Tough Times - 6. Tough Chapter 6

I was feeling a lot more happier being on the road, I was now driving a more reliable vehicle that is suited to the outback conditions, and although I had no idea where I was going to end up, I knew that I was now not relying on anybody, and I could do what I wanted.

I would have liked to have kept the money growing in the bitcoin account, but I felt that it was important to me to get out in the open air, where there is less chance of my panic attacks happening again, and I didn’t have to rely on social security any more.

I arrived in Mount Magnet, just as the sun was setting, and I had booked a motel room at the Miners Rest Accommodation, which is two blocks back from the main highway, and once I had settled in, I headed back into town to get a good feed, and to have a bit of a look around the small outback town, which wasn’t much at night time.

The following morning, I headed to local food store to get some more food supplies, to put into my car fridge, and also some breakfast. I decided to just continue east, knowing that the towns of Sandstone and Leinster are the next towns and with the weather warming up, I cranked up the air-conditioning, put a music cd into the stereo and turned up the volume.

When I arrived in the very small town of Sandstone two hours later, I saw that there isn’t much here, just two blocks in from the main highway there is a shop with a fuel depot across the road, which was weird, a hotel, post office, a part time history museum, and a number of homes, that were mostly rundown. At the shop, I bought some more supplies, including more bottled water, some fruit, a load of bread, some packets of biscuits, and also a ham and salad roll to eat for lunch.

While heading out the door with my shopping, I spotted a local notice board near the front door, and on it was a note that caught my attention. “Wanted, Station workers at three stations in Goldfields region, for immediate start. Positions include homestead grounds person, mechanic, stock person, water run maintenance worker. Experience preferred. All enquiries to Corwana Downs Station.” I turned towards the lady who served me at the counter, “Excuse me, could you tell me where abouts Corwana Station is located, please?” I asked nicely.

“Ha, good luck with that mate, the place is quite a distance from here, but if you must know it is about 100 kilometres east south-east of Boulder, on the edge of the Nullarbor. Good luck with that,” the lady replied. As I walked out the door, I seriously thought about not making an enquiry, having memorised the landline telephone number.

Remembering that my mobile was damaged, I headed to the public telephone box and retrieving the few coins I had, I dialled the number, but no one answered. Returning to my vehicle, I looked up the station on Google Maps on my I-Pad, and I was surprised that the station is located just south of the Trans Australian Railway line. From where I am now, it was going to take me about two days to get there, so I climbed into my car, with the City of Kalgoorlie as my next destination, with an overnight stop in Leonora.

Once I had refuelled my car in Leonora, close to four hours later, I decided to continue on, since I only had another two and a half hours to travel to get to Kalgoorlie. Before leaving, I made a few phone calls, the first to Corwana Downs Station. “Good afternoon, my name is Devlin Alpike, I saw your advert looking for station staff on a notice board in Mount Magnet, but I am currently in Leonora heading south,” I said once the call was answered.

“Oh yeah, that notice is a couple months old now, but we may be able to fit you in, what skills and experience do you have?’ the lady asked me. “Well, I don’t have any experience on a farm or cattle station at all, but I did spend two years working part time as a gardener, while I was studying to be a carpenter and cabinet maker, which I am qualified now,” I replied.

“Well, you have a trade, that is a good thing, tell me some more about you?’ the lady asked, “Not much to say, except that I am now 21 years old and I lost my parents when they were killed while on holidays overseas, when I was 17, and I am no longer close to my older siblings, so I have been on my own since then.

I have some school mates who gave me a temporary place to live and a casual job as a deckhand on their sailing yacht in Fremantle for a short while, but that is not really my scene,” I replied.

“Ok, I will give you a one-month trial, and see how it goes from there, do you know how to find the station?” the lady asked, “Yes Ma’am, I have instructions, to take the first road on the left before the big roundabout, which is Mount Monger Road.

