Chapter 7

We now had a couple of weeks before we met up with the Minister. I pulled out my old ‘Valkyries’ jacket and sewed my patches to the front. My electronics officer patch, and the ship name ribbon, my SAR patch, and my paratroopers badge were the start. Who knows what may be added to them.

It was good to get back to normalcy, although I was now fundamentally changed from my experiences. I smiled more, sang to myself when I was alone, did some running along the riverside, and spent a lot of my free time making a cabinet for Paulines amplifier, with all the controls and inputs. It wasn’t very big, about the size of three 12-egg cartons, on top of each other, but put out more than a hundred watts.

Following some of the other amps on the market, it laid on the stage in front of the guitarist and doubled as an effects box. I went into Sydney and bought a pair of speakers to go with it. The guitar we had got for her was an electric-acoustic, so had a jack plug. While I got the speakers, I also added a pair of radio links, so she could walk around.

We had a couple of weeks with just a few local reports that only took a couple of hours each. Then, I flew to Newcastle, where I was picked up by a government car and driven to the RAAF Williamtown base. I had been pre-screened, was wearing my IDs and was surprised to see Moyra when we stopped by the female quarters.

“Hello, Moyra. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I didn’t expect to be here, Carol. It seems that I did a good job of looking after you, so will be with you at every stop. It will be good to see what the rest of your shows throw at you. I heard that you solo jumped a couple of times.”

“I couldn’t have even thought about it before my time at Creswell. You got me into shape. I run a bit now.”

“That’s good, because we have the rest of the day with some of the girls here, and the first thing is a run around the perimeter of the airfield. Come on in, we have a room to ourselves, and all your kit is there. I’m not allowed to wear the RAAF kit as I’m a serving naval officer.”

We went inside and I put my bag beside the bed, then changed into the running kit. It was similar to the naval kit but was a different camo pattern and colour. We went to the gym, where we met up with a dozen girls going through warm-ups. The girls smiled and the instructor just told us to join in, obviously having been advised of my visit.

When we started the run, it was at a reasonable pace, and I was glad that I had kept up a regular routine. The two of us stayed at the back of the group with the instructor behind us. As we were to one side of the runway, a pair of F-35s took off. There was a voice behind us.

“That would be something different for you, Miss Chivers.”

I slowed a bit and dropped back.

“Not really, ma-am. Between ’20 and ’21, I spent a lot of time at Lakenheath and Marham, one is home to two wings of US F-35s, and the other to two RAF squadrons of them. I was hosting dance parties in hangars and on hardstands to keep their morale up.”

“What about planes like our Wedgetails over there. They may be old but they’re still our front line.”

“I was also in Mildenhall, home to the American KC tanker and surveillance wings, ma-am.”

“You have to join us in the officers mess, tonight, to tell us about that. You would have seen more planes than we have, in your time. You too, Officer Williams. You’ll be dining with the Minister when he gets here, and I’m interested in hearing your stories. Now, no more talking, we still have a way to go.”

I ran up beside Moyra and she gave me a grin. It was hard, and I was sweating when we returned to the gym, but so was everyone else. The other girls hit the showers, but we needed to get back to our quarters for that. The instructor patted me on my shoulder.

“I didn’t expect you to be this fit, Miss Chivers. That was very well done.”

“Before I spent two weeks at Creswell with Officer Williams, I would have been left behind after the first twenty minutes, ma-am.”

“You really are the real thing, a journalist who will go the extra mile to get a story.”

“This isn’t for a story, as such, ma-am. It’s a favour for the Minister and the PM, who want the country to know about life in the ADF. I think that it will end up as a series, disguising a lot of recruitment advertising. This is still early days of filming.”

We showered and redressed with me in RAAF fatigues. Moyra had been here a few days, and was well versed in the locations of everything, so was able to guide us to the officers mess, where we were welcomed. We had a good dinner, with Moyra talking about life as an officer in the navy, and me telling them my story from my days in Mildenhall. They had all seen the shows on Jervis Bay and the Melbourne, and that gave me enough credibility to be seriously listened to.

