Kandanga Falls - 3. Chapter 3

-- Chapter Three --

It was only a short while later when Danny drove the van through an open gateway, on either side of which were old and weathered timber rails, one of which had been broken in the middle with the two pieces sagging down in a sad fashion.

On one side of the gateway there was a post, leaning slightly sideways, upon which sat a steel drum, a mailbox, now going rusty. The drum had once been white, with the name Kandanga Falls painted on the side of it in red, but given that rust was slowly eating away at the metal container, it wouldn’t be long before that too would be indiscernible.

‘Welcome to Kandanga Falls,’ Danny said cheerfully.

‘Home sweet home, huh? I’m not seeing very much yet,’ Nate gently teased.

‘You will soon enough,’ Danny replied.

They were driving along a dirt road, through some thick scrub, with tall Eucalyptus trees overhead almost joining and all but blotting out the sky. Moments later, Nate was surprised when they emerged into bright sunlight and were driving through open country, with rich, green grass knee-deep and waving in the breeze. He couldn’t help but be impressed, letting out a quiet, ‘Wow,’ as he looked around them, which Danny quickly picked up on.

‘The place used to be a dairy farm,’ Danny offered. ‘And up on the hills there was a banana plantation, but times have been difficult the past few years and the old guy who owned it didn’t have any family, so the co-op that had been formed after the Aquarius Festival made an offer, which was accepted . . . on the condition that old Cecil could stay in his house until he died.’

‘The Aquarius Festival? I think I saw something about that back in the shop.’

‘Oh . . . it was a gathering of alternative lifestylers, with music, drugs, sex, you name it! It was held in 1973, and after it was all over there were a bunch of participants who hung around. That was the beginning of what they are calling the rebirth of the town.’

‘And the birth of a new movement!’

‘Something like that.’

‘Fucking amazing,’ Nate replied.

‘Yeah. It actually is. I think a few like-minded people actually ended up in T’ville . . . do you remember those old houses on the road into town that got painted purple and orange and stuff?’

‘A bit hard to miss them actually. So, what? They were Nimbin rejects?’

‘Don’t know. Maybe just some alternates who wanted the alternative lifestyle, but at the same time didn’t want to be too far away from the big city . . . you know, keep the best of both worlds.’

‘So, tell me this . . . are you happy here? Are you truly happy being with Jake? Any regrets?’

‘Yes, mate. I am truly happy. We’re both very happy in fact. And yeah, absolutely no regrets. We’re both chasing our dreams, we’re building a life for ourselves, we’re building a home, and our careers . . . even if we are turning into a pair of hippies.’

‘Growing your hair. Smoking dope. What else do hippies do?’

‘We’ll, maybe we’ll be able to show you a few things this week?’

‘This could be fun,’ Nate replied.

As they continued along the dusty dirt road, Nate noticed what looked to be a campsite amongst the trees. There was a large tent, with another canvas awning hung between some trees. An old, rusted Holden station wagon was parked nearby.

‘They’re new here,’ Danny said, as he noticed Nate studying the camp. ‘Only just settling in.’

Next, they passed an old bus, complete with a corrugated-iron awning attached to one side. A little further on Nate noticed another campsite on the other side of the road.

‘Is that a . . .’ he began to say.

‘Yep. An Indian tepee. Cool, isn’t it? We’ve got all sorts living here. Just wait till you see the tree house.’

‘The what?’

‘Over there,’ Danny said, as he pointed to a large tree, with a massive canopy, at the base of which he could see a ladder which led up to a raised platform, above which, in the depths of the tree canopy, he could make out additional structures.

‘This is just so . . .’

‘Way out?’ Danny offered.

‘Yeah, you could say that,’ Nate replied.

A few moments later they rounded a bend in the road and Danny slowed the vehicle, before turning off onto another track. Looking ahead, Nate could see what appeared to be a green canvas tarpaulin, which covered some kind of structure, though he couldn’t quite make out what it was just yet.

‘Is this it? Where you’re living?’ Nate asked.

‘Yeah,’ Danny answered, as he slowed further, before eventually pulling around behind the odd-looking structure, parking between it and an old shed that was adorned with painted on waves and suns and eyes, then honked twice. ‘I know it’s not much, but we’re still working on it . . . and it’s ours! That old dairy shed is now our studio, and this other humpy will eventually be a house. Maybe you can even help us out while you’re here?’

‘Be happy to,’ Nate replied, just as he noticed some movement near the shed. A door opened and out stepped Jake. He was wearing loose-fitting, tie-dyed pants, hanging precariously from his hips, no shoes and no shirt, the v-shape of his abdominal muscles leading the eye straight to the beginnings of a bush of pubic hair. His hair looked long and wild, but his body looked tanned and fit. This was a different Jake to the one he remembered, but he was still beautiful.

