Here We Go Again - Chapter 74 - El Questro Day 3

My phone pings early. Its Shaun suggesting at 5.15am he had opened the Zebedee Springs gates and it was now available for a private swim. A lovely gesture on his part. Only one issue. Getting everyone (especially Rose) up and at ‘em in time to enjoy the Springs on our own as our friend has offered.

Best laid plans of mice and men of course. There is no hope of an exclusive “early dip”. Rose needs at least an hour to be ready, I am informed. Even then the hour becomes 90 minutes. In the future we might just take opportunities like this and let them catch up.

Its 8.30am, well after the normal opening of the Springs by the time we arrive. Any chance of exclusivity went earlier. The Springs are not overly full thankfully and we are able to find a pool just for ourselves and laze in the warm water. There is a leech attack. Only a small one, but it is persistent. Its not until upon removal, I propel it far up onto the bank we are left in peace.

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A gentle breeze springs up making the temperature difference between being in the water and out, significant. What it really means that any body part already wet, needs to remain under the water level. 

The Springs are starting to really fill up now with patrons. There is no please or thank you, just plonking in wherever they can fit, regardless of occupation. Children simply walk over us or swim past, splashing anyone in their path. Its becoming more and more busy but still bearable for now.

In time it becomes too much, and with the call of nature amplifiing, I am out. The others suggest they wont be far behind. Its now 10.30am, the time we were originally going to come. This would not have been pleasant at all. Well done Shaun on getting us here early.

Thye car park is now overflowing. It is only 90 minutes from the closure of the Springs for the tour busses of the afternoon.

While waiting for the others at the Cruiser, I get talking to others doing the same. There is a rumour of a lockdown breaker, wanting to go from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, and whilst should have been in lockdown, decided they knew best. The story goes, they were unable to board the necessary plane in Melbourne so he boarded one for Ballina, hired a car and drove into Queensland, not only stopping at the Gold Coast but continuing on to Cairns. Surely being turned around at Melbourne Airport should have suggested something to them, but no. Their personal needs far outweighed the health of the nation.

Lets trust no virus was being carried.

Our return to the complex is broken by a stop beside another vehicle in difficulty. We see if we can help – we cant. On our return to the station, I talk to the administration office, who are not  overly interested, until I suggest there has been separation of the van and the vehicle with a snapping of the coupling. Not something so easy to deal with. They dispatch some help.

I can understand the flippant nature of the office staff to a flat tyre or other issue. These happen all the time I suspect. I was happy, though, to see that a “major” event such as a separation of van and vehicle was taken seriously.

Robyn is keen to cook. Pancakes make the menu for lunch. They do not last on the plate very long. They are delicious.

I “retire” to the beer garden to check emails and the like. Silly Telstra have sent me one of those “How Did We Do” emails. They get all barrels and the kitchen sink. There is praise for Shelley at Kununurra as was deserved but the rest of the experience was far less than acceptable. If anyone ever cares to read it, the words “miffed” and “unacceptable” might come to mind. But its a large organisation and the needs of the individual customer are not apparently on the top of theri list – just the next sale.

I also take the time to get some prelude work done. Businesses will be doing June BAS shortly and I like to perform a full reconciliation of lodgements to date to ensure nothing is missed. This required creating a spreadsheet of lodgements from which the total year to date information is placed. The balance represents what we report for June, unless I find a major error in a previous lodgement and I might revise it.

Shaun drives by and drops in at the end of his shift. The reports of the fishing today on the back of a weather change make the chances for tomorrow limited. He is looking tired and we are happy with his decision to rest. There is the obligatory enquiry about Zebedee Springs and we thank him for his efforts in getting us there early. There is a laugh with me about the time it took Rose (as it does most mornings evidently) to get ready. We are very thankful of his efforts.

He has a treat for us. Believing we will have “done” all the touristy things he is going to take us on a trek to his favourite sunset spot. He will drop back and pick us up at 5.00pm.

Our keenness for something “off menu” is full on. 

He arrives at the appointed time in his own vehicle. Robyn jumps in with Silver Leader and Rose and I travel with Shaun. We are heading to a quarry evidently where Shaun likes to go and be at peace. We will not so much be watching the sunset but the effects of the waning light on the Cockburn Ranges and escarpments.

The road to the bitumen has been graded today. The grader operator has left the scraping against the side of the road and Shaun misses his turn off, on a track that if you didn’t know it was there you would miss in any event. Travelling on it is not considered appropriate in any event.

Shauns Toyota runs roughly. A product of the corrugated dirt roads he continually traverses in his commute from Wydham and return while the season runs. It is also experiencing an electrical issue, a product of the corrugations. The terminals on the battery are loose, loose to the point they cannot be tightened any more. 

The Toyota stops at one point. He jumps out and wiggles the terminal connections and the vehicle thunders back into life.

We stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Yes there is a pile of gravel and a hole from which it came, but its not what you would imagine of a quarry. We have come prepared with drinks, bikes and dips. The table and chairs are broken out and we reflect on the sunset imbibing in the nibbles and drinks.

A couple of Brolgas wing across the sky. These majestic birds heading for a roosting point for the night.

The fading light over the escarpments, escaping from valleys with less direct sunlight, makes for great photography as Mother Nature puts on her daily show. Shaun has a secret spot and we are very thankful he sought to share it with us.

He talks of a trek he is about to make into the Kimberley with some other friends at the end of the week. They are aiming to get into places where the general public simply would not even think to go, looking for relics of the presence of man as well as the magnificence of nature.

The sunlight finally succumbs to the darkness and its time to head back. We leave nothing but footprints and tyre tracks. The El Questro staff work their UHF on a specific frequency. Shaun has changed to channel 18, the frequency we use on the road, to speak to Silver Leader as we head home.

Suddenly there is a call from the following vehicle. There is an issue. A flat tyre. It is dark now and we will be changing it in the car light of both vehicles. First we need to jack it up. In the dirt, finding the static point is “fun”. A couple of attempts only served to end in frustration. Finally we find the right point only to find we are unable to lift the vehicle high enough to get the tyre off.

The dirt is now encaked all over me as I scrambled under the car vainly trying to position the jack. I emerged in a cloud of the clinging particles.

Shaun adds his jack to our efforts and the tyre is off. Silver Leader is working on getting the spare out. Its an intricate affair working around the towing setup. He is successful around the same time we get the flat one off. There is still a little more to go with the height but thankfully there is still enough scope with Shauns jack.

The tyre on we tighten it up, throw the damaged one on the top of Shaun’s rig and head back. Shaun suggests he will drop it off at the workshop in the morning and they will sort it out. 

Of course the invariable Jeep jibes start. If one of us had to have an issue, it would have to be Silver Leader after his two breakdowns on the previous lap of the country. Thankfully this is only a small issue and will not cost us the large amounts of time they did last time getting parts from the otherside of the country.

The euphoria of the trek to and the experience of the sunset is not dulled by this final event of the day. Shaun drops me off and I head into the van with Robyn and off to bed. Its been a long and eventful day.