Survival - 4. Surv Chapter 4

I handed over the memory stick to Miss Hampton, just moments before the first bell rang, and I rushed out the door and made my way to the chapel for the school assembly, trying to get through the crowds of students, who wanted to ask me questions about the trip, which went unanswered. After we all sang a hymn, and the school chaplain gave a prayer for all students, teachers and staff for the coming term, the Headmaster stepped up to the lectern.

“Good Morning students, please sit… Today we will be having an extended assembly, as we have a celebrity amongst us today, who has agreed to give us a short talk about his most recent adventure. I would like to call up, year ten student, Mr Jacob Blackwood, to the front please” the Headmaster said, and suddenly there was loud applause from the whole student population, which caught me by surprise a little, as I stood up and made my way to the front of the Chapel, just before the alter, where a large screen came down behind me, and the projector came on.

I looked over to one side to see Miss Hampton at the controls of the projector and I smiled. “Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster, teachers, students, and…” I stopped a moment, when I saw my mother and uncle entering the chapel, and they took a seat near the very back. “and guests, I was not expecting to do this today, as it all came as quite a surprise. I was unaware of the video posting online, until I saw the 11am news report at Sydney Airport, waiting for my connecting flight yesterday…” I began, and I gave a description of the Mountaineering training, with some of the photos included, showing me in action.

Next, I gave a description of the three-day long climb up Mt Cook, where we spent about twenty minutes at the peak, before heading back down to our overnight hut. When I finished, I asked if there were any questions, and about thirty hands went into the air, which made me groan, that the Headmaster must have heard, as he stood up to take control of the questions.

“Jacob, have you done anything like this before, and if so where?” was the first question, and I turned to face the Deputy headmaster briefly to indicate the next lot of photos. “Yes, I have been hiking since just after my 12th birthday, with the first hike during the Autumn school holidays we spent 12 days on Heyson’s Trail in the Flinders Rangers, in the Spring holidays that year, my Uncle and I spent twelve days, hiking the lower end of the Bibbulmun Track in the South-West of Western Australia.

The following year, in Autumn, we returned to WA to do the Cape to Cape Walk, which took 8 days to complete, then we did a short two-day trip to Rottnest Island” I said as a picture of me with a Quokka came up on the screen. “In the Spring that year we explored the National Parks in the Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of Western Australia, including climbing Mt MeHarry, the highest point in the state.

In the summer, we hiked the Overland Track, through the Cradle Mountains, including climbing Mt Ossa, the highest point of in Tasmania, and last year we did the Fraser Island Walk in Queensland, and we climbed to the summit of Mt Woodroffe, the highest peak in South Australia, which is just south of the border with the Northern Territory. We also checked out Alice Springs and Uluru, plus Coober Pedy, on that trip” I announced, and this time only five hands went into the air, and the Headmaster selected one student to ask a question.

“What are your plans for your next trip, do you know where you are going yet?” the student asked and I smiled, as I saw my Uncle stand and walk down the main aisle towards me, “May I introduce my Uncle, Major Nathan Blackwood, of the 16th Air Land Regiment, he may be able to answer that question” I said as Uncle Nat approached, and he shook hands with the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster, before stepping up to beside me.

“After some heavy consultation with my sister, Jacob’s mother, I have approval to take my nephew on a 8 day hike up the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, this Spring holidays, in September” Uncle Nat announced to the school, then a heap of hands went up into the air, and this time I selected the student, who is the School’s Cadet Under Officer, the highest ranking cadet, who stood up and snapped to attention.

“Sir, Cadet Under Officer Christopher Harding, could you please tell us a little about life in the Army, and particularly your role in the 16th Air Land Regiment”, Uncle Nat looked at me with a smile, and then to the Headmaster who nodded his head to continue, and uncle Nat gave a brief rundown on what his duties are in the Army.

“Right, that is all the time we have for today, please thank Jacob Blackwood, for his presentation this morning, and to our special guest Major Blackwood” the Headmaster said putting an end to the assembly, and everyone applauded.

I stayed up front with my Uncle and the Headmaster, while the students and teachers made their way out of the chapel, and the Headmaster asked if it was possible if he could return to the school one day when the cadets are in training after school. Just as the headmaster had finished asking the question, Uncle Nat’s mobile phone rang, and he stepped away a little to answer it.

