Terror Again - 1. TA Chapter 1

For the next few years, I was kept very busy with my duties as a Captain in the Australian Army, which included two months in the Pacific, with disaster relief work at two island nations, plus nine months of additional training in Transport and Distribution Management, which earned me a Graduate Diploma, at Canberra. I managed to get home to Poondindie every second year in that time, both times I stayed with my younger brother - Sawney at Todd River Farm, and we managed to get down to the pubs in Port Lincoln to relax and have a good time.

Just 18 months ago, thanks to an inheritance, I had finally purchased my own land, formally known as the Leaders Creek Fishing Base, it is located 50 kilometres from the Stuart Highway, near the outer suburbs of Palmerston, and 58 kilometres from Robertson Army Barracks, where I live and work.

The 21 acres of private property are right across the road from the Boat ramp to the creek, and from there, it is 8.25 kilometres downstream to the mouth of the creek entering the Van Diemen Gulf, just south of the Vernon Islands, and in a straight line, it is just 28 kilometres north-east of Casuarina.

The property came up for sale after the last major cyclone that we had, which went straight over the top of the Vernon Islands, destroying the 6 guest cabins, 4 guest bungalows, the main house, the main guest reception lounge, and recreation space and a smaller shed on the property, leaving only the concrete water tank remaining intact, and the machinery shed, a two storage sheds and workshop shed, partially intact.

The previous owners had removed most of the damage after the cyclone, leaving behind just the tank plus the steel frames of the four sheds. Over the past eighteen months, after completing the cleanup, I have been putting all my spare time and money into building a new retreat for myself, starting with constructing concrete walls on the site of the large machinery shed, strengthening the steel frame, and installing a new roof, that can withstand Category 4 cyclones, so that it creates a very large sheltered but airy space.

A two-section mezzanine floor was built over the two end quarters of the shed, leaving an open central area, with a boardwalk down the north side for access between the two levels, with a wide roof edge, to stop rain from blowing in. The top half of both the ground and mezzanine levels have shutters to allow good airflow during the hot and humid build-up and wet seasons.

On the upstairs mezzanine, on the western side, is my living quarters, which consists of a very long and narrow living room, that overlooks the centre of the shed, then two sections separated by a central passageway, consisting of a pantry and store room on one side, and a study, a guest bedroom, and guest bathroom on the other side.

At the end is a single door, leading to the master suite, that has a private lounge, bedroom, bathroom, and large walk-in wardrobe. Walking along the boardwalk, to get to the east side mezzanine floor, which is mostly a very large open living space, with an additional guest bedroom and bathroom in each back corner, and a wide spiral staircase in the centre.

Now, I have the whole of the upstairs fully furnished, while the whole ground floor space was just one big huge open area, although I had installed a large twelve-seat spa pool with lots of very large pots of various palms and other tropical trees and shrubs that surround the spa, to give it a tropical vibe in the western end under my quarters, and at the eastern end, it has two bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and store rooms, just in case I have extra guests over for any events in the future.

Near the water tank, the storage shed also has new concrete walls, and it now houses solar and wind turbine power generators and battery storage, so I am totally self-sufficient in power. With the huge water storage tank, water supply was also not a problem, and I had installed a biodegradable septic waste system to treat the sewerage waste. For the last shed, I also had the frame strengthened, the roof rebuilt, and half-height external concrete walls and that is all.

In the workshop shed, I had a new roof installed, as well as concrete walls on all sides, with double doors at one end, that allows for vehicles to drive in, and this is my vehicle garage, while a mezzanine decking above, covering the full width of the shed, is additional storage space, with a large room in each corner, and two bathrooms between them. At the other end, there is another open mezzanine deck, with two more large corner rooms, two small storage rooms and the spiral stairs, while below on the ground floor, there is a kitchen, laundry, two bathrooms and open living space.

