GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL ON TIME!
The quiet nights in the shack resulted in the surprise and delight of Kathy being pregnant. Well, maybe not such a surprise.
We set off again for Sydney to think about our next chapter when we called into another favourite "secret surf spot".
Set on the side of a river leading to a beautiful lake, we found a great deserted farm, and tracking down the owner my offer to be a 'care-taker' in return for rent was happily agreed upon. Not far from Sydney, it had two cottages, and soon we were joined by our friends again. As both of the girls were pregnant it was perfect, quiet and near great waves.
I quickly found a job in a nearby town at a cement factory making septic tanks, and concrete blocks for drainage. With another guy we would shovel sand and gravel into a cement mixer, then looking like a human turtle, I would drag cast iron moulds of half septic tanks on my back 'lock two halves together, then pour the cement into moulds. I would come home looking like a white ghost with the only color my red raw hands.
Suddenly, the time for Kathy to give birth.
A bouncy rush along the pothole-ridden bush road, we were lucky it didn’t accelerate the birth. Little did we know how lucky!.
Straight into the delivery room, I was allowed to follow and see the most miraculous sight you can possibly imagine...birth!
As the little head ‘peeped out’ I was exhilarated, instant bliss and wonderment.
Panic.
Suddenly, the doctor went into overdrive -the chord was around the baby's neck....my spirits plummeted, and I’d never felt so shocked...hell!
Thank heavens, the doctor was magnificent; a loud cry announced all was cool. My spirits soared again
A tiny little boy with dark eyes flashing intensely, seeing or feeling what had just happened...arms and legs whirling with hyper energy...a taste of things to come...the most magnificent being on all of Earth had arrived!
Living so far away from help didn't seem like a good idea, so we found a house in town and even bought a goat with a little kid to share her milk.
I got a job closer to home as a plumber's laborer, digging holes for septic tanks where the backhoe couldn't get in, jumping in to clear out old ditches coming face to face with red-back spiders, crawling under houses, dragging pipes, wondering if I was crawling over funnel web spider traps. Think that was bad? I had to help his father empty septic tanks. If the tank was clogged I would go in with a big paddle to stir up the shit to make it pumpable. We would then drive through town with liquid dripping from the truck as kids screamed:
"There goes Mr Stinky"
Desperate for an alternative, I realized the small town and surroundings were holiday destinations with house rentals and small convenience stores etc, but with little or no signage.
Light bulb moment!
I bought a book on hand lettering and just went for it.
Suddenly, there was a proliferation of very strange-looking signs with wobbly lettering. Lobsters and fish looking like victims of nuclear fallout, very strange looking little elves sitting on the edge of a crescent moon, fishing etc.
It was ideal, I could be with the family, surf uncrowded waves, and at night break out the paints.
Surprisingly, I got the biggest job for an earthmoving business. Earthmovers, backhoes, water tankers, tractors etc, all turned purple with big bold multicolored‘ Mary Quant’ style flowers all over them, my tribute to the Pranksters Further bus, painted listening to Jimi Hendrix’s 'Are you experienced.’
It was a bold move for them to agree to the designs, but soon paid back in ‘talkability’, ‘visibilty’ and ‘memorabity’, and business doubled.
,
It was a memorable period, witnessing the birth of my son, what mother's experience in giving fathers that gift and rekindling my potential creativity.
But we felt that the town didn't have a lot more to offer us,...back to the city, back to surfing at Bondi, and Terry's humungous joints.
"I've bought a farm behind Noosa, want to stay there? "
My friend had bought a property in the mountains near another legendary, uncrowded surfing mecca, Noosa Heads in Queensland.
He offered to let us stay there, quicker than you could say YES!, we were there.
'The dream job' I had heard an organic farm was being developed nearby as a health resort, and I was soon driving a tractor watering newly planted fruit and banana trees.
A man-made white sand beach around the perimeter of a large dam, with willow trees providing shelter, was the perfect place for a
‘chill-out’ a snack of delicious organic fresh tomatoes, and smoke.
An organic farmer was one partner, and the other was a naturopath. I would be happily 'tractoring along' when one would pop out from behind a tree and casually enquire if I was going to ‘have a smoke’, then not much further along, the other would pop out from behind another tree with the same polite inquiry, neither wanted the other to know they enjoyed a quiet smoke.
The surf and the job were perfect.
But a few too many guys were starting to show up at the farmhouse saying that our friend had offered it as a place for them to stay too, and I felt very uncomfortable with the copious amount and variety of drugs, they brought with them, I was now a family man and did not want any activities that could create trouble.
So we went back to Sydney for short break to have a think about what next, when synchronicity stepped in!