Summer Down Under (8 page)

She looked up at Graham and smiled, then took
his advice. Sam turned around and leaned against the railing to
look forward on their journey. The open ocean lay in front of them,
full of hope for a safe and enjoyable trip. Maybe Graham had a
point. She was sure that was a wink he gave her as he turned and
walked toward the galley.

The weekend flew by far too quickly, and Sam
couldn’t believe they were driving her back to the backpackers
already. Boy, did she have some tales to tell. She couldn’t wait to
tell Sophie about all of her adventures sailing around the islands.
She shuddered as she remembered being chased by a shark whilst
swimming back to the boat from an uninhabited island. It had felt
surreal being on the island and knowing she was the only one there.
But on her swim back to the boat that was moored in the bay, she
had become aware of Donna standing on deck waving at her and
shouting.

Wanting to know what all the commotion was,
Graham had joined her and he had started waving, too. When Sam had
gotten within earshot of them, she realized, with a sickening
feeling in her gut, what they were shouting.
SHARK!

Sam couldn’t remember ever swimming that fast
in her life, but she managed to make it back to the boat before the
shark made it to her. No sooner had her hand touched the swimming
ladder, Graham and Bert leaned over the railing, grabbed her hands
and launched her out of the water. She was amazed her arms had
stayed in their sockets. Sam turned around just in time to see a
slick gray fin slip ominously back under the surface.

She had also stayed on an island that was
owned by a friend of Graham and Bert’s. He was a colorful character
who lived alone on the island with his two dogs, Rum and
Whiskey.

“Did you have a good time?” Sophie’s bright
and cheery face greeted Sam as she wandered into the
backpackers.

“Fantastic.” Sam replied. “Graham and Bert
were lovely, they caught loads of Coral Trout and even gave one to
me. Look.” Sam held up her fish with pride and sheepishly added. “I
have absolutely no idea how to cook it. Got any tips?”

Sophie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the
fish Sam was holding up. “Wow, that’s a big fish. One that size
would cost a fortune if you bought it in the store. And, yes, I can
show you how to cook it.” She took hold of Sam’s arm and headed her
off towards the kitchen.

A little while later, the smell of cooking
was wafting through the building and several of the lads had
started to follow their noses.

“Hey, girl, good to have you back.” A big
friendly giant swooped upon her.

After he’d finished hugging the life out of
her, Sam looked up at the Canadian.

“Hey, Moose. How are you? From the size of
that hug, I’d be tempted to say you missed me just a bit.”

Color rose in his cheeks and he cleared his
throat.

“Did we ever! This place is just not the same
without you,” a distinct Scandinavian accent cut in.

“Jensen. Great to see you, too.”

Jensen wandered over to give Sam a hug, then
a couple more of the lads followed suit.

“Still no girls here, then?” Sam said with a
giggle.

“Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?” Sophie
grunted from where she stood by the stove.

“Now come on, Soph. You know as well as we
do, that you’re one of the lads.” Sam teased.

“Yeah, you’re right.” she agreed.

“Well, dinner’s nearly done. Are you guys
going to join us? There’s plenty for everyone.”

The lads didn’t need to be asked twice. They
swarmed around the long dining table like bees around honey. In the
backpacking world, getting a free meal that you didn’t have to cook
was like striking gold.

Sophie helped Sam dish out the food. She had
given her step-by-step instructions on how to cook the fish and had
supervised her through the whole ordeal, but Sam could proudly
state that she had done all the hands-on cooking. From the
pleasurable moans coming from the lads, she figured she had done a
pretty good job. Feeling smug just couldn’t begin to describe
it.

After they had finished eating and were
cleaning up the mess, Sophie turned to Sam with the same excited
look in her eyes that she’d had when telling Sam about the boat
trip.

“What now?” Sam asked hesitantly. “Last time
you had that look on your face, you sent me sailing around some
islands in the Barrier Reef and I had the most incredible weekend
of my life.”

