New Beginings - 9. NB Chapter 9

Seeing the tea towel, I carefully moved the kettle off the stove, and this is when I spotted the tea pot on the bench, along with a cup and saucer, and I smiled. Seeing the kitchen cabinet, I saw a number of cannisters, each one clearly marked, Tea, Coffee, Sugar and Biscuits, so I made a cup of tea and sat down to drink it as I continued to look around the room. After a few sips of tea, I stood up and looked inside the cabinet, where I found plates, bowls, cutlery, as well as sealed containers, marked Oats and cereal. I also found a cake tin with what smelt like a freshly baked fruit cake, and I cut a little bit off to taste it and it was delicious.

Taking a few more sips of tea, I checked out the back patio, where the washing machine was located, also there was a huge stack of cut wood, ready for the kitchen stove and the fireplace in the lounge. I set off towards the stables and yards, and inside I found eight stable pens, four on each side, with the first and second ones on the left, can be made into one big pen, and in the centre on the left there was a large tack room, and opposite was a double door, that leads out to the yards.

Sophie was in the second pen on the right, with the dairy cow in the first pen, Soot and Paddington were in the third and fourth pens on the right, while King and Princess were in the third and fourth pens on the left. Once I had patted all five horses, I checked out the tack room, before going through the single door at the end, which lead to the feed shed, with a covered walkway of fifty metres between the buildings.

Satisfied with what I had seen so far, I made my way to the main house, where I was not sure if I should knock on the front door, or walk around to the back door, and after a few minutes of indecision, Tom opened the front door, and motioned for me to come in. The house was made of stone and it had a wide central hallway with tall ceilings, and it was very nice and warm inside, as he led me towards the back of the house, and into the kitchen area, where Margaret was busy with lunch preparations.

“Hello Huon, I am Margaret, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mary was on the phone earlier telling me all about you” she said as she wiped her hands and walked over to me and gave me a warm hug and a big smile, which caught me by surprise a little. “Thank you for what you have done to the cottage, it is very nice thank you, and I couldn’t help but sample your delicious fruitcake” I said with a smile.

“You are most welcome my dear, now sit down, lunch is almost ready, oh and by the way before I forget, the kitchen wood stove is your source of heating for the house and hot water, so it’s a good idea to keep it burning through the day, and let it burn down at night” Margaret said to me. “The horses are all beautiful, I look forward to getting to know them all” I said happily. “that is good to hear, usually they are out in the yards during the day, but because I had to go into town, and it was a little overcast, I decided to keep them inside” Tom announced.

“Do you know anything about farriering Huon? Margaret asked me, “Yes ma’am, we have a farrier in my home town, and every year at the local fair, I worked for him, to assist with hoof cleaning, and reshoeing the horses, it is only two days a year, but I always looked forward to it, and that is how I learn to ride” I replied. “That shed, just south of your cottage, has a blacksmith forge in it, and all the tools required to making and fixing horse shoes, I do a bit, but I am not very good, just enough to get by with shoeing the shire horses when need be” Tom said to me.

After a very delicious lunch, I agreed to join Tom and Margaret for a late afternoon ride at about 4pm, and I headed over to the blacksmith shed to see what was there, and Tom was right, it was well equipped, but I didn’t know how to use all of the tools, and I decided that I would spend my first days off getting some practice. From the blacksmith shed, I went to explore all the other buildings around the property.

The big shed nearby ended up being the machinery shed, inside there was a tractor, and a number of attachments, like a front bucket, a rear hay bale forks, a hay baler, and a trailer, also there was a 4 wheel motorbike, and an old farm land rover. Next to this was a mechanical workshop, with a wide selection of tools, for fixing machinery and anything else that was needed fixing.

There was a number of storage sheds, but I didn’t both looking inside them. With Jed’s cottage across the road from the shed, I ignored that and I went and had a look at the cottage at the front of the property, which I found to be identical to mine, except that it was dark and dusty, and hadn’t been use in a long while. Next, I went to the large shed located about 200 metres behind the machinery shed, and I found this to be a disused sheep shearing shed, which was been used for extra storage, of old furniture, bags of fertiliser, and other bits and pieces.

