All Alone - 2. Alo Chapter 2

Unfortunately, the reunion with my wife only lasted for eight months, when Sara announced that she had managed to get a better job, but it was in Adelaide, and that she was moving there in a week’s time. While together for the second time, our relationship was not the best, we both seemed to be more interested in our careers, and that sharing an apartment and a bed was just a benefit for both of us.

I heard from Saraha few months later after the second time we separated, only to finalise the ending of our 4 years of marriage, and that was the last time that I saw her.

At the backpacker’s accommodation, I tried to sleep that evening, sweating a fair bit from the humidity of the night, I felt disappointed in myself for not trying harder to make our relationship work better, and now I had nothing, no longer the lover and support I relied on when I needed to talk to someone, who understood my situation, I must have cried myself asleep, as it was morning the next time I opened my eyes.

As I looked into my suitcase, and saw that my digital camera was not where I had left it the afternoon before, I picked it up and looked at it carefully, and saw there was no damage to it, turning the camera on, I saw there was still plenty of battery life, so I began to look back at the photos I had taken over the past few days, since arriving at the station.

I noticed a 30-minute video clip, and I could not recall taking any video, so I clicked on it, and was stunned to see that it was me in the video, at the time that I was in the water with the urn in my hand, I watched as all the events that had taken place earlier unfolded before me, and it included some close-up footage of the dolphin interacting with me, and taking me out further towards the reef, where the urn had sunk to the ocean floor.

By the time the video clip had ended, I had tears rolling down my cheek. I saved the video clip on my camera so it can’t be accidentally deleted, and placed it back into my suitcase, before heading off to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

I had only intended to spend a night at the station, but now after a wonderful event taking place last night, I wanted to spend a little bit more time at the station, as I had a few more days before I have to rush to get back to the city, as I was given one weeks paid personal leave, so after I had finished my breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, I went looking for a staff member to extend my stay.

After not locating anyone in the visitor information office, I went looking around other buildings to see if I could find anyone, and I eventually found the same station worker who had taken me to the beach the night before, doing some maintenance work in the machinery shed.

I thanked him for taking the video clip of me in the water with the dolphin, and informed him that I wanted to extend my stay, but was not able to find anyone in the office, the station worker informed me that the boss was a little short-handed at the moment, and that he was preparing to make a trip down to Carnarvon which he hasn’t got time to do, but it has to be done.

I offered to do the trip for them, if I’m given a list of jobs to do, as I needed to go and do some more shopping for food, if I’m going to stay for three days longer. The station worker – Matt smiled and immediately went to the two-way radio and made a called the boss and explained the offer. Just ten minutes later a station 4-wheel drive ute with a trailer attached, and a 4-wheeler motorbike secured on the back, arrived at the shed.

Jeremy Dalworth – the boss was all smiles as he stepped out of the vehicle and shook my hand, saying he was very thankful for my assistance. We chatted for about fifteen minutes about what needed to be done in Carnarvon, which was about two hour’s drive to the south.

He asked me about what I did for a career, and what had I been doing since I was last at the station, and he seemed very interested that I had a degree in business management and computer studies, and that I was working for a law firm as their administration manager.

I had been given a list of things that need doing, and he said he would contact the motorbike mechanics and tell them that I was coming instead of him, and he offered to pay for $100 worth of food for me if I was planning to stay for a few more days on the station, for doing this trip for him, which I accepted, and I was soon on my way out the homestead gate heading towards Carnarvon, with an estimated time of arrival of 10 am.

I called into the roadhouse on the main highway for a quick cool drink, before continuing the journey, and I arrived in town just 5 minutes before my estimated arrival time. Once I had dropped off the trailer with the bike on the back, I went to the post office to deliver some mail to be sent and collect any mail to go to the station.

Next, I went to a communications store to collect two items that Jeremy had ordered, followed by the hardware store to collect the supplies that the boss had ordered and paid for over the phone. Once the back of the 4-wheel drive was loaded up with the supplies, I was informed that Jeremy was on the phone wanting to talk to me, so going back into the hardware store, I was handed the cordless phone to speak to the station boss.

I was asked to go and see the station’s accountant, located in town, so he could brief me on what plans for improvements were in process, as the station was still in recovery mode from the cyclone two years earlier, which had passed straight over the top of the station, and demolished or severely damaged a number of demountable buildings and sheds.

I was not sure why I was being asked to do this, but since I was being given $100 to pay for food for the next few days, I decided to do as asked. In my short stay at the station this visit, I did notice that the old visitor centre was no longer there, and that the current one, located closer to the homestead paddock gate and the shearing shed, was a more solid rammed earth building, that is about three times bigger than the previous building.

I had also noticed that the old original shearers quarters kitchen had also been removed, while the staff quarters, backpackers and the guest cottage and old homestead, also used for guests, are still in place. Over the next ninety minutes, I was shown several architectural plans of the station homestead compound and its buildings,

I was informed that after a 90-minute conference call with Jeremy while I was travelling to Carnarvon, that it was decided to show me all the plans for the station, and try an entice me to stay longer and be part of the team to get the improvements into place and assist with marketing and management of the hospitality on the station.

The visitor centre was already a huge improvement to the station, with a bigger more modern building, to allow more facilities, including a small cafe lounge, toilets, tourist information, souvenirs and supplies shop.

