Jo takes over Verne’s job

Wundowie — 2000-05-02 – 2000-05-05

In the next days we set ourselves for the final spurt. We talk about nothing but our forthcoming departure. Jo, Tom, Tanja and I work like busy bees to finalize the preparations. Unfortunately, Verne has not rung up as promised or paid his debt, which means we have to face the fact that he is unlikely to come back.
“Don’t be sad,” says Jo. “I’ll take over Verne’s job and go with you until you don’t need me any longer.”

Tanja and I cannot believe what we just heard and are overjoyed to accept her offer.
Jo is one of the most experienced camel specialists in all of West Australia. She has been working with camels for 17 years, and she makes the best saddles you can imagine. She is a very amiable women, she believes in God and does everything to make the camels feel good. “I love these animals,” she says, and proves it by the way she handles them every day. She is the first person in the camel scene we know who really shows true love for these animals.

Happy as we might be with the present situation, there is still one drop of bitterness to the loss of Verne. Our story with the gold search is now invalid. We were somehow quite attached to the idea of having a chance to find some of this beautiful precious metal. Ever since we have known Verne, we have been talking about the gold search, and I have also written a lot about it. I imagine that for the readers of our web site and of the articles in the printed media, too, those gold digger stories must have been interesting. Anyway, to me it’s a pity that the idea is now to die a sudden death. Night after sleepless night I torment my mind as to how the whole thing could be rescued. Should I buy a detector of my own? But what about the tremendous costs? Verne spoke about 5000 dollars. Fact is that we are going to follow the historic gold route from south to north, and another fact is that it would be such a shame not to have a single opportunity even to look for gold. Certainly, the point in our life is not to get rich, but it would definitely fascinate me to search for the noble metal like in the gold-diggers’ times. According to Verne, we are the first camel expedition since the gold rush to follow the old gold route. My thoughts twist and wind, and I come to no conclusion. Unfortunately, we don’t have those 5000 dollars. There would, of course, be one last resort for this situation, too: I would have to break into our emergency reserves, the money I put aside years ago for our old-age pension.