After 22 kilometres turn left onto the Trans Access Road, and follow that for 68 kilometres, and turn right onto the Corwana Road, which is about 4 kilometres from the homestead,” I replied. “Good, I will see you when you get here tomorrow, and my name is Carol Langley, bye till then,” the lady said before ending the call.

With a job now sorted, I made a second call to book a motel room for the night, and once that was secured, I continued on south on the Goldfields Highway. I was so tired by the time I arrived at the motel in Kalgoorlie, that I had a shower and collapsed onto the bed and promptly fell asleep, not waking up until just after dawn the following morning.

After taking an early morning walk, to stretch my sore legs, I returned to the motel to get some breakfast, and after making a few enquiries, I learnt where the laundromat is located, so I could catch up on some much-needed clothes washing. Once I was packed, with all my dirty clothes set aside for washing, I checked out of the motel and spent the next hours doing two loads of washing and drying, and also the dreaded folding and packing away the clean clothes, completing the chore mid-morning.

I had worked out that I have another 1 ½ hours of driving ahead of me, of which most of it is dirt road, which I was not going to enjoy. I decided to make sure that my two spare tyres are still in good condition, checked the radiator, oil and fan belt, before setting off south down the highway, where I planned to stop at the tavern, just before turning off the highway, to let them know that I am on my way.

By 10 am, I was on the road, and shortly after leaving Boulder, I turned onto the Mount Monger Road, heading East of a good sealed road, but I knew that it would only last for just over twenty kilometres before turning onto the gravel Trans Access road.

I was surprised that when I reached the gravel road, that it had been graded recently, and there are very little corrugations, but I still kept to a reasonable speed, just in case of any stay animals, or getting a flat tyre. When I saw the sign for Corwana Downs Station, I smiled, knowing that I was almost there, but I had no idea what I had let myself in for, as there was no website information about the station at all.

“Hello, it’s Devlin, correct? I am Carol,” the lady approaching my vehicle after I parked outside the homestead, “yes that is right,” I replied as we shook hands, with Carol having a very firm hand grip. “Ok, as you can see, it can get very bare and dry out this way.

We have a lot of mining that takes place on this station, so there is a lot of trucks moving around the place, as you may have seen on the way in, we just try and keep out of each other’s way, which can be very difficult for us sometimes, when we need to muster the cattle,” Carol said to me.

“Yes, I did wonder about that,” I responded, as I glanced around the area, with the homestead surrounded by lawn and plenty of trees, while the rest of the area was fairly bare, with the occasional trees near the other buildings that I could see.

We have a workers quarters over there, with six separate rooms, two bathrooms and a living area, outside laundry and storage area, plus over near the yards there is a cottage and the hay, machinery and maintenance workshop. The cottage has two bedrooms and a bathroom, lounge area and small kitchen, that is where you will be, sharing with Jack, the mechanic.

Apart from Jack, we have Syd the station hand and Billy the Windmill and Pump Maintenance worker, and Angela, who helps me with the cooking and cleaning, and when it gets busy, we have two more station workers that spend a few months here, twice a year, and the only other one here is Mick, my husband, and we have two children away at boarding school,” Carol announced.

“Understood, I have all of my gear in the back of my vehicle, including a swag and car fridge, with some food supplies, as I had no idea where I was going to end up or where I was going u until yesterday,” I informed Carol, “Fair enough. There is a barbeque on the back verandah of the cottage, if you want to cook up your own meals, otherwise, we have a workers dining room at the end of the homestead, just let me know at breakfast time, what you plan to do.

I will get Mick to have a chat to you about your work duties, and he will be home in about an hour, that is if he doesn’t come across any problems, so just settle in for now, and I will see you later,” Carol said to me, and a few moments later, as I drove down the track towards the sheds, I came across the cottage, where I would be living for now.

“Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing in the cottage?” a loud voice boomed from the doorway of one of the bedrooms, as I walked into the living area. “I am Devlin and I just started work here,” I replied.

