Outback Corporation - 8. OBC Chapter 8

“I think you should go, maybe spend Christmas with your dad and his new family, I’m sure they would be thrilled with you being there” Chris said while Daniel was nodding his head in agreement, “I'm sure Daniel and I will be able to cope with you being away for a few weeks or a month, so start planning and don’t worry about anything” Chris added with a big smile. When Chris and Daniel left the office I went online in search of an ideal present for dad. First, I did a search of the town that is closest to dad’s farm, and after looking at information about the town and the region, I decided on the ideal present, and began doing some research on the present I had in mind.

Between outdoor station work, heaps of office work, some social time with the staff and occasional online research,, I finally found the ideal present. Even though it was Tuesday at midnight at the station, I made the call to Vancouver, Canada where it was 9am. After some custom adjustments inside, a new coat of paint and signage on the main present, plus just a logo painted on the other three smaller items, I had ordered and paid for the presents by the end of the call. All 4 would be held in a warehouse until December.

As life and work continued on the stations, and still receiving a letter from dad every 3 to 4 weeks. I had finalised my plans for Christmas by the end of October, and I was now looking forward to the journey. During my research for the trip I had also found the home phone number for Mr Declan Grovedale in Vancouver, BC Canada. I waited until 11pm my time on a Saturday, which is 8am WST in Canada to call.

“Hello this is Harcourt speaking, how can I help you?” a young voice on the other line answered.

Although a bit startled, I said as clearly as possible so as not to confuse the boy with the different accent, “Yes hello, may I speak to Mr Declan Grovedale please?”

The next thing I hear caught me totally by surprise, as the boy called out away from the phone, “Dad, there is a guy on the phone asking to speak to you and he has the same accent as uncle Bas.”

I could hear footsteps approaching, followed by some muffled discussion, then, “This is Declan speaking, would this by any chance be Kyle on the line?” the man asked.

I couldn’t help but start to chuckle, and I cleared my throat to speak. “Yes it is Kyle Silverton speaking. It’s nice to be able to hear the voice of the man who has captured my dad’s heart.”

Amusement coloured his reply, “It is good to speak to you too Kyle, it must be very late there on the cattle station”

“Yes it is, it’s just gone 11pm Saturday here, but that’s ok I don’t have much planned for tomorrow, but I do have some plans for two weeks’ time” I responded.

“You are coming to Canada to spend Christmas with us I hope?” Declan questioned.

I smiled as I informed him, “Yes, those are my plans.” For the next half an hour we worked out some plans on how to surprise my dad with me coming to Canada for Christmas. Declan said he would make sure the boys would say absolutely nothing about this phone call, and he would not say anything about the plans to the boys, to make it a surprise for them too.

After the phone call I sat in the office thinking for a bit before I picked up the radio mike and asked Barrett to come to the office when he had a free moment. I continued with catching up with my office work while I waited. When Barrett walked into the office nearly two hours later I had almost forgotten why I had called him to come for, then I remembered that I had one very big favour to ask him, and I stood up and walked to the lounge and invited Barrett to sit.

About half an hour later, Barrett walked out of the office with a big smile on his face, knowing that his boss was going to have a wonderful Christmas with his Dad in Canada, and that he would be left in charge for a period of two to three weeks. Over the next few days I was carefully planning the next part of the surprise for the trip, hiding what the document is, I managed to get Chris and Daniel to sign what needed to be signed, without them knowing that they were applying for passports and visas, plus I was able to get two decent photographs of them both with the great zoom lens of my digital camera. After some photo cropping I was able to send away the documents and three photos of each of them to be processed, hoping it would be processed in time.

The last thing I did was to make sure that I had flights booked and paid for matching the same flight that I was on. This wasn’t going to be a problem as I had 1^st class tickets and there were still some seats still available for the flight from Perth to Hong Kong, then from there to Vancouver. I was able to secure a suite on the same floor of at the same hotel in Vancouver that I was booked into. When it was all finalised I felt relieved that everything was in place. All I had to do now was to let Declan know that there was two more coming to Canada. When I ended the call to Canada later that night, I had the biggest smile on my face, and I went to bed a very happy young man.

As November whizzed past and it was entering the second week of December, I was starting to get worried about the passports for Chris and Daniel. Mine had arrived in the mail a month ago, and I was hoping that the other two were not too far behind. The date was now December 9^th and we are booked on the Prospector from Kalgoorlie to Perth for the 17^th exactly seven days away, with an overnight stay in Perth. We would be boarding a flight to Hong Kong at 11:55pm the following evening, arriving at 7:40am on the 19^th and boarding a flight to Vancouver at 7:50pm that same evening and arriving in Canada at 3:25pm WST on the December 20^th.

