Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I was only in this place a few weeks, I most remember getting legless drunk, on Bunderberg Gold Rum. and I got a job in Alpha, a small one horse, pub on every corner town, more or less half way between Rockhampton and Mount Isa.
Alpha, Queensland, Australia. Getting there... Back in those days, the employment services in Australia would pay for your train ticket to get to a new job. I had been hired on a single phone interview. So I got my train tickets, and set off for a place that wasn't
even on the map, I had looked at. I just checked google, Brisbane to Rockhampton, is 639km (400 miles) North up the coast, then this Alpha place was 439km's(270 miles) inland from Rockhampton.
Hang on, I'll go make a google map, to show you where it is. ok, you see it now, that grey route was 4 minute faster traveling by road :)
Ok, so I boarded the train in Brisbane, in the morning, a slow old train, that took most of the day to get upto Rockhampton. Then we had to wait until about 23 hours until 11pm, and head inland.
The train inland only traveled 3 days a week, and the train from Brisbane or probably Sydney, arrived an just before the inland train departed, so someone like me, has to catch the northern train the night before, in case it was late arriving, which meant you would have to wait 2-3 days for the next one.
While at the 24 hour railway bar waiting for the inland train, I met and talked to loads of different people waiting for various trains, about an hour before the inland train departed I met a couple of drovers, Aussies version of cowboys. They were taking cattle from the saleyard, back to mount Isa. The inland train only had about 2 or 3 carriages for people, the rest of that very long train was cattle carriages.
So the train trip inland was a very slow one, with all these beef cows, replacement stock I expect, generally cows were just taken to the saleyards in Rockhapton (Rocky), and went from there to the meatworks.
My dad, used to drove cattle just like a cowboy, on a horse, into Rockhampton, about 30 years before... but thats his story, he never got to tell....
Anyway, these two cowboys I met, were hard men, probably in the 30's or 40's they worked hard and drank hard. But ok guys. But I was a young girl, I must have been 18 or so by then, and my interest in Australia and everything about anything, it seemed like I was flirting, so they brought me alcohol, and they took total advantage of.
Each time the train stopped along the way, they would go out, and check the cattle, make sure they were all standing up, those cattle were packed in pretty tight, so the rock didn't make them lose their balance, if a cow laid or fell down on the traintrip, they would get crushed underfoot of the other cattle, so there really wasn't anything the drovers could do once a cow was down, if it was was on its knees, hit it as hard as the could, hoping it would stand up, if it was right down, keep a tally of how many were, or were as good as dead. It was 4 down the last time I remember hearing.... I did sleep about the last 2 hours, but still i was still pretty drunk when I got off the train, with my backpack of worldy goods. My new boss a woman in her 60's was there to meet the train, it was just before dawn, and I got a lecture, that if I was going to be drinking, I could have a couple of stubbies at home, of an evening, but if I was going to be "pisshead" and go trolloping into town, I could take the next train back to Rockhampton. It took a bit of convincing, that I didn't drink much really, and it had just been the long wait in Rocky, with nothing else to do.
Alpha, Queensland, Australia. The job I had gone to was working housekeeping in a sawmill, the mill was on the only hill in town,
and it looked down over the whole town... when I say whole town, it was a small town, one petrol station, one general store, and about 5 pubs, including the golf club, population of about 350. I just checked in google, they have had a population explosion in the past 35 years, there are 405 people there now, obviously that only if everyone is in town for the Rodeo or something.
Cooking meals didn't work out for me, the old girl was a chef in her day, and cooked everything using wine, and all meals seemed to have a flash name. So I started working in the mill itself, as a tally girl and stacker, and cutting firewood when the off-cuts piled up to much. It was hot, heavy work, and of course noisy as heck, but I was young, and used to hard work, so I fit in well, there were only 2 men, the old girl and me working there, and I sure as hell earned my wages.
I also helped out with growing the vegetable garden. Water was in short supple there, and although they had a swimming pool at the house, I don't remember anyone swimming in it. It was kept full, in cause there was a fire in town, or in the country, so the trucks and helicopters could come up and take the water.
Water for the garden, was water saved from taking a bath, which everyone shared once a week, and the washing machine.
About two weeks after i arrived, the rodeo was happening in town, I was allowed to go into town the night before for the knees up (excuse to get drunk and dance)
I met a young local lad there, we had a good night together, and ended up sleeping with him, he lived upstairs at the pub. He invited me to the Rodeo the next day, and I happily went with him. Being a local lad, everyone knew him, and was talking about us getting married, I was horrified especially when he was agreeing with them.
His brother was riding bulls in the rodeo, the 3rd bull he road fell and rolled over on top of him, giving him a darn good kicking when he laid there, ance the bull got up, the clowns came running in and distracted the bull, I thought it was a nasty accident, it was just part of the cause to him, yes he was winded, and he stood up looking very stiff and sure, but he walked off the ring, to be checked over my the ambulance team there.