“Yes sir… yes I am still at the school, and he is standing nearby…, we could be there in twenty minutes sir… yes sir, goodbye” we overheard Uncle Nat say, and he glanced at me twice during the conversation, which made me think, I was about to miss a day at school, as he stepped forward, and glanced at his sister for a moment before looking at the headmaster.

“Headmaster, I will do as you request, but in return I need a special request, that being you allow my nephew to come with me immediately, on a matter of national security” my Uncle announced, which shocked not only the Headmaster, but my mother as well, and by the time he finished, I had retrieved my wallet, and pulled out my Army ID, and presented it to the Headmaster.

“Sir, although I am just a Cadet Staff Sergeant, I am also a sworn-in honorary Corporal, in the Australian Army, attached to the DIO, I am part of an ongoing investigation that I cannot go into, for Security reasons, I ask for permission to leave the school, to attend the meeting with Brigadier Purnell, who is the Commanding Officer at Woodside Army Base” I said to the Headmaster, “What is all of this Nathan, and what the hell is the DIO?” My mum snapped at her brother.

“Calm down please sis, and mind your language, it is to do with that lockdown at the base, last year, and the cause of your family having to move to a new house. Your son is in safe hands, he is just needed for intelligence purposes at the base, that is all, and the DIO is short for Defence Intelligence Organisation” Uncle Nat replied.

“Well I guess I have no say in this, but when he is back home, Jacob is grounded, and you can forget all about that trip to Kokoda” Mum announced, and she stormed off towards the main doors of the chapel. “My apologies for my sister’s outburst Headmaster, she can be hot tempered, when it comes to the protection of her family, I copped a real mouthful from her this morning, as I had stretched the truth, a little about the trip to New Zealand” Uncle Nat said to the Headmaster.

As Uncle Nathan had said, I spent most of the day scanning through all of my photos again, and this time it included all of Uncle Nat and my most recent photos from our trip to New Zealand, and Uncle Nat had picked up the stalker in one of his photos, on day one of our climb up Mt Cook, and again when we arrived back in Christchurch afterwards.

He had not been on the same flight back to Australia, as the passenger list, and airport security footage in Christchurch and at Sydney was checked, with only one bit of footage catching the stalker watching us boarding our flight to Sydney. When I arrived home, I told mum that I couldn’t discuss what I was doing at the base, and she said that all adventure trips were now cancelled, till she knows that we are all safe again.

I was very disappointed when Mum enforced her ruling, which was backed up by Dad, when he returned home for his next three-week break, and so for the Spring Holidays, I was left with doing nothing but watch television or reading books for the whole holidays, with Mum calling me at home at least three times a day to check that I was there, and hadn’t gone off somewhere, and I spoke very little to my mum in protest to being grounded, during the holidays.

I concentrated on my studies, and keeping fit for the remainder of the year, in hope that some time, my parents would let my go hiking again with my uncle. It was during dinner, a week before Christmas, with Uncle Nat in presence, when my father announced that I was no longer grounded, and that I could go on future trips with Uncle Nat, if they were informed of where they were going and what exactly we would be doing during the trip.

I was thrill with the news, and I could hardly wait to find out where our next trek would be. “So, where do you plan to take our son next?” Mum asked her brother, and Uncle Nat smiled, “Well I was hoping, we could do the trek up to Mt Kosciuszko, it is just an 8-hour trek, to get our fitness up.

Followed by a 3-day hike on the Black Range Trail in the Snowy Mountains, a few days later, so we are prepared for a bigger trek during the following holidays” Uncle Nat replied, “Oh, and where would that be then, Kathmandu?” Dad replied sarcastically, and Uncle Nat laughed.

“What… you can’t be serious!” Mum said shocked, “Well, I have been doing some research into hiking through some of the National Parks in Nepal, and I wouldn’t mind checking out some of the cultural parts of Nepal as well, but no I thought we would tackle Kokoda before then” Uncle Nat replied. “Well that is a fair bit different than New Zealand, so I will have to discuss it with Angela, and in regard to Kosciuszko & Kokoda, I think that it will be ok for Jacob to do” Dad said, and I cheered at this news.

