Chapter 5A

Early one morning I headed out, Helen was there to see me off, she was renting my house. I had been rather reluctant to sell the place as it had been my home for many years and to be quite honest, it would be my anchor point; if things went arse up I would have somewhere to slink back to. Helen was to pay the rent she would have paid for her flat into an account, she had full access to it so she could pay for rates and any maintenance required.

On the road at last, I drove quite some distance the first day, mainly to get out of my 'home' territory. I set up the first night in a Safeway car park having been advised they didn't mind one nighters. Back on the road the next day I started to look for places of interest, this was to be my modus operandi for the next month or two.

If there was a local air field, I would rent a small plane for a few hours to get a bird's eye view of the locality. Often I would see interesting features that I would have missed on the ground. If they had a helicopter for rent I would try to get a bit of stick time in, I only had a provisional licence, so every hour flying brought me closer to my unrestricted licence.

I did a bit of fishing as the opportunity arose, this helped keep my larder interesting. I found traces of gold but nothing to shout 'Eureka' over. I had bought a reasonably expensive second hand metal detector on eBay, the original owner had passed away and the wife put it up for sale.

Very soon I came to the conclusion that retirement is hard work; you can't go fishing and fossicking eight hours a day, seven days a week, you had to find something else to fill in the day. I had pulled into a van park to do a bit of laundry, the light stuff I could do on the road but things like doona covers and pillow cases needed a washing machine. Another reason was to shoot the gab with other travellers. When I went to the office to register, the owner was in a flap, he was in more strife than a one armed paper hanger. His wife was down with a case of the wog and his young daughter was also showing signs of the same malady.

"Grab a site anywhere you can fit in mate, I'm up to my neck at the moment." I could see that the poor bugger needed help so I found a site and hooked up. Securing the bus I went back to the office. "OK mate, what can I do to give you a hand?"

He looked at me as if I had two heads. "You want to help me?" he asked.

"Well you look like you're in deep shit and I've not got anything pressing at the moment, so what needs doing?"

"Christ, you're a godsend mate, it wouldn't be too big an ask to do the rubbish bins would it?" He showed me his ATV and trailer and told me what to do, all the time thanking me profusely.

I did the bins, finding it was a good way to meet my neighbours, some soon realised I was helping Harry get back on his feet. Soon we were all pitching in, the showers and toilets got the once over and a quick Emu bob cleared up any discarded rubbish. Then it was time to relax with a beer and a barby. Vannies come from all walks of life, some were like me retired Grey Nomads, others were families snatching a well earned break. There was a lot of 'Been there, done that, got the tee shirt to prove it'. I found it amusing to listen to some of them, it seemed as if they had to get as many places on the score card as possible. I doubt that they even saw a small portion of what the towns had to offer; but they would soon return home to boast of their journey.

I spent an enjoyable week helping Harry, his wife and kid soon overcome the virus and he could relax. It was enjoyable for me because I could milk the other Grey Nomads for ideas. They often got off the beaten track and would form a convoy, safety in numbers; nothing could be worse than to be broken down in the woop woops and no one to help you. Places and things to avoid were always a hot topic, some towns were quite anti tourist. One sour bastard put it "You mongrels come into town with a hundred dollar note and a clean shirt ... you don't change either."

I found by travelling around that there was plenty of casual work available for those that wanted it. Though I didn't need the money I was glad for the diversion, a week or two picking fruit soon strengthened me up, running the workshop had left me slightly corpulent or as my doctor put it "You're fat, loose some of it or it will kill you."

During one of my fly overs, I noticed an old abandoned farm house, these places are a Mecca for people like myself who have metal detectors, ; this one proved to be quite productive, coins from the last century, an expensive gold chain bracelet with a broken clasp. I sure the past owner would have been devastated by the loss. I had been 'pinging' away for a while when I had a big 'hit' Scratching the surface I found a rusty old tin, at first glance I was almost ready to give it a pass but something made me pry it open, inside was a heavy bundle wrapped in greasy rags. The outline told me it was a handgun, something that's illegal in Australia; I would clean it up later when I had the time. A few more 'hits' mainly rubbish and I called it a day.

When I first bought the metal detector, Andy suggested we take it down to the kid's playground in the park. The surface around the swings and other features is covered in a soft tan bark. We had a great time testing it out and found about twenty dollars in loose coins, plus lots of bottle tops. I was now getting some good use out of it.