New Beginings - 17. NB Chapter 17

“That is why I have decided to go on the ship this time, so I don’t have to deal with so many people at the airports at Perth, Sydney, Auckland and Santiago, and all the people on the planes for each flight, if I get to anxious, I can easily retreat to my cabin, or to a quiet part of the ship somewhere” I replied.

“When does the ship leave Australia?” Tom asked, “August 28th from Albany, which is a small city 400 kilometres south of Perth on the far south coast” I replied, “Have you been their before?” Margaret asked me, “Yes I have actually, Kyle and I drove down there one weekend to do some recording at the St John’s Anglican church, which is the oldest Anglican church in the state” I replied with a smile. “That sounds nice” Margaret commented.

“It is a nice place, and a mountain range just to the north, called the Stirling Ranges, is the only place in the state where it periodically snows, usually only once or twice every year or two. Now I was thinking of taking you for a drive around the district tomorrow, to have a look around. Toodyay, the nearest town to here, and where you stepped off the train was discovered in 1836.

To the south-east, by 29 kilometres, there is Northam, which was discovered in 1830, which is where the white-water race known as the Avon Descent, starts from. Another 34 kilometres to the south-south-east is the town of York, which was established in 1835, these three towns are some of the oldest country towns in the state, after the Swan River colony was extablished in 1829” I said to Tom and Margaret.

“That sounds great, it will be nice to have a bit of a look around the area” Tom stated. “The Avon Descent is a two day competition with an overnight campsite located just downstream from here, so we will see all the speedboats, kayaks and canoes go past on the first day. If you like, I would like to take you to Rottnest Island, which is just off the coast of Fremantle” I suggested.

“Is that where you have those cute little critters, I forgot what they are called” Margaret asked, and I chuckled at this comment, “Yes, it is the main place to see quokkas in Western Australia, although they are also located in more remote locations on the mainland as well, but to guarantee to see them, Rottnest is the best place” I replied. “That sounds good, so will we be doing that on Sunday or Monday?” Tom asked.

“That is up to you, the first time I did a return trip from FI, I was badly jet lagged, so if you want a spare day to just relax, we can go to Rottnest on Monday, it is a 30 minute journey by ferry” I replied, “that sounds good thanks, Huon” Margaret answered. “Well we are heading to bed, so we will see you in the morning” Tom said, as they both stood up, and walked towards their room.

Once Tom and Margaret had retired for the night, I went to the kitchen and made a cup of tea, and stepped out onto the verandah, where it was still raining, and I hoped that it would clear enough to take our guests out for a tour of the region. Once I had finished my tea, I headed to the guest bedroom that is my accommodation for about a week, until Tom and Margaret head home again.

The day out around the district was a pleasant day, the rain stayed away for a few hours to allow my guests to wander around the three towns, to check all of the old buildings, and to visit the museums and old churches, but the rain returned soon after we had returned to the homestead, and it was raining heavily by the time it was dark again. “I guess this is a lot more rain than you are use to on the Falkland Islands” I commented to Tom and Margaret, “Yes, you are spot on with that observation young man” Tom replied.

“It will be ideal for the start of the Avon Descent race tomorrow, the water level on the river needs to be at a reasonable level to be ideal for the race participants, and we will be fine with a great viewing location on the front veranda” I said to my guests, and they laughed at my comment, as I smiled broadly. “Annette and Kyle should be arriving fairly early, as the race begins at 8am, so the first lot of speed boats will be passing us about an hour after that” I informed Tom and Margaret.

Just as we were about to sit down for dinner, my mobile rang, and I saw that the caller ID was Kyle. “Hey mate how's things” I said as I answered the call and stepped out onto the veranda, and the twins were creating some noise, “Is it possible that Sebastian could provide some financial assistance, to get some kayaks so a group of us can try this upper Avon challenge?” Kyle asked me.

As I listened to Kyle speaking I managed to get Seb’s attention, and he stepped out onto the veranda, and I put the phone on loud speaker, “Repeat that question, Seb is here with me now” I said to Kyle, who repeated the question, “Yes, I can do that, what are we looking at for cost for each kayak, and how many? Sebastian replied.

Well I spoke to a few of my school mates who are on the rowing team, and they are really keen to participate, and they have contacted friends at a few of the other private school, so at the moment, we have four schools and at least eight participants in each team” Kyle replied.

