The Ride of Your Life

The Ride of Your Life

It was just another day in the summer of 1956 in the small Hunter Valley town of Huntlee. Some people would not even call this a town! It had a general store that sold just about everything, a garage, a repair shop, and a milk bar popular with the locals. That was Huntlee.

On a small hill at the end of the main road, stood two of the oldest buildings in the valley. The Church, with its tall medieval tower, could be seen from all over the valley. Ironically, the other building was the town’s pub, the Huntlee Hotel!

A large lake covered the valley; however, a dam had been constructed in 1920, creating rich farmland for the town. This was where my mother, father, brother, and I lived. They called me Billy, after dad’s father.

On this hot day, my brother Dallas and I rode our horses to the milk bar to grab a drink. Inside we sat in a booth and ordered a chocolate shake. Mike, the owner, brought us our shakes and said with enthusiasm, ‘Hey boys, I will play you a new song on the jukebox. It is going to be a number one hit! The singer’s name is Elvis Presley.’ Dallas and I looked at each other with an inquisitive smile. But when the song Heartbreak Hotel came on, it blew us away.

‘Wow!’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard anything like that before.’ Mike was a big Bill Haley fan so for him to be so excited about this new singer, it was a big deal. We had just heard something incredibly special.

At that moment, the Hobart girls walked in, smiling broadly. Looking at us they cried, ‘We just love that song! Who is it! Who is it?’

When we told them it was Elvis Presley, they said what we were also thinking, ‘What is an Elvis Presley?’

The Hobart girl’s parents owned the Huntlee Hotel and my brother, and I were very keen on them. I was particularly fond of Kaycee, so I asked her to come for a ride before we went home. To my luck, she agreed, so we mounted our horses and set off to what would result in the ride of a lifetime.

Riding along the river towards the dam, my eyes kept wandering over to Kaycee as I thought to myself, ‘One day I will marry this girl.’ I had the same feeling about her as I did about the song, I had just heard in the milk bar; they were both one in a million! Kaycee caught me looking over at her and we both blushed. After all, we were only 15.

The water in the river was extremely low, so the horses were able to walk through it. The dam’s floodgates only let the water out when the valley needed it to irrigate crops. Riding under the old iron bridge, I looked up and remembered a time when the river was full. I reminisced about jumping off the bridge into the water and realised what great fun it had been.

Half an hour later we were at the foot of the dam. The dam, built in 1920, was the showpiece of the whole area. Even the picturesque valley could not match this man-made wonder that had also brought prosperity to the valley. The grapevines that grew there were world-renowned. The fruit trees and vegetables were the best quality and the milk from the dairy cows went all the way to Sydney. Yes, our little valley was a great place to live. My family and Kaycee’s were the third generation to live here and I hoped one day to have my own farm and to also send milk to Sydney.

We let the horses cool down in the fresh water as we picked some wild blackberries. I looked at Kaycee and she smiled. She had a mouth full of blackberries and she looked as though she was in heaven. ‘Come on!’ I exclaimed, ‘we better get going, it will be dark soon.’

As we climbed on our horses, we heard a loud rumble and the horses reared with fright. We were both lucky to stay on the horses as the whole ground seemed to move.

‘What was that?’ Kaycee screamed.

I replied, ‘I think it was an earthquake.’

‘Look!’ she cried once again. There was a large crack in the dam and water was pouring out. ‘What will we do?’ she asked frantically.

‘Let’s ride home.’ I shouted. ‘We will have to warn everybody. They are all in danger. The whole valley is going to be flooded!’ I could see people drowning before my eyes. Kaycee was crying and asking what we could do.

I said, ‘We’ll head for the church tower and I will ring the bell to warn everybody. We will all be safe there.’ We were both in for the ride of our life.

Galloping our horses down the riverbed, splashing in the rising water, I knew all the people in the valley would not be able to fit into the church tower. I just wanted to give Kaycee some hope. We rode and we rode, looking up as we went under the old iron bridge, hoping all the time the dam would hold. A lot more water was now in the river. Our stirrups and boots were covered in water.

Then we heard it. But how could this be? It was the sound of the church bell pealing across the valley. When the dam was built a plan had been put in place that in the event of disaster, the bell would be rung to warn the people in the valley. We kept riding wondering how they knew what was happening. Then we heard another noise overhead. It was a crop-dusting plane flying above us and he was waving out of the plane’s window to us. After the earthquake he must have flown up to check on the dam and then radioed in as to what was happening.

We now felt a lot better, but the water continued to rise. I shouted to Kaycee, ‘Let’s get out of here!’ There was a trap on the high side of the river. ‘We have to go up there and cut across-country back to town. It should be a little shorter ride.’ However, we did not know what we were in for, as the quake had brought down many trees. We had to maneuver around them, slowing us down.

Finally, the track was clear, and we galloped on at top pace. ‘It won’t be long now,’ I shouted to Kaycee, ‘and we will be back in town.’ She smiled back at me as we were starting to feel safer.

The feeling of safety ended abruptly as our horses stopped dead in their tracks. By some miracle they had stopped on the edge of a huge crevasse, created by the earthquake. We would have perished down there and never been found again. The horses were panting, and we were shaking till finally we eased back and around the dark crevasse. We rode on a lot slower now, not knowing what lay ahead of us.

Finally reaching the rise on the edge of town, looking down I could see all the people from the valley. Luckily, they had all made it out. Down one end of the town were the livestock they brought with them. There were cows, horses, sheep and even pigs. There were even dogs, cats and even a few pet birds. I thought to myself that all we need is Noah’s Ark, for they all looked like they were all waiting to go on board. Kaycee looked at me and smiled, I am sure she was thinking the same thing. We both laughed and I put my arm around her. It felt so good to be home.

We got off our horses and walked into town and there was my mum, dad, and brother Dallas. They were so happy to see us. ‘You’re safe!’ mum cried as she ran over and cuddled us.

Kaycee’s parents and sister also came running to us. ‘We have been praying for you.’ Kaycee’s father said and her mother could not stop crying.

Suddenly our relief was shattered by a loud noise. It was like a crack of thunder echoing across the valley. ‘The dam has burst!’ someone cried. A look of terror was on everyone’s face. The livestock were restless, making strange noises as if they knew what was coming, and so did all of us. You could hear and feel the water coming like a huge tidal wave, to wash us all away.

Everyone backed further up the street until we were huddled with the livestock. There was nowhere else to go. The water hit, spewing down the valley. The overflow came down over Main Street, over our feet and up to our waists and necks. Mothers and fathers picked up their children and held them tight in their arms. We joined our priest in heart felt prayers. Then by some miracle the torrent stopped flowing in our direction. It still poured down into the valley, but we were all safe.

As the water started to subside, I said to Kaycee, ‘We should go up into the tower and have a look.’ I took her hand, and we climbed the old staircase to the top.

Looking over one of the sandstone turrets, we were both shocked at what we saw. All the homes and farms were gone. The valley had turned back into a huge lake. We both started to cry.

Hearing footsteps, I turned to see dad walking towards us. He put his arms around us, saying, ‘Don’t you worry now.’ as he comforted us. ‘We valley people are very resilient. It will take time, but the dam will be reconstructed, and we will rebuild our farms and lives, I promise you that.’ You know, he was true to his word.

Ten years later, Kaycee and I were married in this church and we lived down there on our own farm. What a story we had for our children to read, as we wrote this story in our little black notebook.