Springbank - 12. Spring Ch 12

“G’day. Many of you have heard of the Avon Descent boat race from Northam to Bayswater, held in early August each year, where competitors and their crew and a band of dedicated volunteers camp alongside the Avon River at Cobblers Pool. We are very happy to inform you that as of this weekend, for six months of the year, the new and improved Cobblers Pool Campsite is available for campers to stay for a maximum of three nights a month… All 30 dedicated campsites are non-power sites, but there are toilets and showers available onsite, plus sheltered gazebos and a few gas BBQs, all located just 230 metres from the Avon River… We look forward to seeing you here to enjoy this wonderful new Avon Valley feature very soon.”

When the video clip ended, I stared at the screen for a few minutes, stunned at what I had just seen. Although the two people whose voices I heard, were not seen, the video footage of the campsite on ground level and aerial footage from above, were stunning, and what the two lads had said, taking it in turns to speak, promoting the campsite was very well done. “Hello, Cooper? Are you still there?” I heard a voice say before I realised that Jasper was still on the phone, “Err yes, sorry, I was just surprised by this, and I know exactly who is responsible, not that they are in any trouble for it, in a way it is great,” I replied.

“That is good to hear, as I have a fair idea who the two rascals are too… So can I invite myself to join you this weekend?” Jasper asked. Only if you can get here fairly quickly, as I want to be there well before dark,” I responded, just as the front doorbell rang both in the house and via the phone. “Cooper, it’s for you,” one of my brothers called out, and I heard Jasper chuckle, “Well that was fast,” I said to him before the phone call ended. “Hey buddy, I was hoping to invite myself when I saw you after class, but I must have missed you by just minutes, as I couldn’t find you anywhere,” Jasper said when he entered my room a few moments later.

“Yeah, sorry about that, I just want to get there and help out where I can, and now that I have seen the video, it explains why the place is fully booked out so fast,” I said as I sent a quick text message. “Just seen your video clip promoting the campsite. Very nicely done lads, well done. I will see you both later today, Cooper Hudson.” It wasn’t long after that I received a response. “We are glad that you like it. Sorry for not telling you about it earlier… we are bad boys. Kurt & Joe,” which had me laughing out loud.

Once I had calmed down a little, I showed the message to Jasper, while I finished packing, and he too was laughing, before we headed out to my vehicle. “How did you get here?” I asked, “My protection car dropped me off, and they will come and collect me from here on Sunday,” Jasper replied. Just over an hour and a half later, with a brief stop to do some speed food shopping, which took just fifteen minutes, with two trolleys and lots of running around the shop, we arrived at the front gate of the Cobbler Pool Campsite, where I was surprised to see a large fancy steel gate arch, that had sections of the steel cut out depicting the Avon Descent Race, with kayaks and boats, as well as local wildlife.

“Wow, that is very fancy steelwork, did Alex do this?” Jasper asked when he saw it, “I don’t know, but I am guessing that he is responsible for this magnificent steel artwork,” I replied as we stopped at the small modular office that was situated just inside the gate now, and Kurt stepped out. “Hello Boss and Mr Wright, welcome to the Cobblers Pool Campsite. Would you like to stay at the house or would you prefer the Watch Tower?” he asked us, which surprised me a little, as I glanced over at Jasper who shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess the house if that is ok with you and Joe?” I responded, “Of course it is, we have made up the beds in the two spare rooms hoping that you would say yes,” Kurt said smiling, “We have brought some food with us, so we wouldn’t be going into town all the time to eat, so we will head down and get settled,” I informed Kurt, who pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to me. “The gate before the sheds is locked, as is the house, these will let you through and inside,” Kurt said to me before he stepped back.

When we arrived at the house, I was pleased to see that there was a new native garden around the front and side of the house, that included plenty of mulch, although I had been in the house before, it was when it was set up as a base for the ASU, but now finished like a normal house, it looked great, and it included several prints of old time Australian artists like T.Roberts, H.McCubbin, A.Streeton, A.Namatjira, J.F.Paterson and J.Hoyte hanging on the walls in the living areas, which I was impressed with.

