Country Retreat - 17. Retreat Chapter 17

I had spent an hour before dinner looking into these research points, and I wanted to do more but I was called to dinner, and afterwards, I had a shower and homework to complete. By the time I had finished that, it was late and I had to get some sleep. The following morning, after attending to the horses, I had a quick shower, then had breakfast, before gathering everything I needed for school, reluctantly leaving behind the information that Gramps had given me yesterday.

“What have you been so secretive about lately, you seem to be distracted by something since the weekend,” Jarrad asked me at the lockers that morning, and I just groaned. “Sorry mate, it is family stuff, and I can’t tell you anything about it,” I replied, hoping that he would drop the subject. Rebecca and Giles also tried to find out why I had been acting so strange since the weekend, but I remained tight-lipped about it.

A few days later, as the end of the school week neared, I was keen to find out if there had been any news about the adjoining coastal property. Gran and Gramps collected me on Thursday afternoon from school, which was highly unusual, so I knew there must be something important that had happened, and then I noticed that both of them were well-dressed.

Once we were on our way, Gran announced that we had a meeting to attend at the Shire Offices and that we had to get moving to be there on time, as we continued north instead of turning right for home. 45 Minutes later we pulled up at the Shire administration building, and during the journey, I had changed out of my school shirt and tie, and replaced with one of my good shirts and one of Gramp’s ties.

During the 45-minute meeting, with the Shire CEO, Shire Deputy President, the Executive Manager of Operations and Assets and the Executive Manager of Regulatory & Development Services, we discussed our plans for the area that we own and what we would do if we acquired the additional land, with all land on the western side to become a private reserve. We also learnt that the strip of land between our main block of land and the coast, which is just 200 to 450 metres from our western boundary, is already a shire reserve.

We had shown to the Shire Staff on the maps provided, that the 86 acres of the main block of land, that is closest to the coast, will remain free of stock and that a stronger fence will be built to keep stock out of that paddock. Gramps had shown them photos of the now improved boundary fence around the property, which now stops all unauthorised vehicles from entering the property, and we discussed the issues of unauthorised vehicles entering the coastal area via the beach at low tide, bush tracks and firebreak lines, as well as the 9 illegal Beach Shacks, which have now been demolished and removed.

Gramps also assured the Council Staff, that he had already put into action, the building of a new and stronger boundary fence, along the 6 kilometres of eastern and 3 kilometres of the southern boundaries, of the most recently purchased land, and that if the additional land is granted to us, that borders with the Catholic Church land to the south, that the new and stronger fenceline will be extended to cover that area as well.

At the end of the meeting, we were informed that what had been discussed today, would be put to the Shire Council for consideration and that we would be notified in due course on what has been decided. We had not told the shire that just 270 metres east of that fenceline, is our new secret underground compound, which is now well into construction mode, with all the external walls completed, and the steel arched frame for the roof had also been completed in both sections which Gramps informed me of, on our way home.

The following day, straight after school, I arrived home to find my weekend bag had been packed, and that the two Kayaks, had been loaded onto the trailer. “Another trip to the property?” I asked Gran when I saw the kayaks on the trailer, “Yes, we thought after the long meeting you had yesterday, that it might be good to have a look around the areas that were discussed and have a bit of time relaxing on our property as well,” Gran replied smiling.

After attending to my two horses, which will once again be looked after by Jarrad over the weekend that we are away, we set off north and west towards Ledge Point, arriving at the front gate of our property one hour and twenty minutes later, but what surprised me, was that there was now a newer gate, and before I could say anything, Gran pushed a button on a remote, and the gate automatically opened.

“Well, that is a nice addition, saves me from getting out in all kinds of weather to open and close the gate,” I commented, as we drove through, and stopped to wait for the gate to start to close again before we moved on down the track, which I noticed was a lot smoother. “Upgrade to the property main road too? What else has been done since I was last here?” I asked, “You will just have to wait and see,” Gran replied.