The following morning, Emily arrived with the crew from Newcastle, and we welcomed the Minister. Of course, he was well known and well liked here, as a previous pilot. I did an opening scene for Emily and then Algy went off to change into fatigues. We had small microphones and were sat in the back of an open 4x4 with a cameraman in the front seat filming us as we were driven around, with Algy talking about his time on the base. I could see the hint of politics creeping in, with him having served, unlike several Ministers of Defense before him.

In the afternoon, I had two flights. I was rigged out in the fast-jet pilot suit with a proper helmet and the first was in the Pilatus trainer, which was a lot of fun. I had a harness with small cameras and a recording unit, so was able to give a running commentary as I was offered the controls for a while.

The second flight was something else again. I was strapped into an F-35 trainer of 2OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), and we blasted into the sky, out over the sea. The pilot was chatty as we passed the sound barrier, about fifty miles from shore. It was only when we slowed and did a big turn to go south again that I saw that we were over the Great Barrier Reef. We went inland on the way back to Williamstown, staying above the commercial flightpaths.

We were high over Roma when I was offered the controls and did a few easy ‘S’ turns. After that, we went lower, and then he pulled us into a rolling climb. When we landed back in Williamtown, I thanked him as we taxied to the stand. He told me that it had been a pleasure.

That evening, with Moyra and I in dresses for dinner with the Minister, I found out that my pilot had been Algys’ son, following in the family trade. We had enough in the can to be sent down to Wollongong for Matthew to work on with the fighter part. The next day, I was shown through a Wedgetail where nothing was turned on, marvelling at how cramped the various stations were. These planes were designed to be in the air for long periods, were able to be refuelled in flight, and there were shared bunks for the crew.

Later, that afternoon. Moyra and I were in our fatigues, standing with the Minister, as one of the latest Super Hercules transport planes taxied towards us. We joined a group of soldiers and some pallets of freight and were shown decent seats. It was noisy, it even rattled, so speech was difficult as we flew north to Amberley, in Queensland.

Amberley is, as far as area goes, the biggest RAAF base in Australia. It’s home to the last squadron of Super Hornet FA-18s, the KC tankers that I already knew, and the Globemaster transports. It’s also home to the visiting USAF bombers, like the B-2, although one hadn’t been here for some years. On top of that, there’s an army battalion logistics and support unit for when troops needed to be taken to remote places. In our days there, we were joined by a crew from ABC Brisbane, who filmed a similar 4x4 tour with the Minister. He joined us for the two runs we had and showed that he hadn’t lost his fitness.

Flying was very interesting. I had a flight north to the Cape in an FA-18 with Algy at the controls, with me festooned in recording equipment. He had fun, and showed off some of his prowess with some combat manoeuvres that left me breathless.

The crew did get to fly, filming me in a line of army troopers, all of us in full battle kit, as we stood in the Super Hercules as the rear ramp opened and we were pulled out by a drogue chute, with our chutes opened by a connecting line. Here I was, just on my third solo jump, in a group that looked like we were invading farmland north of Toowoomba. I had a guardian who had been behind me in the line, to give me advice on how to locate the landing spot and who gave me a hug when we were safely down.

There were trucks waiting for us at the landing site and I was allowed to sit in a cab on the long trip back to Amberley. On the third day, I filmed a closing segment on my experience with the RAAF, with the Minister, which would be sent down to Wollongong with the rest of the raw material.

The Minister was flown to Canberra by an air force Lear jet. Moyra and I were then driven into Brisbane, she in uniform and me in civvies, and were deposited at the gate of HMAS Morton, a place that looked more like a yacht club than a navy base. It was, after all, on the Brisbane River, inside the city boundaries. There, we boarded one of the Hunter Class ships, where I was able to find my way around with ease.

