Country Retreat - 40. Trouble Ahead

About five minutes and a half a shopping trolley full later. “Excuse me, did I hear you right? You are heading to Perth, and I am guessing via the Great Central Road?” a young man standing nearby asked. “That is right, we are heading home from our university studies over east,” Giles replied, and I nodded my head in agreement with what he said. “I flew over to travel back with them just to annoy my best friends,” Rebecca added, which made the young man laugh, who looked to be a bit younger than us.

“Would you be interested in having a passenger please, I am dreading having to go around the long way by bus, which will take me forever and be so boring,” the young man said to us. “Well, I have a few questions first,” I responded, “Ask away. I will answer honestly, and by the way, my name is Jamison Alistair Edgar, from Hamersley Road, Caversham,” the young man said. “Have you been working here?” Rebecca asked, “Yes, I was working as an apprentice chef for the past three months, but the head chef was a real prick to work for,” Jamison replied.

“I am Giles, and these are my good friends Rebecca and Oscar, and we are part of a five-member hit squad that you don’t want to mess with,” Giles said, as Jamison looked around to see if anyone else was around, which made us laugh. “Just ignore what he said. Yes, there are five in our group of friends but the other two are back home in Perth, and we are very protective of each other. Giles attends University in Adelaide, while Oscar attends University in Canberra, and I attend Uni in Perth, as does our other friend Jarrad, while the last one in our group has finished his studies at TAFE and is now working full time,” Rebecca said.

“So you all went to High School together?” Jamison asked, “Yes, we all went to Swan Valley Anglican Community. What about you, where did you go?” Rebecca responded, “The grammar school, which is just down the river from where I live, although it is just 1.2 kilometres by the river, it’s a 4-kilometre ride by bike to get there,” Jamison replied to us. “You rode to school each day?” I asked.

“Yes, because my parents didn’t want to over spoil me, since we live in a mansion,” Jamison replied. “Wait, did you say mansion? And you live on Hamersley Road in Caversham? That means there is only one place that is yours that fits that bill,” Giles said to us. “Me and my big mouth,” Jamison said to us, which made us laugh.

“Ok, I have no idea where you mean Giles, where is this mansion?” Rebecca asked, “You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you,” Giles said, which had Jamison chuckling, “What he is saying is that my family home is located right next door to the former Youth Detention facility known as Riverbank,” Jamison explained.

“Oh wow, that must be interesting. Any ghosts of ex-detainees hovering around,” Giles asked, which had Jamison laughing out loud, “I think you will fit in well with us, so I am going to say yes you can come along,” Rebecca said, “Me too, you’re a real hoot,” Giles added, “Three makes it a perfect score. Jamison, you are welcome to join us for the rest of our journey back to Perth,” I announced.

Once we had made our purchases, to stock up the fridges, we headed outside, where we found two large backpacks leaning against the wall. “These are yours?” Rebecca asked, and Jamison nodded his head yes. I was planning on seeing if there are any tickets available for the bus to Alice Springs, and work out what to do next once I arrived there,” Jamison replied. “No need now, that is our vehicle over there, so let’s load up our supplies and get going,” I replied happily, and we did just that.

“So are you a first-year apprentice?” Giles asked as we headed out of Yulara, “No, I was starting my third year, I left school after year 11 and got an apprenticeship right away, so I will be 19 this coming year,” Jamison replied, “I vote that Jamilson does all the cooking from now on,” Giles said with a big cheeky smile, and we all laughed. “Actually, I don’t mind if I do, as it can be part of my input for this trip,” Jamison replied.

“Did you get to see Uluru up close?” I asked Jamison, who was seated in the front passenger seat, “Yes, it is pretty special eh,” he replied smiling, “How about we do one final drive-by before we start heading west?” I suggested and everyone agreed with this idea. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the Culture Centre once more, and we paid the fees before jumping into the vehicle, and we drove around to the Mala Walk car park, where we stopped to check out the caves before we continued around the 11 kilometres around the base of Uluru.

Once we had made our journey around the rock, we headed north and then turned left to head to the Western Australian border, 230 kilometres away and from there to Giles or Warakurna as it is better known, where we would view the Meteorology Station and Museum, before staying overnight at the roadhouse & caravan park. We stopped at the border to take a group photo, and a light lunch, before setting off again, and we arrived in Warakurna after a five-hour extremely rough road trip, with constant corrugations.