“I suggest that we make it a team event, with 4 kayaks as the maximum number for each school team, so it doesn’t get too crowded, and they average about $600 for a decent kayak” I replied. “Ok, I will be happy to cover that, lets talk about this some more tomorrow, and make it next weekend” Sebastian suggested, and a few minutes later we ended the call and headed back inside.

“So, what was that phone call all about?” Margaret asked as we began to eat, “We have a event in the pipeline, planned for next weekend, a mini version of the Avon Descent, but in the upper Avon River, it will be from York to Northam, and will be a team event with members of rowing teams from 4 different private schools interested” I commented. “Well that is interesting” Tom replied.

The next morning, Annette and Kyle arrived at 8am, and once Seb and I had finished breakfast, we had moved the outdoor dining table to near the kitchen wall, and set up the outdoor chairs, and some indoor chairs out onto the veranda, so everyone had a place to sit to watch the boats go past. When Kyle arrived, we retreated to the study, to discuss the plans.

“How are things going with this planned challenge” Sebastian asked, once we were alone, “Well I told everyone that there will be only four members per school team, and it has now expanded from four private schools to all seven, that being Guildford, Christ Church, Scotch and Wesley, plus Hale, Aquinas and Trinity” Kyle announced.

“Wow, now that was totally unexpected, they do know that this is an unofficial event, so there will be no school colours, no publicity and since we don’t know what that section of the river is like, we need to do a preliminary check of the river” I replied, “well we could do that Monday after school, if we go down to Midland and pick up some kayaks” Kyle replied. “That is if our sponsor is ok with that” I added, as I looked over to Sebastian.

Seb chuckled, “Yes that is fine by me, we may need a trailer to carry the kayaks and equipment” Seb said to us, “Just as well, I have a tow hitch on my vehicle” I added, “We need to organise a meeting between all of the teams, so how about we set that for after school sometime during the week” Sebastian suggested, “or we could to a teleconference” Kyle added, “that would work too, if the schools agree on it” I said.

We returned to the verandah to join the others, and Mrs Cooper brought out some drinks and snacks for all of us, and we happily chatted away while we waited for the first of the boats to come past, and we cheered loudly as the first three speed boats raced past us, and a news helicopter flew over the top of us. Most of the speed boats had passed us before lunch time, and Mrs Cooper served a buffet lunch, so we could select our food and sit down again.

By about 3pm, most of the speed boats, canoes and kayaks had passed by us, as we wound down the social event, and I had helped with the cleanup, while Sebastian kept the guests entertained. Kyle entered the kitchen area with the phone to his ear, and motioned for me to follow him, as we stepped into the entry foyer, and he put his phone on loud speaker.

“Ok gentlemen, I have the Upper Avon Challenge organiser with me now, one at a time say who you are” Kyle said with a smile, “This is Jake and Tony from Scotch College, this is Karl and Ben from Trinity, Mark and Simon from Christchurch” came the replies from the phone, and Kyle chuckled. “They are all at one location, they are on their school hockey teams, and have just finished matches at Scotch playing fields” Kyle explained.

“Well that answeres one of my questions, so next what is the reason for this call?” I asked, “I will answer that one, it is Karl here, we are all day boys at our schools, and we are all very keen to do this challenge, we want to drive up to Toodyay tomorrow, so we can chat some more about this challenge, we understand that you guys have to attend church as do I, so we can arrive at 1pm if that is ok with you guys” Karl said.

“Yes, I guess, that is fine, but instead lets meet at Bernard park in Northam, and make it 1pm” I suggested, and everyone agreed to that time and location, and the call ended soon after. “You know if we get a move on, we could get to Midland before the shops close” Kyle suggested, “Ok lets go, I ragazzi di ottenere le scarpe, stiamo andando per un drive” Sebastian said then shouted to the twins, changing to Italian mid sentence.

The twins soon appeared with their shoes in their hands, minus any socks, and I grabbed my keys, before going to the main lounge, “We are going to Midland to get some Kayaks, we will be back by 7pm” I announced to Mrs Cooper, Annette and our guests, and we headed out the main door, and piled into my vehicle, and raced down the driveway.