The following morning, we sailed down the river on the high tide and out onto the open sea. The Brisbane crew were also on board, and we were able to film the general day-to-day workings. We went north to the Cairns base on Trinity Inlet, a much bigger place and home to quite a range of Navy ships, from patrol boats to frigates and supply vessels. We berthed behind the HMAS Adelaide, the second helicopter carrier to be commissioned, and were transferred to it as a group.

This was something else again. We were on board for two days, filming life on one of the two biggest ships in the navy. Moyra was really excited being aboard. She told me that she was getting experiences in weeks that most officers get in a lifetime.

Then came a new experience for both of us. The crew were taken to the airport to fly home, while we were taken to the Porton Army Barracks, where we were put through a fitness test, then kitted out in full army fighting gear, webbing, packs and guns, with me also wearing my recording harness. We joined about twenty guys in three Blackhawks and were flown to a bit of open ground at a place called Twin Waterfalls, mainly because that’s all that was there. Once the Blackhawks had gone, we were surrounded by silence and just the sound of falling water in the distance.

The task seemed simple, on paper. We were to walk the twenty kilometers to the Stewart Creek Valley, in full kit. The only problem with that was that we were self-sufficient and between here and there was a big bit of the Daintree Rain Forest, where the army trained as a beginner course for jungle warfare.

It took fifty-six hours, which meant that we had to camp among the trees for two nights and eat from ration packs. Moyra and I were looked after well and shown how to create a latrine and crap while squatting. We only had the water we were carrying, and the two of us had to stand watch for a couple of hours both nights. When we were picked up by the Blackhawks at Stewart Creek, we both agreed that naval life was much more genteel, even if you had to be able to swim.

That was the end of my trip for this time. We were flown from Cairns to Sydney, where my harness and recordings were collected by the ABC while I was waiting for the Rex fight home. Moyra was heading for HMAS Kuttabul at Garden Island for a bit of R&R and a debrief.

Back at Nowra, I put my bag in the car and drove home. I knew that I could tell my family all about my trip but could never relay the amount of excitement and sheer adrenaline that all my experiences had generated. I now had first-hand knowledge of why members of all three services were outwardly as calm and collected as they were. When the things that I had experienced became every day, you had to be able to face anything.

I had some time off and was looking forward to an easy few weeks. After dinner, Randall grinned.

“We had a visitor while you were away. That techno guy that you interviewed got in touch. He remembered a remark that you made about an amp that you were building for Pauline. He tried hers out and wants you to build three of them for his band. He loved the reverb fart with Lesley.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard, now I’ve done the one. I can work on several, just in case, like a production line. It will be easy to get a sheet metal shop to make me a dozen boxes with Paulines’ as a template.”

It was a project that allowed me to concentrate on something totally different. I ordered the cases and bought all the components in bulk. It didn’t take long to create the twelve boards in support frames. The power supply and small cooling fan were off the shelf. The most time was spent on the circuit board which was used to create the odd sounds. I was in the garage for most of each day for a week building the chassis for them all. I upped the output to two hundred watts.

When I got the cases delivered, I finished off the amps, with a black paint, as requested; black knobs on the sliders, chrome foot buttons for the different sounds, and finished off with transfers on the front from my old shop, reading ‘Newmans’. I contacted the techno star, and he came around with a friend. I had three units for him to try and they had brought a guitar and bass. When they found the fart, the friend almost creamed his Levis. I charged five hundred each and they paid readily, taking them away. That left me nine, which may have a market once their next video went on TV.

Finally, I had a message to go to Wollongong to see what Matthew had made of all the material that we had taken, and the stuff that he had been given. The series was titled, ‘Carol Chivers and the ADF’ and looked more like a female series of ‘Top Gun meets Die Hard.’

He had distilled it into five one-hour episodes, three from Albatross and Creswell, one that was the two RAF visits linked together with a lot of me in planes, going very quickly. The last was a mixture of experiences. It started with our time on the frigate and the helicopter carrier, followed by my experience in the rain forest, and the final part, before the credits, was me tumbling out of the transport with a bunch of paratroopers, heading for the ground in a group of other parachutes, my own being coloured red. All that was needed was to have me do a voice-over with the credits, to ask the viewers to see what happens next.

