland, which means we at high risk of a direct hit. Stop what you are doing, we don’t have time for a big breakfast, we have to secure all the main buildings, to make sure they don’t blow away,” I said as I sat down and ate some of the toast that was already on a plate on the bench.

“Ok, sorry I tend to get carried away when I worry,” Joshua said to me, as he stopped cooking the bacon, sausages and tomatoes. “That is fine, if those are cooked, I will gladly have that thank you,” I replied, and Joshua served up the breakfast before sitting down next to me.

We have a few more pieces of railway iron, I want to so the same thing with the main shed, so straight after breakfast we better get going, as we have approximately 24 hours before the winds start getting to gale force levels,” I said to Jacob.

When we entered the homestead at lunchtime, the first thing I did was to check the location of the cyclone, and although we are still on Yellow Alert, the cyclone path had changed. Now located twenty kilometres dues west of Bedwell Island, the cyclone was heading due west, which meant that we had a good chance of escaping from any damage at all, and we may get a little bit of rain.

“I guess we can relax now, there is less likely of the cyclone striking us, as it has changed direction,” I informed Jacob, “That is good to know, does that mean we can go and check out my vessel now?” Joshua replied, “Unfortunately no, a cyclone is very unpredictable, so we have no idea where it will hit the mainland, that is if it does. Where is the vessel now?” I replied.

“I had a call from the Captain a few minutes ago, they are in Carnarvon, and they are staying there, for now, to see where the cyclone goes,” Joshua replied. “Ok, good, well since we have done everything that we can do, and I am up to date with checking the water supplies, so after lunch, lets head over to Warambie for the afternoon, to see what the family is up to, but we will stay here until Frank and Juliette get back, which will be in a day or two,” I said.

Using the telephone I called Warambie Station to let them know that we will be coming over straight after lunchtime, now that the threat of the cyclone is nearly over, and Mum said she was pleased to hear this, as they had received a call from Frank, to say they are staying in Perth until the threat of the cyclone is fully over, which means at least another week, but the station-hand Warren, will be arriving back the day after tomorrow.

After an enjoyable afternoon and evening with the family including dinner, we headed back to Pyramid Island, and it was as we entered the homestead that Joshua announced that he wanted to leave tomorrow, so as to spend some time on board his ship, and he asked me to come and check the ship at the earliest time he can get away from station responsibilities.

I agreed to drive him to the Karratha airport in the morning, so he can fly to Carnarvon to meet up with the yacht, and as I headed towards my bedroom after saying goodnight to Joshua, I was feeling a little empty, knowing that he was leaving in the morning.

During breakfast, I called Mum to let her know that I was taking Joshua to the Karratha airport, and she asked me to call in and pick her up so we could do some shopping while we are there, I would also be calling into the Aboriginal Corporation to give them my answer, which would be to reject the offer, as I had family commitments on the station, now that the station manager is injured and currently away.

When I arrived back at Pyramid Station mid-afternoon, I saw that Warren had returned as his car was parked in the workshop and the music was blaring from the radio, meaning he was probably doing some work to his car. I carried my car fridge full of frozen and cold foods into the homestead and unloaded it all, before retrieving the other two boxes of food from the vehicle.

Once everything was put away, I went to the office to check the latest report of the cyclone, which was now 240 kilometres north-east of Cossack and heading in a west-south-west direction. It had become increasingly cloudy on the way home, and the wind was getting stronger, so I was expecting to get some rain, which would be good for the land.

As I was preparing steak and salad for dinner for Warren and myself a few hours later, the rain that had been a steady patter on the roof, suddenly became a downpour, and the wind was now getting close to gale force strength, as I heard Warren enter, muttering about the rain, as he shook off his coat and hat, then his boots, before entering the main part of the house.

“G’ day Boss, I just checked the rain gauge, we have had 45 mm since it started this arvo,” Warren said as he entered the kitchen. “I expect that we will get some more, as the cyclone has decided to change direction and is heading straight for Karratha, I checked about fifteen minutes ago, we are now on red alert,” I informed the station hand.

“I saw what you did with the homestead roof and one side of the main shed roof, quite an ingenious idea, I would not have thought of that,” Warren said to me, as he sat down at the table. “How do you have your steak?” I asked him, “Very well done please, I hate the sight of blood in a cooked steak,” Warren replied.

At the age of 47, Warren had been with the family as the main station mechanic, and hand for the past twenty years, having completed his diesel-mechanical apprenticeship, he spent a few years working for a truck company, before coming to the station, where he has been ever since.