‘He’s still a hot fucker,’ Nate said quietly, as they watched Jake approach. He could feel something stirring within him.

‘Yeah, he certainly is that,’ said Danny, offering a chuckle with it.

The two boys climbed out of the panel van as a smiling Jake approached.

‘I see you found our missing traveller!’ Jake said, as he walked straight up to Nate and threw his arms around him, giving him a bear hug. ‘Damn, it’s good to see you, man!’

The hug was like nothing Nate had ever before received, a hug that touched every part of him. He laughed as Jake ran his hands down his back, then slapped him on the arse.

‘It’s good to see you too, Jake. You been looking after my boy here?’

‘You know it!’

They all laughed, but they all knew that Nate was half serious. He had warned Jake that if he didn’t look after Danny, he would have Nate to answer to.

‘So, this is home, sweet home, then?’

‘Yep,’ Jake replied. ‘It’s not much, but it’s ours, and we can do pretty much what we like here. Come on, let’s show you around. Then we’ll fix something for lunch.’

They started with the studio, because it was nearest, and because the contents of this building were the one thing that both Jake and Danny were proudest of.

It had once been a dairy shed, and you could see the history of it in the roominess and the cool, smooth concrete upon which cows had once stood patiently, with big doors that would have opened for stock to plod through at dawn. Now the doors were patched with sheets of ply covering holes, or perspex that cast squares of light on the floor. The air was thick with the scent of paint and turpentine . . . and something else, Nate thought, but couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

Along one long wall, the boys had hung empty frames on nails that were banged into the four by two uprights, all different sizes, some painted, some stained. From the middle of the other long wall a divider seemed to stick out, part timber and part fabric, effectively dividing the entire room into two workspaces. Then, at both ends of the space were timber racks, stacked with canvases, some blank, some splashed with colour. There was a green door also set into the end wall.

‘This is where we pretend that we are brilliant artistes,’ Jake said, carefully enunciating that final word.

‘There’s no pretend about it,’ Nate replied, as he fingered a large canvas in the stand closest to him. ‘These are brilliant. And I do love what you’ve done with the place.’

‘Thank you, kind sir! Even if your opinion might be slightly biased.’

‘Happy to give a review any time you need one,’ Nate added, while grinning.

‘So, have you sold many yet?’

‘Why do you ask that?’

‘Oh, I remember Danny telling me you were going to some local markets to try and flog some off.’

‘A few,’ Danny replied. ‘I think it can take a while to get established. We’re still trying though.’

Suddenly Nate remembered something from those lazy summer days they had spent a little over a year beforehand. ‘Hey, whatever happened to that series you were working on, back when we first met you . . . the one where you talked us into posing naked for you?’

‘As I recall, you didn’t take a lot of convincing . . . once you got over your shyness!’

The two lovers smiled at each other, before leading Nate down to the far end of the studio, where Jake pulled out several works from the rack against that wall, then turned them so they faced their visitor.

‘Holy fuck!’ was all that Nate could say. ‘They’re awesome! Is that one . . . of me? And that one next to it . . . it’s the two of us doing a piggy-back up the beach? Just look at the way your cock is flapping all about,’ he teased his best friend.

He was pointing at the piggy-back painting at first, but soon turned his attention back to the one where a surfer seemed to be suspended in midair and flying in one direction, all legs and arms at unnatural angles, while his board was flying in the opposite direction. The wild wave beneath both seemed to be parting, like a giant mouth, ready to swallow whole both board and boy.

He remembered those days of summer quite well.

‘I’m glad that you remembered,’ Jake replied, as he picked up the surfer picture and turned it around, before then searching through the stuff on his work bench and finding a marker pen.

With Nate watching, Jake scrawled something on the back of the canvas, before stepping aside so that Nate could see what it was that he had written.

The title of this painting is ‘Wipeout’ and is the property of Nate Buchanan, gifted to him by Jake Dufty, which was then signed and dated with today’s date.

‘Of course, it’s not quite finished yet . . . just a few little touches still needed,’ Jake added. ‘But when the time comes, it will be yours, okay?’

Nate was beaming at him. ‘I . . . I don’t know what to say . . .’

‘You don’t have to say anything. You are our friend, and you were the inspiration for this, and when the time is right, I want you to have it.’

‘And when will that be?’

‘After the entire series is completed and has been displayed in an exhibition somewhere . . . so maybe just don’t hold your breath on exactly when you might receive it, okay?’

Nate could only shake his head. He couldn’t say anything, as he was beginning to choke up, which Danny quickly picked up on.

‘Come on . . . how about we go and show you our humpy?’ Danny said, before hooking an arm through Nate’s and dragging him away.

* * *

The three of them walked over towards the haphazard collection of material that Danny had called their humpy. Nate thought that the description seemed to fit, and yet it didn’t. There was more order to it than he had first thought; a timber frame, built from saplings was the first thing he noticed, forming a gable-shaped frame, which was covered in tarpaulins of blue and green, each stretched tight and casting shadows with similar hues over everything beneath them.

