Travelling Vets - 5. TV Chapter 5

Returning to our hire car, we had decided to take the train back to London and then north to Scotland, with our first stop to be the Capital – Edinburgh. On the Caledonian Sleeper Train, we were able to book a double cabin, with its ensuite bathroom for the overnight trip leaving Euston Station at 11.50 pm, and arriving at Edinburgh Station at 7.30 the next morning.

After a fair amount of research, we had planned an intensive tour of Scotland, which would mostly be rail journeys, with a few ferry rides in between. With each major city, we would spend up to four days on average, looking around at all of the key sites to see, before moving on to our next destination, and with other cities, we would stay for a maximum of two days.

We had decided to go clockwise around Scotland, so after a full four days in Edinburgh, where we stayed at the Holiday Inn, we visited the Royal Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, St Mary’s Cathedral, the National Art Gallery, plus a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia and much more, with the best part of staying there, being the Zoo right next door to the hotel, so we could hear the animals making their sounds at night.

Back on the train again, we made the short hop to Glasgow, which takes just 1 ¼ hours to complete, and we were booked into the Crowne Plaza hotel, located right on the river Clyde. Over the next two days, with the need to hire a car for that time, we travelled north to visit Stirling Castle, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park and Loch Lomond, which was stunning.

The next part of the journey was a 5 ¼ train ride to Mallaig on the west coast, where we would stay at a quaint little Inn that is just two blocks away from the railway station, and three blocks from the ferry terminal, where we would be catching a ferry to Armadale, on the Isle of Skye, staying at a nice little B & B in the small town, before we began a full day tour of the Isle, which would end across the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh, where we would stay overnight, also in a B & B.

The following day, we boarded a train once more, this time heading for Inverness, which is a 2 ½ hour journey, and we would be staying here for a total of four days to explore the area, including the nearby famous Lock Ness, but sadly there was no sign of Nessie. We also checked out the Druid Stone Circle, which was in a wooded area that gave me the shivers as we approached, so we did not stay very long there, and next, we checked out the beautiful Botanical Gardens.

On our last full day in the northern city, we went on a half-day sail on the Moray Firth, just as far as Fort George, where we remained in protected waters, as we were not that far from the North Sea, with some time spent exploring the 16^th Century old Fort, which was amazing.

The following day, we boarded a train again, continuing northward to the town of Wick, on the far north coast, and this was a 4 ½ hour journey through the Northern Highlands. We stayed overnight in this far northern town, before flying back to Inverness in the late afternoon, to stay one more night before boarding a train again to head to the city of Aberdeen on the northeast coast.

Once settled into our accommodation, I gave Auggie a call to check on how things are going at home, and I was pleased to hear that Auggie had managed to employ two young vets to cover us, while we are away in the UK. One of the first things we did the next day, was to check out the March stones, which have a very interesting history, as well as the botanical gardens, as well as several castles in the region.

As we neared the end of another day, my mobile rang with a local number, which caught us both by surprise and I put it on speaker. “Hello, this is Dr Kendrik speaking, with Dr Sanderson listening in,” I said as I answered. “Hello, my name is Dr Giles Langford, Director of the Chester Zoo. I was wondering if you are both still in the UK, and if so, are you free to spend a day or two with us please?” came an unexpected reply.

I glanced over at Marcus, who smiled and nodded his head. “Yes, we are currently in Aberdeen, so we could be there tomorrow if you like,” I replied. “Wonderful news. I must admit when I saw your business card, it got me wondering when you stated that you spend five hours here, so I did a bit of research, with the assistance of an old friend, who is a vet in the South West of your home state.

He was able to fill me in on all the things that you have done, and a fair amount about your background as well, including your cattle station upbringing, and time spent as the District Veterinary Officer, in the far north of your state,” Dr Langford stated. “I see. My family owns cattle stations in the Pilbara and Kimberly districts, and yes, until recently I was the DVO while running my growing practice, which included flying to remote locations,” I explained.

