Willy felt stunned and hurt. ‘Can nothing go right now?’ he thought. Then he gathered his thoughts and said, “Then I’d better get you your Christmas present tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Marjorie wailed. Then she cried, “I want to stay here with you. Oh boo hoo, sniff!”
She flung her arms around Willy and sobbed.
Marjorie’s father called, “Come on girlie! You’ve had a bleedin’ week to do all that. Now let’s get home.”
Willy kissed her on the cheek and gently eased her away. Still sobbing she was led away. Stick gave a wry smile and waved and walked off after them. Willy felt suddenly very lonely. The Becks came and shook hands and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
“See you on the twenty seventh,” Norman said as he left.
After a few more words the Kirks made their way aboard Wewak. Willy sighed and bent to pick up his bag. His father called to him and he followed his parents to where a taxi waited.
He did manage to give Marjorie her Christmas presents the next day, but it was a short meeting. The presents were a silk scarf, a bracelet and some music CDs. All were wrapped in gift paper. “You are not to open them until after Santa Claus has been,” he said.
Marjorie sniffed and said, “Oh poo! And here are yours.” She handed him two quite large cardboard boxes wrapped in bright coloured paper. Then her face crumpled and she dissolved in tears. “Oh! I won’t see you for nearly five weeks!” she wailed.
Willy did not know quite how he felt about that. Part of him felt relieved but he had to admit he liked to be with her. ‘And I’ll miss the cuddles,’ he admitted. All he could do was whisper nice things and hope she was satisfied.
Then the meeting was over and he was whisked away by his mother to do more Christmas shopping. That night he felt quite depressed and more lonely than he cared to admit. It brought home to him that most of his friends at school and Air Cadets were really only acquaintances. The people he really felt more in common with were Andrew, Peter and Graham.
For three days Willy did chores at home and went shopping with his mother. He saw almost no friends and got quite lonely. Work on plastic models did not hold his interest and he had bad dreams about dead bodies in the sea. Most of all he fretted about Mr Jemmerling beating them to the second plane.
This last concern was only slightly eased on the fourth day when they visited the Becks to deliver some Christmas presents and Mr Beck told them that Mr Jemmerling had flown south in the Pterodactyl. “He’s not the only one with spies,” Mr Beck added sagely.
At that Norman scoffed and said, “Oh baloney Dad! I was told that by the mechanic at the airport. He said that the ‘Catalina’ badly needed an overhaul and was being taken to Sydney. He added that the work could take several weeks.”
“So we still have a chance!” Willy cried. It was the first good news he had received and it cheered him up enormously.
From the Becks the Williams family went to Aunty Isabel’s farm near Davies Creek. They stayed there for the next four days, only going back to Cairns on Christmas Eve. Aunty Isabel went with them.
Once at home there was a flurry of shopping, putting up of decorations and present wrapping. Willy relaxed a little and made himself enter into the spirit of the occasion. When all his presents to others were wrapped and labelled he placed them under the tree. He then went to bed feeling some of the excitement of his younger years. It had been some years since his parents had snuck in to his bedroom after he was asleep to place a pillow case full of presents on his bed so he did not try to stay awake.
For once he slept very soundly. When he woke on Christmas morning Willy was both amused and pleased to find a pillow case full of presents on his bed. It made him feel very valued and loved and he felt quite emotional for a few minutes. Then he explored the pillow case. The presents were nothing big or expensive but he enjoyed the thought that people loved him and cared. There were small chocolates, several comic books, a pencil sharpener shaped like an aeroplane, some toy cars and a small plastic kit of a ‘Hurricane’.
His mother looked in and smiled, then came to kiss him. She then told him to get up and moving. After a shower, shave and dressing Willy had a good breakfast and then sat in the lounge room, waiting impatiently for the other members of the household to finish whatever they were doing so that the presents could be opened. Willy then acted as courier and one at a time handed the presents to each person.
For his father Willy had purchased a tool kit with an electric drill attachment. That was accepted with pleasure. To his mother he gave a craft kit that had embroidery and also a weaving frame and coloured yarn to thread through it. Lloyd was given golf balls with his name on them and three music CDs. Aunty Isabel got a book on Australian native birds and that caused her face to light up with pleasure. Willy felt he had done well.