Sophie smiled, trying hard to disguise the
smugness she was feeling. “I have a proposition for you, and I
think that you’ll enjoy this just as much.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“Well, I grew up on a sheep station. My
parents own one. A friend of their’s, who also owns a sheep
station, needs some help for the lambing and shearing season. I
knew you were running out of money and wanted to experience the
true Australia, this would help you with both. I thought you would
like to consider it. I told my Mum that I would ask you and let her
know tomorrow, before they look elsewhere for someone.”

“Wow, that is a proposition. I hadn’t even
thought of doing something like that. I just assumed I’d get a job
serving in a restaurant or something. But being a ranch hand didn’t
even enter my head. Don’t you need some kind of experience for that
kind of thing?”

“No, not really,” she said. “They’ll show you
how to do everything. It basically involves working with sheep on a
day to day basis, and maybe some cattle.”

“Let me think about it,” Sam said, forcing a
smile.

That night, Sam lay in her bunk thinking of
nothing but Sophie’s proposal. A knot was tying itself in her
stomach, the same fearful knot she had experienced while being
chased by the shark. If she had to admit it, she felt
terrified.

She had come to think of the backpackers as
her
home,
she felt safe there surrounded by Sophie, Moose,
Jensen and the others. But money was running low and a job had to
be found in the near future. Nothing had turned up in the town and
time was growing short. If a job didn’t present itself soon, she
would have to go home; Sam was determined that was not going to
happen just a couple of months into her adventure.

Sam also reminded herself that staying in one
town for the whole year would be silly. The whole objective of her
trip was to travel around the country and see as much of it as she
could. How easy it had been to slip into a comfort zone, and now it
was terrifying her to think of leaving.

She mentally slapped herself while telling
herself to suck it up and take a leap of faith. Hadn’t she come to
see the real country, not just the touristy places that everyone
else sees? Didn’t she want to do things that are not common place
for people to do? Things she could never do back home in England?
Working in a restaurant could be done anywhere in the world. Sam
should know, she had spent the previous year working in several to
earn enough money for her trip. Serving tables would not make for
interesting story telling, of that she was certain.

She remembered the way Daniel had described
what he did on his parent’s sheep station. Riding around on horses
and motorbikes, herding sheep, and goodness knows what other kinds
of exciting jobs she’d experience. Now that would definitely make
for some interesting tales.

Sam didn’t get much sleep that night.
Excitement, fear of the unknown, anticipation; they all played a
hand in her restlessness, but first thing in the morning, she would
tell Sophie that she’d take her parent’s friends up on their offer.
Sam was going to be a jillaroo.

***

Sophie was excited when Sam gave her decision
and she got on the phone to her mother straight away.

“Mum told them to expect you next Monday,”
Sophie said, and then proceeded to make arrangements for Sam to be
met by the people she was going to work for.

Several phone calls later, she was handing
Sam a piece of paper with the name of the hotel to meet her new
employers, the time she had to be there, and their names.

A few days later, Sam was being seen onto the
bus by the group of friends she had grown very close to. Sophie,
Moose, and Jensen had come with her to the bus station. Several
hugs later, she was ready to board.

A lump was building in the back of Sam’s
throat, knowing she would likely never see any of these people
again. Goodbyes were not her favorite pastime, but they were part
of the job description of a traveler. She bit back the tears as
Sophie handed her a ticket to the middle of nowhere.

“You’ll do great, kid. Just see if you
don’t,” Sophie said.

“Thanks for everything,” Sam said. “I had the
best time of my life here in Mackay. I’ll never forget any of
you.”

Sam gave everyone one last hug before turning
and climbing aboard the bus.

As the bus pulled out of the station, Sam
returned the enthusiastic waves of her friends. She wondered what
the next leg of her adventure would have in store for her as she
watched her friend’s faces fade into the distance.

It was a long journey to the middle of
nowhere. Sam was fourteen hours into the eighteen-hour drive it was
going to take to get to the town where she was to be met by
Sophie’s friends. From there, the family lived about an hour’s
drive from civilization.

