Desert Air - 1. DA Ch 1 - The Beginning

All my life I have grown up on the family cattle station in the harsh Pilbara region of Western Australia, with my first six years of schooling being done by distance education with the School of the Air, followed by two years at a senior high school and residential college in Broome, which is 630 kms NW of home, followed by four years at a grammar school and residential college in Geraldton, which is over 1,080 kms SW of home, and this was followed by five years of university studies to become a veterinarian, which was done in the capital city of Perth.

For the past three generations our family had run the Hillside and Panorama Stations which have operated as one station for the past 75 years. My grandmother – Aggie, passed away in my first year at boarding school in Geraldton, and my grandfather - Pa, passed away in my first year at university in Perth, with both of them buried at the station cemetery, near the Shaw River airfield, alongside a few other pioneers of the district who had worked and died on the station.

Having grown up on the station, which is just SW of one of the hottest towns in Western Australia, with record temperatures being 49.3 degrees Celsius in December and January, I was used to the heat and the swarms of flies, so I was always glad when it came to holidays, where I could pull on my work boots and get down to some serious work on the station, and where I learnt to drive a vehicle at the age of nine and a motorbike at the age of eleven, and my first time in a helicopter was when I was just five, with my Dad being the pilot.

By the age of 14, I was given one of the bull chaser vehicles as my own, a worn out, heavily dented Land Rover 110 Defender, which has outlived most of the other bull chaser buggies on the station, which are now gathering dust at the station rubbish tip.

In my spare time, I worked alongside the station mechanic – Trent, to keep it in good working order, and I learnt everything about how to fix vehicles that way, and all wages that I earned for working on the station, went into keeping my vehicle into good working condition, even it if did look very rough on the outside.

My Landy (Land Rover) was given new tyres every year on my birthday, and over the years, she received a strong roll bar, extra strong bull bars on the front and both sides, it has an extra battery, which powers the extra big spotlights, and the car fridge, which keeps all my cold water and snacks nice and cool, no matter how hot it is outside.

On my 18^th birthday, I came home for holidays a week after, to find that my Landy had been given a panel beating job to straighten out some of the dents, and a paint job, and was now licensed to go on the main roads, and it now looks half decent that I hardly recognised it at first, and in a way I was a little annoyed that it was done without me been asked, but now I think it is beaut.

I am the oldest of five children, so when I am home, I am always hounded by my siblings to take them out in my Landy, and eventually I would give in, and we would take a picnic lunch with us, and go for a 35 kilometre – hour long drive to the cemetery, to visit our grandparents graves, with our sister Mary picking wildflowers to put on their graves.

With the twins – Mary and Rhodes being six years younger than me, they were in their first year at boarding school in Geraldton, when I began University. Julia is two years younger than the twins, and Wynn the youngest of us six, is four years younger than the twins, and they are still stuck at home, without us older three to keep them company, which they remind us about it every time we arrive home on holidays.

The girls are the lucky ones out of the five of us, as they have nice plain first names, and the same two middle names, Eliza Rose, while us boys all have unusual first names, and we have the same middle name of Flint being our father’s first name, with my first name being Jexon and our surname being Kendrik, which is a Welsh name, as that is where our family originates from.

Now in my fourth year at university, apart from having my 21^st birthday, I had also acquired my commercial pilot’s licence, after having a private pilot’s licence for almost three years, and when I had the money saved enough, I would go on flights with the Aero Club in Perth.

Having a pilot’s licence as a veterinarian, is very beneficial when working in the harsh outback regions of Western Australia, and apart from setting aside money that I earn to make regular flights, I was also saving up to buy my own plane, and have my eye on a Thuxton Jackaroo Biplane, which would be perfect, as it can land and take off at short distances, and has two passenger seats.

While studying in my room at the college, I received an unexpected call from the station, “Hello, Jex speaking,” I said answering the call. “Hello son, I have a matter I need to speak to you about, do you have half an hour to spare to chat,” my father asked.

“Sure Dad, I was just doing some research for an assignment, but it isn’t urgent, what is it you wish to discuss?” I replied curious on what this was all about. “Do you have your laptop open and on?” my father asked, “Yes, I do, why?” I responded, and my father informed me that he wanted to me to see something that was online and he gave me the details to do the search.

“An application, for some open pit Iron Ore mining. Is that right?” I said once I scanned the first few paragraphs, “Yes, keep reading,” my father replied. “Oh, it is next door on Corunna Downs Station, I said when I saw the location of the planned mine.

“Now go to Google Maps, and do a search of the location given in the application,” my father instructed. “It looks like to be in a valley in the ranges, just north of… what the… Dad is this that WW2 airbase that Pa was telling us about when we were younger?” I asked.

“Yes son, it is exactly that. Now what I do know is that 120 square kilometres of land was excised from the pastoral lease, and that it is currently classed as Special Purpose Land, managed by the Department of Defence. Your mother and I have discussed this, and we are in agreement, that we would like to give you the money to purchase that land, if the Department of Defence will allow it to be purchased as Freehold Land,” my father stated.

