Long Road - 9. Lon Chapter 9

After returning home to our small family farm on the outskirts of Perth, I settled back into a routine of university studies and working part-time as a Farrier, and with plenty of horse properties in the area, I rarely had much spare time to myself.

Logan reluctantly returned to high school, to continue his education, and Mum was just happy to have all three of us together back home again. After completing my fourth and second last year at university, I began to think about what sort of future I wanted.

I really enjoyed participating in rodeos and in the recent Boddington Rodeo, I had managed to win first place in my two main events, much better than the rodeos in Derby and Broome, where I had only managed 3^rd or 4^th place in both events, and no placing at all at the Dowerin event, so I am keen to keep doing that as a hobby.

While in Boddington in early November, I took the time to have a look around the township and the area in general, and I learnt that a Veterinarian travels over from Rockingham once a month and that there is no Veterinarian in Williams, so the closest Vet is in Narrogin.

Having learnt this, I had a long discussion with Mum, about the possibility of selling the larger block of land next door, on Kellet Drive, so as to buy some land in or near Boddington, to set up a Veterinary practice, and on the Thursday morning, after I had completed my last exam for the year, I headed down to Boddington, to look into possible properties to buy.

When I came across a 5.25-acre property, right in the centre of town, that backs onto the river, I headed straight to the Real Estate agency and made an offer on the Pollard Street property.

With 112 metres of street and river frontage, and with it being 224 metres deep, the property was just idea for what I needed. A 30-metre narrow section of the property is situated behind a small red brick house, which is not part of the sale, and about half way between the house yard and the river is a large machinery shed, and two smaller storage sheds.

When I arrived home later that afternoon, after spending nearly the whole day in the Boddington area, I told Mum all about the property that I had found, and also about all the community facilities that are available in the town.

In the late afternoon, after coming back from a good ride on Bonnie, Mum was at the stables waiting for me, and she was smiling. “What's the big smile? Good News?” I asked her, as I began to unsaddle Bonnie, then washed and brush her down.

“All depends dear, on if you plan to start work on your new property or not,” Mum stated, “they accepted my offer?” I asked, “Yes they sure did, and she also informed me that the little brick house is also for sale, if we are interested in it” Mum stated.

“How about we ring her back and arrange for a more formal viewing of the two properties for tomorrow, that way Logan can come along too, since it will be affecting him as well,” I suggested, and Mum nodded her head in agreement.

At dinner time that evening, Mum and I informed my younger brother that we would be moving to Boddington in the near future, and that would mean he would have to change schools, which is less than 100 metres away from the property that we had bought.

I also announced that I would be doing some additional studies next year, to gain a Diploma in Aviation, which in fancy terms meant I would be training to be a commercial helicopter pilot, so as to assist with my new career as a Veterinarian.

“I may be able to help you there, as we still have Dad’s life insurance, which was worth $1.5 million when he had died, I am not sure what it is worth now, I just put it into a high-interest bank account and not touched it” Mum announced to us, which shocked both Logan and me.

“Well, this is a new surprise, when were you going to tell us about this?” I asked mum, sounding a little annoyed,
I was waiting for the best opportunity to invest the money, so it will benefit both of you boys,” Mum replied.

“Tell me, Logan, is there anything that you would like to do when you have completed high school?” I asked my little brother, “Well… I kind of like what you are doing in Vet Science, but I don’t know if I am smart enough for that,” Logan replied.

“You could always do a two-year Diploma TAFE Course to become a Veterinary Nurse,” I suggested, “Really, that is all it takes?” Logan said sounding surprised, “Yes, and you could always work for me to gain valuable experience while you are doing the course but you will have to complete Year 11 and do well in it first before you can start the Diploma in Veterinary Nursing,” I added.

“I can do that, just watch me,” Logan said happily, and I glanced over to Mum, who was smiling very happily. The next morning, we set off down to Boddington, which is only an hour’s drive from home, arriving just before the allotted meeting time with the estate agent at 10 am.

Going directly to the house first, we were informed that it was already vacant and that it was built in the late 1970s with two bedrooms and a sleepout, one-bathroom, single garage, and is just 85 metres away from the high school. Once we had seen the house, we wandered down the access track towards the sheds, with the larger shed being a little bigger than expected, with it being 15 metres wide, 25 metres long and 4 metres high, with side and rear entry and a concrete slab out the back.

Looking out towards the back paddock, there were a few smaller trees that separated the shed from the paddock, which I decided needed to go, as it would be there that I would have the landing pad, and to be able to bring the helicopter into the shed.

The two smaller sheds would have to be relocated, so as to clear the way for helicopter access, and near the front of the property, I would have three horse paddocks, each one being 40 metres wide and 110 metres long, to give the horses plenty of exercise space, with the building of a stables, that will have three separate pens for each paddock, and a tack room and a feed room.

I will also be planting two rows of trees along the back of the stables, so as to block out some of the noise from helicopter landings, to reduce scaring the horses. I was very impressed with what I saw on the larger block of land, but I was not sure about the small house, and Mum saw my expression as I was thinking about this.