I had also constructed a new boundary fence, firstly digging a .25 metre trench, which was filled with stones and concrete to prevent any digging under the new fence and investing in a large amount of recycled railway iron, which I was using as posts and rails, to make the property more secure.

The bottom rail is just off the ground, the centre rail at 0.75 metres and the top rail at 1.5 metres above the ground, stopping any vehicles from attempting to burst onto the property other than entering from the now very solid front gate, also made from railway iron and steel weld mesh, with a big “Private Property – No Entry” sign on it to keep tourists and nosey people out, as the property was a very popular fishing base before the cyclone destroyed it.

Steel weld mesh was also attached to the railway iron fence rails, to stop any unwanted visitors such as crocodiles or any other animals that are not wanted on the property, plus I had planted three staggered rows of Tasmanian Blue Gum trees just inside the boundary on the roadside, along with native shrubs between each row of trees, as a privacy screen, and they are now blocking all view of the property, and I have planted lots more trees all over the property.

While working on the improvements to my place, I would travel out there straight after finishing work on Friday afternoons and return to the base where I live during the week, early on Monday morning, to maximize the time I spent out there, to get it all done. The hard work I did on the weekends helped to build up my strength and fitness, as I have been spending too much time stuck in the office at the base.

A few of my work colleagues have noticed this and asked what it was that I was doing every weekend for the past 18 months, but I just skipped around the question, often by just changing the subject. For the three weeks of annual leave, I would spend the first week doing work at home, before heading south to Adelaide to be with the family.

My latest project was to build a half-metre-high decking around the spa pool, which will cover most of the central area of the ground floor, as a raised platform for easier access to the spa pool. I would be adding two gazebos in the two back corners, that will provide seating and will have a BBQ and work counter in the centre, and the tropical plants will be relocated to be around the edge of the raised platform decking on two sides.

As well as the three rows of staggered trees along two sides of the property, I have also planted several pockets of trees around the property, to increase the amount of shade, as several areas are fairly open, due to the loss of trees from the last cyclone, I have also built several ponds with connecting streams, to provide a water source for birds and small reptiles, that do not include crocodiles, with solar powered fountains, to allow for plenty of circulation of the water.

I was hoping to soon show Sawney my new home in the Territory's northern outback, with most of it now completed, as I was already putting aside money for a train trip from Alice Springs to Darwin for both of us and during my current visit, I suggested to Sawney, that he travel with me back to Darwin for a bit of a holiday, since our last holiday a few years back was unexpectantly interrupted by the Gem heist.

Euan had mentioned, while at his place for dinner one evening, that Sawney has been looking very tired lately, and that he needed a break, and I agreed with him on this, and after some continued nagging, Sawney agreed to come on a holiday with me, and once again Euan would look after Sawney’s farm while he is away. Our grandparents are now residing in a nursing home, so thankfully I didn’t have to put up with their continued bigoted views, which have not changed.

With very little time before the next Ghan train trip north and hoping that we will have some luck with the availability of a cabin this late, I telephoned to make some enquiries about booking a cabin for two for the Ghan from Alice Springs to Darwin, departing in six days on Monday next week. I was surprised that there was indeed a cabin available for that trip, even though it was a Platinum Level Cabin, and I quickly made the booking, to secure it for us.

With the train leaving Alice Springs on Monday at 6 pm, I also made a booking for flights from Port Lincoln to Adelaide and onto Alice Springs for Monday morning, leaving Port Lincoln at 6.45 am, for the 55-minute flight, with a 2 ½ hour layover in Adelaide, before boarding the flight for Alice Springs, which will take two hours, and giving us plenty of time to get to the train station to check-in, and spend just over five hours looking around the central Australian town, before the train departs. Two days later, we headed to Adelaide and onto Alice Springs, where we arrived without incident, and checked into our platinum cabin, which was quite roomy, plus we have a bathroom, and we have one of only a few platinum cabins that have twin beds instead of doubles.