About 2.5 kilometres later we stopped at the clearing where the compound was located, but from where we parked I could no longer see any large heaps of dirt, and where the two compounds were supposed to be located, all I could see was a slightly raised area, that had a camouflaged roof over the top, which from above would look like low lying shrubs. “Wow, this is impressive. If I didn’t know what is here, I would say that it was just a semi-open paddock with lots of shrubs on it,” I commented.

“That is exactly what we are aiming for,” Gramps responded, as we drove around to the side and parked inside the vehicle compound. “What was that cleared area just before we drove in?” I asked, “That is all of the Septic systems, for dealing with all sewerage waste,” Gramps replied, “Ok, I hadn’t thought about all that sort of stuff,” I responded.

“The sides of the roof system, also hold guttering to collect and redirect all rainwater to collection tanks, and as you can see we already have shelter areas for one large and two trucks, plus two maintenance workshops,” Gramps added, as we walked towards a large door located between the two workshops.

Gran flicked a switch as Gramps opened the door, to reveal a passageway that is well lit with lighting, and I followed them in, closing the door behind me. At the other end, once the door was opened, we stepped into the other compound, which was a lot bigger, and there were already three buildings located inside, two rectangular buildings, up against each side of the compound, not far back from the entry passage, and a very odd shaped building in the centre, not far from the back.

“These two buildings are the Solar Power Stations, which are now fully operational, as we have 72 Solar Power panels installed and operational. The other building that you see is the Multi-Purpose Administration Centre, and it is already connected to power and water,” Gramps informed me. “That is very fast to get all of this done so quickly,” I stated, “Yes, we have a great building team that is doing a terrific job,” Gran responded.

“Your Gran is a strict taskmaster. We spend two or three days a week here for about four hours each time, to keep up with the progress of the project,” Grmaps said to me. I looked around me, scratched my head and smiled, “Where is the stockwhip?” I asked cheekily, and both Gramp and Gran laughed. “I’m not that strict. Cheeky boy!” Gran responded, and I chuckled at this reply.

As the weeks quickly passed, our plans to spend some of the Autumn holidays at Ledge Point had to be cancelled due to Jarrad and his family going away for the holidays, so there was no one to look after the horses, which I didn’t mind, as I looked forward to having long rides. During the Easter long weekend, we stayed at home, and I spent a lot of time outside with the horses.

It was a few months later when the second term of school was coming to a close, and Gramps, Gran and I were now set for our two-week holiday on the coast, but we would be staying at various locations. Firstly two days in Lancelin followed by three days days in Jurien Bay and five days at Port Dennison. Jarrad and Rebecca would be looking after the two horses while we were away, and Gramps and I had made sure that we were fully stocked up with all the supplies needed to keep the horses well-fed and happy while we were away.

On our way back from Jurien Bay, we would be spending two days back at Ledge Point, before heading home for the last two days of school holidays. We would be taking one of the double kayaks with us so that we could check out some of the coastline, where there are plenty of small limestone islands offshore, as well as some of the rivers. The main aim of this trip was for me to have a stress-free time enjoying nature at its best, even thou it is now approaching winter time.

The first few days were ok, I had been to Lancelin many times before, so apart from a bit of kayaking in the sheltered bay of Lancelin Island, and walks along the beach and the famous dunes, we relaxed and enjoyed the daily freshly made breads and other treats from the bakery. After two days there, we only had to drive for just over an hour to reach Jurien Bay, where we settled into our short-stay accommodation, which overlooked the bay and the Indian Ocean.

I was even brave enough to try out a helicopter tour of the area, which included looking at several small islands just off the coast, a few swampy salt lakes just inland from town and the nearby National Park. It was a 90-minute drive further north to reach Port Denison, also known as Dongara, where we were booked into a three-bedroom holiday house, where the beach is just across the road and a small park.

Our stay at Port Denison was awesome, and I spent heaps of time kayaking along the coastline as well as along the Irwin River, it was a little sad to leave there, but I knew that we were now heading for Ledge Point, and beyond to our property, where I was looking forward to seeing what big changes had been made in the few months since I was last there, with Gran and Gramps not telling me a word on what improvements have been made.