I heard the helicopter coming just as a tourist bus pulled up and blocked my view of its landing spot.

The bus door swung open and the first passenger ventured out into the bright sunshine. Red dust flew up as his foot touched the ground. I reached behind me for the key to the diesel pump. It was only my fifth day behind the counter of the local store in the tiny community of Imintji in the Kimberley region, located in the northernmost corner of Western Australia, and I was about to be rushed by twenty tourists.