The yards outside this shed were in good order, and look like they have been used by cattle recently. I walked about 70 metres south east of the shearing shed where I found another cottage, this one was in good order, and was clean and tidy, and it has a garage and a storage shed next to it, and I presumed this cottage is used for visiting guests.

Next I headed to the newer shed located just past the main house, and I saw that it was a hay storage shed, with a couple of small store sheds jsut behind it, and finally about fifty metres away was a small shed, which by the sounds of it, is the diesel generator shed, which was right. I also noticed solar power panels on the roof of the hay shed, and a large tower jsut behind it with a wind turbine on it, which I presumed are to help try cut the costs of power supply down.

At 3pm, I made my way over to the stables, where I spent some time with each of the horses, and in particular to Sophie, who I would be riding for the first time, and by the time Tom and Margaret arrived, I had all three horses saddled and ready to go for the ride, and carefully, I mounted Sophie, patting her on the neck and talking to her as I did so, and soon we were on our way at a nice steady walking pace following the river northwards.

By the time we returned nearly two hours later, I had managed to get Sophie into a canter, and I felt safe and comfortable on the back of Sophie. In the stables, I unsaddled all of the horses, hosed them down and dried them off, before putting on the blankets, and giving them their feed for the night. During dinner, I was congratulated by Tom and Margaret for doing so well with my first time on Sophie, and I told my bosses a bit about myself as we ate dinner.

A week later, Tom and I drove into town, to collect some weekly supplies, and to pick up my vehicle, which looked and sounded alot better, even with the steep bill that came with it, but at least now I had a reliable vehicle to get around in. After helping with off loading the supplies and putting them away, I drove my vehicle to my cabin, and parked it near the back, table, where I unloaded some more wood for the fires in my cabin.

Once I had the kitchen fire going well, to heat up the water and to make a cup of tea, I sat down at the dining room where I kept my laptop, and I booted it up and logged into my email account, where I found another email from Annette. I was getting an average of one every three or four days now. “Dear HD, I have some wonderful news, the media reported today that the Norwegian Flag vessel Southern Explorer left Fremantle yesterday, to begin it first long distance journey, as part of a 5 year contract that it had secured.

It doesn’t say where it is they are going, but at least now you know they have left WA, will you still be staying away till April, and have you had any thoughts on what you want to do in the future. The photos you sent are wonderful, I hope you are having a good time there, and that you will take care, Kyle sends his best wishes, and keeps saying he misses you. Regards Annette & Kyle”.

I clicked on the reply tab, “Dear Annette and Kyle, thank you for your recent email. I now have my vehicle with me on the farm at last, cost me a packet, but with these harsh conditions here, I think it is well worth it. I am horse riding every day now, and absolutley loving it, I share milking duties with Margaret, the bosses wife, and I am responsible for feeding and grooming the five horses each day, even on my days off, which I often spend horse riding.

Yes I have thought about what I want to do, and I will be talking to the boss in a week or two about it, I have already sent an application via email two days ago, applying to study Veterinary Science at Murdoch University in Perth. If I am successful in getting it, I will find a place near the university to study, and on the summer holidays, I will travel here to work for 6 weeks, well that is what I am thinking of doing, but it depends on my boss.

I am glad that Sebastian and his ship have gone, I do hope it is for good. I feel very happy here, and during the five years that I will be attending university and working here during the summer, I look forward to when I can return as a qualified Veterinary Doctor, and set up practice here.

At the moment, we get a vet from Western Australia, who travels over here for just 5 weeks every year, to assist with AI – Artificial Insemination, to help improve breeding stocks here, which were nearly wiped out during that conflict. That is all I have in news for now. I look forward to receiving your next email. Regards HD”.

At the end of my second week on the farm, I mentioned my future plans to Tom and Margaret, and I was surprised that they were very supportive of my plans, and that they will gladly have me back on the farm every summer time, and I was very pleased with this, and all I had to do was now wait to see if I have been accepted onto the course.

With Christmas fast approaching, I was feeling a little down in the dumps, since it will be my first Christmas without my dad, but Tom and Margaret did their very best to make it as happy as possible. I had arranged for Annette to buy me some special presents for Tom and Margaret, and they arrived two days before Christmas, which I was glad of.

