Ticket to Barrow

The trip had been in planning for some weeks, it comes with the job. I was told this much at the time of taking the offer. In one of my last jobs, before I left Nigeria, I had the unenviable routine of flying to our own version of Barrow every week. It wasn’t exciting then and I felt the flight to Barrow will not be much different, especially if I have to do this on a single engine light aircraft that have to cope with tremendous wind gust on the way. The trip, then, was a Thursday regular and my kids were not always excited about it either. Every Thursday I left home early, drive to VGC and board the float plane for the one hour trip. On a good day it works perfectly well- I leave Lagos by the float plane and return same day by the float plane. When it goes bad, I get yanked off the plane, in most cases because one of the very big shots decided at the last meeting to travel. In such cases I had to take the energy sapping and torturing trip through the Lagos Domestic Airport home. On such days, it was guaranteed that I will get home grumpy, tired and weird. It was also guaranteed that I will do this around eight or nine pm for a journey that commenced by four.

Today, it was a little different. Knowing that my wife will raise hell if I were to ask her to drive me to the Perth Domestic Airport and thereafter pick the kids on the daily school run, marital wisdom acquired over Fifteen years informed that I needed a Taxi. So, the previous day, I went online and booked a Swan taxi to pick me up by quarter to six in the morning.

At my induction, a few weeks before, the facilitator did a great job of instilling in me the fair of the quarantine team. Simply put, Barrow is a class A nature preserve and for our operation there, the Australian government has requested all humans to abide by a very simple set of rules. I summarise these, in my words, in three sentences –
1. If you don’t bring it to Barrow, you can take it away from Barrow;
2. Whatever is not presently existing in living form in Barrow, you cannot take to Barrow and
3. If you are confused, see the quarantine team.
Of course, with every rule, there are exceptions. So we can modify rule two to mean that soils and seeds fall within the term – living form. The rationale for these rules will be discussed at other times but for today, implementing these three is simple rules involve setting up a world class quarantine operation. It is huge, humongous in the words of a friend of mine.

In my preparation the previous night, I painstakingly went through my items one after the other. I turned my bag empty and every single thing that I do not need for my trip I removed. Yes, I checked to see that I had no velcro fastener, that no bug or cockroach has decided at the last minute to be my companion on the trip. I also checked that no seed or soil residue exist anywhere in the bag. My Safety Shoes were just bought the previous day and I entertained no fear that they are quarantine compliant. I chose my trouser with care, ensuring it is not one with out turned folds that can hide any insect, seed or sand. Then it was the shirt, the hard hat, the gloves and the high visibility shirt. Convinced that all was well, I set up my alarms, not one but two of them to wake me up by 5am.

I was already awake before the alarms rang. Still drudgery but knowing I needed to get up, I looked at the still sleepy innocent looking frame on my left side and concluded that this innocence deserves a kiss. I planted a warm one on her cheeks and moved to the bathroom to do my thing. Once done and dressed up, I engage my wife, who was still half asleep, in some little conversations, said my goodbyes and off to the sitting room downstairs I went to wait for my taxi. I haven’t sat down before I heard a voice asking Daddy is today Thursday? Are you leaving now? You promised to be back today? It was my daughter wanting some re-assurance that I will be back. I answered yes to her questions, went to where she was lying down and gave her a kiss. I held her, prayed for her and asked her to promise not to do silly stuffs at school. I do this always, each school day.

To make judicious use of the time I have left, before the Taxi will show up, I continued with the configuration battle with the internet router that I was unable to win the previous day. I was still racking my brains on how this little piece of technology when I perceived that the Taxi had arrived. The taxi man showed up, a short beaded Asian man speaking very fluent English. I eased myself out of the house into the taxi. We were soon on our way to the Airport and the taxi man and I struck it good. In conversation we talked of Pakistan, its weather and diversity of terrain – mountains, beaches and deserts. He informed he has been in Australia for three years and has a general bachelor degree. He wanted to know if I had any knowledge in how to make “tim” (whatever that was, I don’t know) from other materials – with the wave of terrorism plaguing the world he seems lost on the suspicion that such a question earns him. About 35mins later, we were at the Airport. I obtained my boarding pass and moved to the quarantine team for pre-boarding checking. I had to complete the quarantine cards and answer truthfully a set of questions on whether I was carrying anything unlawful to the island. Following this, I had my safety boots, iron brushed to remove any residue of the perth soil and then my bags and pocket turned out entirely, with a careful examination of all the contents that were found on me. It took some time, but I was soon through with the quarantine and strolled into the departure lounge to wait for our flight to be announced for departure. In the quiet world that I rolled in, while sitting at the lounge, my quietness was disturbed by the sight of a quarantine officer and her dog. Moving from one passenger to another, she points at each passenger’s carry on baggage and the dog dips her nose around the bag and move to the next. Nothing was found by the dog from this examination, in this instance. I have heard other stories of how the dog had helped to detect other non quarantine compliant materials on other passengers.

The Cobham plane soon took off and we started the journey that will take us North West from Perth. I was uncomfortable with my sitting position in the plane, I was away from the window and the little view I had was blocked by the plane engines. From where I sat, I could see the farms and their arrays of colours resembling giant rectangular pieces of a jig saw puzzle. It was obvious that the different colours are the result of the different farm produce grown on these lots. Soon this beautiful landscape gave up to the uninhabited far away hills and greyish looking soil that suggest the reason why most of Australia is uninhabited. One of my colleagues soon reached out to me and doused my curiosity – It’s all brown dirt in Barrow.

Two hours later, the jet plane made its descent and we disembark from its cabins into the waiting hands of men, all dressed in uniforms of blue and yellow with reflective bands in it. Our driver, a young, beautiful Aussie lady soon recited the safety precautions and off we were to the construction offices. The work has progressed much, I was made to know that just two and a half years ago, all that existed on the Island was the WA Oil operation with its less than a few dozens man bed spaces. Today, it is astonishing what the labour of the men and women of this project has done. The Jetty, the beds, the tanks, the roads and all that were needed to support one of the biggest projects of all times in the world is taking shape. These things don’t build themselves, they arise from the vision of one man believing that it can be done and all else after this is actualising that vision.

My meeting took hours and when we were done, my hopes of touring the island was dashed, our flight was to leave in a matter of minutes. I picked up my bag and joined the bus and soon we were off the island. Throughout the journey back home, I could not stop to compare the path of development that the Australians have chosen concerning Barrow and what obtains where I come from. Simply, the Aussies are saying that if you need our resources, you must be ready to extract them with the slightest possible harm to the environment. This was the lesson for the trip and a lesson that I hope that someone will awaken from his slumber and require of all those after the natural resources that nigeria has to offer.