Coasts of Cape York (19 page)

Carol said hello to Carmen and Marjorie then said, “Graham not here yet?”

“Not yet,” Carmen answered. “He says he is going to some party here.”

“Yes, the mill Christmas party,” Carol replied. “The mill puts it on for all the workers and their families. There are usually hundreds of people there; kids everywhere.”

“I hear there have been some terrible accidents at the mill recently,” Stick commented, gesturing to the sugar mill, which was in full production and spurting clouds of smoke and steam from the huge steel chimneys.

Carol looked upset. “Yes, it's been horrible. There have been four men killed and a lot of trouble with the workers. It is the worst year in the mill's history, and that is more than a hundred years.”

Willy remembered hearing about some of this on the TV News and from Graham. So had Stick, who, in his usual tactless style, said, “I heard they were real gruesome, that one guy fell off the chimney up there and hit the steel ladders so hard his head flew off.”

Carol looked sick. “That's right. We saw it. I'd rather not talk about it thank you.” She looked away, then muttered, “Oh no, here comes that little tease Betty Morrow!”

Willy looked and saw three more girls approaching but this time from along the ‘main street'. One was a busty teenager of about 12 or 13 while the other two were at least a year younger and had a primary school look about them. One was obviously a little sister. “What's wrong with her?” Willy asked, eyeing the named Betty with curiosity.

“She's a real little pain,” Carol replied. “She is always butting in where she isn't wanted and keeps flirting with Graham and Steve.”

Willy now studied Betty with more interest, noting that she had a round, fairly plain face with a cheeky grin on it. But her main attributes were a pair of very prominent boobs which stuck out and bobbled inside a very short T-shirt which was cut off to reveal her midriff and navel. Her breasts looked to be twice the size a girl of her age should have. ‘Yes,' he thought, ‘they would get Graham's attention, and Steve's!'

As the three girls arrived so did the Kirk's car, driven by Mrs Kirk. Out of it climbed Graham and Stephen. Both wore the same army boots, camouflage trousers and hats as Peter and Roger and both had long-sleeved shirts. In Graham's case it was an old jungle green one and Stephen's was khaki. They also had army packs and webbing.

Willy was then entertained by watching how Carol and Betty went into almost open competition to get the attention of the two boys. Carmen watched this and said, “No love lost between those two girls. I can see why Carol calls her a pain.”

Tina pursed her lips and muttered, “If I was that Betty's mother I'd smack her behind and tell her to dress decently.”

Willy did think that Betty's top was a bit revealing but he had been enjoying the sight. Now he was careful not to openly ogle. He also wondered how Tina and Andrew might get on. ‘Tina might be bit of a prude,' he decided.

Graham and Stephen greeted the girls and then their friends before unloading their gear. This included two bags which were handed to Carol and her friend. Mrs Kirk cast a frowning glance at Betty before going to chat to the other mothers.

Peter now took charge. Indicating his watch he said, “Let's get moving. It is after half past nine and we have a long way to go.”

“Where are you going?” Carol asked.

Peter had both a map and a book. He orientated the map, an army 1:50 000 scale topographic map, and then pointed to the jungle covered mountain a kilometre to the west. “The book says that the local farmers saw a big flash up near the top of Mt Graham there, and then a glow from a big fire. They said it was just on the other side of the peak,” he explained.

Roger looked at the map and then at what could be seen of the mountain through the trees and mill buildings. “We could go up this ridge that runs up directly behind the mill,” he suggested.

“That's what I thought,” agreed Peter. Turning he said, “What do you think Graham?”

Graham was not even looking. Willy saw he was busy chatting to Betty, who was smirking up at him and wiggling her bottom from side to side. A look of annoyance crossed Peter's face while Roger made a wry face. Carol blushed and looked unhappy while Stephen just grinned.

When asked again Graham merely shrugged and said, “Whichever way you think best.”

Peter pursed his lips and shook his head before saying, “Fine, I will lead. Packs on and let's go!”

