Deception - 4. Dec Chapter 4

“Gres, we do have two slots vacant for mid-August, which is just 8 weeks away, I will send you everything you need to know, and I will need to get confirmation from you within a week from today, so I will hear from you then” came the reply. I was shocked and surprised that I might be going earlier than planned, as I hung up and relayed the information to Bryce and Ethan, and we hopped into the car and drove back to the farm.

Once there, Ethan booted up the computer, and opened up Gmail for me, and I entered my email address and password, shortly after a new email appeared with the subject reading – Kokoda, and I clicked on it, then clicked on Print. Once all twenty-two pages had been printed, I sat down and started to read it, passing the pages on to Ethan once I had finished each page.

About twenty minutes later, I picked up the first dozen pages, as Ethan finished reading the last few pages. Bryce had placed a writing notepad and pen on the coffee table in front of me, and I began making notes on things that needed to be done. I needed to get my passport, which I had completed and submitted to the post office yesterday, we both needed to have medical examinations and have physical & medical clearance forms completed, signed by the doctor, we needed Entry visas into Papua New Guinea, flights into and out of Port Moresby, and accommodation in Brisbane & Port Moresby.

Bryce jumped onto the computer to check flights from Perth to Brisbane leading up to the date of the start of the trek, and he came up with nothing as all flights were booked out, due to school holidays. “How about flights to Sydney or Melbourne, then up to Brisbane” I suggested and Bryce got to work to check on these variations. Ethan had also been on the phone, and when he hung up he smiled to me. “We have appointments to see my family doctor at 4pm today, for a full check-up, I explained the reason for it and he was happy to do your check-up too” he announced to me, and I looked at my watch – 1.27pm.

Heading back into town, we went to the big department store, where Ethan and I bought some new heavy duty trousers, shirts and shorts, woollen and cotton socks, new hiking boots, woollen long-johns to keep us warm, and a heap of camping gear, including backpacks. After the doctor’s appointments, I grabbed some overnight gear from my place, we headed back to the farm, where we had and early dinner, before sorting the new clothes, and putting them in the wash.

The following morning, after feeding the horses and putting them out into their yards, we had a good size breakfast, before Ethan and I began a day long hike, carrying our new backpacks, loaded with some energy snacks, lunch, canteens of water, and wearing our new boots, so as to get use to them.

When we returned in the early afternoon, Ethan and I had completed walking the long bridle track, and we still had some energy to burn, Bryce was in his office when we walked into the house, and he stopped work and put the kettle on, while we removed our boots and backpacks, which we unpacked. Over a cup of tea and biscuits at the table, we told Bryce of the kangaroos, emus and even a few large wedge tail eagles that we had spotted in our journey.

The following morning, I arrived at work fifteen minutes earlier, so as to speak to Marie about the possible changes to the Kokoda trek, and she agreed to give me an extra half hour off at lunch time to go to the nearby tourist bureau, where I was able to arrange booking airline tickets for two, from Perth to Sydney, then to Brisbane and onto Port Moresby the following day, accommodation in Brisbane for three nights - on way there and one night - on way back.

While there, I rang the Kokoda Trek company and confirmed my booking for two for the trek on the 16^th of August, and it included one night stay in Port Moresby before and after the trek, once this was all completed, I asked the lady at the travel agency write up a travel itinerary for the whole trip, and to email it to me. At the end of the day, once I was home, I received a call from Ethan, saying that he had spoken to his Phys Ed teacher, who has set out a physical training programme to get him extra fit for the trip.

Over the next six weeks, I spent all of my spare daylight time either at the local gym, or swimming or walking, to build up my walking strength, I had packed and weighed and emptied my backpack over a dozen times, to try and get to a suitable weight, that I would be able to handle. For the past four weeks, I had included my backpack, weighing 20kg’s, with every walk I did twice a day, starting at 5am for two hours of walking before going to work, then another two hours, at 4pm straight after work.

Ethan was doing almost the same as me, but getting up at 6am to walk for an hour, and after school he would walk for two hours, also carrying his backpack weighing 20 kg’s. We often chatted via mobile on the afternoon walk each day or every second day, keeping each other motivated.

With the trek falling at the same time as the school holidays, I had decided to make a backup plan just in case there was problems with flights, I was able to book and pay for a twin share cabin on the Indian Pacific, leaving Perth on August 11^th, once I had that confirmed, I decided that I would not worry about cancelling the tickets to fly from Perth to Sydney, I just altered it so we fly from Sydney to Cairns on the 14^th of August, staying overnight there before flying to Port Moresby.

With just two weeks to go before the trek, I was looking forward to it, as I arrived home from work on the Monday afternoon, I quickly changed, grabbed my mail so I could look through it while walking, grabbed my packed backpack, some water and a couple of apples and began my afternoon walk.

Half an hour later my mobile rang, it was Ethan as I had expected, and he said that he was feeling really good, and looking forward to the trip, I decided not to tell him about the train trip, deciding to keep it a surprise. As we were speaking, I eyed the registered mail in my hand, and I opened it. I cheered, then explained to Ethan that I had just received my passport, which included the entry visa to PNG, so I was glad that the last pieces of the trip had now been completed.