The plans for improvements included cyclone coded buildings for the old shearer’s quarters, to accommodate 16 people, an additional 6 twin rooms and 2 family rooms, plus an indoor games lounge and more sheltered outdoor recreation space to the backpacker accommodation, and a new staff living quarters building, providing 4 large bedrooms, each with its own en-suite, with a large lounge area, kitchen facilities and laundry, plus an air-conditioning upgrade to all guest accommodation and staff accommodation.

Down at the camp sites, there is to be one picnic shelter placed with every four camp sites, with a total of 20 to be in place in a few months, the shelters will have concrete floors, with a table and bench seating for 6 people, a solid wall on the southern side where there will be a gas barbecue and sink.

On the southeast corner, there will be a 2000 litre poly water tank, which will collect rain water from the shelter roof. The shelter will have 1.5-metre-high walls to provide some weather shelter, but not restrict the wonderful view of the beach and Ningaloo Reef, and a medium sized solar panel will provide some lighting for the shelter at night.

I was very impressed with what I had been shown, and yes it was something that I should seriously consider as a change of career, even though the pay will not be as good as what I’m currently paid. I thanked the accountant for his time and informed him that I would seriously consider the offer, on the journey back to the station, and I headed off to the shops to have something for lunch, before starting on my shopping.

Jeremy had a large car fridge and two large eskies in the vehicle to store any cold or frozen foods for the return journey, and I spent only half an hour in the supermarket deciding what was best to buy, as I wanted some fresh food, but didn’t want any of it to spoil too quickly, also I still didn’t know if I was staying for very long.

Once I had completed my shopping, spending only ¾’s of what I was allocated, I returned to the motorbike mechanics, to find a brand new 4x4 Honda 1000 cc, two - seater Pioneer Buggy, with a back-storage tray, secured on the trailer, with the 4-wheeler motorbike secured behind it.

When the mechanic saw my confused look, he laughed and told me it was a sweetener to convince me to stay at the station, I smiled as I was assisted with loading the trailer onto the back of the ute and began the journey back to the station.

Stopping back at the roadhouse for another quick drink, before making the final twenty-minute journey, I arrived at the main machinery shed to see Matt and Jeremy there waiting for me, and we disconnected the trailer and off loaded the bike and buggy, which Jeremy handed me the keys and suggested that I take it for a drive to see how it feels.

After placing all my food into the fridge and freezer, I took a quick trip down to the beach, and on returning to the sheds, there was no one in sight, so I drove up to the visitor centre, where the ute was parked under the shaded parking area, and I parked the buggy next to it and went inside, where found Jeremy seated behind the information counter, looking at the computer screen.

I had only briefly been in the visitor centre to pay my accommodation fees, and hadn’t had a good look around, so I went over there and without disturbing Jeremy, I began to have a good look around, and was very impressed with the presentation of the inside of the building.

The back wall in the centre contained the tourist information reception, while the cafe, souvenirs and supplies shop in the far back corner, and the toilets in the opposite corner.

I noticed a large tinted window behind the tourist information reception, along with a single door beside the window, which I hadn’t really noticed before, and the lounge and cafe seating area was spacious and comfortable, with the air-conditioner set at a comfortable cool temperature.

The remainder of the floor space was taken up with shelving, displaying souvenirs of photo prints and poster sized prints of the station and the Ningaloo Reef, history, picture and reference books of the region, post cards, key rings, cups and travel mugs, plus tee shirts with various prints on them.

When I looked towards the information desk, Jeremy was standing and smiling, so I stepped forward to speak to him, “Good Afternoon Sir, how may I help you today” Jeremy said in a very professional and polite way, which caught me by surprise a bit, as I returned the smile.

“This is a very good setup mate; you have done a great job of presentation and layout, I’m very impressed” I said to him as I reached the information counter.

”Well don’t just stand there, come into the office”, he said to me as he began to turn and open the wide door behind him. I noticed that the internal walls were also thick rammed earth walls, to provide strength and insulation against the hot weather.

The passageway was also quite wide, with a door to the right that leads to a big roomy office, with a huge solid hardwood desk, two thirds of the back wall was filled with book case, from floor to ceiling, the remainder of the back wall has two filing cabinets and a small table, that contains a facsimile machine and photocopier.

Above the filing cabinet, attached to the wall there is a base two-way radio, two portable two-way radios on recharger stands, and a cordless phone on a recharger stand, on the side wall there is a lounge suite and a coffee table, while under the large window there is a long workstation bench.

“This is only the Hospitality Manager Office; I have a similar one at my house for managing all of the station administration” Jeremy informed me, as he walked out of the room and across the hall to another large room, which is about twice the size as the office and is clearly a boardroom, with a solid hardwood conference table, and seating for up to 10 people.

The room has a large projector screen on one wall, a projector machine fixed to the middle of the conference table, and under the screen is a row of solid wood cupboards and shelving.

Without saying anything, Jeremy left the conference room and I followed as we continued down the passage, where on the right a closed door with a sign stated it was the “main shop store room”, and Jeremy stopped briefly to point out the room.

Facing the opposite way, Jeremy walked into what looked like a comfortable staff room, with a number of lounge suites, and a coffee table, a large round solid hardwood dining table and 8 chairs, there is a number of snack and soft drink vending machines, a book case full of novels and DVD’s, and on one wall there is a very large flat screen television, and two doors on the other wall lead to the staff bathrooms in each corner, and a door between them lead through a short passageway to outside.