In return he got a nice dress shirt from her. Lloyd gave him a 1:72 scale plastic model kit of a PBY 5 ‘Catalina’. Marjorie’s present was another 1:72 scale plastic kit, of a Dutch Dornier Flying Boat. With it was a note saying ‘Sorry. I couldn’t find a ‘Catalina’. ‘This is even better,’ Willy thought, studying the picture on the front of the box with great interest. There was better to come. His mother gave him a digital camera and his father gave him a voucher for a 2 hour ultra-light flight from Mareeba.
“These are great!” he cried, smiling happily around at them all. Then he studied the brochure with the ultra-light voucher and wondered if he could get them to take him to places he wanted to see. ‘Like Mt Mulligan,’ he thought.
It was a very happy Christmas and was followed by a huge roast meal: chicken, turkey, roast potato, vegetables, gravy; all followed by cheesecake, ice cream and chocolates. It was a happy boy that slipped between the sheets that night. As he drifted off to sleep the thought uppermost in his mind was that the second expedition, the one to find the ‘Beaufighter’, started in less than 36 hours.
On Boxing Day Willy became even more anxious and excited. ‘Nearly time to go,’ he thought. He felt driven to try to find the wreck before Mr Jemmerling. During the day he had to go with his parents to visit relations, notably Aunty Mary, who was actually a 92 year old great aunt. She was a real old dear so Willy didn’t mind too much but he was glad to get home so he could start packing for the trip.
This time the trip was to be longer, at least an extra day each way just travelling, and they were warned to prepare for two weeks away. That led Willy to pack some books and notepaper as well as his normal camping gear. Remembering the thirst problem from the previous trip he added an extra water bottle to his belt and also some packets of glucose lollies. By bedtime he was packed and ready.
That night Willy was very restless. He had frequent and vivid dreams. These were half nightmares and half erotica. The nightmares always had mangled bodies and sharks in them and he kept seeing grinning skulls under the sea. The erotic dreams always began with some silly problem from Air Cadets. He was on the promotion course and the Passing-Out Parade was forming up and he couldn’t find his boots or trousers. Then Barbara appeared and his mind struggled with the fact that she wasn’t an air cadet so could not be there. However she was smiling and warm and willing. But when they began to embrace and kiss she somehow changed into Marjorie!
Willy woke on the 27th feeling both tired and excited. He had a tingling feeling of adventure and felt sure that this time they would be successful. This time his mother was not going, which Willy regretted. She had a medical conference to attend. Lloyd was also staying at home. So it was a slightly emotional farewell at the wharf. Willy’s mother drove them there but did not stay.
“No tearful farewells on the jetty for me thanks,” she said.
But Willy did feel a bit tearful. He also felt that this trip would be different. ‘To begin with we have a somewhat different team,’ he thought as the Becks arrived. Now he really missed Stick and Marjorie. In their place were Graham and his sister Kylie. Andrew and Carmen were both there and again would be acting as c
rew on the Wewak. The old LCT was at least familiar and Willy half viewed her with affection.
Cargo was still being loaded by mobile crane when they arrived so Graham, Kylie and Capt Kirk were already hard at work. Andrew and Carmen hurried to join them. Mrs Kirk took charge and ushered the group aboard and allocated bunks. This time Willy and his father were given bunks in the saloon on the dining benches. Mrs Kirk had the cook’s cabin and Graham and Andrew had the deckhand’s cabin and the Becks the spare cabin on the bridge deck. Kylie and Carmen shared the bosun’s cabin. Thus nobody had to bunk out on the open deck.
When all the gear was stowed Willy went out to watch. He found that the tank deck was full of tractors, two trucks, boxes, fuel drums and an assortment of general cargo such as coils of fencing wire, steel pickets, tools, timber and corrugated iron.
