Country Retreat - 47. New Career

It took us two hours to manage to get the Ute unstuck and off the beach, for which they received a $250 bill for the use of my loader, and the ranger had also issued them with a small fine and told them to stay well away from the water in future, as there may not be anyone around to rescue them next time. When the Edgar brothers returned to Yanchep two days later, we caught a ride back with them, so I could be dropped off at my grandparents’ place, and Giles could catch a train back to the eastern suburbs.

We planned to return to Adelaide in mid-January to give us plenty of time to relax a little before starting a new semester at University, and Giles, would be doing a TAFE course, but he hadn’t finalised what he would be studying yet. What I did manage to do, was to officially register as a professional Psychologist, now that I had graduated, near the top of my class, so that I could do any counselling work if it became available.

Back in Perth, I caught up with all my friends, but this time we stayed on the mainland, not wanting to temp fate on Rottnest Island again. After some discussions with Gramps, we sent a recommendation to the local shire, about turning the old site of the beach shacks at the end of Greenwood Coast Road near Eagle Nest Cave, into a camping site, to hopefully reduce the mess of beach campers near the shipwrecks and hopefully stop any more incidence of vehicles getting stuck in the sand at high tide, with most of the 4.5-kilometre access road already made and in good order.

Christmas with the family was spent on the farm at Moore this year, and my siblings as always were very happy to see me again, with Deacon now aged 13 and Amara aged 11 and both of them had grown quite a lot since I last seen them, and Deacon’s voice was just breaking, which he did not like one bit, and I found amusing. I was still having trouble with Mum, after Christmas lunch, when Dad had managed to be alone with me, he mentioned to me that she was annoyed and very upset that I was getting all the attention from my grandparents, far more than what my siblings were getting.

More recently she had learnt that she and Dad had never had the farm in their names, as my grandparents on retirement had transferred the farms into their grandchildren’s names, skipping them all together, which meant if my parents ever divorced neither of them would get any payout from ownership of land. Mum was also very annoyed that I would be inheriting a large chunk of their wealth, far more than what Deacon and Amara would be getting.

Dad knew what the arrangements were regarding the succession plans, with my siblings to get all of the farm and the two houses and land in Upper Swan, while I would be getting the house in Yanchep and several smaller blocks of land along the coast, but Mum was insisting that all three of us get an even split of all the land in Moore Upper Swan and Yanchep.

I noticed that there was no mention of the house in Adelaide, which I had learnt had been purchased in my name, so it was not part of any inheritance succession plan, and the original block of land the complex is located, is also in my name, so it is only the land to the south that is part of the succession plan, along with the hour in Yanchep and the two houses in Upper Swan.

I was very pissed off with Mum for acting like this, I was her eldest son and she was more concerned about her younger children than she was for me. “When you manage to knock some sense into her, then I will be back, but for now, I do not wish to see my mother again. I hope to see Deacon and Amara again soon, but with Mum’s influence over them, I doubt that will be soon. Gran and Gramps, I think it is time that we leave,” I said to my father and then my Grandparents who had been hovering nearby.

On the journey back to Yanchep, I stewed over what had happened on the farm and by the time we arrived back at the house in Yanchep, I had made a few decisions. “Gran & Gramps, I think I am going to spend a lot more time away from here, and this is getting too toxic here between me and Mum,” I announced.

“That is fine dear and we fully understand. We will support you in any way we can, just keep us in the loop on where you are and what you are doing,” Gran replied. Over the next few days, we had some lengthy discussions, and at my suggestion, the land south of Greenwood Coast Road would be sold, while the main complex property which is already in my name, along with the house in Adelaide, is not mentioned in any succession plan documents.

Leaving three weeks earlier than planned, I flew back to Adelaide, alone, with Giles to return about a week before the start of the new semester. I decided that maybe it would be best if I started putting some of my education into practice so I began looking for work. After a bit of searching at what is available, a job in Mt Gambier caught my attention, as a Part-time Rural Operations Assistant at TAFE SA.

