Blood at Yellow Water (4 page)

“We are going to a special place which very
few white people get to see,” responded Lizzie.

Bill drove out past the old airport which he
explained used to be a base for the American and Australian Air
forces during the Second World War.

“That’s strange, there’s an old plane
sitting on the tarmac. I’ve haven’t seen anything but crop-dusters
at the old airport for years,” Bill remarked as he turned onto a
dirt road.

Lizzie said, “It looks like one of the old
planes that the Australian Flying Doctor Service used to have. I
think it’s a single-engine Pilatus PC-12. They have long range
capability and they were popular in the 1990’s.”

Jake looked at the plane curiously and
noticed two men strolling towards the aircraft as the car passed by
the airport.

After about thirty minutes the track petered
out near a large rocky outcrop and they all got out of the car.

“We’ll have to walk from here, put on your
hats and bring your water bottles,” said Lizzie, moving on ahead.
After fifteen minutes, Jake could see the rocky outcrop was much
larger than it first appeared as they came to an opening between
two huge boulders. Walking through the gap, they entered an old
dried creek bed surrounded on both sides by steep rocks. The rocks
were shaped like beehives with stripes of orange and black caused
by wind erosion. They followed the sandy stretch till they came to
a bend in the creek bed where the rocks closed in on the trail
forming a small gorge. Jake could hear running water and was
surprised to see water trickling over the rocks into a large
pool.

“There’s a spring up here that feeds into
the pool. The drovers used it seventy years ago to water their
cattle but it fell into disuse and very few people know of it now.
It’s a great spot for cooling off.”

“Come over here, I want to show you
something.” Lizzie led them up the gorge, climbing for another
hundred metres before squeezing through a narrow opening which
tunnelled into the rocks before ending in a large cave.

Jake and Shoni stared in wonder. Around the
walls of the cave was the most amazing scene. Aboriginal paintings
covered the entire walls with pictures of giant wombats, kangaroos,
turtles, snakes, crocodiles, lizards as well as aboriginal men
dancing and women cooking over fires. There were ochre- coloured
drawings of hands, boomerangs and dongas, scenes of bush fires and
battles between aboriginals and white men.

“Very few people know about this place Jake
and we want to keep it that way. This is aboriginal spiritual
ground and we don’t want any white fellas coming here to disturb
our sacred ground.”

“This is just amazing Lizzie, it’s much
better than any rock art I have seen before. I can understand why
you would want to keep it private,” Jake replied.

“Yeah, you can see some wonderful paintings
at Katherine Gorge and Arnhem Land but they’re nothing like this.
When you’ve seen enough come down to the pool and we’ll have a
picnic lunch,” said Bill

After spending an hour together admiring the
paintings, Jake and Shoni wandered back to the pool where Bill and
Lizzie had prepared some sandwiches and fruit using a large
flat-topped rock as a table. They ate their lunch enjoying the
natural beauty and solitude of the surroundings.

Lizzie asked Jake about the conference he
was attending at Kakadu. After listening to Jake’s explanation she
said intently, “You know Jake that new uranium mine is on sacred
aboriginal land. There could be a lot of trouble from groups of
activists, not just aboriginal protesters but from the greenies,
the anti-nuclear group and conservationists. I have a bad feeling
about it.”

“I’ll be careful, don’t worry, there’ll be
lots of security with the Prime Ministers of Japan and Australia
there.”

“That won’t stop some of them, they like the
publicity with all the media there. The Kakadu Land Council
endorsed the project after a long negotiation but there is still a
lot of unrest among my people. My brother Barry lives up at Jabiru
and is involved with the Aboriginal Land Council there, so if
you’re interested you could contact him.” Lizzie scribbled a mobile
phone number on a piece of paper and passed it to him.

