Desert Air - 5. DA Ch 5 - Hidden Beneath

“I noticed a lot of junk left behind when I had my first look around, what are we going to do about that?” I asked, “Already sorted son, your mother and I have been collecting it all and we have locked it all away in a shipping container on site, so no bloody tourists try to make souvenirs of them,” Dad responded.

“I can’t wait to check it all out, is it alright if I go first thing tomorrow?” I asked, sure but you will have to leave very early,” Mum responded, “Well it is a good 800 metres to the main runway, so I will walk there, so as not to wake anyone up,” I replied. “I will make up a lunch pack for you, so make sure you take that and plenty of water with you.

The building crew had left a few days ago for their Christmas break, so you can always use that, your Ute is over there at the moment, as Mum and I drover two vehicles over a day before most of your siblings came home, you will find it parked under the shade cloth of the campsite,” Dad said to me.

The next morning, I was awake a lot earlier than I had planned, and a quietly dressed and headed for the kitchen, where I found, some snacks and fruit on the table, which will have to be my breakfast, and also there was Dad’s medium size esky, and a water cooler.

Putting my hat on, I grabbed everything and quietly left the house and walked the 800 metres to my biplane, where I had left it yesterday. Once everything was loaded into the back passenger seats, I grabbed my torch and did a quick check of the plane, before getting onboard, and starting her up, and leaving very little time for her to warm up, I throttled up and took off down the dark runway, with just a glimmer of light coming from the moon, allowing me to see the shrubs on each side of the runway.

Once in the air, I headed north-east, and when I worked out that I had travelled nearly 30 kilometres, I began to circle, until I finally saw the reflection of the new runway in the moonlight, and I made a nice smooth landing.

Not exactly sure which runway I was on, I stopped somewhere in the middle and climbed out, before I headed south, till I felt the edge of the runway turn from sealed to gravel, and I knew that I was now at the south end of the smaller runway, and turning south-east, using the feel of the ground under my boots, I was able to remain on the road, as I made the 5 kilometre trek to the campsite, with just my breakfast snacks in my pockets.

When I finally came across the campsite, I soon found my Landy, and the key was hidden in its usual spot, on the inside driver side mudguard, where a magnetic box is kept to hide the key. Taking the box off, I retrieved the key and opened the door, as my Landy now had all of its windows now in place, instead of just the front windscreen, when it was used for bull catching.

Retrieving the torch from the glove box, I turned it on, and looked around the area, to see two buildings on each side with the shade cloth over the top, and I tried one of the doors and it opened, and stepping inside, I found that I was in the lounge and dining area, with a kitchen at one end.

Sitting on the lounge I at my breakfast snacks, before laying down for a while as I had about an hour before it gets sunlight, and I must have dozed off, as there was a blast of a vehicle horn that woke me up and I fell off the couch.

Rubbing my backside, I exited the building to find Mr Patterson standing by his vehicle smiling. “I thought it may be you, the unmistakable sound of your plane landing well before daylight is not hard to miss,” he said to me.

“Sorry about that, I was having troubles locating the runways, even if they are so long and wide. I am sorry that I woke you up,” I replied.

“That is fine Jexon, I came over to see if you want to come over for breakfast, all of our staff has gone to Hedland for Christmas, so it is just us,” Mr Patterson said, “That would be very nice thankyou, if that is ok with Mrs Patterson,” I replied.

“She demanded that I come over and invite you over, so I had no choice,” Mr Patterson responded, “Oh, ok. Well then I better come then, I don’t want you to get into trouble,” I said smiling, as I jumped into my vehicle, then remembering about the gate I stopped, and climbed out again.

“I have unlocked it for you,” Mr Patterson called out to me, so I waved and climbed back in, and headed for the gate, stopping to close it, before heading to the Corunna Downs Homestead.

“You Dad probably didn’t mention this, but we have been helping him with some of the work on the project, I think that it is great to see that the place is been brought back to life after so many years of abandonment,” Mr Patterson said to me.

“No I didn’t, thankyou for your assistance with the project,” I replied, “that is our pleasure dear, now eat up, no doubt you have a busy day lined up for yourself,” Mrs Parkinson said. After a delicious breakfast, I thanked them again, and headed back to the project, to have a look at what has been done. As I neared the airfield, I saw the shimmering of the sun on the new tarmac surface, and the sight of sheds standing in the middle of the desert, it was quite a site to see.

I had parked the plane, right on the junction of the two runways, and I stopped at the plane to collect my food and water supplies, plus a few tools that I had brought with me. Firstly I stopped to check out the two completed buildings, which have no windows or doors, but it was surprisingly cool inside, no doubt due to the insulation.

There was now a new windsock in the windsock tower, showing me that there was a light breeze coming from the south-east, and there is also a communications tower, right where it was located back during the 2^nd world war. Hidden behind the workshop is the shipping container, which still has a huge padlock on it, and after checking the old hospital building, which has half walls inside, which I presumed was to provide ventilation from the heat.

