Unfamiliar Territory

Chapter Three

With the plane rolled out well clear of the doors and the truck moved inside in its place, Mac secured the shed with the padlock again while Felix completed his final round of pre-flight safety checks. Not game to disturb him as he worked in moody silence, she figured she'd save her growing list of questions, about what the hell she was meant to be doing out here, for the journey.

#

"You can open your eyes now," Felix's voice, tinted with a hint of amusement, came through the headset he'd given Mac to wear.

Although not exactly fearful of flying, she had never experienced anything quite like the sensation of taking off in something that was really no bigger than a large car, and as they'd hurtled down the sun-bleached grass runway ten minutes earlier, she'd closed her eyes and gripped on to the seat either side of her legs for dear life.

"Holy shit!" Mac opened her eyes slowly and leant to her right. Peering tentatively out of the window by her side she let go of the seat and clenched the safety belt instead.

"Quite something isn't it?"

Captivated by the most spectacular view Mac just nodded. Below them, the landscape stretched on and on. Miniature trees clung to rocky outcrops and dry creek beds left their silty evidence in twists and turns, still visible despite many of them not holding a drop of water. Wherever there was still moisture in the ground, along the banks of bigger rivers or deeper rock holes, great blotches of vibrant green foliage grew lush and un-tamed, providing a home for flocks of native birds that scattered in beautiful formation as the plane buzzed past way above them.

"I've never seen anything like it," she finally looked back up from the scenery and across at Felix.

"I'm surprised Mac senior never brought you out here, this place is his pride and joy."

"He hardly ever mentioned it as I was growing up, any time he came out here he always did it when I was away, either on school trips, or holidays with friends. He doesn't like mixing business and pleasure and I never pushed him on it," Mac watched on nervously as Felix let go of the controls and marked their current position on a map folded neatly and clipped to a board resting on his knees.

"You lived in London your whole life?" he glanced briefly at her then fiddled with one of the many dials in front of him.

"Pretty much. What about you? Are you from the Territory originally?"

"Mmm hmm," Felix shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the direction of the questioning.

Not wanting him to shut her down before she got more information out of him, she deftly changed the subject, "So Dad called the place a kind of Bed & Breakfast, what exactly does the 'kind of' bit mean?"

"Well, the homestead itself is over an hour from the main sealed road that runs between the Territory and Western Australia, so we don't tend to get the traditional passing trade that other B&Bs would get. The people that come out to Mackinley are usually the kind looking for the real outback experience."

Mac felt her face colour at her own naivety in thinking an hour's drive out of Darwin had meant she was 'outback', "What kind of people are they?"

"We get a few backpackers, the more adventurous types that is, plus there's the grey nomads," Felix looked out of his window and dipped the plane slightly to the side before bringing it level again and writing something on a slip of paper under the map.

"What are grey nomads?" Mac quickly turned her expression of terror, caused by the plane's sudden movements, into one of query as he looked across at her.

"Basically, they are retirees with a motor home. Some of them just come travelling up here when the weather down south gets too cold for them, others sell their kids' entire inheritance in bricks and mortar and spend years on the road, visiting every last inch of the country."