As he moved to hoist on his pack Willy was very aware of the undercurrent of tension. It was obvious that Graham did not want to go and that both Carol and Betty were giving each other hostile glares. ‘This is not a happy group,' he thought.

Marjorie nudged Willy and whispered, “If Graham doesn't stop flirting with that Betty then I don't think his affair with Carol is going to last very long.”

Willy glanced again at Graham and noted he was smiling at something Betty had just said. Carol was looking quite peeved and Graham seemed to be quite unaware of this. “You are right,” he replied. He then bent to pick up Marjorie's pack.

After helping Marjorie to pull on her pack Willy started walking, following Peter and Roger, neither of whom waited for Graham and Stephen. Stick, Andrew, Tina and Carmen all set off after them. Peter detoured across to say goodbye to his mother and the mothers then waved and called the usual ‘Take care' and ‘Don't do anything silly,' and ‘Watch out for snakes'. Peter's mother asked him to check that the mobile phone he was carrying was working and Peter did so, then resumed walking.

Fifty paces along the ring road Peter looked back and then shook his head. Willy turned to look back and saw that both Graham and Stephen were still standing talking to the girls. ‘Graham isn't very keen on this expedition,' he thought.

When he said this to Marjorie, who was now walking along beside him, she snorted and replied, “He's not thinking with his brain!”

‘Nor am I,' Willy thought, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the way Marjorie's shirt front bobbled provocatively. ‘Maybe….?'

 

 

CHAPTER 12

 

JUNGLE SEARCH

 

For the first few hundred metres the group walked along the bitumen ring road to the right. After passing the last house a side road went off to the right. Palm trees and brilliant clumps of Bougainvillea gave the place a very tropical appearance. The hot sun and humid air added to this, causing them all to perspire freely. As they turned right at the last house Willy looked back and saw that Graham and Stephen were at last pulling on their gear and preparing to follow.

On the side road they had a canefield on their right and an even bigger and much busier light railway marshalling yard on their left. Several loaded cane trains stood on sidings waiting to be unloaded and another came rattling in behind a small, yellow painted, diesel locomotive. The driver gave them a cheerful wave as it passed.

The side road curved slowly to the left, crossed two narrow gauge railways that came in at different angles from across the cane fields and then curved sharply back to the left under a line of mango trees. These grew along the bank of a large creek. Another branch of the light rail network went off under the trees and across the creek on a high timber trestle bridge.

The creek was significantly larger than Willy had expected with quite a deep pool along the side nearest them. The water was at least 50 metres wide and was flowing. On the other bank was a series of small beaches and thick patches of guinea grass. The bridge was a dual purpose one with a timber deck for road transport and with rails laid down the middle for the cane trains.

After checking there were no trains coming the group walked across the bridge. As they did Willy looked down and saw small fish flit through the shadows in the deeper water. “It looks like a nice place to swim,” he commented.

Peter pointed back along the creek to the bank they had just left. Fifty metres downstream was a small beach with a muddy track leading up the bank under the trees. A rope hung from the overhanging branches. “I'd say that is the local kid's swimming hole,” he suggested.

“Here come Graham and Stephen,” Roger added, pointing back the way they had come.

“They can catch up,” Peter said, obviously a bit put out by their attitude. He turned and led the way on to the far end of the bridge. Once there he consulted his map and then led the way along a dirt vehicle track between the creek and a canefield. The canefield had been harvested so Willy was given a clear view across it to the mountains.

“They look pretty big,” Willy commented, his gaze roaming over the steep, jungle-covered slopes that now loomed high above them.

“Only about seven hundred metres the one we are going up,” Peter answered, holding up the map as proof.

“Is that the ridge we are going up?” Willy asked, indicating the nearest spur of the mountain.

Peter nodded. “Yes. That should be the easiest way up. Usually the ridges have more open vegetation on them and there might even be an old timber road running up it.”