When I arrived at home, my stomach was telling me something was not right as I approached my door, which I found to be slightly open, not how I left it two hours ago, stepping back away from the apartment, I rang the police to inform them of the break-in, saying that I didn’t touch the door or enter the apartment.

I was in shock so I sat down, as I called Bryce to let him know what was happening, and a few minutes later Marie arrived, carrying a blanket and a bottle of electrolyte drink, she wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and sat down beside me, before handing me the drink. Not long after that the police arrived, and they entered the apartment, to have a look around, returning moments later to announce that it had been ransacked.

Once some finger prints had been recovered and photos taken, I was permitted inside, and asked to check to see if anything is missing. I spent the next fifteen minutes looking around and then realised that my original itinerary trip was missing, plus the first printout of the Kokoda trek, that we had printed out at Bryce’s place. A lot of items were broken or smashed, but nothing appeared to be stolen, considering I didn’t really own very much, luckily the mementoes of my mum’s which were very well hidden had not been touched.

Once the police had left, Bryce and Marie helped me to do a basic clean-up of the mess, before Bryce announced that I was staying at his place for the remainder of the two weeks before the trip. So I gathered one weeks - worth of clothes, and packed it into the suitcase, I emptied the fridge into an esky, and the pantry into a cardboard box, and along with my trek backpack, passport, camera and boots, I loaded it all into my car and followed Bryce out to the farm stopping to pick up some pizza for dinner on the way.

I felt a little unsettled that night, finding it difficult to sleep, when my alarm went off at 5am, I reset the alarm till 6, and went back to sleep, where I managed to drag myself out of bed and go for a long walk, minus the backpack.

When I returned from the walk, I quickly showered and dressed, before heading out to the stables to start work on feeding the horses, then giving them a good brush down before letting them out into their yards. When I had done this, I returned to the house for some breakfast, which I had expected to prepare myself, but Bryce had a full cooked breakfast waiting for me. As I sat down to eat, I decided to let Bryce know about the change of plans, informing him of the Trans Australian rail trip to Sydney, leaving Perth on the Sunday the 11^th, and Bryce informed me that Ethan arrives home for start of holidays on the day before.

I had just finished my breakfast, when my mobile rang, looking at the caller ID, I saw that it was Lucas Patterson. “Hiya Lucas, what’s happening” I said cheerfully, Lucas informed me that Marie had told him of the break-in, and he was checking that I was ok, he also asked me if I thought that maybe it was connected with the business of the family trying to force me to sign that document, I admitted to Lucas that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind until just now, and said yes that it may be connected.

Lucas told me to keep safe, and try and have someone with me all the time, and stay at Bryce’s place until I leave for the trip, and I agreed to do that. For the final 7 days before leaving for the trek, I had received a number of calls from the Brisbane area, with just silence on the other end, and after the first few times, I was starting to get worried.

I telephone Lucas and told him about the calls, and gave him the three numbers that had been calling me so many times, and he said he would get an investigator to look into it, after that call, on the Wednesday afternoon, I turned off the phone and I went into town and bought a new I-phone, with a new silent number.

Later that evening after I had it all set up and I called Lucas and Marie to let them know of my new phone number, and asked them to keep it secret, I mentioned to Bryce the new number, once he came in from working in the stables, and I texted Ethan of the new number, also asking him to keep it a secret number.

On the Wednesday, Bryce left me in charge of the farm, while he went to the city, 4 ½ hours away, to collect Ethan from school, it was Jacob’s day to work on the farm, so we worked together to take the horses out for a ride, before washing them down and feeding them. Jacob said to me that Bryce had told him of my Kokoda trek, and that I was taking Ethan with me, and he said he wished that he had the money to do something like that. I said that if he works hard and keeps fit, then he would be able to do something like that in the future.

When Ethan arrived home, he dragged his school luggage inside, and into his room, I went into the house and sat at the table waiting for him to reappear. When he had, he was dressed in work clothes, and he came up to me and gave me a big hug, “Hi, I’m so glad you are taking me on this trek, I am so looking forward to it” Ethan said to me.

I was amazed to see that Ethan had actually grown a bit since I last saw him just a few weeks ago, and his voice was starting to change, “I hope you haven’t grown out of your new clothes and hiking boots” I said to him with a smile, “Nope, not yet, although the boots are more of a snug fit now” he commented as he pointed down to his feet, to show that he was wearing them.

“Slight change in our plans buddy, hope you don’t mind, but we are leaving early tomorrow, to go back to the city, to catch the Indian Pacific train, we are taking the 2 ¾ day trip to Sydney, so we will have to walk the carriages to keep our exercise up” I announced, “Cool, that sounds like fun, I’ve’ never been on a long distance train before” Ethan remarked happily.

Ethan and I took our final long hike before we start our trekking holiday, arriving back just in time to help with feeding the horses, and once that was done, Ethan went to unpack and repack his backpack, too make sure he had everything, and that it was no more than 20 kg’s. After dinner, we checked that we had everything with us, our passports, bank cards, a couple of books to read, and a change of clothes, which we carried in separate small day packs, and after a light dinner we all went to bed early.