He had a nasty hoof print bruise on his forehead, when I saw him later, and he was groggy, but proud of the impressive bruises, he stripped off his shirt and showed the ones on his chest and back. The bull was like the one in the picture, except it also had big horns.
Anyway, the rodeo carried on, and the marriage plans were well underway, the woman were even planning dates and talking about what they would wear...
Gawd love a duck, Shane was ok, but no way I was going to get caught up in getting married.... but I was too shy to say anything, I pretending to get a headache, and he dropped me off at home, before the heavy drinking started. Australians will drink for any reason, but a rodeo was the best reason all year. Once home, I started thinking how I was going to tell Shane I didn't want to see him anymore, and by morning, I was clear what I was going to say. Shane pulled up in his car about 8am, so drunk he couldn't walk, hell he couldn't even get the door open to get out of the car.
He could barely talk, and as raving on about an accident and his brother, I thought he was talking about the accident at the rodeo, I went inside for something, and my boss told me she had just had a phone call, Shane's brother had had a car accident and had been killed, he had hit a pig, that went under the front wheel, the car flipped, and somehow he came out of the car, which landed on its roof, with his head between the roof and the ground....
I didn't have the heart to tell him, I wasn't interested in him, we ended up being together for several months,
I went out to the property Shane's family owned this first time, that was an experience, the property was very large, I can't remember how large now, but they only had an outside boundary fence and a fence around the house, driving there, there were cattle stops every now and then on the road, with a fence running off each side into the trees, that was the boundary between properties.... The rest was just gum tree's and ant hills, no grass to speak off, amazing how the cattle grew so big, there were very low stock units on the farm though, there had to be.
The homestead was something to see, this big old house, that hadn't been painted for many many years, and right around the outside walls of the house were about 12 foot wide covered veranda's, people used to sleep on them in the summer.
We had lunch, of corned beef sandwiches, and the corned beef was in great big slabs, just as they were originally cut off the beef, they must have had big pots to cook it in.... once cooked it was just left in this safe, no way they would waste fridge space putting it in the fridge.... I figured, well I guess that's why salted meat was first invented, so you didn't need to refrigerate. But still I imagined it would taste bad, but it was very good....
They had a massive big Mulberry tree there, I had never seen one before, and couldn't believe that berries actually grew on trees. As soon as I tasted them, I knew I loved them, gosh they were delicious. I climbed the tree, and picked loads of them, that was the second visit, and helped Shane's mother make pies, james and other food with them.
Shane's mother was a hard old thing, she had to be, she had a few grown sons, the husband had left years before, so she had reared them on her own, it would have been a life that hardened anyone up. Shane was a talented mechanic of the family, keeping the various farm trucks working, She taught me to was mechanic's clothes with a cup of kerosene it would get the grease and oil out of them. And to tip a cup of kerosene on puddles of water, around the house, to kill the mosquito's. I never thought about it until now, but she taught me how to make my first healing cream. Fat of beef and pork, was kerosene mixed with it, you could use it for anything, and we made it up in empty 5 gallon kerosene tins, it was great for saddle sores, and cuts on horses she said, it kept out the flies, and when the wound healed, the hair that grew back would be the horses colour, and not the usual white hair. I have never used it for that, I have offered to make it for people with horses since, but the owners always preferred to use creams they got from the vets. They also used it on any other wounds either people or animals got, and I've used it a few times over the years, for various animals I have had. It is very good stuff.... its pretty amazing, I would have thought kerosene would sting, but it doesn't at all, even if you tip it on a wound straight.
Years later I talked to my Dad about kerosene salve, he said he used it a lot, and kerosene was also good to wash dogs and cats in, to get rid of fleas and ticks. and to heal his own wounds.
Shane got a job at German Creek Mines, just out of a town called Emerald, about half way back to Rockhampton
So we moved down there and lived together for a while.
German Creek/Emerald... Shane and I moved to Emerald, We lived with his father and new wife, Shane worked at the Mine, a coal mine, I worked at the hospital, in the laundry, although my job was patching up sheets and clothing on the sewing machine. I didn't know anything much about sewing, I could thread a home machine, and sew a straight line, but this was an industrial machine, so I faked it, and said it was different threading to the last one I'd used, so the boss threaded it, and then I said I was nervous to sew in front of her, so she went away and left me too it... Industrial machines are a lot faster than a home sewing machines, and very easy to run your finger over, or for the machine to get away from you. It was run using a treadle electric motor. I stitched my finger up a the first time I used it, but you either learn quickly to use that treadle or you do a lot of bleeding, and pulling needle and thread out of your finger. It was a good job, I worked alone, and the money was surprisingly good, it had been a while since I worked for proper wages, rather than for housekeeping, with free board and a small allowance.
I had fun there, Shane was a heavy drinker, so would go to the pub after worker, and I would go too, the pubs were very big, and in a mining town, had about 300 guys to each unmarried female.