He did marry once, about fifteen years back, but it only lasted about six months, and she moved on from being the station cook at Pyramid, to take on a new career in Hospitality management in the city, and Warren has been happily single ever since.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of strong winds and heavy rain, it had not stopped all night, so I was now concerned that we may be in the path of the cyclone, so I headed to the office, to check the latest report. I was pleased to see that the cyclone had changed directions again, and was now 82 kilometres north-west of Karratha and heading in a westerly direction, and all cyclone alerts east of Karratha had now been cancelled.

The only problem we now had is that the homestead and sheds are located in between two branches of the George River, and we have no road access to get out. “Hey boss, I have just checked the two crossings West, and they are both flooded, no way out of here for a few days at least,” Warren called out, as he removed his coat, hat and boots.

“When we can, we will need to check all the fences that cross over the rivers or creeks, and I completed all the water checks on Christmas eve, so we will be fine there. So, I guess you can work on any vehicle maintenance since there is nothing else to do till then,” I replied, as I stepped out of the office and headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

“I checked the rain gauge, we have had a total of 195 mm of rain since yesterday, I have emptied it out, to measure whatever else mother nature gives us,” Warren said as he too entered the kitchen, and began making the toast.

Breakfast was interrupted by a phone call from Dad, who just wanted to check in to see if all is ok on Pyramid, and he reported that they had about 25 mm more of rain that we did and that the river and creeks were flooded, blocking the Wittenoom Road in two places, one of them being just 800 metres short of the main highway.

It was nearly four days later that we were able to cross over the river to get to Warambie Station, and while I headed over to see my parents, Warren began doing checks on the fence lines, and he took a packed lunch with him, as he would be out all day.

When I arrived at Warambie, I was surprised to find the whole family gathered in the lounge room watching a live news report, and I was shocked to discover that the cyclone which had been following the coast at a distance of about 200 kilometres, had made a sudden change direction overnight, going directly over the northern islands of the Abrolhos Islands, and crossing the coast just south of the small village of Gregory, and causing severe wind and rain damage to the town of Northampton, as it continues on a south-easterly path, through regional Western Australia.

When the phone rang, no one made a move to get up to answer it, so I did. “Hello, Warambie Station, Kipling Ashburton speaking,” I said into the phone. “Hey Kip, it is Joshua here, I tried calling you at Pyramid, but there was no answer, how did you go with the cyclone? Any damage?” Joshua asked.

“Just a hell of a lot of water, I was only able to get over here as of today, as the rivers were flooded for all that time, no structural damage at all, but we are just watching what has happened to Northampton, pretty bad from what we can see on the news,” I replied.

“Yes, I have seen what it has done, luckily the ship managed to cope with the rough weather, as we had it moored in the river at Kalbarri during the worst of the storm when it passed us here. We heard that the fishermen huts were totally destroyed, when the cyclone passed over the Abrolhos Islands, we are about to set off to go and inspect the damage, and we are taking two Parks and Wildlife officers with us, if you want to come, you need to be at Karratha in an hour, and I will send a charter plane up to collect you” Joshua announced.

“You bet I do, I have always wanted to go to the Abrolhos Islands, I am leaving right away, see you soon,” I replied, ending the call before Joshua could say any more. “I am heading into town, Joshua is in Kalbarri, and has arranged for a charter flight to pick me up from Karratha, so we can check the damage of the Abrolhos Islands,” I announced, as I headed for the door, just as the phone rang again, and I turned around to answer it.

“Kip speaking,” I said, and I heard Joshua laugh, “that is a lot less than the mouthful you said earlier, as you hung up on me, I realised that you have airfields on the station, and speaking to the pilot, who is picking you up, he has recommended the airfield, beside the highway on the corner of Wittenoom Road,” Joshua said.

“Righto, that is just ten minutes away, do I have time to go back to Pyramid to collect some clothes and stuff?” I replied, “The plane will arrive there in 45 minutes, so yes you may do, if you hurray, Righto, bye,” I said and I hung up the phone, “Change of plans, the plane is landing on the strip beside the highway, so I have time to race back to Pyramid and gather some gear, as I doubt that it will be just a one day trip,” I announced to the family.

“In that case, Flynn you had better get packed and head over there in your vehicle, to take over from your brother, with Warren there, you should have an easy time of it there, I will be fine here on my own, with Mum to help if need be,” Dad announced.

Flynn arrived at Pyramid, just as I was getting ready to leave. “There is a roast in the fridge defrosting, Warren is out all day checking fences, so he should be back before dark, as he took a packed lunch with him, and I had done all the waterpoint checks on Christmas eve, so they should be fine,” I informed my brother. “What the hell… who did that?” Flynn asked when he noticed the safety measures, I had taken to keep the roof tightly secured.