Take me to Your Leader - 2. Take Me Chapter 2

The following day, I pulled the camper trailer out with my vehicle and opened up the trailer, so I could see what was inside, and work out how to open it up and close it up afterwards, which was quite simple and I noticed that the double bed had fresh sheets, pillows and a doona on them, and searching through the cupboards, I found all the cooking and eating equipment and utensils required, as well as all the linen, like tea towels, bath towels, bath mat and hand towels for the kitchen and bathroom.

Dad had installed a large fridge in the slide out drawer, which can store a large amount of cold and frozen food. Once I had it all packed up again, I opened it up once more, so that I could get used to opening and closing up the camper and I found it a lot easier the second time, especially the annex section. Once packed up again, I backed the camper into the garage before taking my 110 Landrover out for a bit of a drive to get used to driving it and I returned home an hour later, where I found Mum and Dad busy getting everyone packed ready for our trip, which would be starting the following day. “So we will be spending Christmas out camping too?” I asked sounding a little surprised, as I expected that we would be leaving on Boxing Day, straight after Christmas, “No, we start this adventure tomorrow, so we can be at Point Sinclaire the day before Christmas Eve,” Mum replied.

When asked to follow Dad into the store room attached to the main garage, I discovered two double Kayaks, with all the extras included. “Help me load all of this on top of your vehicle will you please son,” Dad said to me, when I arrived, and over the next half an hour we loaded up the two kayaks onto the roof rack, along with the four paddles, while the seats and PFD jackets were placed in the floor of the back seat of my vehicle. Once they were secured on top, I was asked to go and pack my luggage with two weeks' worth of clothing including swimming gear.

At dinner that evening, Mum and Dad checked with all of us kids to make sure that we had packed everything that we needed for the trip, and it was suggested that we all go to bed early as we had a long few days ahead of us. The following morning, I was up early, and I had the camper trailer connected to my vehicle, ready for the trip, which included loading my suitcase onto the back seat.

When I entered the kitchen & dining area, I saw several plastic crates stacked up, along with what looked like my camper fridge, which was connected to power. “Good morning dear, when you have finished breakfast, can you load these crates of dried food and supplies into the back of your landrover, there is a cargo net in the back to cover it all up, so nothing flies away,” Mum said to me, as she was finishing making breakfast for everyone.

“Morning everyone. Bryce for the first stage of the trip, Mum and Myles will be travelling with you, just so Mum can keep an eye out and assist if need be since this is your first time towing a trailer,” Dad said to me and I nodded my head in understanding, knowing full well that it was a good idea. “We can change around passengers as we go further along the journey. Leave your camper fridge to last, so that it remains cold until you get the camper power going with the 110 started up,” Mum added and I smiled and nodded, as I continued to eat.

Once everything was loaded up and everyone had made final trips to the bathroom before leaving, Mum and Miles joined me in my vehicle which I had driven to the top of the driveway, to allow Dad to connect up the caravan to his vehicle. Once everyone was in the vehicle and with mine in the lead, we began the winding downhill journey down our street, for 600 metres, making sure that I took it easy. Mum gave me directions, as we made a series of turns, and going around a roundabout, we began to head northwards, for about twelve kilometres, before turning left and heading west for about five kilometres until we reached the A1 Highway, which we turned right onto it, now heading north again, through the northern suburbs.

“This will take us to Port Augusta, and will stop in about half an hour at the Lower Light Roadhouse to top up our fuel for both vehicles,” Mum said to me. “Ok. I wish you had done that downhill bit from home, that was a little scary,” I replied. “All part of the learning experience dear, and you did a wonderful job of it,” Mum responded. After a refuel and bathroom stop up the highway, where we were now well into the countryside, we continued north, with Mum taking over the driving for a while, and an hour later we arrived in Port Wakefield, where we made another bathroom stop for the younger ones, and we purchase a few snacks just as a treat for them, as they were all well behaved so far for this trip.

With Mum continuing to drive my vehicle, we continued northwards for another two hours until we finally arrived in Port Augusta, where Dad had booked us into two drive-through bays at one of the caravan parks, so we didn’t have to disconnect the caravan or trailer from the vehicles. Entering from opposite directions, allowed us to have the doors and awning areas on the caravan and trailer to be facing each other close together.