Once we had settled in, we stepped off the train and headed into town to have a good look around Alice Springs, which includes visiting several museums. We returned to the train by 5 pm, well ahead of the departure time, and we headed to the Platinum Club lounge, where we enjoyed top-level service. “This is much better than the Gold service on our last trip,” Sawney said to me, as we enjoyed our drinks in the lounge area. “Excuse me dears, are you the young men that we dined with on the Indian Pacific a few years back?” a woman's voice asked, and we looked at two familiar faces.

“Yes, hello Ms Emilia, and Ms Cecelia, it is wonderful to see you again, you are both looking very well,” I replied and both ladies smiled broadly due to me remembering their names, as I motioned them to join us for a drink. “Yes, thank you, and I am sorry, but my memory is not as good as it was,” Ms Cecelia replied, “That is fine, my name is Sawney Kenrick, and this is my older brother Struan,” my brother said to the two ladies.

“Yes, I remember now, one of you is in the army and the other is a farmer,” Ms Emelina replied, “That is correct Ma’am, I am still in the Army and I am still in the Northern Territory, where I have my own home off-base, but because of my rank, I have to be on-base during the weekdays,” I replied.

After an hour of chatting, we were informed that our seats are ready for dinner, so we headed to the next car to eat, and it was a very enjoyable evening with the two ladies, watching the sun setting as we headed north through Central Australia’s outback. After dinner, while the ladies retired to their cabin, we returned to the club lounge, where we relaxed for a bit longer, and returned to our cabin at about 8.30 pm.

After taking turns to use the bathroom, we retired to our beds, and read for a while, before eventually falling asleep to the rocking motion of the train. The following morning, we headed to the Platinum Club lounge for a full-cooked breakfast, which was delicious, and I mentioned to Sawney that I had booked us to experience the 45-minute helicopter flight over the Katherine Gorge, for our off-train excursion.

After breakfast, we headed to the club lounge to relax for a bit over an hour, watching the changing landscape, before eventually pulling into the Katherine Station, which is no more than just a low platform located 6 km’s from the centre of town. With the research that I had done, I knew that it is a twenty-eight-kilometre drive to get to Katherine Gorge, with the Nitmiluk Helipad located just two kilometres before there, and as platinum passengers, we would be privately transported to the helipad.

One of the train stewards gathered us in preparation for our off-train journey, and this is where we met Mark, a young man who looked to be around Sawney’s age, but by the looks of his appearance, he was dressed as if he is ready for work on a farm or station, which included a large felt hat on his head.

Once in the helicopter, after a short flight briefing, with me in the front seat next to the pilot and Sawney and Mark sitting in the back seats behind us, we lifted into the air and we were soon travelling upriver, viewing the gorges, and the spectacular but very rugged surroundings.

When we returned to the helipad nearly an hour later, we were taken on a tour of the town, ending at the hot springs, where we swam for a short while, in our shorts, and the driver provided us with towels to dry off afterwards. We called into the Pop Rocket Café nearby for a snack, where I watched as Mark and Sawney appeared to be getting along very well, which I was pleased about.

We learnt that Mark was indeed a station worker as we had guessed, who has been working on farms and stations since the age of 16, and in that time, he has completed an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic, and that he is 21 years old, just a few months older than Sawney, who’s birthday was fast approaching. “Why are those two men over there staring at us and frowning?” Mark said to us, as we were finishing our snacks and drinks at the café, and I saw Sawney instantly freeze, have a look of horror on his face and go ghost white, after briefly looking in the direction that Mark had indicated.

With my back facing that direction, I could not see the cause of this, but I had my suspicions on why Sawney reacted like this. “Allen, we are ready to leave now please,” I called out to our driver, who was seated nearby, “Right you are sir, I will get the vehicle ready for you all,” he replied before heading to the car park, and I stood and headed to the cashier to pay the bill, and I casually glanced in the direction of the men that had been watching, and I too was in shock at what I saw, and facing away from them I retrieved my mobile and dialled a number. Unfortunately, the call went to message bank, which I was not happy about.