“I know, the house is not suitable, but what about the house diagonally across the road, that seems to be much bigger and more suitable” Mum whispered to me after the estate agent was out of hearing range, and I smiled as we walked back towards the mains street.

We enquired about the property, and after a few minutes on the telephone, the estate agent informed us that it already has an offer on it, but we would be able to have a quick look since it is with the same realty agents.

When we stepped inside the house, I could see that Mum was very happy with the house, which was large and spacious, and includes a study, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a good size kitchen and eatery, plus a formal dining room, two living areas, a double garage shed and the large quarter acre of land beside the house.

When Mum asked what the listing price was on the property, she smiled, knowing that she wanted this house, and made an offer $20,000 over the asking price, in hope to snap it up, before the other buyers could seal the deal, and the real estate agent, said that it was not possible, but she would pass on the offer anyway.

After leaving the second house, we headed to a café to have an early lunch, and while waiting for our orders, we discussed what we had seen.

“Mum, are you sure about that huge increase in the offer for that second house?” I asked, after some thought on the idea, “Most definitely son, that house is just what we need, modern, big enough for all three of us for many years to come, and there is a large garage out the back to fit our vehicles, including the truck and farrier trailer,” Mum replied.

“Ok, but I doubt that we will get it if there is already an offer on the table,” I said to Mum, just before our meals arrived, and for the next ten minutes, we ate and chatted quietly.

“What are your thoughts on the place, Logan?” I asked my brother, who had been quiet the whole time we had been in town. “I’m not too sure yet, give me some time to let it all sink in, will ya,” Logan said.

After lunch, we had a bit more of a look around town, before we headed over to the shire council building, where I submitted an application to establish a helicopter landing pad at the back of the new property. Once that was done, we began the journey north back home.

Mum had informed me quietly, that she had some investments of her own, and that she would buy the big house if they accept her offer, and that if I wanted, I could buy the smaller house and rent it out, as an investment, with a small income.

Over the next three months, events happened fairly quickly. Mum’s offer to buy the larger house across the road had been accepted, and we had some repairs and renovations done, before our planned big move, that would take place in early October, during the school holidays.

I had bought the smaller house at the front of the main property, and it too was being renovated, and I also bought the 3.5 acres of land on the other side of the smaller house, and planted two rows of trees along the front and sides of both blocks of land, to provide privacy and a sound barrier.

With the move to Boddington, being further away from the city, it meant that for four days of the week, I would be travelling 1 ¼ hour’s each way to attend university lectures and practical training at Murdoch University, which I didn’t really mind, while Logan had been accepted to transfer to the high school in Boddington, to complete the last term of his year 11 studies.

While the renovations were happening at the houses, the family spent the weekends, down in Boddington, camping in the trailer, while we made improvements to the gardens around each of the two houses, with the larger house backing onto carpark of the rodeo grounds, we had two rows of large trees planted along the back boundary, of the main house and the ½ acre paddock next door, to reduce the noise levels.

The shire council had approved my application for a helicopter landing pad, and so we were also clearing the area directly between the main shed and the riverbank trees, for the landing pad, which will be a raised pad, with a solid stone and concreted retaining wall around it, to protect the pad in case of flooding, since it is so close to the Hotham River.

After a large amount of landfill was brought in, and the 1-metre-high stone retaining wall was built, the sand was compacted heavily, before a 200 mm thick reinforced concrete slab and the access road were laid down, with the concrete road going the full length from the landing pad to the shed, 15 metres away, were a four-metre-high pole and a windsock were installed.

Between the back yard of the small house and the shed, we built a 30 by 30-metre post and rail fence, and along the Western side, we built a 20 by 5-metre stables shelter, which consists of four large horse pens, a tack and feed storeroom, and walls along the side and both ends, and half walls on the Eastern side, to allow plenty of air ventilation for the summer months, but still keep the rain out in winter.

There is already plenty of large established trees in this area, so shade during the summer and from winter storms would not be a problem. The council had also approved of my plans to have two rows of three short stay cabins built in the paddock next door to the main house, with them being stumped ½ a metre off the ground, and being placed 4 metres apart, and 2 metres from the side boundaries of the property, allowing five metres in the centre to allow vehicle access to the cabins, and room to plant, two rows of trees for a privacy screen for next door, and shade for the cabins.

All the preparation work was completed before the moving date, which was two days after the end of the school term. With the horses being the first to be moved to allow for them to settle in as quickly as possible. Bonnie and Logan’s horse Nugget usually travelled well and were both used to being at strange locations to participate in events, so we were not too concerned about them.

We had a removalist company that would be doing most of the grunt work with moving all the furniture and personal belongings, and we had to borrow a large trailer to transport the small farm tractor, two quad bikes and all of the workshop equipment to the new property.

After an exhausting three days of moving, with two nights sleeping on mattresses on the floor in our new home, the move was completed, and Mum had organised a professional cleaning company to clean our former family home, in preparation for selling it, while we began unpacking all of our belongings into our new home.