Travis Winks - Shattered

About the Author

T ravis Winks is a breakfast radio news presenter based in Wollongong, New South Wales.

Winks was born at Ipswich hospital in 1980 and attended Ipswich Grammar School before graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Queensland.

He has won a number of radio and television sports journalism awards and spent three years living and working in the USA as one of the inaugural co-anchors for ESPN's International Sportscenter.

Travis is an avid fan of the Brisbane Broncos and enjoys fishing when he gets the chance to wet a line.

Travis Winks Instagram

Instagram. com/traviswinks

Trent:

THE BEGINNING

OF THE END

The lead up to September 12

Dad:

CONTACT

November 17

I hate Thursdays. Split shifts, Im up for work at 3am, home by lunch, have a sleep and then back at work for a short one-hour shift. It wears you down. I constantly feel like Im jet lagged but like Dad, youve got to do what youve got to do to pay the bills and with a blended family and a mortgage, Amanda and I have plenty. Some mornings she would even get up while I was in the shower to make me breakfast and pack my lunch, simply because she loved me. We also have the extra challenge funding and organising the interstate travel for three of our four children with Jack, Lewis and Edith flying down from Queensland often to spend time with us.

My timing schedule was similar to that of the way Dad rolled when we were kids. On Tuesday nights he would work late and pick me up from rugby league training at Norths. Dad always took care of dinner on Tuesdays. We would drive straight to Big Rooster which was on Brisbane Street in Ipswich straight after footy and buy eight of their cheap Tuesday quarter chicken and chip packs for dinner. There were only six of us but Dad, Trent and I always needed a little more. If we were lucky the old man might stop off at the petrol station on the way home and buy us all a chocolate bar.

I would always try and beat Amanda home from work on Thursday evenings. She would have to drive down to her parents place to pick up Jane who would spend the afternoon with Nanny Kim.

Id operate with military precision so I could have dinner almost ready by the time the girls got home. I would do all the food preparation before my afternoon shift and then bring it all together as soon as I got home.

On this particular Thursday, just days after Dads stay in hospital, I was only going to get a short sleep. Jack, Lewis and Edith we coming down to visit in just over a week and Amanda and I wanted to get a trundle bed to make things a bit easier. Our house is only a small cottage so space conservation is imperative.

My plan was to finish on air, get to the furniture shop, pick up the trundle, get home, have a sleep, get up, attack the flat pack, build the trundle and then get to my short afternoon shift.

As I often say, you can plan all you want but you cant control the uncontrollable.

Following the desperate, emotional call from Amy and updating Amanda on the development, I pulled up on the rooftop carpark at Warrawong Plaza, lit up a cigarette and called Mum and Dad to bring them up to speed.

Both my hands were shaking, my left holding my mobile to my ear and my right trying not to let the ciggie slip out of my fingers as the sound of the phone ringing sounded and I waited for one of them to pick up.

Hey Trav, how are you? Dad asked as he answered.

Im good but I did just take a call from Amy, I told him.

How is she? he asked almost before I even finished my sentence.

Dad was anxious about Amy. He was a helper and he so desperately wanted to assist his eldest daughter in her moment of need.

Shes ok, I told him hesitantly.

She was very upset and needs money, I got all the details off her and am going to do a money transfer to her shortly, I said.

I will too, I sent some last week but Im not sure she got it, Dad added.

I told him not to stress. I promised that I had it covered this time and I could explain exactly how to do a transfer to Queensland Corrections in a few days so he could top her up then.

I could feel his frustration through the phone but with what we were up against with Amys complex situation, patience was the key, we all just needed time. I didnt want to dwell on her troubles, knowing how I felt, it would have been churning his stomach up so I moved the conversation onto our usual stuff, Amanda and the kids. He loved finding out what the kids had been up to from the classroom to the sporting field. Jack had just finished rugby season, Lewis was setting records at little athletics, Jane was playing tennis and Edith was thinking about joining a hip-hop class.

Dad and I never had a conversation that didnt involve the weather either. He was a closet weather man. Living out in the bush, he was the type of bloke that would have a skip in his step when it rained. I never caught him doing a rain dance but I wouldnt be surprised if he pulled out a few moves occasionally. Things were warming up at Freestone, midNovember meant hot steamy days and thats what he told me they were experiencing.

Have you seen any snakes? I asked.

Weve had a couple. Theres one that lives in a hole beside the tool shed and another one your mother has spotted under the back stairs a few times. Youve always got be on guard out here Trav, were living in their back yard, Dad said.

The old boy was always so calm when it came to snakes. I dont know how. When I was five, he had a close encounter with a red bellied black snake. At that time in our lives we lived on a 40-acre farm, south west of Ipswich at Purga. We were living in a tiny Queenslander cottage as Mum and Dad built their dream home. The house was basic and the toilet was an old thunder box which was out in the yard. Trent and I were running around in the yard one morning when Dad came out to use the toilet. He pulled the rickety old timber door shut then seconds later we heard a bang. Dad kicked the door open and ran out with his underwear and shorts still wrapped around his ankles. I could not believe that he didnt fall flat on his face.

Whats wrong? Trent shouted.

Theres a bloody snake in there. Its wrapped around the bowl, I felt its cold skin under my thigh, I cant believe it didnt bite me, Dad recalled as he pulled his undies and pants up.

We all walked cautiously over to the thunderbox to see if we could spot it and just over to one side there was a one and a half metre red bellied black.

That was close, I said.

Yeah it was son but Im bloody busting, so we need to move it so I can go and do my business, Dad said with haste in his voice.

He calmly went over to the shed and grabbed the long-handled shovel as Trent and I stood on snake watch. When he returned, he gently helped the snake onto the end of the shovel and carried it over to the paddock and sent it on its way.

Can you boys please put the shovel back in the shed, I really need to go to the can, Dad said.

As our phone conversation continued, I told him I needed to get some groceries, he said he had just got home from doing exactly that at Coles in Warwick. Dad and I were very similar on the domestic front. Im not sure why but we both enjoyed going to the supermarket and especially getting a deal. If there was a two for one or something was heavily discounted, we would buy it.

Our tastes were almost alike as well. He was eyeing off some home-made hot dogs for lunch. He said that he had bought some fresh rolls and the frankfurts were ready to be boiled. Amanda isnt a fan of processed meats, they make her feel queasy but seriously, a hot frankfurt doused in tomato sauce and lightly sprinkled with cheese on a fresh roll is one of the simple pleasures in life. I told him I wished I was there to have lunch with him, I could have smashed a couple of his hot dogs.