Being part-time would mean that I would be able to do a part-time course in Agriculture Business, which I still wanted to do, so I applied for the job online, and within a day I received an email requesting that I travel to Mr Gambier for an interview in two days, which I agreed to.

The following day, after packing a bag for a few days, and letting my housekeeper know that I was going to be away for a few days, even though I had only just got back from WA, I loaded up my Ute with some food and drink supplies, before setting off on my 460-kilometre long 5-hour drive south-east to Mt Gambier, which is just 18- kilometres west of the state border with Victoria. I had booked into private accommodation for two nights there, so I could have a more detailed look around the rural city that has a population of over 30,000 people.

After a long drive with just two short stops to stretch my legs, I arrived in Mt Gambier at 3 pm, and after checking in, I decided to have a bit of a drive around, and also a look around the TAFE Campus as well, stopping off at Admin first to register my arrival and my plans to have a look around the campus, which they were happy for me to do.

My appointment was for 9 am the following day, so I took my time looking around the campus and managed to have a chat with a few staff as well, before returning to my accommodation for the rest of the afternoon to relax, while doing that I was also looking at possible places to live if I do get the job and the more I looked at places, the closer I become on deciding to not live in the city but further away, so I began looking around at nearby towns and communities in the immediately surrounding district.

I went to a local hotel for a counter meal, which was very delicious, and listened to some local live music while having my meal. Back at the accommodation, I looked over my resume one last time, before having a shower and going to bed early. I arrived at the TAFE college half an hour before my interview and spent a bit of time sitting in the library looking around the place, which surprisingly had a few students there even thou the study year would not commence for another two weeks yet.

When I arrived at the admin building, I informed reception that I had come to attend an interview, and I was told to sit and wait for someone to come and collect me. About twenty minutes later, my name was called out and I followed a lady upstairs and into one of the interview rooms near the top of the stairs, where two men and a lady sat waiting.

I was introduced to the Campus Manager, the Administration Manager and also the Senior Lecturer for Agriculture Studies and after a look around at her colleagues the Campus Manager cleared her throat, which was not a good sign. “Mr Kingston, we have to be honest here right away, we see that you have beef farming and pastoral station experience both in WA and the ACT, but we feel that your skills are… probably more suited in another area, and as it happens we have a position that is currently open that you may be suited for,” I was informed.

At first, I was not quite sure what she meant by this. “What we are saying is that we are aware that you are fully qualified to become a lecture assistant, with your Certificates in Work Health & Safety plus Training and Assessment, but we want you to consider that as a backup plan if we need you in that area.

We understand that you are now a registered psychologist, and instead, we ask that you consider working at our campus as a Student Counsellor and Disabilities Support worker, with your knowledge of Auslan Sign, as we have had several students coming to this campus who are partially or fully deaf. Once again it would be a part-time position, and I understand that you want to continue your studies while working?” I was informed, and I took a few moments to let this information sink in before I asked a few questions about how my role would work within the campus.

I ended up staying in Mount Gambier for four full days, attending orientation sessions, as well as been shown all the available facilities within the campus, and going through the administration process of becoming a staff member, and while there I also looked into doing what I had planned to do in Adelaide, and that was to enrol at UNI SA but at the Mount Gambier Campus, to study for a Degree in Secondary Education, specialising in English and Psychology, with an elective subject of Integrated Teaching and Vocational Education, which is a two-year course.

By the time I had finished all that was required at TAFE and UNI which are located at the same Campus location, I was officially a staff member and student at TAFE plus a student at the University as well. In the evenings, I had been looking for a property that I could rent or buy to live in during the two-year contract that I had signed to work at TAFE, and after informing my Grandparents that I had a job at TAFE with a two-year contract, they decided that it would be best if we purchase a property and have part-time staff employed to assist with housekeeping for me.