Outback Corporation - 9. OBC Chapter 9

Canada was so much colder than back at home where it is now summer time. I didn’t bother to do anything but visit the bathroom before crashing on the bed, falling asleep almost straight away. Less than three hours later, Chris coming through the door to the adjoining room, he was once again shaking me awake, telling me it was time to get showered and ready for dinner. When the three of us arrived at the hotel restaurant, I spotted Declan straight away, recognising him from the photo that Dad has sent me a few months earlier. I went up to him with a big smile. When Declan saw the young Aussie man smiling as he approached, he knew right away that it was me, and stood up and shook my hand firmly as we arrived at the table.

“There is no mistaking that you are Bas Silverton’s son, how are you Kyle? Did you have a good flight?” He asked me as we released our handshake.

“Hello Declan. It was long journey!” I laughed.

“Let me introduce the boys” pointing to each as said their names.

Once Declan finished, I introduced “This is my Uncle Chris and his partner Daniel. Let’s all sit,” waving towards the table.

I noticed that there were two seats empty between two boys and one other empty seat between another two, so I was almost on the opposite side of the table from Declan. I wondered if that was planned that way or if it just happened. Declan must have noticed my facial expression as I was thinking this as he laughed out loud. “Don’t blame me, the boys organised the seating.”

I gave a big grin, wondering how he knew what I was thinking and sat down in the single seat, between the two oldest boys, while Chris and Daniel were sitting between the twins. With just five days left till Christmas, all the boys were looking forward to spending the two weeks holidays on the farm. They told me it was more like their main home now, as they loved being up there on the weekends. Chris told the story of how he and Daniel found out they were coming to Canada the same morning that they were boarding a flight to Hong Kong later that evening, and how Daniel was bouncing around the hotel room in excitement, as it’s his first time overseas, this had everyone laughing.

Declan mentioned, “Oh, Kes, the one large and three small packages you ordered are in the city of Kamloops. All we have to do is ring them and arrange for delivery,”

“Thanks Declan, I’ll call as soon as I can.” I was glad he didn’t give away what the mystery packages are to anyone. This started the boys to hound us to get more information. “Let’s just say that the three smaller packages are a lot of fun, I have a few on my property, and they are great to ride” I said leaving it open to guess what it was that I had bought, Eventually Chris glided his hand lightly over the top of the table in a slow motion, and I smiled and nodded. Daniel saw the interaction between us and eventually caught on what Chris’s hint was and smiled broadly.

Dinner was eaten with general chit-chat going around the table. While they were eating desserts, Declan pronounced, “The boys and I are flying up to Kamloops the morning after tomorrow on the 22^nd I suggest you, Chris and Daniel arrange to fly the following day. I’ll drive down to collect you on the 24^th.”

I agreed, “Yes, that sounds good. It will give me more time to recover from jetlag. Thank-you.”

Declan went on to say, “I’ve arranged for my housekeeper – Mrs Jeanne Alyn – to fix a Christmas Eve dinner. Her husband Frank, sons Lennard and Tyrone will be there. Also, Jock Peterson. The poor boy has to look after his father’s place pretty much on his own. His father had a stroke a few weeks back and he is in hospital in Vancouver, his wife at his bedside.” He went on to say, “Bas made an offer to buy the farm a few months ago to Mrs Peterson, before her husband’s stroke. Kes, the place is in a bad shape, but Mr Peterson is a very proud and stubborn man, refusing to sell.”

After a very enjoyable dinner, I asked, “Declan, are you free tomorrow to give us a guided tour of the city?”

“Sorry Kes, but I have to work”

To which, Noel, the oldest boy piped up, “I’d be happy to be a tour guide for you in the morning,”

Declan interjected, “This is so he can get out of being stuck at home with his brothers and the house keeper for most of the day.” To which, Noel's face went very crimson is colour.

“I would be honoured that you will be our guide tomorrow young Mr Grovedale, what time will the limo be coming to pick us up?” I said to him which made Noel’s mouth drop open in surprise, and all of us adults roared with laughter at his reaction.

“It is the only way to travel when you’re in a big city, and I can afford to hire them, so just grab a taxi to the hotel here, by 9am and we will go from there” I said to Noel who nodded that he understood the plan for tomorrow.

When Noel arrived the next morning, we set off for a very enjoyable and educational tour of the city of Vancouver, and even with a few attempts Noel still didn’t find out what the surprise packages are at Kamloops. By 3pm I was exhausted so we returned to the Grovedale house, where we spent the rest of the afternoon till Declan came home from work. That evening we had takeaway pizza for dinner.

The following day with the Grovedale family on the plane to Kamloops, I spent most of the day relaxing as I was still not feeling very well from all the travelling, and Chris and Daniel did some more sightseeing and Christmas shopping, in the mid-afternoon I called the company that was storing the surprise presents, and confirmed that I would be collecting them the following day at about 11am, and as night fell we had a quiet meal together in the restaurant in the hotel, before retiring for the night.