For Annette and Kyle, I sent them some penguin soft toys from the Falkland Islands, and a photo of me standing next to a large group of penguins, which Tom had taken on my second week on the farm. On Christmas morning, after feeding the horses, and milking the cow, I headed over to the main house for a light breakfast, before we headed into town to attend the Church Service at the Cathedral, and during breakfast I presented my presents to them.

For Margaret a set of earrings and a matching necklace pendant, containing Australian Opal, and for Tom, I gave him a Omega Sport watch that is waterproof. Tom and Margaret gave me a Falkland Island produced duffle jacket, with sheep wool lining, and matching gloves, which I wore to church that morning. Three weeks after Christmas, in mid January, I received news via Annette, that I had been accepted into the University Course at Murdoch, starting in mid February this year.

I let Tom and Margaret know right away, and I began to plan my return journey to Australia, leaving on February 8th, to allow me to get home and prepared for my first lectures in just one week after I got home. I asked if I could leave a lot of my luggage behind, so I didn’t have to keep carrying so much each time, and Tom and Margaret said that the cottage is yours to use, I can leave what I want in the cottage, and that Margaret will clean it, to keep it tidy, while I am away.

After a long journey back to Perth, I stepped out of customs, just after 1am, and I was planning to crash at a hotel and travel home to Toodyay later in the day, but I was surprised to find Annette and Kyle waiting in the arrivals hall for me. In the 2 ½ months that I had been away, Kyle had grown in height a lot, as he wrapped me in a hug, “Welcome home brother” he said to me, before grabbing my one single suitcase.

“Huon, you left here with two suitcases, what has happen to the other one?” Annette queried me, and I chuckled, “I left it in my cottage on the farm, as no one will be allowed to use the cottage while I am away” I replied with a smile. I fell asleep during the road trip home to Toodyay, and only woke, when the car came to a stop and Kyle opened his door to get out.

It took me a few moments to look around, before I realised that we were at the rectory, “Mum says you are staying with us till you get organised with accommodation close to Uni” Kyle announced, and I staggered out of the car and into the rectory. As soon as I lay on the spare bed in Kyle’s room, I was fast asleep again, as I was suffering from a bad case of jet lag.

I woke up, when Kyle was shaking my shoulder, “Up and at them lazy bones, time for lunch” Kyle said to me, “What happened to breakfast?” I asked as I staggered out of bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up, and Kyle just laughed. As we were eating lunch I stopped for a moment, “What is it dear?” Annette asked me, “What day is it today?” I asked, “Saturday Feb 11th, why is that?” Kyle answered, and I put the knife and fork down and covered my face as I burst into tears, and it took some time for me to settle.

“I am sorry, it’s just today was my mum’s birthday, I really miss her and dad too” I eventually explained, and not feeling up to eating any more I retreated to the bedroom, and fell asleep again. Next time I woke up, it was just getting dark, and I went and had a shower, changing into some fresh clothes, before making an appearance in the lounge.

“Well, hello sleepy head, are you feeling better?” Annette said to me with a smile, “A little better thanks for asking, I am a little hungry thou” I replied. “I will have dinner served in half an hour, so just relax in the lounge, and we can have a chat later” Annette replied. When Kyle appeared about twenty minutes later, he smiled when he saw me up and about, and we chatted about his studies at school, and that he was no longer in the choir, and the others in the choir were furious about the mysterious singers on television.

After dinner, as Kyle was doing the dishes, Annette and I went into the study for a chat, “Have you found a place to live while you are studying at University?” the Rev asked me, “Yes, I will be staying at the student accommodation on campus, and I will come home to the farm, some weekends and on the holidays” I replied with a smile, and we chatted for a little longer, before we joined Kyle in the lounge to watch the news.

A week after arriving home, the day arrived for me to move into my student room at the campus, and taking just the clothes that I need, plus a small sound system to listen to music, I settled into the small room, which has its own bathroom. I found it a little difficult settling into a new routine, but I managed to cope, and I found the studying very rewarding as the months quickly passed by.

At the end March, I travelled to Toodyay for a weekend break from studies, and I called into the rectory to see Annette and Kyle, and it was then that Annette showed me a page three article in the main newspaper that I was not very happy about. “Southern Explorer returns after completing Southern Ocean Supply run”.