Country Retreat - 25. On way Home

I think Jarrad enjoyed the camping out in the bush, I certainly did, as I settled into my swag each night, as I watched the stars high above and listened to the sounds of the night animals coming out to feed, and the distant chatter coming from around the camp, before drifting into a comfortable sleep. Our last work day was Friday, and we had elected to travel to Newman that evening, to get a head start on our journey home.

We had packed up our belongings during lunch and loaded everything into my vehicle, so we were ready to leave once we had finished work. As we headed to the dining room for a quick afternoon tea on our final day, the boss walked in. “Ok lads, when you have finished here come and see me in my office,” Travis said before heading back into the kitchen and beyond.

Five minutes later we entered the office. “I was very impressed with both of your hard work and thank you for that. You are both most welcome to return if you feel that you are looking for holiday work again. Here is your final pay slip, your pay will be in your bank by Monday. Make sure that you top up your tanks with fuel before you leave. You can knock off early and head off to Newman right away if you like, so you're not travelling on the gravel roads in the dark. Have a safe trip home and good luck with your future studies,” Travis said to us.

Twenty minutes later, we were on the road, heading out of the station with Newman our first overnight stop, and we arrived in town shortly after dusk. Once we had checked into a motel for the night, we took turns to shower and change before heading to the restaurant for dinner. The next morning, Jarrad took over driving, as we continued south, stopping at Meekatharra, just to refuel and stretch our legs a bit, before I started driving the next leg of our journey, not stopping at Cue, we continued to Mount Magnet.

We arrived at our destination at 1.30 pm where we decided to have a sit-down lunch at the roadhouse. “Since we are making good time, how about we take a more scenic route home, and depending on which way we go, we can be in Geraldton or Dongara in four hours,” I said to Jarrad as we ate, who thought about this for a while before replying.

“Yeah, ok that sounds good, but I have this feeling that there is more to this diversion than you are telling me,” Jarrad said to me, which made me chuckle. “You are starting to get to know me a little too well my friend,” I responded smiling. I made a phone call and made a booking to stay at a motel in Dongara, with our estimated time of arrival being between 5 and 6 pm.

As we sat and ate our dinner of fish and chips on the beach at Port Dennison, Dongara watching the sun setting to the west, we listened to the sound of the waves on the shore, and seagulls gathering nearby waiting for a stray piece of fish of a potato chip or two, which we were happy to do, after we had eaten all that we could. “What are your plans for tomorrow?” Jarrad asked me. “Well, it is about a 3 ½ journey home, and I thought we would make a stop along the way, as I wanted to check out something,” I responded.

“Are you going to tell me where we are stopping, or do I have to wait until we get there?” Jarrad asked me, “Wait and see of course,” I replied smiling, which made Jarrad groan in annoyance, as I retrieved my mobile and typed out a message, before pressing send. A few moments later my mobile pinged with a reply. “Glad you are on your way home safe. Hope to hear all about your adventures on the cattle station, We are already there, so we will see you when you get here, Gran and Gramps”.

Smiling I put my mobile away and fed the gulls the last of my dinner, I folded up the paper wrapper, and stood up, with Jarrad following. “What time are we getting up tomorrow? Can we have a bit of a sleep-in?” Jarrad asked me, as we walked back to our motel room. “You had a sleep-in this morning,” I replied, “Yeah, only an hour and a half. Still a bit too early while on holiday,” Jarrad answered.

“Ok, we can sleep in until 7.30 am, happy with that,” I asked, “Wow a full fifteen minutes more than this morning, thanks for that,” Jarrad complained, and I just laughed. The next morning, I took over driving, heading south on the Indian Ocean Drive, for the 3 ½ hour journey to family property just south of Ledge Point. A few hours later as we passed the truck bays on either side of the road, I slowed right down, and indicated to turn right, as I moved over to the passing lane, with no traffic behind or in front of me.

“Why are we slowing down and indicating to turn? There is nothing here,” Jarrad said to me, just as the limestone gravel driveway came into sight, and I turned down that road. “Ok, what is going on? Where are we going?” Jarrad asked me. “My Grandparents own some land here, and I thought it was time that I showed you the place,” I replied, as I slowed again, as we approached the front gate.