For one day, I sat with a needle and thread and added the patches I had been given to my ‘Valkyries’ jacket. I now had two more warship name ribbons, a Number 4 Squadron patch for the Pilatus flight, a 2OCU patch for the F-35 flight, a Number 1 Squadron patch for the FA-18 flight, and one that I really earned, the 3RAR patch with the three vertical green bands that was worn by the guys I had trekked the forest with and jumped out of the Hercules with.

When Pauline had two weeks off school in April, we started filming season two of ‘Cruising’. This series we concentrated on entertainers so that Pauline could just be herself with them. In that two weeks, we filmed four shows. The bookend scenes were different, with us getting out of the GT at the celebrities house and them greeting us for the first half and getting back in the car and waved off by the second one at the end.

Those eight were friends of the three from the first series, which had hit the screens in May, after a short promotional period. There would be another ten days in July, with another ten in October to finish the other six shows if needed. In between those times, I was scheduled for some more time with the ADF.

I flew to Canberra, where I met up with the Minister and Moyra. She was now a full Lieutenant, with her new ship ribbon being the HMAS Canberra. It had been decided that with her new knowledge of interservice activities, her best place would be as a logistics officer on the helicopter carrier, to liaison with the army and air force when they need to be aboard.

Our next trip would reinforce her position, and also introduce her to the business of making a TV show. Our first call would be a week at Puckapunyal, in Victoria, which was a restricted area, so we couldn’t take in a crew from the ABC Melbourne. After that, we would be visiting the naval base in Adelaide, also restricted as one of the maintenance hubs for AUKUS.

We had a meeting with the Minister, who had been shown the first parts of the series, and then we spent time in the ABC Canberra while Moyra was shown how to get good results from a digital camera that also recorded audio. I was given a new harness, also with audio recording. It was thought that if we didn’t get everything, Matthew would be able to add stock visuals.

We were picked up from our hotel and delivered to the RAAF base on the edge of the Canberra airport., where the VIP jets were housed. Our transport was a Blackhawk, which we boarded after both being kitted out in army fatigues. The trip from Canberra to Puckapunyal was two hundred and fifty miles, and quicker this way than flying to Melbourne and driving north.

When we landed, the Minister was there to greet us and introduce us to the Colonel in charge of the Combined Arms Training Centre. That was the last we saw of both of them while we were there. Over the next four days, the two of us ate with the troops, ran with the troops and sampled some of the different training regimes that took place.

We both rode in and drove a range of armoured vehicles, from tanks to half-tracks to fast-strike vehicles. We jumped out of troop carriers and deployed as instructed, we both spent time with gun crews, firing everything from a mortar to a 155mm. We drove a whole gamut of soft-sided vehicles, from 4x4s to Mack trucks. At the end, we had recorded a lot of film and audio, and were driven down to the airport at Melbourne. We had both been given Land Combat College patches as a souvenir.

We flew into Adelaide, where we met the Minister once more. Our first visit was at Osborne Naval Shipyard, a site that built the Collins Class submarines and several frigates. Part of it was used for AUKUS submarine maintenance. It had been planned for us to actually build nuclear powered subs here, but that was delayed so many times, the facility was now going to be modified to complete the drone carriers and also build the drones. We spent the day inspecting the site and filming where we could. After the excitement with the army, it was almost boring.

We stayed in a hotel in Adelaide and dined with the Minister and the current State Premier. Early next morning, we were packed and picked up to be taken to the Edinburgh RAAF base, the home of Number Eleven Squadron. They had flown four-propellor Orion maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft for well over twenty years, but were now flying the P-8 Poseidon, that had a much bigger range.