“Oh yeah, well keep on your side of the cottage, and keep out of my way,” the man said, who I presumed to be Jack the mechanic, as I stepped to one side, as he stormed out of the cottage, slamming the screen door behind him, which made me jump.

Once I had placed my suitcase and swag into the empty room, I had a quick look around the cottage, and seeing the state that it was in, I searched out some cleaning gear and started to clean up, starting with the pile of coffee cups, an overflowing ash tray, empty bottles of beer and some discarded wrappings from snacks.

Once the washing up was completed, I wiped down all of the benches, emptied the fridge that had gone off or was out of date, before finding an old vacuum cleaner which needed emptying, I gave the place a quick vac, avoiding Jack’s room, which stunk of stale beer, and smoking.

I left the lounge room, kitchen and my bedroom windows open to air the place out, while I went to tackle the bathroom, which was in an even worse state, with the toilet looking like it hadn’t been cleaned in months, as well as the sink and shower, which were covered in grime.

Once I had the cottage in a liveable state again, I decided to head over to the yards and the main shed, making sure I stayed clear where I could hear Jack cursing away at something. After a bit of a look around at most of the buildings, I returned to the cottage, where I decided to have an early shower, so as not to be in Jack’s way when he finishes work, and I was just stepping out of my room freshly showered and dressed, when I heard the screen door slam.

“What the fuck is going in here? Why have you cleaned up this cottage? Did I ask you to clean it up you little shit,” Jack bellowed as he walked up to me and grabbed me by the throat and squeezed lightly. “You do that again and I will belt you till you are purple. Do you understand?” Jack said to me still in his loud voice as he let go of me and took a half step back.

“I understand, but I won’t, as I live here too,” I stated, after grabbing a gulp of fresh air, “Why you little…” Jack said before he back handed me across the face before storming into his room and slamming the door shut. As I tried to keep my tears in, I realised that I was shaking, so I quietly left the cottage, and went for a walk to try and calm down a little.

When I heard the sound of a cow bell sounding, I presumed that it was the dinner bell, but I was in no mood to get anywhere near Jack, so I watched from a distance as the mechanic walked from the cottage to the homestead. After waiting a few minutes, I walked over to the cottage, having decided that I would not be staying in the cottage, and I gathered my luggage, car fridge and swag and carried them over to the garage shed, and stored it all way in the back of my jeep.

Having explored the area earlier, I knew the perfect place to set up camp for the night, a thick clump of trees about 400 metres east of the homestead, and about 280 metres south of the cottage, so as quietly as possible I started up my jeep and slowly drover over to the grove of trees, parking the vehicle inside the grove, so it was out of sight of the cottage and the homestead.

I set up my swag beside the vehicle, along with the car fridge, and the small camping chair that I also had with me. Happy with my little campsite, I settled down on my swag and watched the sky as it began to change colours from the sunset, which is always pretty spectacular when out bush away from the city and town lights.

After about half an hour, I headed over to the homestead, and entered the workers dining room, and just as I did, Carol entered from the kitchen. “Here he is, Mike Dear, this is Devlin Alpike our newest employee, a qualified Carpenter and Cabinet Maker, and experienced in Gardening too. Devlin, this is my husband Mike, behind me is Angela our cook, and seated there is Billy and Syd and I presume you have already met Jack,” Carol said to me, and at the mention of the mechanics name, a shiver went down my spine.

“Nice to meet you all,” I replied looking at everyone in the room except for Jake. “Are you eating tonight, or have you cooked up your own meal?” Carol asked me, “I’ve eaten thank you,” I lied, “Ok, well come with me and we will have a short chat in my office,” Mike said to me, as he stood up and headed into the kitchen area and I followed him.

“Just go through the first door on your right after the pantry, I will be right there,” Mike said to me as I noticed Carol putting her hand on her husband’s arm and frowning.