“Wow, that is quite an impressive front gate,” Jarred commented as I pressed the remote control and the gate began to open, as I drove through, stopping and waiting for the gate to close behind us. “Why so much high security?” Jarrad asked me, “Because my grandparents wanted me to have a place… a retreat where I can feel safe, that is well away out of sight from anywhere, and with plenty of space,” I responded. “How much space are you talking about here,” Jarrad asked me,

“Oh, a bit over 4,700 acres in total. It is a working farm with a couple of hundred head of beef cattle, but a lot of the property is natural bushland, which we are keeping as that,” I replied. “How close are we to the beach?” my friend asked me. “Just 200 metres from our boundary at the southern point, and 400 metres at the northern point, I answered, and I waited for the next question that I knew was coming.

“Is this the other coastal property where you store the kayaks?” Jarrad asked and I laughed, “Yep, this is the place,” I responded, as we drove down the farm track towards the complex, where I stopped just at the back of the place, where only the solar farm could be seen.

“Why all the solar panels, I don’t see any buildings around,” Jarrad asked me, as we climbed out of the vehicle. “Wow, what an awesome coastal view. Is that the boundary fence I can see way down there,” Jarrad said to me, as we walked around the western side of the complex, which doesn’t reveal the parking complex. As we walked around the small hillside, I stopped when I was just a few metres away from the front entry to the complex, as Jarrad continued to admire the view.

“Hello boys, and welcome to the family country retreat Jarrad, you are one of only a handful that knows about this place,” Gran said from behind us, and Jarrad spun around and jumped backwards when he realised that there was a hidden underground building in front of him. “What the… how is this… Wow,” Jarrad said in a stunned voice, as he looked at the steel fins that partially hides the glass in the front of the complex.

Gran headed back inside, and we followed her, as I closed the solid double doors, and locked them, Jarrad was still stunned at what he was seeing. “Welcome Jarrad,” Gramps said as he appeared from around the side of the front building, which is the sports complex, stopping in front of Jarrad and shaking his hand. “What is all this?” Jarrad asked us.

"What you are seeing here today, is our family secure retreat, which is fully self-contained with our own water and power supply and septic systems from the whole complex, what you see here is one of two underground complexes that can house not just our family, but also a large number of people. Not even Jarrad’s parents or siblings know about this place, and we hope to keep it that way for Oscar’s safety,” Gramps said.

Over the next few hours, Jarrad was given a detailed tour of the two complexes, as well as the farming property and nature reserve, before checking out the beaches close to the boundary. “Does anyone among our friends know about this place?” Jarrad asked me. “Yes, Hugh, Koen and I spent two days here before they flew back home,” I replied to Jarrad.

“This is all an incredible setup, but what is it for, what do you plan to do with this place?” Jarrad asked me. “I have no idea at this point, Gramps and Gran just wanted to build it so that it is here and ready when I come up with ideas on what to do with the place, which could be some time down the road. For now, we just come when we want a break from the city, and keep the place in good order until I am ready to put the place into good use. In the meantime, you are sworn to secrecy about this place, not even Rebecca or the others are to know about it, ok”, I replied.

“You have my word, my friend. I just hope that you will invite me to come up here to visit now and then,” Jarrad said to me. “You have a deal there,” I responded. Later that afternoon, I dropped Jarrad at his home, and when I arrived home, I sorted all my dirty laundry and got a wash started, before unpacking all of my luggage.

The second semester at University kept me very busy, with very little time for anything else, apart from the occasional weekend trip up to the property, and on occasions Jarrad would join me, and we would spend some time kayaking on the ocean close to shore. On one of those weekends, we were relaxing on Saturday evening, enjoying the sunset over the Indian Ocean, when I received a ping to indicate that I had an email, which I opened up when I saw that it was from Travis and Julia.

“Hello Oscar, how are you and Jarred? We hope you are not too bogged down with your studies. Just a courtesy email, to let you know that we have sold up our property north of Newman, and we now own and run a station near the Gascoyne River, located just 300 kilometres east of Carnarvon and 400 kilometres due north of Mullewa. If you and Jarrad are looking for jobs during the summer break, please let us know, as we will be happy to have you here.”