THE INCREDIBLE KOMBI
Terry was still rolling huge joint, after joint, when we finally back and he and Sandra graciously shared their house with us!
I soon had a job on the road gang with the Sydney City Council, breaking up sandstone blocks that were once the old Sydney roadways, and quickly learned how to use, or struggled, with the heavy jackhammer.
A promotion! Transferred to the central workshop as a welder’s mate, holding bits of metal together while he welded them.
Personal projects like a neighbor’s gate or a gift for a relative were given priority over council jobs, which were called ‘Golden jobs’ as they took so long to complete. Overtime was mandatory, mine was to go to Sydney Town Hall at sunset to see all the lights were working.
It felt like medieval times as a lot of the buildings I overlooked were old gothic style, I would settle down absorbed in a brilliant view of the city changing color with the sunset and be blissfully transported into another world, another time.
I bought an old Kombi van and started driving it to the workshop; it soon became a project.
The fanciest kangaroo bar, a real work of art, soon graced the Kombi as the first project. The apprentice carpenters decided it needed a folding bed and cupboards, and it soon had them, so the interior looked like a luxury yacht.
The panel beaters were soon cutting a large hole in the side of the van, and installed a large panoramic viewing window the length of one side. We would be able to lie in bed and enjoy 180-degree views
But there was even more to do!
A spray job! Next, we had a beautiful two-tone Kombi, by coincidence, the colors of the Council vans!!
I decided to take the van away on a trial 'surfafari'. The bed worked beautifully, the table magnificent, and the drawers a dream, but the engine gave an almighty clank, a blown gasket, so much blue smoke issued forth as we limped back we were stopped by the police and issued with a pollution fine.
The next day, my councilmates immediately asked where the van was. Discovering it was mortally ill at home, they commandeered a huge council truck and headed to our home to see their sick adopted baby, after a quick diagnosis towed the van back to the workshops..
Night fell, everyone else had gone home, several of us came out of hiding, pushed the van into the workshop, hooked it up to the overhead crane, dropped the engine out, replaced the rings, and dropped in a new heavy-duty battery for good luck. The council ran Kombis as service vans, and we were even able to do a ‘trade-in’ with some new tyres.
It was now reconditioned, repainted, refitted, and ready to head out on the highway looking for adventure
The council’s angels had put us on the road to heaven!
We sailed off into the horizon, 'setting sail' for Bali, after leisurely surfing along the coastline, we turned inland, to the primitive and pristine beauty of the Finder's Ranges, outside Adelaide. It was primordial, it was like we had entered a portal into yet another time, the Aboriginal Dreamtime.
Long ago, the earth’s forces had created rifts that had erupted into jagged mountainous landscapes, all with the same patterns on their backs for kilometers, and you could feel the primal energy that had created them.
A brilliant purple carpet covered much of the land, Patterson’s curse, the flower, creating an exquisite scene as far as the eye could see.
We were just passing through as Bali was calling when we met the Park Ranger on a huge property that had been given back to the Government for a National Park.
We struck up a friendship and soon he offered us residency in one of the many deserted shepherd shacks sprinkled throughout the property.