Better late than never – sorry

“The powers that be were impressed with your performance, Andrew. A promotion and a medal are coming, but more importantly, you will be transferred to the Nuzeeland troops they’re hoping will get to Apollo Bay in time to hold it. The high command was not sure exactly where the Japs have reached and how soon they’ll get to Apollo Bay, so you are instructed to take the road through Rokewood to Colac. From there, you can take the road through Gellibrand to Lavers Hill, and from there, you can either head towards Apollo Bay or back towards Port Campbell, which is where the Nuzeelanders will land if Apollo Bay is out of the question.

The Captain had a map which he studied and nodded in agreement with her suggestion.

“Looks like a plan. Do you expect the troops at Apollo Bay to hold?”

“Just a company with no mentalist support? Not a chance. The only way the Kiwis will be able to land there is if the Japs decide to stop and have a rest instead of continuing their advance. It’s only like an hour and a half’s drive normally, probably twice that for armored vehicles, and I expect they’ll be in a position to attack tomorrow. Here are your orders.” She pulled some paper out of her jacket and handed them over. “They give you the leeway to cut across country to Port Campbell if Apollo Bay falls quickly. Right. There is a driver and a car outside. Get going.”

“Sir.” He saluted, which she returned.

“Look after yourself, Andrew,” She said as he reached the door.

He smiled but didn’t turn back. The car was easy to find, and after a brief stop at his billet to grab his gear, they were off at a hundred k’s an hour down the through road to Rokewood and then Colac. They got held up at various checkpoints, and at one point outside Colac, they had to stop and wait for a long convoy of trucks that had been impressed into the army to pass by before they could proceed.

Andrew thought the trucks couldn’t have traveled much more slowly and still kept moving, and it took forever for the convoy to finally go past. Most were medium-sized box trucks with no idea what was inside them, but there were several impressively marked vehicles that appeared to be carrying ammunition and others that appeared to be carrying food, plus several petrol tankers. So far, the shipment of oil from the oil refinery built on the southeast coast of Victoria nearest the Bass Strait oilfields hadn’t been interrupted, not that the country didn’t have a fair amount of fuel in reserve. He realized that the tankers, at least, must have gone up and around the whole northern front to get here from the refinery.

They were about three kilometers south of Colac when they got word over the radio that Apollo Bay had been taken, and the Japs were pushing ahead along the coast road so it would not be safe for them to take the road through Ferguson to Lavers Hill, but instead cut across to the Carlisle Road then work their way southwest from Chapple Vale and reached the coast road before the Twelve Apostles. Rather than stop to look at the maps, Andrew had the driver head west while he pulled up maps on his phone, and after some rather exciting moments on one dirt road or another, they made it to the Princetown Road and then the Great Ocean Road in one piece. They approached the road junction carefully, and it was with some relief that they decided they were ahead of the Japanese advance, which they saw no sign of.