Desert Air - 46. DA Ch 46 - The Move

After viewing the two properties, I was not overly happy with either of them, and I asked if there was anything closer to the main part of town, close to the highway, and she said there is the old butcher shop that is next door to the main supermarket, and just two doors down on the corner there is an old store,” the agent said to us, so we climbed into her car and set off back the way we came, and we turned onto a small side street that runs parallel with the highway, with tons of parking space.

After seeing the old butcher shop first, I wanted to see if the other building on the corner was any better, and as soon as I walked in, I liked the area, and it had two large rooms near the back for consulting, plus a few smaller rooms for office space, plus a kitchen and bathroom, with an extra toilet.

When she told me the asking price, I told her that she is dreaming, and Marcus burst out laughing, and at first I wondered why, then I remembered the quote I just said, which comes from an Australian film from the late 1990’s and I smiled.

“Tell you what, I will lease the property for three months, and I will even do some renovating to it, after that time I will consider buying the property, but only at a reasonable price,” I said to the agent. “That sounds fair enough, come back to the office and I will deal with the paperwork,” the agent replied.

When we arrived in Halls Creek after a one hour long flight, we had a quick look around town and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t as I expected it. There are plenty of modern houses and buildings, and there were hardly any for sale signs around. After just 45 minutes in town, we had secured a house to rent for the purpose of having weekly vet clinics there, and I asked Marcus to remind me tomorrow to organise the making of portable signage, and posters to promote the business.

Another hour and a bit later we landed in Fitzroy Crossing, and once again it is a nice neat and tidy town with plenty of modern buildings, but it is a lot smaller than the previous two towns, and again we managed to secure a house to rent for our weekly clinics.

With it getting late in the afternoon, I wanted to be in Derby before dusk, so we set off once more and landed just on dusk, and we called a taxi to take us to our accommodation in town. Feeling tired from the long day, we had dinner in the restaurant attached to the hotel before retiring early.

The following morning after breakfast, we headed to the real estate agency office to see what properties are available for use, but as we were heading that way, we passed a vacant shop next door to the rural store, and I asked the driver to stop and let us out.

After paying for the fare, we walked up to the building which is set well back from the road, with a single door on the right and a double door and plenty of windows on the left. After peering through the windows and doors, we walked over to next door to enquire about who owns the property, and we were surprised to learn that the Rural store company owned the land, and only used the side and back yards to store additional rural supplies.

After a meeting with the manager of the company, we came up with an agreement to rent just the building for a period of three months to start, with the possibility of purchasing the property after that period of time, and that the side of the building on the left, furthest from the rural store, be cleared of water tanks, so we could have access to the side shed door.

I was very pleased that we had achieved a good outcome in such a short time, as we headed back to the airport for the flight back home to Marble Bar, which would take us just over two hours, and instead of landing at the town airport, I thought we would land at Corunna Downs airfield, so we could spend some time with my family, with Rhodes due home any day now.

During dinner, I brought up the subject of me relocating my practice to the Kimberly region, mentioning that Marcus and I had already rented space at a number of towns that we would serve. It was during this, that I thought that Marcus would be more useful operating a practice in Derby, while I am based in Kununurra.

“How would you feel if we have two main clinics, you can run one and I would run the other,” I said to Marcus, “That sounds great but how would it work?” Marcus replied, “Well… I am thinking this through as I speak… How about I run the Kununurra clinic, and I would spend one day a week flying to any cattle stations that need our services, and half a day in Wyndham, with the other half day flying to you, to deliver weekly supplies, and you can do say three days in Derby, and a day each in Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek,” I suggested.

“That sounds ok, but would I have any staff to help me?’ Marcus asked, “Yes, most definitely, a vet nurse as a minimum,” I replied, “Well then I say lets do it,” Marcus said smiling as I turned to Mum and Dad, to speak to them.

“I know you are a bit uncertain about these changes, and I wanted to let you know that you don’t have to move the whole family north to be closer to me. I have thought about the airbase a lot in the past few days, and I think I would like it to be kept keep in the family for the time being, and it gives Rhodes a chance to run Limestone Station, along with Jake to assist him,” I announced.

“If that is what you want, then we will be happy to stay here, we are very happy here especially with living in the complex, it feels a lot more than a home than our previous one on the neighbouring station,” Dad said to me. “Let us know what you need in funds to help you get the two clinics operational, and we will be happy to contribute to it for you,” Mum added.

“Thanks Mum & Dad, that would be great thanks, once Rhodes has been collected, I will fly back to Kununurra, while Marcus can drive my Jackaroo up there, which is a two day drive, so we can get started on setting up our practice,” with all the supplies and equipment needing to be moved from the Marble Bar Clinic to our new base clinic in Kununurra,” I said.