The next morning we caught the 9am flight to Kamloops. Even though the flight was reasonably smooth, I was glad that it was over. After collecting our luggage we found the Limo that had been reserved for us, and we were taken to the address that I gave the driver for where the surprise hovercrafts are stored. As had been arranged, Declan would drive down to Kamloops to collect a parcel that he needed to collect, and the two oldest boys, Noel and Harcourt asked to come with him.

When they arrived at the same address as we were going too, just minutes after we arrived, we were taken to the storage shed where the three smaller hovercrafts are stored. When the boys saw the two seater hovercrafts, they were so pleased at what they saw. They watched as I loaded the three hovercrafts onto the trailer that I had purchased with the hovercrafts, and the trailer was hitched onto the back of Declan’s vehicle.

I handed a large Christmas card to Declan which read – “To Noel, Harcourt, Emanuel, Gresley and Carter, wishing you the best of Christmas wishes, I hope you enjoy the presents and use them safely, Kind Regards Kyle Silverton”. I told Declan that I would travel up the river to the farm with Chris and Daniel, and would be there at about 1pm. With the plan or sorted, Declan and the boys made the return journey back to the farm. When they arrived, Bas came out of the house and was totally shocked at what was on the back of the trailer.

Bas asked, “Where did they come from?”

Declan answered by showing him the Christmas card that I had given him earlier. Bas laughed when he had read the card, and he took a closer look at the small hovercrafts.

He said to the family, “These are almost like a dune buggy except that it hovers on air instead of having wheels.” Over the next hour and a half Bas showed Declan and the boys on how to steer the hovercrafts. They had all had a go, and then all three vehicles were driven into the machinery shed for storage. They all made their way towards the house to eat, where Mrs Alyn had prepared a nice light lunch.

Both of Mrs Alyn’s sons were in the house watching television along with Jock Peterson. I found out that Jock often ate at the house on the days that he worked on the farm, and he’d been sleeping in the housekeeper’s quarters for the past few weeks, since his father went into hospital, so he wasn’t alone. Declan watched his son’s carefully giving them a stern look to stop them from saying anything to spoil the surprise that would be arriving very shortly.

Just as Declan looked up at the clock, the sound of a loud engine approaching could be heard coming from the direction of the river. Declan lead the way down the laneway between the paddocks to the boat ramp on the river to investigate the sound. As the noise became louder, the sight of a 14 metre long and 7 metre wide passenger hovercraft came into sight. It slowed and came up the boat ramp to a stop on the flat area at the top of the ramp. When the hovercraft engines came to a stop; and all was quiet, everyone waited in anticipation as the occupants stood up to exit the hovercraft. No one could actually see who we were in the craft because of the tinted windows. When the door opened and I stepped out onto the side of the hovercraft, I saw my dad’s frown suddenly change to a huge smile, as I jumped down. I soon ended up in his arms.

“Merry Christmas Dad, this new toy is for you, I hope you like it” I choked out, as dad clung onto me tightly.

“Oh son, I have missed you so much, this is a huge surprise, one that I would have never guessed would happen this way” dad said to me finally releasing me from the bear hug. That is when Chris and Daniel appeared out of the hovercraft, and Dad looked even more shocked, stumbling back a little bit.

“Don’t worry dad, Barrett has everything under control back home” I laughed as Chris and Daniel stepped down, shaking Dad’s hand in greeting. Meanwhile all the boys were scrambling on-board to have a look at the new machine, and they soon reappeared asking for a ride in the big hovercraft. I just smiled and looked at dad, “If you ask Uncle Bas nicely, he might pilot the hovercraft for a short trip.” My comment sent the five boys cheering.

The boys went back into the hovercraft and sat down, while Declan, Dad, the Alyn family and Jock boarded and found a seat. I closed the door behind me as I climbed in and took a seat behind dad and told him all clear to start. For the next 1 ¾ hours, Dad and his 12 passengers made a trip down to Kamloops. The seats were very comfortable and with 8 spare seats empty, the boys kept changing seats to look at different views from inside. After a 15 minute stop at the city for a snack we made the return journey.

On the way back, Jeanne commented that this could be a regular taxi service from Anglemont via Eagle Bay, Celista, Blind bay, Scotch Creek, Sorrento, Chase, Pritchard to Kamloops. With 7 stops from start to end, with 5 minutes at each stop, she estimated the trip would take approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes. Dad said that he was thinking of a shorter trip from Chase to Kamloops like today’s trip, but maybe it could be expanded to what Jeanne suggested during the tourist season.

When we arrived back at the farm, Dad drove the hovercraft down the laneway, only just squeezing past the two fences, and we stopped in the machinery shed, where everyone climbed down the fold down stairs, and we all made our way back indoors, and Jeanne went back to the kitchen to finalise plans for Christmas Eve dinner. Meanwhile Chris, Daniel and I settled into the guest rooms and the 8 boys were in the games room making a lot of noise, while Dad and Declan went upstairs for some time to themselves. Two hours later we all gathered in the formal dining room for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, with the table set including all the usual Christmas decorations and trimmings, this was certainly a wonderful new experience having a cold white Christmas. Not matter what the future brings; this would be one of the best moments of my life.