The Billabong Retreat

The Billabong Retreat

 By Paul McCann

It was early in the morning and the sky was overcast , sometimes the sun would briefly appear but the dark clouds covered it fast . .Jimmy sat there on the bus , looking out the window at all the activity pf the day . It was a picture show of everyday life on the streets .   .There were people on the ground , some were elevated on scaffolds and rooftops , fixing metal sheets or roof tiles , others washing windows or painting properties . There were cranes and diggers , cherry pickers and concrete mixers and men who stood with shovels and spades . There were traffic controllers and traffic jams with cars going nowhere fast and their impatient  drivers screaming and tooting their horns in protest of being caught up in the hustle and bustle of life  and on the sidewalks, there were people walking and talking and piles of garbage bags and other rubbish that had been left there for collection .

Jimmy thought to himself .

“ Give us a break for heaven’s sake. “

At that moment he had an idea accompanied by feeling of serenity within  .

Maybe I should try to get away for a while he thought .

I need to find a quiet place and reconnect with the nature .

As the bus pulled up at a stop on the way to work , he got off and took a look around at the madness of the rush hour and took a deep breath saying quietly.

“Jeeze.. Things don’t look so good round here no more . I need to chill out and escape for a while somewhere where I can see a dingo chase a lizard up a tree or hear a bird sing a song to a billabong .

That morning Jimmy broke loose the strings of his wallet and hired a caravan then bought a case of beer , some sausages, bacon and eggs and drove away to find his billabong retreat where the daily grind can be left behind with all the stress and distress of life can disappear like leaves in the wind on a battle ground .

On the first night he camped in spot called Cocky Eyes Lookout and after good night’s sleep, he awoke to the sounds of a scratching on the caravans  roof    He went to investigate what the noise was and found a mob of white cockatoo’s there .

,“Hello there little mates . Aren’t we all just a weird mob ? Take a look at us stuck out here  in the middle of nowhere , but tell you what , let me go check if there’s any crackers in a tin cause sometimes you never can tell what you’ll find if you don’t go and have a good look “

Jimmy held up a few crackers in his hands and the birds cautiously came over and gently took them in their beaks .

Then he said ,

“This here is our land and we have to stick together . My name is Jimmy walkabout and I’ll tell you what before I go on my way today , I’ll leave you all a packet of those crackers on a China plate with a crack .“

After some brewed coffee Jimmy was back on the highway again  stopping every now and then to explore some different places where he had never been or seen before , after a. week he began to feel more in tune with outback and his outlook on life was slowly changing .

He found space to breathe and an ease to his troubles , He saw the colour of life returning again as the big blue sky opened up places where aboriginal kids played and caught fish  in the hidden creeks away out back where they drew pictures of their connection to the land .

They welcomed Jimmy to their tribe and told him about some places across a  wooden bridge East to the creek where they did their fishing . The aboriginals spoke a colourful language with lots of laughter thrown in to keep you wondering about what they were talking about .

Jimmy continued in his caravan.to a place called Bluey’s  lagoon where wild birds of many colours sat in trees chirping and singing their songs to the twilight in the soft afternoon heat shade before the sun set and in the morning light their songs would return with an expression of relief that the darkness had gone .

They perched on top of Jimmys caravan in their scattered hues . All of these birds without a cage calling out their songs of freedom were a joy to hear at  Bluey’s lagoon  .

A week later in a place impossible to miss there was a sign on the road that said , The Cave at Billabong’s Rest .

Now Jimmy knew in his heart that is the place that he had been looking for and made his way there . As twilight fell Jimmy arrived at a very tranquil spot where two silver gum trees stood in front of a billabong and on a hill behind the trees a hollowed-out cave had been carved out into the hillside .

Jimmy parked his caravan and went to explore what was there .

To his surprise he discovered an underground home had been built underneath the ground . It was a very special structure offering a cool place to place to stay for free for anyone who had come there . It was unique in every way with a sustainable energy source . There was a guest book for anyone to sign and some information about the home that was originally built by opal miners .

There was no time limit for guest’s who were invited to stay as long as they wanted .  The home had a kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom . Jimmy stayed there for as long as it took to reconnect and as hard as it was to leave, he made the decision to return the caravan he had hired and return to the city with a new look at life  .

 After returning the caravan and his rewired existence , Jimmy was as happy as he had ever been in his job and his home .

In his heart he always knew that someday he would return to the billabong retreat he had found .

The End