Straight after Christmas, I was making final preparations, especially when it will be the highest peak in Australia, even if it is a lot less difficult to climb compared to Mt Cook. At the start of January, we flew up to Canberra, which was the nearest main city to Charlottes Pass on the Sunday afternoon, since there was no rush to get there, and we spent the remainder of the day driving south west, to our destination, in the Snowy Mountains, which is our starting point in the morning.

When we arrived at the summit of Mt Kosciusko, after 4 hours of moderate hiking it was clear with no clouds, but a fair amount of wind, so we only stayed for ten minutes, long enough to take a few photos, before we started the trek back down again, which took about an hour longer than going up.

When we arrived back at the motel, I sent a text message with some photos to Mum and Dad, “Reached another Summit, which makes 4 in total now, and Kosciusko is the second highest after Mt Cook. Great views of the mountains, as it was very clear up there, although it was quite windy. Love your son, Jacob”.

The following day, we spent all day driving to Trebor, to have a look around, and it was there while looking through some hiking guides, that Uncle Nat came across a hike from Thredbo to Link Road, going for nearly the full length of the National Park, covering a distance of 114 kilometres, which we thought we could do in 4 to 6 days easily, and I happily agreed to the challenge of doing the hike.

So, we stocked up on extra food rations and supplies that we would need, and by 11am, we were on our way, heading back towards Kosciusko, but this time skirting around the base of the mountain, before stopping overnight at the Seaman’s Hut, just over 3 hours after we started.

On our second day, with an early start, we covered a total of 28 kilometres, in just seven hours, with all but the last 2 hours being downhill. I was exhausted by the time we arrived at the Horse Camp hut, and I lay down, as soon as I had lay out my sleeping bag, and promptly fell asleep. Uncle Nat woke me up when it was time for some dinner, and after cleaning up my dishes, I went back to my sleeping bag, listening to Uncle Nat say that we had covered 38 kilometres, and that we had about 76 kilometres to go, before I fell asleep again.

The next morning, as we ate breakfast, Uncle Nat announced that we only had 14 ½ kilometres to walk today, that would take us about 3 hours, which I was very pleased to hear, and when I looked at my watch and saw that it was after 9am, I was a little shocked at how late it was, and Uncle Nat just chuckled.

“I thought you might like to have a sleep in since we are doing such a small hike today” he said as he began to pack up everything. By 10am, we were on our way again, and just after 1.30 in the afternoon, we arrived at Valentine Hut, and this time we found 4 other hikers were already there. All of them were European, and spoke reasonably good English, as they explained that they were heading south, and they were having a rest day today, after the tough 29-kilometre hike they did yesterday from Round Mountain Hut.

I groaned when I heard the distance that we would be travelling tomorrow, but I knew that we were nearly at the halfway point on the trek, so we only had three more days to go at the most, Uncle Nat mentioned to the others that it was 28 kilometres to the next hut, with a steep downward hike at first, followed by a long slow climb for the day.

After having a late lunch, I had a look around the area of the camp hut, and took some more photos with my mobile, before having a little lay down for a few hours. As it was getting dark, Uncle Nat had me help with preparing dinner, and to clean up the billy and dishes afterwards, and we retired to bed early, since we had another early start ahead of us.

Sometime during the night, I woke up to the sound of my uncle growling at someone, but I soon fell asleep again, and woke up to the sound of the birds calling at the break of dawn, and I quietly began to prepare some breakfast, before giving Uncle Nathan a shake to wake him up.

Just as we had finished breakfast and were cleaning up, the other campers were waking up, and I saw my Uncle glare at the European hikers, but I decided not to ask anything till later. We were packed and ready to leave, just as the others were preparing their own breakfast, and we said goodbye and continued our trek to the next camp site, just over seven hours away.

It was a good hour after we had started, that I decided to ask Uncle Nat about the glare he gave the others earlier, “I caught them trying to rummage through your backpack, and I suggested that they stop now before they get some broken limbs” Uncle Nat replied to my enquiry, which made me chuckle.

“Did you tell them you are a career soldier in the Australian Army?” I asked. “No need, they backed off straight away” Uncle Nat said. “Just as well I kept my wallet and mobile in my sleeping bag with me, isn’t it” I said, which made Uncle Nat smile and nod in agreement.