Well I got my new tyre – and like all good tyre places, the guys kept me in suspense for as long as possible – “The tyre hasn’t left Rockhampton yet”, “It didn’t come in on that shipment”, “Didn’t I say Thursday?...” When I first ordered the tyre Maurs noticed a sign in the window stating you could get frequent flyer points for each purchase made. She notified me of this golden chance to add 300 odd points to my collection. She reminded me – every day – sometimes twice a day – not to forget to pick up the points. In the end I cracked, “Leave off it will you, I KNOW about the deal! I CAN remember things! I’m not stupid!” That afternoon I got my tyre. It came as a bit of a surprise as they had assured me in the morning that no tyre had arrived on the truck. I came back to the van park to excitedly tell Maurs the tyre has finally come. “Did you get the points?” Well call me stupid! I guess me musta fergit in all my excitement! The aftershocks from the initial tremor have not quite died down yet...and Maurs rang through and made sure we got those points.
The other four in the group had packed their golf clubs and decided it was high time to have a crack. Maurs and I stayed behind to clear emails and generally have a break from those golfers! We expected them back around dusk. Dusk fell and the arrival of the night saw no golfers return. We eventually got a phone call – the bridge across the dam had been closed and they were stranded on the other side. We went up to the van park office to see if there was any info we could relate back. None except they would need to take the other route to the park – back through Emerald and out the other side. So the golfers took the long way home and limped in pretty late, any tales of glory on the course lost to stories of dodging around kangaroos in the dark. Maybe they should have stopped and listened to them! “What’s that Skippy? The bridge is down?! We’ve got to get home the other way?!”
With no luck on the golf course, the group decided to take their chances fossicking for gems at Anakie. I stayed to work on my contract so there were five eager gem seekers took off to meet some crusty old prospector who set them up with buckets and picks. A day’s hard labour yielded them a handful of colourful pebbles. Maurs worked hard totting those pails but they probably got better wages and conditions working on the Gulag for what came out of it. As they drove their weary backsides home, a small voice from the back seat (Roy) asked “Are we having fun yet?” Fun is in the eye of the beholder.
Now my brother Thomas has quite a set-up with his van and vehicle. They’ve got everything that open and shuts. But of course with technology comes a new complexity and things tend to go wrong. He’s had no end of trouble with his TV reception and the bluddy aerial – and he only wants to pick up the footy! Also his UHF radio went on the blink – he could hear us but we couldn’t hear him (not such a bad thing at times) – turns out it was his microphone. Next to go was the roll-out awning on his van – only to be told over the phone that it was a “throw-away item” – like how do you fix that miles from nowhere? Lucky he’s an even-tempered fella like myself or there would be upper-cuts flying everywhere. His technology has its advantages though and while the rest of us are freezing in the outback Queensland winter mornings, he flicks on his air-con system (the lights dim all over each town when he does it, it’s so powerful – we call it his thermo-nuclear device) and they wake up as warm as toast.
We’ve lingered in Emerald a tad too long – onwards to Barcaldine and Longreach!!
Did you have your hands in your pockets Pa...??
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