“Enough of this negative stuff, let’s cool
off in the pool” said Bill stripping down to his jocks and plunging
in. Lizzie flung off her dress and followed and after a quizzical
look at Shoni, Jake took off his shirt and joined them. The water
was surprisingly cool in the shadow of the rocks but it was crystal
clear and refreshing. Jake splashed Shoni with a “come-on” urging
her to join them. She looked at Jake’s lean body gleaming in the
water, and with a shy smile stripped down to her bra and panties
and quickly slid into the pool next to Jake. Jake was admiring her
body as she entered the water and didn’t see Bill duck-dive
underneath him and lift him bodily out of the water before dumping
him head first into the water. That started wild splashing between
the four of them before they all lay back laughing and floated in
the pool. Jake and Shoni swam around a bend to the end of the pool
out of sight of Bill and Lizzi. Jake pulled Shoni to him and kissed
her lightly on the lips. He could feel her body cling to him as she
responded and kissed him back. She wrapped her legs around his
waist and he carried her to the edge of the pool and laid her down
on a sandy beach, their passion burning for each other.

Afterwards, Jake looked up at the clear blue
sky and thought this was one of the best days of his life. He had
always enjoyed the Australian outback but nothing could be better
than lying with a beautiful woman in surroundings like this.

“Hey you two, it’s time to head back.”
Bill’s voice interrupted their reverie. They hastily dressed and
walked back to their picnic spot.

On returning to the caravan park, Lizzie and
Bill excused themselves promising to meet again at the pub at
sundown. Shoni had to start work again at the pub at 4 p.m. so Jake
spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town looking at
the few shops with their range of goods on display; tourist items
such as T-shirts, mugs, caps; food and drink; live chickens;
antique chairs and ancient agricultural equipment. He enjoyed
talking to the shop-keepers who were characters in the own right,
telling their stories as to how they ended up in Daly Waters.

The pub was starting to fill up by dusk as
Jake wandered over to join Bill and Lizzie on the deck. They sat
watching the old gum trees silhouetted by the orange sky of the
sunset, talking quietly of their lives over the past few years.
Although they had kept in touch by telephone, email and
occasionally Skype, it had been three years since Jake and Bill had
seen each other in the flesh. Jake noticed Bill had aged physically
in those three years, his short cropped hair had turned white, his
skin was like leather due to exposure to the harsh outback sun but
he seemed just as fit in mind and body. His father had never been
one to show his emotions and Jake had never felt close to him in
the past. Seeing his father now made Jake realise how much he had
missed his down-to-earth approach to life and enjoyed listening to
him talking about his love of the outback. Lizzie’s insights into
living in the outback and black-white relationships were
interesting to Jake who admitted he didn’t know much about
aboriginal culture.

They moved into the main dining room for
dinner and again had the “Beef ‘n Barra” buffet. Instead of the
iconic “Chook Man”, the hotel had a ballad singer and an aboriginal
band complete with a didgeridoo player to entertain the crowd and
before long there were couples up dancing. Jake saw no sign of the
Chinese men he had eavesdropped on the previous evening. Shoni was
rushing around clearing glasses from the tables and smiled at Jake
whenever she passed near him. Bill and Lizzie had a couple of
dances and chatted to the locals. The night went quick enough and
after Bill and Lizzie made their goodbyes Jake started to feel
tired. He caught Shoni’s eye and invited her over to his cabin for
a nightcap when she had finished up at the bar. He wandered back to
his cabin and turned on the television set and watched an old movie
till Shoni knocked on the door and slipped in. He made her green
tea and they made their way to the bedroom. They made love again,
this time slowly, neither of them knowing when they might meet
again.

MONDAY MORNING - DALY WATERS

Jake packed up to leave, trying to be cheerful when
he really wanted to stay with Shoni. He kissed her once more,
promising to ring her from Yellow Water.

He threw his case in the back of the Land
Cruiser and walked over to say farewell to Bill and Lizzie. Lizzie
was hanging out the washing in the back yard. A small boy was using
an old cricket bat to hit a cricket ball in a stocking tied to a
Hill’s Hoist clothes line. Lizzie looked around at Jake and
smiled.

“Hi Jake, this is my grandson Gillie. He
thinks he’s going to be a test cricketer.”

“Is that so,” said Jake, “let’s see if he
can bat.”

Jake picked up a ball and gestured for
Gillie to stand in front of an old rubbish bin to be used as a
wicket. Gillie smiled showing his beautiful white teeth and big
brown eyes twinkling at the thought of a contest. Jake then
proceeded to bowl a slow ball to Gillie which was promptly clouted
into the back fence.

“Hey, this guy can play. Let’s see how he
handles a fast ball,” said Jake as he swung his arm over a bit
quicker before letting the ball go. Gillie giggled shyly and hit
the next ball clean over the fence. They played for the next ten
minutes while Lizzie finished hanging out the washing.