She couldn’t comprehend it. That truly was
the middle of nowhere. In England, you are never more than
seventy-five miles away from the coast anywhere in the country.

Sam pondered that thought while looking out
of the window at the countryside going by. It hadn’t changed much
for several hours now, just a whole lot of nothing as far as the
eye could see. The earth had turned deep terracotta red, and, as
far as dirt goes, it was very pretty. The repetitiveness of the
surroundings must have made her tired. She eventually drifted off
to sleep.

Upon waking a few hours later, she looked at
her watch and guessed that her trip must be coming to an end
shortly. Sam huffed out a sigh, relieved to be on the tail end of
such a long journey. It wasn’t a bad guess, either. Some buildings
came into view on the horizon. As the bus drew closer to it, the
town started to take shape.

The bus pulled down a road that looked like
it must be the main street. The town seemed fairly small, but the
main street was lined with the essentials needed for people who
lived in the country. There was a big grocery store, a few shops
which included a clothing store and a shoe store, a couple of bars
and restaurants, a bank, a small hotel, and even a one screen
cinema.

Her prospective employers were to meet her in
the reception area of the only hotel. The bus rolled to a stop
outside the hotel. The air brakes hissed as Sam stepped down onto
the sidewalk. Feeling tired, and probably looking just a tad
bedraggled, she collected her backpack from the baggage that had
been off loaded by the bus driver. She took a deep breath to try
and stave off the mixture of nerves, and the homesick monster that
was threatening to creep out of his hiding place and strangle her.
She looked up at the hotel, took another deep breath and headed
towards the entrance.

Once inside, the couple there to meet her
spied the weary traveler instantly. Sam came to the conclusion that
she was probably not that hard to spot. She suspected a town like
this didn’t have an abundance of travelers, if any, and it wouldn’t
surprise her if she stood out like a sore thumb. They made a
beeline for her and she realized it was now too late to cut and
run. That would just be rude, so she steeled her nerves and smiled
as they approached.

The lady, probably in her late fifties, was
tall and rather well built. She was a matronly figure, with silver
blonde hair and kind eyes. The man with her was strikingly opposite
in his stature. He looked older and was shorter and more wiry than
his wife. His face was weather worn, and his eyes were much
stricter looking. The look he gave Sam made her feel as if he were
eyeing a piece of prized livestock that he was considering
buying.

Holding out a hand as they got closer, the
man introduced himself.

“G’day, I’m Paul and this is my wife Julie,”
he stated. “You must be Sam.”

Sam gave the man a nervous nod, what had she
gotten herself into? “Pleased to meet you,” Sam said, trying to
push down the quiver in her voice. Paul made her feel a bit
uncomfortable. He had very stern features, and she didn’t like the
way he kept looking at her with a critical eye. She wondered if she
should moo or bleat, or something.

Julie, on the other hand, looked very kind
and motherly. Sam thought the lady must have been able to tell she
felt uncomfortable with her husband. She placed her hands on Sam’s
shoulders and guided her towards the restrooms, suggesting that she
might like to freshen up after such a long journey. Sam nodded her
agreement, relieved to have an excuse to get out of Paul’s line of
sight.

Stopping short of the doors, Julie whispered.
“Don’t worry about Paul, his bark is much worse than his bite.”

Sam forced a smile and carried on walking
towards the ladies room, not quite sure if what Julie had disclosed
was supposed to make her feel better or not. With a heavy sigh, she
put her hand up and pushed through the restroom door.

Once inside, she looked around. This was not
familiar territory. Sam’s shoulders slumped. She had just walked
into the men’s room right in front of her new employer. A man’s
laughter erupted outside. Sam closed her eyes and hung her
head.

“Way to go, Samantha,” she chastised herself.
“That’s just great.” Knowing her luck, he was probably the type of
person who would never let her live it down.

Much to her relief the restroom was empty, or
so she thought, until she heard the toilet flush in the only
stall.