While Dad was setting up the caravan and I was setting up the camper, Mum got to work to start preparing a late lunch for us, as it was almost 1 pm when we arrived at the caravan park which is located on the shore of the river, that flows into the Spencer Gulf. Once we had all eaten, we relaxed for half an hour before announcing to the younger ones that we were heading to the swimming pool, so everyone dashed off to get changed into swimmers, with Miles having his luggage in my camper, he headed in that direction.

After nearly two hours in the pool, we managed to get the little ones out, showered and changed, before we headed out of the park to take a walk along the shoreline of the river. “We will be taking a coastal route getting there, but on the way back we will take the main highway back to Port Augusta, and we can do a day trip up into the Flinders Rangers, without the caravan and camper, which we can collect on our way back,” Dad informed me.

After an enjoyable afternoon and evening, with a great dinner at the end of the day, we all settled into our new temporary beds, where I was fast asleep very quickly and woke up the next morning to the sounds of birds in the trees, which made me smile. After a hearty breakfast, we packed up camp, and this time Mum would be driving the family vehicle towing the caravan and Dad would be with me and Miles, with me taking the first shift of driving, leaving an hour later than we had planned.

Thirty kilometres after leaving Port Augusta, we continued straight on the Lincoln Highway heading southwest instead of turning right onto the Eyre Highway that heads west for the Western Australian border. Forty minutes later, we arrived in Wyalla, where we had a bathroom break, and swapped drivers with Dad, who joined Mum in the other vehicle with the girls travelling with me, and Miles travelling with Mum and Dad. After another hour we arrived in the coastal town of Cowell, where we once again stopped for a rest break, as well as topping up our fuel supplies in both vehicles.

We had another two hours of driving West to reach our second overnight stop at Elliston, and this time Mum took over driving my vehicle, so I wouldn’t get too tired from the long distances we were driving. We stopped at the town of Lock, which was about the halfway mark for today’s journey, where we stopped for an early lunch, and on arrival at Elliston’s only caravan Park, we were able to get two adjoining drive-through bays and we set up camp the same way as we did last night, which was a perfect setup. Once we were set up, we all changed and went for a 300-metre walk down to the foreshore, and north along the beach for about 1500 metres until we arrived at the Elliston Historical Jetty, which is just over 400 metres long, stretching out into Waterloo Bay.

By the time we arrived back at our campsite, the little ones were quite tired from all the walking, although Miles was on my back for most of the return walk. The following day, we headed northwest along the coast, stopping at Streaky Bay, Smokey Bay and Ceduna, where we once again topped up our fuel and had a lunch break, which I needed as I had been driving my vehicle for the whole morning. After a restful break, and completing a toilet dump of our toilet cassettes, Mum took over driving my vehicle, for the one-hour journey to Penong and a twenty-minute drive south to Point Sinclair Campground, where we would be staying for at least four or five days, depending on how the little ones behaved.

Dad and Mum had said to me that the campground where we would be staying would be fairly basic, with two deep-drop toilets and a basic camp kitchen, but we would be relying on what we had onboard our vehicles for everything that we needed for our stay there. Dad had booked sites for us well before our trip started, and we had been told to take the road 450 metres further south of the main campsite, where there are additional campsites, a deep-drop toilet and no camp kitchen, which was fine with us, as we were fully self-sufficient.

“When we arrived at our destination, Dad drove into the campsite, while I stopped to step out and watch how he was parking, and after he had, we had a wander around and a chat, before I drove around to the back of the site and entered from the opposite direction, stopping the same distance from the caravan as I had the past two nights.

Meanwhile, Dad was setting up the caravan, which was side-on to the coastline, to provide a wind barrier for us and we soon had our campsite set up, including pegs and ropes to keep our awnings in place, since we were right on the coast, and susceptible to strong winds. With this being our base camp, the chairs and tables were set up under the awnings, so everyone had a place to sit undercover outside, and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

For the first full day at Point Sinclair, which was also Christmas Eve, we just walked along the beach and waded only knee-deep into the water. As we relaxed after a wonderful lunch, I frowned, which Mum noticed. “What is it dear? Anything worrying you?” Muma asked me. “Since we arrived here yesterday, I have had this weird feeling, and it has just occurred to me what it may be. Have I ever been here before?” I responded, and Mum chuckled, which caught my attention. “Yes, you have son. It was the year before Anita was born, we came on a camping trip to this area when you were seven years old,” Dad replied.