That seemed sensible to Willy so he accepted Peter's judgment and continued walking. As he did he kept glancing at the mountain and had to admit to himself that he was actually a bit scared. He had never been in the rainforest, other than to stroll along a National Park walking track for a few hundred metres. That was why he was glad that the army cadets were with them. He knew they had done several expeditions in really thick jungle and he was counting on their experience. In fact he doubted if he would have been allowed by his parents to come on the expedition if they had not been coming.

At 10:30 the leaders reached the edge of the rainforest and stopped. Willy studied the green tangle in front of him with something close to dismay. ‘Bloody hell! This looks pretty thick,' he thought. There was no obvious sign of any sort of track and a dense thicket of bushes and long grass formed a barrier on the side of the canefield.

Peter did not hesitate. He took out a pair of garden secateurs and began to trample and cut a track through the wall of vegetation. “It's always thickest just on the edge,” he explained. “It's because the sunlight can get at it and all the weeds grow well.”

Roger followed Peter into the scrub. Willy looked at the others, noting looks of positive dismay on the faces of the three navy cadets. Rather than admit he was even apprehensive he followed Roger. Marjorie and the others came along behind. Within ten paces Willy saw that what Peter had said was correct. As they moved into the shade of the uncleared rainforest it thinned out and he was able to see for fifty metres instead of five or ten.

After another ten paces, just at the point where the slope really became steep, Willy made another painful and dismaying discovery. A vine snagged his arm with vicious little barbs. It hurt so much he stopped and cried out in pain.

Peter and Roger both turned to look and Peter said, “Wait-a-while. Sorry, we didn't think to warn you.”

Roger helped Willy to ease the barbs of the vine out of his shirt. “You have to back up and roll away from it,” Roger explained. Willy nodded and then studied the dots of blood that had sprung up where the barbs had hooked into his flesh. He had heard the army cadets talk about wait-a-while but he never experienced it.  Peter now explained it to them. Willy saw that it grew off a palm that grew in clumps. Thick ‘lawyer' vines coiled away from it, some of which had coverings of spines near the plant. But the real problems were the thin tendrils hanging down from the ends of the palm fronds.

Peter held a tendril between finger and thumb and said, “See how the barbs are curved backwards? If you keep pulling they just dig in deeper. And there is no way you can break them. The tendrils are stronger than a human being.”

Roger pointed to a nearby plant. “See those thin green tendrils? They are just as bad. And they are harder to see than the older, thicker ones.”

Willy now saw that there were tendrils of all types near him. Some were dark green and as thin as fishing line. Most were as thick as string and had obvious yellow and brown barbs on them. A few older tendrils were at least five millimeters thick and had gone brown and dry. They all looked unpleasant and Willy now saw that there seemed to be wait-a-while plants in all directions.

Trampling noises heralded the arrival of Graham and Stephen. “What's up?” Graham asked as he reached the rear of the group.

“Just explaining wait-a-while to the ‘Blue Orchids' and ‘Matelots',” Peter answered.

Stephen snorted and said, “If that's all they are worried about they will be lucky.”

Willy looked back at him, amazed that he was hidden by the vegetation and was hard to see even ten paces back. He knew, from stories the others had told, that Stephen had once spent a day and a night alone in the jungle.

Roger confirmed this by saying, “Steve doesn't like the jungle, not since he got lost at Kanaka Creek a couple of years ago.”

“I wasn't lost!” Stephen snapped back, giving Roger a glare. “I was being chased by those crooks.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Roger answered.

Willy noted the animosity between the two and sensed that Roger had just taken the chance to get a bit of his own back. He knew that Steve could be a bit harsh with his tongue and suspected that Roger had been the victim of it on more than a few occasions.

Graham now said, “I suppose we should have warned them it wouldn't be a stroll in the park.”

“That's right,” Roger agreed, adding, “There are lots of little nasties to watch out for.”

“Like what?” Andrew asked.

“Stinging tree, ticks, snakes, spiky bushes, leeches,” replied Roger with a wide grin.

“Leeches!” Marjorie shrieked, looking around her.

“Yes, leeches,” Roger agreed. “Big, fat ones that suck your blood. They wriggle in where the skin is softest and juciest and start sucking.”