Country Retreat - 27. Retreat Chapter 27

The next morning we were up early, even though Jarrad was not too keen on being awake so early since the sun had only just risen, but after a quick breakfast and packing our camp up, we were soon on the road again leaving Wandina Station shortly before 6 am. I had asked the owners if they could call Dalgety Downs Station in about an hour, and let them know that we stayed overnight at Wandina and that we left at 6 am.

We estimated that it would take us approximately 4 ¼ hours to get to Glenburgh, so we should arrive there at about 10 am, with me driving the final 2 ½ hours from the small township of Murchison, where I had decided to top up the fuel tank, so we have plenty of fuel to get back to Murchison just before Christmas.

When I saw the approaching Dalgety Downs Road ahead, I slowed right down, and turned right, where a sign stated that Glenburgh Homestead was just 2.5 kilometres away, and Dalgety Downs Homestead was 23 kilometres away and switched the UHF radio to channel 38, I made the call.

“Hello lads, I am at the turnoff into Glenburgh, see you in a few moments,” came the response from Julia after announcing that we had just turned off the Carnarvon Mullewa Road, and on seeing a vehicle near a turnoff, I slowed down as the vehicle headed down the driveway and we followed, stopping at the main homestead building. Julia gave us both an unexpected hug in welcome after stepping out of the vehicle.

“A nice new vehicle I see,” Julia commented, “Yes a graduation present from my grandparents,” I responded, “very nice to drive on bitumen and gravel too,” Jarrad added. “That is good to hear. Now our family is based here, as the homestead is a lot nicer, plus the main airfield is here too. Some of the station staff moved with us, and they are mainly over at Dalgety Downs, including Anthony the station cook. We decided since you are only short-term staff that you can stay over here, with you lads staying in that cottage over there,” Julia said pointing in the direction of a smaller building just forty metres away.

“Go and get settled in and come back over here for a chat, when you are done,” Julia said to us before she headed back into the homestead. I drove the vehicle the short distance to the cottage, and we unloaded everything, before finding an empty garage to store the vehicle in, before heading over to the homestead, where we were not sure where to enter, so we knocked on the front door.

“We are a lot less formal here, so no need to knock, just step in and call out your arrival,” Julia said when she saw us and waved us in. Having already removed our boots, we walked into the wide hallway of the homestead. "The smaller cottage at the front is the schoolhouse for the two stations, as we have another family whom we inherited when we bought the two stations.

Harry, George and Frank had decided to stay where they were, which was good in a way, so the only staff that came with us was Linda, which I am very glad of, so she can continue with teaching, and she too lives on this station, also we have Stockmen Greg and Chris who moved with us, while Katherine decided to move onto another job.

The staff we inherited are Brady who is the Head Stockman and his wife Gina, who helps with stockwork when needed and is our gardener for both homesteads, and their two school-age kids, Harry and Sophia, and they live in the old Dalgety Homestead with the kids travelling to Glenburgh each school day, and finally we have Malcolm, who is our mechanic and bore runner,” Julia informed us.

We were informed that we would travel to Dalgety most days, as I would be working with Malcolm part of the time, while Jarrad would be doing mostly stockwork between both stations, and we would have a station Ute available to us when we do need to go to Dalgety. We had a good look around all the homestead buildings and noted that there were no stables here, so we wondered if there were any horses at all.

At lunchtime, we caught up with Linda, while eating at the kitchen table with her, we learnt that the family use the formal dining room for all of their meals and as we helped with the dishes, Travis walked in. “Welcome Oscar and Jarrad, it is good to see you both again. Now I believe that my better half has briefed you on duties, and what is going on with station staff at both locations, I am doing a water run here at Glenburgh if you both want to both join me,” Travis said to us.

Once we had finished cleaning up in the kitchen, we headed to the machinery shed, where Travis was finishing loading up the station ute, with all the required supplies, when going out long distances on the station, including extra fuel, water, fence repair gear, extra spare tyres, toolbox, work gloves and first aid kit.

