Toms amazing adventures continued as he cycled along a backroad towards St George. A patrol car emerged out of the dust plume behind him, pulled alongside, and asked for his destination. “I’m going to St George, brother,” said Tom. “Do you have any ID on you?” officer Peter Pickle asked, “no suh”, Tom said, “I identify as aboriginal, my dad passed back in March, and we don’t use the name of someone who has died. I am waiting on my new name change documents, but I don’t have them yet” Officer Pickle then asked, “what’s your address and date of birth? “Well, brother”, Tom replied, “I was born in 1979, but I don’t know what day or month. I live at the Cherbourg settlement, but I’ve been walkabout since my dad died, and now I am heading back to Cherbourg.”

Long Arm Of The Law

Officer Peter Pickle and Officer Randal Relish looked at each other in confusion.  Officer Relish then asked, “do you have anything on you to show you are a Queensland resident?” Tom said, “would a letter from an elder in my mob do?” reaching into the back of his pants, Tom produced a warm, crumpled, beer, and wine-soaked letter with ketchup stains splashed over it that Beryl had knocked up in her kitchen for him. He leaned over and made to hand it through to the window towards them. Both officers looked horrified at what Tom was handing them. He brusquely said, “on your way,” as they quickly zapped the windows up and drove off in a cloud of dust.

Grinning broadly, Tom waited till they vanished in the distance and then rode into St George. While there, he sold his bike at Cash Converters before heading to the backpacker hostel on foot. Once at the hotel, he put his name on the board for a lift to Roma before joining a group of Swedish tourists in the garden.

Charters Towers

Tom picked up a lift with two french girls heading to Charters Towers and rode with them as far as Roma.  In Roma, he started to make his way to the self-storage unit that held the last items he had bought.  He passed a vintage car display and stopped to look, several times getting in the way of the photographers.  He knew this because they kept asking him to move out of their shot. 

Walking around looking at the cars, he noticed a blue police phone box in the distance and had a chuckle to himself, thinking Queenslanders really are backward if the police still use those old blue phone boxes.

Travels with the Doctor

Tom wandered around the car festival and walked past the blue phone box – just as an odd-looking chap with bushy eyebrows popped out the door. Introducing himself as John Smith, he began chatting to Tom and invited him inside. After a brief explanation, and once Tom got over it was bigger on the inside, John, who called himself The Doctor, offered him a chance to travel with him. Always up for an adventure, Tom jumped at the chance. They left Roma on Sept 28th, 2020, at 4 pm. Tom and John travelled together for two years, with Tom having many more amazing adventures before dropping him back in Roma at 4.04 pm on Sept 28th, 2025. By now, COVID had all but disappeared save for the odd outbreak among the conspiracy theorists who refused to be vaccinated.

Tom picked up his car and caravan from the self-storage (Bill, who had access to Toms bank, had kept the account up the date while he was travelling with John) and headed off up the road towards Airlie Beach, whereby now, Bill and Beryl had retired. At Airlie Beach, Tom and Bill bought a bar and backpacker hostel. Tom became a popular figure around town, entertaining all with his ‘tall tales of his amazing adventures. Sitting on his porch one day, he mused, “maybe I should write a book. I’ll call it Toms Amazing Adventures”.

The End