“Man, I hope we don’t have to deal with that for the rest of the trip on gravel,” Giles complained as we climbed out of the vehicle when we arrived at the roadhouse. After showing our travel permits, we headed up the road to the Weather station to check out the museum and the weather station itself, the most remote weather station in Australia, that’s still manned by staff on a three-month rotation.

Back at Warakurna, we set up camp behind the roadhouse, and we relaxed to enjoy our surroundings. “One question… when we first met, you said you had some questions to ask me, but there was only one. What happened to the other questions?” Jamison asked. “Yeah, I guess we did get a little side-tracked with that one, but we are happy that you have joined us for this trip,” I answered.

“I didn’t have any questions, so I guess it was you Oscar, who had some,” Giles added and I chuckled at this, “Well I was going to ask if you are an axe murderer or not, and do you have any weapons on you, that was about all I can think of,” I replied. “You got to be kidding, me an axe murder with my build? But I do have kitchen knives, which are my trade tools, if you need to know that,” Jamison replied. “Just keep them secure, and I think we will all be happy,” Giles responded, “Understood, I am going to see what you have in your fridges and pantry so I can work out what to cook for dinner,” Jamison said to us.

“Go ahead, in the back is the duel-use fridge, while the one in the vehicle is just for drinks,” I informed him. What Jamison produced as a two-course dinner was amazing, and I wondered how he did it. “Ok Mr, how did you do such an amazing job with dinner?” I asked Jamison after Giles and Rebeca headed off to the showers. “That is easy, I have a few local indigenous friends back at Yulara, who gave me some bush food as a farewell present, and I used some of it tonight,” Jamison replied. “Well, you did a wonderful job, and you're hired as our camp cook for the rest of the trip, and you won’t need to contribute in any other way,” I responded.

“Thanks, that is great, but are you sure about not helping financially?” Jamison asked me, “I am very sure mate, so once again thanks for dinner, now just relax and enjoy our stay here, as tomorrow may be another rough day,” I replied. A little later as I returned from the showers with Jamison not far behind me, I was in the awning tent sorting my luggage, when I heard Giles ask, “Hey Jamison, do you have a swag or anything to sleep on?” and I stopped what I was doing, and looked around the tent and saw only three swags.

“No, I guess I sort of forgot all about that side of things. I do have a sleeping bag and a blanket, that is about all,” Jamison responded, as I exited the awning tent and went to the back of my vehicle to retrieve the canvas tarpaulin and handed it to Jamison. “This will help you keep the cold out, but we don’t have any air mattresses at all I am afraid,” I said to him. “This will be better than nothing, thanks for that. I guess I stuffed up with being prepared for the trip eh,” Jamison replied.

“You can camp with us in the awning tent, which will also help keep the cold out, and with all four of us in there, that should help too,” Rebecca said, “Thanks guys, you are legends,” Jamison replied, “Just keep cooking like you did tonight, and we will get you home safely,” Giles added. With the aid of additional clothing, Jamison settled into his sleeping cocoon, and was soon fast asleep, which I was glad to see. “Poor kid, he really did come all this way very unprepared didn’t he,” Rebecca whispered, as we all settled into our swags.

The following morning, we woke up to the smell of cooking, and we soon found Jamison cooking up a storm, with eggs, bacon, sausages, toast and scrambled eggs. “Good morning everyone, come and eat, it is all ready for you,” Jamison said to us happily. “How did you sleep?” Giles asked, “Fairly well actually, apart from the hard ground, but that can’t be helped, I am really stupid thinking I could go out to the outback to work and not expect to be prepared for anything to happen to me,” Jamison replied.

“We have your back mate, we will get you home safe, so don’t worry about it too much, ok,” Giles answered, and Jamison just nodded his head. After a hearty breakfast, we cleaned up and packed everything away, before we set off for the next destination of Warburton, which is only a four-hour journey at the most, depending on the condition of the road. So, we would be there at about lunchtime.

When we did arrive there, we needed to top up the diesel fuel tanks so that was the first thing that I did. “Are you lot heading south or north?” the checkout person asked me in a cranky tone. “We are heading for Leonora tomorrow, staying overnight here if we can book a powered camping site please,” I replied happily, and the lady gave me a slight smile.