It was not until 11:30 that all the cargo was loaded and made secure, with tarpaulins lashed over most of it. Capt Kirk then called a halt for a wash and then lunch. This was cold meat and salad and was eaten with a great deal of cheerful chatter. As the saloon could not seat them all Willy took a sandwich and moved to sit out under the awning with Graham and Andrew.
During lunch Willy listened to Graham and Andrew tell stories about their voyage to Thursday Island. Andrew described the thousands of cartons of beer that they unloaded. “Thirsty Island alright!” he said with a laugh. “And I gather half this load is more beer- for New Year celebrations.”
“Will we get there that quickly?” Willy asked.
Graham nodded. “Yes, just. We are scheduled to arrive on the afternoon of the thirty first. We will just drop you off on the way and keep going.”
“Aren’t you coming ashore to help look for the wreck?” Willy asked.
Graham shook his head. “No. Sorry. I’d love to but Dad is short handed. I will see it on the way back when we pick you up again.”
On learning that neither Carmen nor Andrew would be coming ashore either Willy felt quite put out. The expedition had shrunk to very few and he realized he would have no friends his own age on shore. Somehow it did not seem quite as much to look forward to. ‘But I still want to help find the wreck,’ he thought.
At 13:30 the Wewak cast off and slid almost silently down Smiths Creek to Trinity Inlet. Willy stood at the port rail and felt his excitement grow. ‘We are on our way!’ he thought happily.
CHAPTER 28
UP THE CAPE
The trip north was mostly uneventful. For most of the time Willy sat on a chair under the awning and either read a book or watched the scenery. From time he was joined by his father, or by one of his friends. But Graham, Andrew and Carmen were mostly busy working so could not spare the time to sit and chat. Willy did not mind as it gave him a chance to sit and think; to take stock of his thoughts and emotions.
The weather was mostly fine: hot and very humid. There were more clouds than on the previous trip and the wind slowly increased as the day went on. Several rain storms swept over the Wewak, the rain pouring down and driving Willy inside. But there were no real squalls associated with the rain and the storms were over in a few minutes. Several other rain storms passed either side of the LCT as she ploughed her way north. To port the coastal mountains were half-hidden in big clouds and rain and the air was very humid. The conditions were made tolerable by the wind.
The course was further out to sea than on the previous voyage, passing just to the west of the Hope Islands, Egret Reef and Boulder Reef, aiming just to the east of Cape Bedford. Being so far from the coast meant that Willy had no chance to look into estuary of the Endeavour Island. He was able to identify Grassy Hill with its lighthouse but the town of Cooktown and the river were over the curve of the earth.
“I wonder if the Pterodactyl is there?” he muttered, voicing one of his main fears.
His anxiety on this issue was given a sharp jolt when he heard the sound of aero engines coming from astern. Jumping up he dashed to the starboard rail and looked up. But it was not the ‘Catalina’. It was one of the ‘Coastwatch’ aircraft. It flew past at about a thousand feet and Willy was pleased to see it. ‘They might spot that missing launch, the Saurian,’ he thought.
Cape Bedford was passed at sunset, the rugged cape standing up stark against the red of the sunset. After a very well cooked tea of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding Willy talked to his father for a while. He then spent an hour up in the wheelhouse talking to Graham and looking out. To begin with the view was pleasant, a setting new moon showing up a sparkle of rippling waves to port and the flashing of an automatic light on Three Islands giving something to look at. But the moon set at 2030hrs as they were passing Low Wooded Isle.
After that it was very dark as clouds came over and hid the stars. Once again Willy marvelled at how people like Capt Kirk could so calmly navigate through the maze of reefs, rocks and shoals that studded the waters between the coast and the Great Barrier Reef. During this time Graham had the wheel and Willy was impressed by his obvious skill. When he complimented him on this Graham just shrugged and said, “Been doing it since I was a kid.”
After that the only things of interest were a passing rain shower, changing course to round Cape Flattery, and watching the lights of a south bound cargo ship. When Willy commented that this was the first ship they had seen all day Capt Kirk answered, “I call this the empty ocean. Sometimes we go all day and see only one or two vessels.”