At the main gate, our IDs were checked, and we were taken to the ready room, where all three of us were given flight suits and helmets. We sat in on the briefing of the crew that we were to fly with. Our filming was to be restricted while aboard, but we were able to film a scene on the hardstand with planes behind us.

We, and our bags, were loaded onto a plane and we took off, with Moyra on the flight deck, filming. The flight was a loop across the Great Australian Bight, to land at the Pearce RAAF base in Perth, some six hours later, where we would have our next inspection visit. The flight was interesting, and we could interview some of the crew about their job. There were a few standard radar screens that we could film, and some others that we couldn’t. We overflew several cargo and container ships and a few liners. We logged and identified a lot of fishing vessels. We were told about the bad old days when the Southern Ocean was crowded with whale hunters, especially the Japanese who were killing hundreds of whales for ‘scientific study’ to avoid the restrictions. Research material that ended up on the tables of Japanese restaurants.

We landed at Pearce and thanked the crew. We were given 11 Squadron patches as a keepsake. They would be topped up and continue their patrol out into the Indian Ocean before returning to Adelaide.

We were only a couple of days on the base. It was mainly a training establishment for both air force and navy pilots, so Moyra was able to interact with several students, being already on one of the carriers that they could be serving on.

We filmed some class sessions, some going out in full kit to fly, and some take-offs and landings. I also interviewed members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force who were based here, an arrangement that went back many years. We did a lot of filming with the Expeditionary Health Squadron, a unit that could be deployed at the drop of a hat to natural disasters and accidents at sea. It would be a good insight for someone wanting to go into a medical career with an added excitement.

Following that, we had a week at the HMAS Stirling, the home of the navy, covering the west coast defence and out into the Indian Ocean and the Indo-China area. This was the main base for our fleet of submarines, and we got to have a ride in one, submerged for two days was a very humbling experience. We were only in a Collins Class, so were allowed limited filming, but were able to record a couple of interviews while several hundred feet deep.

We also had a long trip on one of the older Anzac Class frigates that took us to Darwin on a coastal patrol. There, we were transferred to HMAS Coonawarra, the northernmost base. We had a few days to rest and exercise, and then joined one of the Arafura Class patrol boats for a two-week patrol in the Arafura Sea and to Ashmore Reef, in the Timor Sea off the tip of Indonesia. It was different, to say the least.

Because of our wide range of experiences, both Moyra and I impressed our captain with our knowledge when we had communications with a Poseidon above us. We filmed as we approached illegal fishing boats in our waters and took their crews on our boat before we did a little live fire exercise to sink theirs. Before we turned for home, we met up with an Indonesian Navy frigate and transferred our passengers.

There were several women in the crew, and we enjoyed their company. Moyra, as a serving officer on the flagship, was the subject of many selfies. Me, as the hostess of the show about the Melbourne, had my share as well. As we cruised back towards Darwin, I was given a new set of fatigues, with the ships name and my surname on ribbons to keep. We filmed the final scene of the series, with me at the helm.

“When I began this series, I was a landlubber without a clue. As we return to shore, after this patrol, I’m standing here at the helm, basically in charge of this patrol boat. I’ve trained, I’ve got fit, I’ve fired lots of guns and flown in fighter planes. Through it all, I’ve learned what it takes to become a member of the Australian Defense Force. Mostly, though, I’ve learned a lot about myself. If I was twenty years younger, I would strongly consider enlisting. The problem for me now is that it would be hard to decide which branch I would want to join. This is Carol Chivers, on patrol.”

It was a good finale to the shows. When we went ashore in Darwin, I was still in my fatigues as we joined a flight to Sydney. There, Emily was waiting with Hugo to take all our equipment from us. She gave us both hugs and told me that the series was going well. Then, I hugged Moyra and told her that she would be welcome, any time she was in Nowra. After our farewells, I carried my bag over to the Rex counter to get my flight home.

Somehow, I had the feeling that it was going to be difficult to settle back into my old ways again.

Marianne Gregory © 2026