We had just two more mail deliveries before leaving the station for the trip, and I was getting very agitated when no passports arrived in today’s mail bag. The mail bag on the afternoon of Saturday the 13^th was the last mail before leaving, and that leaves just two days to get Chris and Daniel packed and ready before boarding the train to Kalgoorlie on the Tuesday. When no passports came on the Saturday mail, I just burst out crying and I went to my quarters for the rest of the day, asking not to be disturbed. There was a letter and Christmas card from dad, and another from Declan & boys, which I was pleased to receive, but for the remainder of the weekend I was miserable and stayed locked up in the office most of the time. Only Barrett knew the reason why.

On the Monday morning at 9am sharp, I received a call from the post office at Kalgoorlie, “I apologise for the breakdown in communications. The passports had arrived on Friday but they need to be signed for. That’s why they were not forwarded to with the station mail. Also, both passports have the Canadian Visas on them.”

“Thank you so much. Please hold them and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said with much relief in my voice.

“Very good, Sir. Good day.”

With very little time left I needed a plan to get Daniel and Chris to come with me to Kalgoorlie. So I called Barrett to the office. I explained to Barrett, “The passports needed to be signed for so could go with the normal mail bag. They are waiting for me at the Kalgoorlie post office. Now I have to get to get Chris and Daniel to Kalgoorlie and get our adventure started”

Barrett thought a moment and said “I suggested just a Christmas shopping trip to the city for a break.”

Calling both into the office, “Barrett will be looking after the station while the three of us go on a Christmas excursion to the capital. We’ll be spending time with the rest of the uncles and aunts,” I fibbed “So get packed and ready to catch the train to Kalgoorlie.”

Surprised at the trip, both left to do what I asked.

At Kalgoorlie I was able to sign for both passports without Chris and Daniel knowing what I was collecting at the post office and we continued our journey to Perth. I had a limo ready to collect us from the terminal to take us to the hotel where I had two suites reserved. At dinner time I said to Chris and Daniel that we would be busy in the morning doing some shopping for all the family, and arranged for a 7am breakfast in my suite for all three of us.

The next morning I was up at 6 am arranging the large Canadian flag that I had bought online two weeks earlier, so it was draping over the lounge, in full view when approaching the lounge area. I placed the plane tickets and passports on the dining table next to the plates that had been set the night before. When Chris and Daniel arrived just before 7am, I saw them eyeing the flag, I said, “I’m trying to imagine what a white Christmas in Canada.” Breakfast arrived and was served, “Sit and eat up guys, we have a long day ahead, supressing a giggle at that. Suddenly, all hell broke loose, as Daniel saw my surprise first. When he opened his passport and then the tickets, he screamed with excitement. He began bouncing and dancing around the room in joy. Chris just sat there stunned and speechless when saw his passport and tickets.

Finally, when Daniel calmed down and both were seated, I told them, “We are spending a white Christmas with Dad, Declan and the boys, starting with a 5 ½ hour flight to Hong Kong, then an 11 ½ hour flight to Vancouver, Canada. Our first flight is just before midnight tonight. Which means we have a lot of winter clothes shopping to do before we board the plane tonight.”

After a very full breakfast, we climbed into the pre booked limo and set off shopping, firstly for new luggage, followed by new jeans, jumpers, jackets, beanies, warm gloves and warm socks, plus long johns, plus some Christmas presents.

By 2pm we had returned to the hotel and we sorted all the new clothes, sorted what clothes we already had and what we would take with us, and the rest would remain in the bags until we returned in two weeks’ time. By 4pm we were all exhausted and decided on a short nap before an early dinner, so that we could be at the International Airport by 8:30pm to check in. Once we had completed check in, we went in search of gifts for the boys at the duty free shop. We ended up with very bulky hand luggage once the gifts were purchased. As we sat down in the 1^st class lounge having a snack, waiting to board the plane, I made a call to Vancouver, to let Declan know that all three of us were soon boarding the first plane, and we would see them in two days’ time.

When the plane arrived in Hong Kong on time, we had just under 12 hours to kill before we left for Canada on the second flight. I was just very tired and wanted to sleep, as I didn’t sleep very well on the first flight due to the turbulence, with the rough weather near the equator. While I napped Chris and Daniel went to check out the duty free shops and came back with a lot more than they planned. After trying and failing to stuff it all in the already over stuffed on board luggage, Chris went and bought another suitcase. We put all of the presents that all three of us had purchased into the one bag and added it to the check in luggage paying the charges for additional luggage.

The 11 ½ hour flight across the North Pacific was a lot calmer than the first flight and I was able to sleep for most of it, in between the beautiful meals that were served, and when the wheels finally touched down at Vancouver, I was pleased that the long journey was almost over. As I had informed Declan, I had arranged a limo to collect us and take us to our hotel. I also had arranged for Declan and the boys to have dinner with us that evening. I fell asleep in the limo on the short ride to the hotel and had to be shaken awake by Chris when we arrived.