Willy thought about that and realized that after leaving the Port Douglas area with its cluster of yachts and tourist launches he had not seen a single small craft, not even a trawler. He commented on this and Capt Kirk nodded. “Yes, once you get up along this part of the coast you only see big, ocean going freighters that have come through Torres Strait from Asia, a few fishing boats and the odd navy ship or government vessel.”
After rounding Cape Flattery the Wewak had the South East Trade Winds almost directly astern. With a following sea of about 2 metres in height the LCT rode easily, sometimes yawing a little but otherwise riding quite smoothly. Carmen came on duty and relieved Graham at the wheel and Willy went below with him to have supper.
Willy, Graham and Andrew talked about the expedition over cups of hot, sweet cocoa. Then it was bed for Willy. He stretched out on the cross bench at the aft end of the saloon. Kylie took the long bench near his head. It took Willy a while to get comfortable. His main concern was rolling off the bench when the stern was lifted by a larger than normal wave. He decided that he had been more comfortable on the folding stretcher. Despite that he drifted into a deep sleep, free of dreams.
Daylight found them just north of Barrow Island. Willy woke to find that Kylie was on duty at the wheel. He looked out, then had a shower and shave before changing into clean clothes. By then they were off Cape Melville. Breakfast was cereal, bacon, fried eggs, toast and fruit juice. Willy found he felt much refreshed and he cheerfully looked forward to the day.
By 0830 the Wewak was coasting across Bathurst Bay. The course was directly across the bay, heading for the Flinders Island Group. That meant that they got further and further from the coast and Willy was only just able to see the beach where they had landed on the first expedition. Looking at the scrub-lined shore and remembering those awful minutes when they had come upon Mr Jemmerling’s party hoisting the ‘Kittyhwak’ wreck onto their truck caused Willy a spurt of anger and anxiety.
This anxiety received another boost when a twin-engine aircraft appeared astern. Willy stared at it with concern but it was only the ‘Coastwatch’ plane again. He relaxed and went up to the wheelhouse to ask about the course they were following. His air chart showed that the main navigation route for ships was north of the islands but the most direct route was through the Flinders Island group. However he saw that the bows were pointing between the mainland and Denham Island, the most southerly of the group.
When he commented on this Capt Kirk shook his head. “Yes,” he said. “Going north of the islands is more direct but it is also more exposed water and I pref
er to stay in sheltered waters as much as possible. Easier on the ship and her cargo usually. We could go through the Fly Channel between Denham Island and Flinders Island but you will see on the naval chart that there is a small island in that channel and also a blasted rock, Sentry Rock, which may or may not be visible depending on the tide.”
“Why is it called the Fly Channel? Are there lots of flies there?” Willy asked.
Capt Kirk laughed and shook his head. “No. It was named after a British gunboat that surveyed the area in the 19th Century, the HMS Fly. Her captain was Captain Moresby RN and he also explored the Fly River in New Guinea.”
Willy studied the chart and nodded. “So we are going through the Rattlesnake Channel? I didn’t know there are rattlesnakes in Australia.”
Once again Capt Kirk laughed. “There aren’t. Once again it was named after a British navy ship, the gunboat HMS Rattlesnake. If you study the chart you will find that almost every cape, bay, island and reef on the east coast of Australia was named by British sailors, either after famous people or ships or members of their crew.”
That was something Willy had never thought about but now he more fully appreciated just how skilled those early navigators must have been to explore the maze of reefs, rocks and islands that studded the entire east coast of Cape York.
It took nearly two hours to cross Bathurst Bay. As the Wewak entered the Rattlesnake Channel Willy heard another aeroplane. He at once went out to the starboard bridge wing and looked up. The plane was high up and tracking fast to the North West. Borrowing binoculars from the mate he managed at last to locate it and then focused.
‘Only a ‘Metroliner’ going to Bamaga or Horn Island,’ he decided. He lowered the binoculars and went back into the wheelhouse. No sooner had he returned the binoculars than he heard another aircraft. This was lower and coming from astern. Hurrying quickly back out to the bridge wing he looked up. Then his heart skipped. It was the Pterodactyl!
Coasts of Cape York Page 33