I have always liked being guys, not because of sex, that was a necessary evil, as far as I was concerned, but I preferred male company, they talked about different stuff to females, I liked motors, and building and fixing stuff, and generally being outdoors, I was never interested in make-up or flash clothes and defiantly not shoes. I should have got a hint for my later life then, but I missed it completely.
There was a big lake near Emerald, Lake Maraboon, so google just said now, it seemed everyone went out there to drink beer, and watch the waterskiing every weekend, the said it was a picnic, but I never saw food out there... just a different place to get drunk. I liked watching the water skiing, they did a lot of barefoot skiing, one day, this poor bugger fell, and got dragged alone, going extremely fast, when he hit the water, his body just I dunno, exploded, killed instantly, and blood everywhere.... horrible thing to see....
Not long after that, Shane and I had a fight, and I went to another pub, and meet this guy Mac. Mac took me out to dinner, and brought me a fancy meal, afterwards, he asked me to go back and live with me near Rockhampton, a place called Keppel Sands.
Still angry with Shane, and yes i was flattered at the attention, so I said, yes sure, and we went to pick up my stuff, and left the next morning....
Keppel Sands. On the drive back to Rockhampton, we talked, as you do on a long trip. I asked him what sort of work he did. He said nothing much since he had been realised from Prison a month before. So the next obvious question was how long were you in for, and what did you do.... ? He said, he'd bean in jail for 15 years I think, and he's accidentally killed his wife, in a car accident. Then explained how he was drunk, was driving, and feel asleep, and when he woke up, his son was trying to wake up his mothers and was all smashed up laying next to him, and he wasn't harmed at all... I thought it was a long sentence for manslaughter, but I didn't know know anything about laws and such, so just accepted it.
We lived with his mother at Keppel Sands., a pretty coastal town, over looking Great Keppel Island.. Him mother was in a wheelchair, she had lost a leg in a car accident many years before, the car had rolled, she was pinned in the car, with battery acid leaking on her leg. She was also a heavy drinker, and load and obnoxious to go with it. I never liked her much, The first day we arrived, I went to unpack my few things, I came back out to ask where the toilet was, and heard her asking Mac, if he had told me how he's murdered his wife, then raved on about she had to clean up that mess, after he was arrested.... I assumed she meant dealing with a smashed up car, insurances, funeral etc... I crept away, and came back calling out to Mac, asking about the toilet, and nothing more was ever said.
I lived with Mac for a couple of months, maybe 6 months, I know I was with him when I had my 19th birthday. He used to got into Rockhampton to a single mothers place, and drink with them quite often... the mother had 3 teenage girls, the oldest one's name was Jay, I always thought that was a pretty name, and thought I would name my first baby that.... one day we were in there, and Mac got particularly drunk and fell asleep, a very deep sleep, he wasn't waking from for awhile, The Mother asked me if i wanted to go for a drive, sje wanted to talk tome, so we went out....
When you tell a lie, keep as much of it true as you can... She asked me if I knew about why Mac had been in prison, and I said yes, because of his wife dying and the car accident... well there was a very different story, the same elements with a few more things added. She was only telling me for my own safely, and because I wasn't much older than Jay.
It seems, they lived in a caravan, Mac was very drunk, and drove home, and wanted sex with his wife, she was in bed asleep and not interested, so he went out and got an iron bar, smashed her to bits, then had what he wanted with her body, then rolled over and went to sleep beside her. He was woken the next morning by their son, trying to wake up his mothers bloody broken body.
I was a pretty resourceful young woman, and general I could just work bad things out quickly, but hell I didn't know what to do with this information, she offered to help me leave him, and I don't remember how it happened now, next thing I remember was Jay's mother dropping me off at a big truck-stop in Rockhampton, the ones the trucks used when traveling north up the Queensland coast heading up Townsville way.
The plan was to catch a ride, and try to find a job in any truckstop we stopped at, the first one as Kunwarara Truckstop, and I got a job.
I bounced back, and don't remember every speaking about Mac ever since, possible to a shrink at some stage, but I don't think so, it was just best it was forgotten about. (Though I never did forget)
Part 1
Rockhampton
Brisbane
Hamilton
Morrinsville
Waipu
Whangarei
Auckland
Morinsville
Albany
Centerpoint
Commune
Hamilton
Australia - Blue Mountains approx 1989
Morinsville
Hamilton
Riverton
Thornbury
Invercargill
Ohia
Invercargill
Christchurch
Shannon
Levin x 2
Himatangi
Ohia
Invergargill 2
Christchurch Novemeber 2002
2 tauranga,
2 places in san diego Nov 2008 May 2011
palmerston north,
christchurch 2011 until 2014
Update.
Levin 10 days
Taumarunui 2 weeks
Raetihi, been here 10 days, will stay for years and years
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