We spent most of the afternoon travelling along rough station tracks east of the homestead, stopping occasionally to check on some water tanks that were scattered around the station, and we arrived back at the homestead just before dusk, giving us plenty of time to shower and change before dinner time. Once again we assisted Linda with cleaning up afterwards, and once that was done we headed over to the cottage for our first night's stay at the station, with breakfast to be at 6.30 am, which meant a slight sleep-in.

The following morning, we were both up at 6.15 am and once we were ready, we headed over to the homestead for breakfast. Travis announced to us that we would both be heading over to Dalgety Down, and we were expected to be there at 7.30 am, so it gave us a good half an hour for breakfast.

When we arrived at Dalgety for the first time, having crossed over a very wide and sandy dry Gascoyne riverbed, we stopped at the machinery shed, where we recognised Chris, who smiled and nodded his head in welcome, while the other station workers didn’t move, even when Greg introduced us to him. When a tall man approached us, we all looked in his direction.

“Morning, and welcome to our new staff. OK, today Chris and I have a few things to do up to the north of the station and we will be out overnight, Greg and Jarrad, you can head west and do some fence mending. The emu’s and roos have done a fair amount of damage recently. Make sure you have all the supplies you need for the full day and call into the kitchen for your meal supplies. Oscar, you will be working on your own today, doing vehicle servicing, while Malcolm has some bores to check on. That is all, oh except make sure that you all have working radios in your vehicles,” Brady said to us.

The next few days, we were all kept quite busy over at Dalgety, and on day six, Jarrad would be at Dalgety while I would be at Glenburgh. When Jarrad arrived at the cottage after the end of work, about half an hour after I had, I knew right away that something was up, when he went into his room and closed his door loudly.

I decided to let him be for now, and I headed to the bathroom for a shower, to get ready for dinner. I was reading a book in the cottage lounge room while Jarrad had a shower, and I noticed that he had been in there for a long time than usual, so I gently knocked on the door. “Mate, are you ok, dinner will be ready soon,” I said through the door and there was no response, so I knocked again.

Still no response, I started to get worried, and I decided to go in and check on him. Opening the door, I found Jarrad sitting on the floor of the shower, and the bathroom felt cold. I quickly shut off the water, which was ice cold, and grabbing his towel, I wrapped it around him and assisted to stand him up and step out of the shower, trying not to look at his cock, which was the first time I had seen it, and it was an impressive size and uncut.

Closing the lid on the toilet, I had Jarrad sit down, and I began to towel him down dry, before wrapping the towel around his waist and helping him to his room, where I found some clothes for him and he very slowly put them on, before climbing into bed and curling into a ball.

I decided that it was best to leave him be for a while, and I headed over to the homestead kitchen. “Where is Jarrad tonight?” Linda asked when I entered alone, “He isn’t feeling the best tonight, maybe just a bit too much sun. Can you plate up our dinners, as I am going to eat over at the cottage and keep an eye on him,” I said to Linda, who happily agreed to this, and soon I had two plates wrapped in alfoil and cutlery, and I was heading back to the cottage.

When I arrived, and placed the plates on the table, I went to check on Jarrad, who I found gently sobbing, as I rushed in and sat on the bed and pulled him up into a hug, where he buried his head into my shoulder and began crying more, and all I could do was hold him tight, and let him get it all out. When he finally stopped and was sniffing back tears, I leaned back to look at his face, and I headed to the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel and gave it a quick rinse so it was damp, I returned to Jarrad and gave it to him and so he could wipe his face with it.

“I have dinner on the table in the next room for both of us, how about coming out and trying to eat something,” I suggested to Jarrad, and suddenly I realised what I had just said, could be what this was about. “Jarrad, has someone been giving you a hard time because of your sexuality?” I asked cautiously, and slowly he nodded his head yes. “Can you tell me who it is, so I can go and punch their lights out?” I asked.

I received a slight smile from Jarrad, which was a good sign, as I was thinking who it might be. Knowing that Chris and Greg had never had any issues before so that left only two other possibilities, Brady or Malcolm, and I was hoping that it was the latter.