“O.K. That’s enough now Gillie, Jake’s gotta
get going.”

Lizzie gave Jake a huge hug. “You come back
real soon Jake, your father has missed you heaps. He talks about
you all the time and although he wouldn’t say so, he really is very
proud of you.”

“I’m so glad to have met you Lizzie. Thanks
so much for making Dad so happy.”

Jake walked with her to the back door and
went into the house to say goodbye to Bill. Bill shook his hand and
gave Jake an affectionate hug, something he had never done
before.

“Take care of yourself son, it’s been good
to see you. Come back soon.”

“If I can manage it I just might come back
after the conference but it will depend on whether there is much
follow-up work.”

“That’d be great son. You know you can take
the old Stockmen’s Track up to Kakadu which is a rough ride but a
much shorter and more interesting trip than the highway. No one
uses it these days. There’s an aboriginal site half way along the
track called the Lost Temple which is just a magic place.”

“Thanks for that Dad, if I have time I might
take it on the way back. In the meantime, you look after yourself,”
Jake said as he jumped into the car and drove back to the junction
of the Stuart Highway, veered left and headed straight north
towards Kakadu National Park.

MONDAY AFTERNOON - KAKADU

Jake settled into the long drive north up the Stuart
Highway thinking about Shoni and how well the old man had settled
into outback life with Lizzie. He was suddenly jolted out of his
thoughts to see in the rear vision mirror a large Ford truck
tailgating him. He eased off the accelerator pedal to let the
vehicle pass thinking the driver must be in a great hurry. The
truck roared up level with him and he looked out the window to see
the angry red face of Blakey sneering at him from the window of the
truck and Skinner sitting in the passenger seat pointing a rifle
straight at him.

Blakey shouted at him, “I’m going to teach
you a lesson, city boy, you ain’t going to no conference.”

Blakey swerved in front of him, forcing him
to veer to the left side of the road. Jake gasped trying to hold
the station wagon on the side of the road and braked sharply
allowing the truck to shoot ahead of him. Blakey slowed right down
again blocking the side of the road, forcing Jake to swing into the
middle of the road to avoid being bumped. Blakey immediately swung
the truck back into the middle of the highway ramming the side of
the Land Cruiser. Jake was trembling wondering whether the idiot
was trying to kill him as he veered to the other side of the road.
He heard the blast of a horn and looked up and saw a B-Double
semi-trailer charging down the highway only seconds from crashing
into him. At the last instant he saw a dirt track on the right hand
side of the road and swung the wheel violently to just miss the
B-Double. The B-Double swung into the centre of the road to avoid
him but was then heading straight towards Blakey’s truck, forcing
him to drive into a ditch on the side of the road where the truck
did a tailspin and ploughed into a barbed wire fence.

Jake fought the steering wheel to stop his
wagon from tipping over during the sharp turn, eventually bringing
it under control. He stopped the Land Cruiser, peered out the
window to see Blakey stomping out of the wrecked truck, shaking his
fist at him. The semi-trailer had just continued on. He reversed
the Toyota, turned back onto the highway and floored it to escape
from the scene.

Jake kept driving fast until he thought he
was far enough away from Blakey. He then slowed down to wipe the
sweat off his face and breathed deeply to calm his nerves. What
would possess Blakey and his mate to try to run him off the road
and shake a rifle at him? And how did he know he was going to the
conference? He wondered whether he should report the incident to
the police but reasoned that it would be just his word against
Blakey’s.

After two hours driving Jake reached the
turn-off to the Kakadu Highway and it took him another two hours
before he reached the boundaries of Kakadu National Park. He had
been to Kakadu once before and thought it had a strange beauty and
uniqueness. He had read that the park covers 20,000 square
kilometres, extending 200 kilometres north-south and 100 kilometres
east-west. It was listed as a world heritage park because of its
huge bio-diversity and ecology accounting for a large proportion of
Australia’s waterbirds, fish, insects, mammals, crocodiles and
plant life. Its enormous bio-diversity extends from the coasts and
estuaries in the north through to flood plains, wetlands and
lowlands to rocky ridges and rugged sandstone plateaus to the
south.