“Would you two gentlemen be interested in doing a three-month contract working for the Zoo? The pay isn’t to flash, but you will be working with exotic animals every day, and we will happily cover all of your accommodation and meal costs at a B & B during that time,” Dr Langford asked sounding hopeful that we would agree. “Yes, we would be delighted to accept. We will see you tomorrow at around midday,” Marcus responded before I could say anything, and I just sighed.

After the call ended with Dr Langford, we checked online for the easiest way to get there, and we chose to fly to Manchester and catch a train to Chester. The flight would only take us 1 ¼ hours, followed by a 1 ½ hour train journey to Chester and then a 15-minute bus ride to the Zoo, but when we did arrive in Chester, we elected to get a taxi to the Zoo, because of all the luggage that we had with us.

Stopping at the Guest Services Office, we enquired about seeing Dr Langford, as he was expecting us. “Dr Sanderson and Dr Kendrik, I presume?” was the response, and Marcus smiled, we are not Dr Livingston,” and the lady laughed. “Watch out we have a joker on the staff now…” she responded, which made me laugh. Leaving our luggage in the Guest Services Office, we were shown across to the admin building nearby.

After a long chat and a tour of some of the facilities, as well as meeting some of the key staff that we would be working with, Dr Langford, handed over a set of keys to a Zoo vehicle that we would have use of during our stay, and we were informed that he had arranged for us to stay at a holiday cottage, located 2 ½ km to the north, which has a huge back yard and is in a quiet location in Backford.

With a map in hand, we drove the short distance to our new temporary home, where a separate back gate, leads us through a backyard, to a double garage, and a parking area at the back of the cottage. We were a little stunned at how beautiful this place is, and it was to be our home for the next three months, as we began to unpack our luggage in the master bedroom, before having a better look around the three-bedroom cottage, and then the grounds surrounding it.

We found an information folder on the dining room table, which informed us that the closest restaurants, pubs and shopping facilities are in the town of Little Stanney, which is 2.5 kilometres to the north, so we decided to check it out, since we had the rest of the day to have a good look around, before starting work in the morning at the Zoo.

For the next few weeks, Marcus and I were kept super busy, and we were both enjoying the work, although the weather was always an issue, because of the cold temperatures and the regular amounts of rain, thankfully for me, I was spending a fair amount of work in the labs, testing and monitoring for any potential diseases that may affect the whole zoo community.

We had twice-weekly video meetings with Auggie and weekly phone call meetings with Christian and Jessica, to check that they are happy at their locations in the practice, with Seamus the Vet Nurse assigned to Jessica is now in a relationship, and they were doing well based at Marble Bar and living at Limestone Station, and they also spent their weekends out at the Compound at the Airbase, which I was pleased to hear that the place was still in use while we are away.

On the weekends, when we were not on call, Marcus and I explored more of the region, and we even went out to the Isle of Man by ferry, which is just a 2-hour 45 min journey from Liverpool, which is a half-hour road journey north, from where we are living.

In our spare time, we were also looking into a personal project of adoption, as we both wanted to have kids in our lives, especially since I come from a fairly large family, and this meant heaps of appointments for interviews, plus a deep look into our past, which I knew would not be an issue, although the officials did query about what would happen when we have to return to Australia, and so the process began in Western Australia as well, looking into the business, and our home there, as well as our family history.

Another few weeks passed, with the occasional weekend trip out to the Isle of Man, and doing some hiking around the countryside, and on reaching our halfway mark for our three-month work contract with the Chester Zoo, we arrived home in the late Sunday afternoon, to find a police car and one other car parked in our driveway and on the side of the road.

“Mr Kendrik and Sanderson, I am Sergeant Bentley and I believe you already know Ms Eliza Parks from Child Services… the officer said as we stepped out of our vehicle. “Hello, how can we assist you this evening?” Marcus asked. “Marcus and Jexon… we have a situation that we would like you to assist us with if you can,” Ms Parks began as she explained to us that earlier today while travelling to go and collect their two boys from their grandmothers home, Sarah and Tom Appleton were killed in a head-on accident.