“I bet it wasn’t as fancy camping as we are doing now?” I commented, and Mum gave a short laugh. We stayed in a canvas tent, and we drove here in a 110 Landrover, very much like this one that you have,” Mum responded. Christmas Day was a new experience for all of us, and we had a great day, which included some kayaking in the shallows of the bay inside the reef. Dad said to me later in the day when we were alone that it was not advisable to go out near or beyond the reef as White Pointer Sharks are known to be in the area, and that there is a safer area for kayaking and swimming one kilometre south of our campsite near the jetty.

On Boxing Day, we spent most of the day down at the jetty on the eastern side of the Point, where we also had a picnic lunch under the cover of the gazebo shelter near the beach, and everyone had a great time exploring the Point Sinclair Jetty, as well as swimming and Kayaking in the netted shark-proof area. The following day, leaving the caravan and camper onsite, we went for a drive north to check out Cactus Beach, which was interesting and also Long Beach a little further north where there are sand dunes which the younger ones loved playing on.

With all the activity happening during the past few days, the family retired to bed early, but I was feeling restless for some reason, and eventually, I got up dressed and went for a long walk, hoping that it would tire me out to get some sleep. After leaving a note on my bed, “Gone for a long walk to the jetty and back,” I left the campsite following the road down to the jetty, there was a light breeze and a good amount of moonlight, so it was easy to see where I was walking on the road, and when I reached the jetty, I headed out towards the end about 200 metres away.

When I reached the end, I sat down and stared out into the bay, and listened to the sounds of the waves lightly hitting the shore. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but I could hear a buzzing or humming noise coming from the distance, and I stood up to see if I could see anything, as the noise started to get louder and louder. All of a sudden a very bright light appeared directly above me, and the first thing I thought of was the discussions we had at Tutorial at University about UFOs and aliens. I was stunned at how bright the light was and I realised that I could not move at all, as I started to get dizzy and I blacked out.

I was not sure how long I was unconscious, or where exactly I was when I finally woke up. I could hear a very distant humming noise as I looked around my surroundings. I was in a large room with no visible doors or windows, and I was lying on a bed with a strange-looking blanket over me. There was a bare table in the middle of the room with a square box which I guessed was a seat, and I stood up and stretched and yawned, which made me wonder how long I had been sleeping. As I faced the table once more, it was no longer bare. On the table was a plate, a knife and a fork plus a napkin, as well as two large plates and a jug in the centre that contained food. I walked over to the table for a closer look, and I was surprised to see familiar food. Fruit juice, of some kind was in the jug, and leaning over and taking a cautionary smell, I smelt like orange juice.

One plate contained meat and some vegetables, that looked like Corned beef, potatoes, pumpkin and string beans, while the other plate contained fruits, including, pineapple, mango, apple, grapes and watermelon. I plated some of the fruit and slowly took small bites of each of the fruit, which tasted delicious, and after having a piece of each fruit, I plated some of the corned beef and vegetables, which I also ate in small bites at first, and once again, I found the food to be very nice and tasty. When I heard a noise, I jumped in shock, as a doorway suddenly appeared, and after a short while two people… well I guessed they were, as they looked human, walked into the room, watching me carefully.

“Who are you and where have you taken me?” I asked cautiously, and they remained silent and I groaned in annoyance as I sat back down at the table and continued to eat my main meal. “I guess you are going to keep me prisoner here and do whatever you want to me?” I commented after a few more mouthfuls of food. “We come in peace and wish you no harm. We are explorers from another galaxy, which is where some of your ancestors originate from many centuries ago,” one of the two men said to me. As they spoke suddenly, caught me totally by surprise, and I was not sure what to do or say after that statement, I finished eating and wiped my hands on the napkin, thinking about what I should say next as I slowly stood up, to not scare them. “My name is Brett Hamilton… Take me to your leader.”