After dinner, we organised for Marcus to sleep in the guest cabin, while I would sleep in my cabin, probably for the last time, and the following morning, after breakfast, I flew the plane to the Marble Bar Airport, while Marcus drove my Jackaroo Ute.

While waiting for Marcus to arrive, I began the packing up all of the clinic equipment and supplies, leaving the medicines locked away in the store room, where they are kept dry and cool, and I arranged for some temporary premises to run the vet clinic until new building is completed, and I also arranged to lease an apartment for myself in Kununurra, and a house in Derby for Marcus to live in, which by luck is right next door to the site of the new clinic.

After some searching online and a few phone calls, I managed to secure the lease of a two level commercial building, with office space on the ground floor and a two bedroom apartment upstairs, which is perfect for starters, and it is located right in the centre of town next door to the ABC Radio station.

Once Marcus had arrived, we transported the medicines, some of my luggage and other vet supplies to the plane, and stowed them away, before we returned to vet clinic to finish loading up the Jackaroo, with the last of my luggage, Marcus’s luggage and the last of the vet supplies, and he set off for Kununurra, while I walked the short distance to the airport terminal and after lodging a flight plan, I set off for Kununurra in the Twin Otter, with a four hour flight ahead of me.

When I had arrived in Kununurra, I arranged for a taxi minibus to come and collect me and all of my luggage and supplies, and to take me to the location of my vet practice until the main building is constructed, which will take about 9 months to complete.

I had arranged to meet with the real estate agent at the property, so she could hand me the keys, and I to sign a few documents, and with some assistance from the taxi driver, I managed to get everything inside the building fairly quickly.

Although it was a little dusty from the long period of not being used, the building was in good shape, with a large reception area, four offices, a staff lounge and kitchen, two store rooms and two bathrooms, while upstairs there are two bedrooms, a good size lounge room, one bathroom, a study, kitchen and dining room, and large enclosed front and back verandahs.

The first thing I had to do, was to buy some house furniture, white goods and office furniture, so locking up the building, I walked across the street to the furniture and appliance store.

“Good afternoon sir, how may I help you,” once of the sales people asked me when I walked into the store, and I looked around to see if they were busy, which they were not.

“Yes, I would like you to round up a few of your staff, as I will be making large amount of purchases, and I need them to be delivered to my new business and residence across the road,” I said, and the salesman looked a little confused and surprised at what I has just said.

“You heard me, I need a lot of things today, and they need to be delivered today,” I responded, as I saw two other salesmen approach, “Right, I need the following items, a 220 litre fridge, a top load washing machine, a clothes dryer, a top grade vacuum cleaner, a microwave, a sandwich press, a good size bar fridge, 2 kettles, two double beds with firm mattresses, three arm chairs and 2 coffee tables, two tallboys in natural wood, a toaster and a sound system, that is all for now,” I said.

“Wow! That is a lot of stuff, have you just moved into town?” the sales man asked me, “Yes, I am a vet and I am setting up a new practice in the building across the road, next to the ABC radio station,” I replied. “Very good sir, we will get right onto getting this order filled,” the salesman said, “Can you recommend someone who could do a urgent cleaning job for me please,” I asked, and the salesman nodded before pulling out his phone and dialling a number.

“Hey sis, are you busy for the next few hours?” the salesman said into the phone… before smiling to me, “Good, can you come over here right away with all your cleaning gear, I have an urgent job for you, for the new vet, that may take a few hours… ok see you soon, bye,” he said before hanging up.

“My sister will be here very soon to assist you with the cleaning, she is the best in town,” he said to me, before he left to start getting my order together, with the help of other staff. “Where can I buy some good quality office furniture please?” I asked when I managed to get hold of one of the salesmen, who were busy gathering my orders.

“Office National located on Bandicoot Drive is your only option, sir,” came the reply, “good thankyou, that is my next stop, here are the keys to my new business, can you give them to the cleaner, so she can start cleaning up.

I need to go to this other store and start ordering some supplies from there,” I said, as I handed over the keys, and set off to find this office supply store, which was a good six blocks away, so I flagged down a passing taxi to take me there.

Again as I entered, I informed the sales person that I am the new vet, and I have come to make a big purchase of office furniture and supplies, and I started listing what I needed, and I was shown what they had available.

Once I had ordered two large modular benches, a reception desk, chairs, two work station decks, two lap top computers, printers, stationary, paid for them and arranged for them to be delivered tomorrow, I headed back to the other store, to see how they are going with what I had ordered.