Sitting on the speed limit the whole way, we arrived at the camping store with fifteen minutes to spare, “How may I help you” one of the store assistants said, “We are here to buy some good quality kayaks, PFD’s, paddles, and some straps to tie them onto my friends car” Sebastian replied as the twins wriggled out of Seb’s grasp, and went to explore the large store, and I chuckled when I saw this.

Twenty minutes later we had bought 6 single kayaks, with a paddle, helmet and adult PFD – Personal Floatation Device each, we managed to get two of the kayaks, along with all the PFD’s and paddles into the back cargo area of the vehicle, and the other 4 were strapped to the roof rack on top, and we made our way back to Toodyay, arriving back jsut after 6.30pm, and we found that Mrs Cooper had dinner ready for us, as we stepped into the house.

Soon after dinner, Annette and Kyle headed home to the rectory, as Annette had work in the morning, and after a long day, Sebastian organised for his brothers to shower and go to bed, while I chatted with Tom and Margaret. “Will you be joining us for church in the morning?” I asked my guests, “Yes we would like that very much” Margaret replied with a smile, and after chatting for a little longer, we retired for the night.

The following morning, Mrs Cooper had a nice breakfast prepared for us, and she agreed to take our guests into town, while I took Seb and the twins with me, to attend church, which starts at 9am, and the service started on time, and Annette welcomed two special guests, from the Falkland Islands, who are currently visiting friends in the region. When the service was completed, just over an hour later, Kyle, Sebastian, the twins and I set off right away to the town of York, arriving 45 minutes later.

At the river bank near the Great Southern Highway bridge, we unloaded two Kayaks, and Kyle and I prepared to start paddling down the upper, as well as having PFD’s and paddles, we had some snacks, a uhf radio and water bottles each, and when we were ready, we did a radio check with the radio in my vehicle, before we set off down the river.

We had agreed to go to the second main road bridge, which is twelve kilometres down stream, and it will take about two hours to complete, and we found it reasonably easy going for the first hour, and I called Seb, and suggested that he do a swap with me or Kyle, so he can give the kayaking a go. Sebastian agreed to this idea, and agreed to meet at the first road bridge, which is just over 8 kilometres from the start, and only a few kilometres downstream from our current location.

Since Kyle didn’t have a driver’s license yet, it was me that swapped over when we reached the bridge, I told Seb and Kyle that I would head over to Northam to meet up with the others, and bring them to the second bridge, and that I would buys some lunch for us while I was in town. With the twins still in the car, we set off for Northam, leaving Kyle and Seb to continuing the paddle down the river, and once in town, we stopped off at a takeaway store to get some food and drinks for the twins, and let them have a bathroom break.

Once back in the car again, we went to the nearby park to wait for the arrival of the lads, and on arrival I saw a number of vehicles with kayaks secured to the top, as we pulled into the carpark. In Italian, I asked the boys to stay in the vehicle, and that I will be very close by, before I exited the vehicle, and this is when I spotted nearly a dozen young men gathered around a gazebo, and I recognised a couple of them.

“Guys this is Huon Devonport, the chief organiser of this challenge, but I don’t see Kyle anywhere” one of my former school mates said to the young men gathered. “Hey everyone, err Sam, I thought this was going to be just six guys from three schools coming” I said and I directed my question to my former school mate, “Yeah well word has spread quickly and we decided to let two members from each school come along today to check out the river, to see what it is like” Sam replied.

I was introduced to the 13 guys present, two from each of the seven private boys schools in Perth. “So where is my team mate, Kyle?” Sam asked, once the introductions were completed. “Well we got started a little early to check out the river, Kyle and I started from York at 11am this morning to the first bridge, which wasn’t too bad, now Kyle and my cousin are on their way to the second bridge, where they will wait for us, so I suggest we quickly grab some food to eat on the way and get moving to meet them” I announced.

Once we had bought food for everyone, including for Kyle and Seb, we set off in convoy, with me in the lead, since I knew where we were heading, and twenty minutes later we arrived at the Burges siding Road bridge, where Kyle and Seb were waiting for us. “So how did it go, any problems on the way?” I asked as I handed over their lunch and drinks. “No all went very well, apart from some rapids, but they were quite mild” Seb responded, and I smiled, as I watched the others unloading their kayaks, and bringing them down to the river bank.