When they walked beneath the canopy, where it was way cooler than it was outside, Nate quickly noticed four large corrugated-iron water tanks, all appearing to have pinholes of rust in them, which were easily spotted with light falling through them. They were set in a semicircle, each set a few of yards apart, each one cut open with doorways and windows, almost appearing as if they were mouths or eyes. Filling the gaps between them were framed timber walls with a patchwork of timber or iron sheets that turned the gaps between the tanks into rooms-to-be.

As they walked across the floor in the shade, Nate heard the scrunch of his shoes on a hard surface, and looked down to see a floor of bricks, of all sorts of colours, deeply bedded in sand and tamped down flat, until they lay like a highway of pavers.

There were walls of white within the covered area, and as Nate looked more closely at the water tanks he could see that the interior of each was also painted in pale colours – yellow or blue or green, and all with added decorations of elements from nature, like trees and animals, or suns and stars and moons. Not even the paint could cover all the spots of rust, however.

‘This one’s the bedroom,’ Danny said, while patting the curved side of the nearest tank. When he looked inside, he could see this one was painted pale-green in colour, with added decorations of trees, birds and animals painted on. The floor was covered with an assortment of mattresses and cushions and pillows, and large, soft-looking, multicoloured blankets, all of which served as bedding. He could also see pinpricks of light coming through the rust stains on the wall.

‘We’re still working out what the other three will be used for in the long term,’ added Jake. ‘Spare bedrooms, or hideout spaces maybe, where we can chill, or read or argue about art. One will have to be the bathroom though, and the kitchen is out here in the covered area.’

‘What? You don’t have a bathroom yet?’ Nate asked, sounding surprised.

‘Yeah, we do, but it’s out there . . .’ Danny said, while pointing towards the studio. ‘See those black pipes on the roof, that gives us hot water, heated by the sun. We’re going to move it over here, onto this roof – once the iron is on – then we can set up the bathroom here.’

‘And what about electricity?’ Nate enquired. ‘Do you have that at least?’

‘We have a petrol motor that has a generator attached. The community also gets some electricity from a hydro system on the waterfalls, but that can be a bit hit-and-miss just depending on how well the creek is running,’ Danny replied. ‘For the most part, we seem to get by without it though, which is something I never thought would be possible.’

‘But . . .’ Jake interjected, ‘there is something happening in the community on that front. Some of the guys are talking about being able to get electricity from the sun! Some new technology that’s going to change the world, which creates clean electricity just from using a sheet of glass or something.’

Jake was sounding excited about it, you could hear it in his voice, but you could also see by the expression on Danny’s face that he was sceptical.

‘Let’s just see what happens, eh?’ Danny said, obviously trying to keep a lid on his partner’s excitement. ‘If this business they are talking about starting up actually comes off, then I’ll be just excited as you,’ he added, as he snaked his arms around Jake’s waist and pulled him close, then planted a kiss on his cheek.

‘If it does come off, those who get in early won’t ever have to worry about money ever again . . . just think about it, we’ll be able to concentrate solely on our work!’

‘We’ll see,’ Danny replied.

Nate loved seeing the passion that Jake had for the project, but he could also see Danny’s scepticism. He hoped that this wouldn’t be something that might come between his friends.

Thinking that it might be a good idea to change the subject, Nate said, ‘Well, it sure looks like you’ve got a bit of work to do around here.’

Jake kicked the edge of the bedroom tank with his toe. ‘Yeah, it’s as ugly as sin right now, but we have some ideas. Once the roof is on, then we can set things up in here a bit better. Then we’re going to render the outside of the tanks. A mate in town says if we cover them with cement and stone, things won’t get so hot inside then. Plus, the whole shape and all that, kind of like yurt vibes, you know? And circular energy, goes with the shape and the spin of the earth,’ he said, grinning. ‘Or at least, something like that.’

‘Looks like you’ve got it all planned out then,’ Nate replied, while taking in the markings written on the timber in texta, along with what looked like measurements, then outside at the piles of scavenged corrugated-iron and building timber, ready to do a job.

There was other stuff there too, like an old enamel bathtub, which was on one end and leaning against a tree, like a drunken sailor, accompanied by ladders and work horses, buckets and coils of wire, amongst other things, all of which had been reclaimed from other building sites or scavenged from places where they had been discarded. The more he looked, the more he could picture himself helping out, and doing useful things for his friends.

‘Well, you want me to get my hands dirty, I’ll get my hands dirty,’ Nate said.

‘You’re a legend,’ Danny replied, smiling quickly. ‘We’ll get a crew together by this arvo. Around here it’s just a matter of asking.’

‘But first, how about we eat?’ Jake suggested.

To be continued . . .