“Where would you get that sort of money Dad?” I asked, “As it happens, that same mining company has asked to purchase the top ¼ of Panorama Station, for the purpose of future mining, and we are in the process of finalising that deal,” my father replied.

“Wow. That would be awesome. I could have a base for my plane, and business, that isn’t too far away from home. Yes, I accept the offer, with thanks,” I replied. “We thought you might say that, so we went ahead with making the application with the Federal Minister of Defence, to buy the land as Freehold land, for the purpose of preserving the history of the site, and having a base for your business,” my father replied.

“Ok, so if you have already made an application to buy the land, how long ago was that, and have you heard back from them?” I asked. “A few months ago and the response arrived today, saying that he has given approval for the 120 square kilometres / 29,654 acres of land, at the site of the WW2 Bomber Airbase, to be made Freehold and to be purchased by Mr Jexon F Kendrik.

We also have some money to spare to help you to buy your Biplane that you have been wanting for a year or so,” my father announced, which caught me totally by surprise. “Thanks Dad, this means a lot to me, and thank mum too please,” I responded.

With the mid-semester holidays, only three weeks away, I knuckled down with my studies, and completed my assignments on time, so that I could head for home as soon as my final lecture was over, on the Thursday late morning.

On the Wednesday evening, I received a text message from Dad. “Your Thuxton Biplane has arrived at Jandakot, Perth. She has been mechanically serviced, fuelled and is ready to go for your first flight home, we have arranged fuel to be made available for you at Geraldton, Kalbarri, Gascoyne Junction and Paraburdoo Airports, and after that it is just over 235 kilometres to the home airstrip, safe flight home son,” my father text to me.

“Thanks, I will stop overnight at Kalbarri, so as not to get to tired, so will see you Friday,” I texted back, and I finished packing my bags for the two week long break, before having a shower and retiring early for the night.

“Hey Jex, what are you doing for the holidays, doing anything fun?” Marcus, one of my classmates and a friend asked me as we exited the lecture room, after the last lecture for the semester. “Nothing fun, flying home to the cattle station, and getting down to earning some more money,” I replied.

“Oh ok, I have no plans, and I was hoping that we could do some camping or something, as long as I don’t have to work on the family farm,” Marcus replied, and I smiled. “Sorry mate, I am set to leave this afternoon, oh I can give you a lift as far as Geraldton, if you want a lift,” I replied.

“You are driving all the way to the station?” Marcus asked me sounding surprised, “No mate, flying, I have a pilot’s licence and recently bought my own plane, which has been serviced and is ready for me to collect at Jandakot,” I replied.

“You fly, wow, you are full of surprises, but I am not sure if I can trust one of those light aircraft, I am always hearing about plane crashes in the outback,” Marcus stated, and I smiled broadly. “Trust me, you will love this plane, it is a variation of a Tiger Moth,” I said, “A tiger moth, oh wow, I got to try out this, even if it does mean the end, at least I get to ride in one, and I will die happy,” Marcus stated.

“I have to make a few stops for fuel on my way home, with Geraldton being the first, if you like it after we get there, how about joining me for the semester break on my families cattle station? We will be stopping overnight in Kalbarri, and fuel stops at Gascoyne Junction and Paraburdoo, before we arrive at the homestead,” I suggested.

“Ok, if I am ok when we get to Geraldton, I would like to experience some time on a cattle station, where did you say it is?” Marcus replied, “In the Pilbara, south of Marble Bar,” I replied, “Oh great, you could have told me that earlier, not sure how well I will cope with the heat and the flies,” Marcus replied.

“Because it is a Biplane, it is a lot slower than standard aircraft, so it will be 3 hours to Geraldton and 90 minutes to Kalbarri,” I said to my friend, as we arrived at the college, and while Marcus went to his room to quickly pack, I had a shower and changed, before grabbing my luggage.

The taxi ride to the Jandakot airport only took fifteen minutes as it is fairly close to the University Student accommodation college, and stepping through the doors of the Aero Club, I got my first look at my new plane.

“Hi Jex, she is ready to go for you, I took it for a short spin just to make sure everything was running smoothly and she is a dream to fly,” the chief engineer said when he saw me enter. “Thanks Ben, I appreciate your time to look after her for me,” I responded, “Not a problem, it isn’t that often that you get to see a real Tiger Moth Biplane,” Ben said.

I helped Marcus to climb into his seat, and to strap in, before handing him our luggage, to be placed in the seat next to him, and placed the headset on his head, and adjusted the mike, before I shut his canopy and climbed into my seat.

Once I was strapped in, Ben turned the props a few times to make it easier to get it started, and once he was clear, I hit the starter button, and the prop was soon spinning in front of me, and it vibrated the plane a little.