I went to the operations shed slab, where I had discovered the metal covering a few months earlier, and after fifteen minutes of hard work and sweating heaps, with the flies now covering my back, I had the metal covering cleared of dirt, and grabbing the handle, I pulled and it didn’t move, luckily I had brought some spray with me to unseized the hinges, and after a lot more struggling, I finally managed to get the door open.

There was a steel step ladder leading down, and with my torch in had, I carefully made my way down the steep steps, and although it was very musty, there was no sign of any spider webs and the floor was dry, and also concrete. At the bottom of the steps, I found that I was in a square room, about five metres in diameter, and there was wooden desks, and shelving on both sides, with a single door at the far end.

Although the door was rusty, I managed to get it open on the first try, and I entered a long and narrow passageway, that is about two metres wide, with a number of doors on each side. I opened the first door on the left, and it has two bunk beds a wardrobe and a desk in it, with a oil lamp sitting on the desk, along with some long forgotten books.

The second, third and fourth doors are all identical rooms, while on the right hand side there are the same number of doors, and I only checked the first two to confirm that they were the same as the rooms opposite.

At the end of the passage I opened the door to reveal a large room, with a large table in the centre and on the wall was a number of large maps, one of Australia’s north coast from Exmouth to Rockhampton, another map shows Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and a third map shows, the South China Sea from North Borneo, Taiwan and Hong Kong to the west, Korea and Japan to the north and Wake island to the east.

The door on the back wall leads to two offices, each with a desk, chair and shelving, which I presumed is the Commanding Officers office, with the back office being a little bit smaller than the front one, and I was amazed that such a place existed and hasn’t been touched since they left so many decades ago.

Returning to the surface, I closed the door and recovered it with all the sand that I had dug up before, and I retrieved a few dead logs and some Spinifex to hide its existence as best as possible, before returning to my vehicle to get a drink of water. After the drink, I jumped into the Landy and headed for the northern gate to check how the car park looks, and leaving the vehicle on the south side of the dry creek, I crossed it and climbed over the gate.

Walking around the area, I saw that Dad had cleared a good area for parking, and he had used railway iron on the ground to mark the outer edge of the car park area, which looks to be able to accommodate about forty vehicles.

There was now a new sign on the gate that blocks the crossing, “No vehicles beyond this point. Foot traffic only in this historical conservation area. Aircraft Bunkers - 960 metres, Taxiway - 1,420 metres, Runway 2 – 1,680 metres, Buildings – 1.930 metres. Please be aware that Snakes and Scorpions live in this region and are venomous, stay on marked walking tracks only.”

I noticed some large logs and a sign in the middle of the road about 300 metres away, so I walked up to it, to see what it read. “This facility is closed for conservation work. Do not enter. This Historic Conservation area will be open in mid July next year,” the sign read, which was news to me, as I turned and headed back to my vehicle, and I drove back to the camp site, where I entered the lounge area, turned on the air conditioner and sat down to relax for a while.

After I had cooled down a bit, and eaten my lunch, I decided to have a better look around the camp site, starting with the kitchen area, which is full stocked up with plates, bowls, cups, cutlery, and I even found a set of keys in the drawer, which I presumed are for the camp, so I collected them and went to check the accommodation.

Each of the rooms were locked, so I unlocked them to check each one, before locking it again, and I returned the keys to the lower drawer in the kitchen, before heading out again, this time I drove back to Corunna Downs homestead, where I wanted to leave my vehicle, and the Parkinson’s said they were fine with me leaving it in their shed.

Mr Parkinson gave me a ride back to the runway, where my plane is parked, and I asked if he would like to take a ride in the plane, which Mr Parkinson laughed, “After the stories I heard of what you did to the local Police sergeant, I think I will pass on that thankyou,” he said and I blushed a little about that incident, and Mr Parkinson laughed again.

I thanked him for the ride, and he stood and watched as I did all my pre-flight checks outside and in, and watched as I took off, getting up high and doing a few barrel rolls before heading for home, and I flew over the homestead before circling around and landing, just as a vehicle approached, and it was Rhodes who was driving with Wynn in the passenger seat.

“Mum said you went to Port Hedland, why didn’t you wake us up so we could have come,” Wynn whined, I had some business to take care off, and I had to leave early, and stop whining it is not a good sound,” I replied.

“Back at the homestead, Mum, Mary and Julia were busy in the kitchen cooking, and I could hear the television on in the lounge, with the sound of it being cricket.

“Everything go well dear,” Mum enquired, “Yes Mum, all good, I stopped off at Corunna Downs, to drop off their mail, and I offered Mr Parkinson a ride in the plane, but he said after what he heard from the Police sergeant he would pass on the offer,” I replied, and Mum chuckled at this bit of news.