The house had been recently painted, and there are new curtains and large floor rugs, which make the place very homely. “I bet Leah was responsible for all of this. It looks very nice now that it is a proper home again,” I commented, as I headed to the second bedroom, while Jasper entered the third bedroom, and after placing my bag on the bed, I headed out to retrieve the shopping and put it away in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

Once we had done settling in, we locked up the house and drove to the now-empty machinery shed, where we parked the vehicle, and walked the short distance to the pedestrian gate, to re-enter the campsite, locking the gate behind us, and we walked along the access road and across the rail tracks through to the campground, which looked to be about 80% full. “Hey Boss & Mr Wright, what do you think?” Joe asked as he walked up to us. “Very well done both of you, I am very pleased with the outcome, and it seems that the campsite is popular,” I responded.

“Thanks, and we have had very positive feedback so far, especially with the access laneway down to the river, and the two gazebos, that Davies decided to add down there,” Joe said in reply smiling. “Oh, well that is new info to me, I will have to see that later. How have the check-ins been going, when everyone arrives?” I asked. “Very smoothly, thanks mostly to Leah’s efficient booking system, which sends a printout to the gatehouse if there are any updates. There was a little bit of displeasure about presenting a photo ID at the front gate, but once explained that it was to stop people overstaying, they were fine,” Joe replied.

After a good look at the campsite, on both sides of the main driveway, we headed back towards the shed but turned and followed the alley down towards the river, where we found steps leading down to a floating wharf that is about 3 metres wide and 15 metres long, with steps at each end leading into the water, which was already busy with swimmers and kayakers. Once back at the house, we relaxed for the rest of the late afternoon, and we prepared dinner for your two hosts, who were a little surprised by this when they arrived home.

We had an enjoyable evening over dinner and chatting, which was interrupted by Joe and Kurt taking turns every 90 minutes to inspect the campsite, to see if there were any issues, but they returned happily with no problems reported, and by 10 pm the whole campsite was quiet, which is when I decided to retire for the night. I woke up at dawn, on hearing the back door close a little too loudly and some talking in the kitchen area, which had me get up, dress and go and see what the problem could be.

“Good morning… is there a problem at the campsite?” I asked as I saw Kurt and Joe quietly chatting over a cuppa. “Yes, just a small one, we seem to have a few extra campers than we had planned, who snuck in during the night and set up camp amongst the trees at the end of the east campsite,” Joe informed me. “How many extras are we talking about?” I asked, “Five vehicles, and I am not sure how many people. I have recorded their vehicle rego’s and taken photos of their campsites, for future reference,” Joe replied as I looked at my watch which read 7.05 am.

“Still a little bit too early, can I suggest that you lock the front gates and post guard there until I have spoken to the intruders after 8 am,” I asked, “Yes boss, we can do that right away,” Kurt answered and moments later they were out of the house and in the vehicles to do as I requested. “Any problems?” Jasper asked as he stumbled into the kitchen, looking half asleep still. “Yes, a few intruders snuck in during the night, and we have come up with a bit of a plan, I just have to make a phone call to our local police station, before we both stage an observation post to keep an eye on them,” I replied.

“Boss, this is Kurt, they are already awake, but it looks like they are planning to stay on, no sign of them beginning to pack up camp, over,” I heard over the UHF radio, “Received that, thank you,” I responded before dialling a number on my mobile. “Good morning, Toodyay police, Constable A.B Frazer speaking,” the voice said when the call was answered, “Hey Banjo, it is Cooper speaking,” I said recognising the name and voice of a former high school classmate of mine, who I was not aware had joined the police force.

“Hey Coop, how ya going mate, long time since we last spoke. Now how can I help? Is this official business?” came a cheery reply. “Sadly it’s official business. I own Springbank Estate, which includes the Cobbler Pool property upstream from the original Avon Descent campsite, which is the new campsite now,” I explained, “Oh, wow, that is real cool, I was so busy that weekend, I never got a chance to get anywhere near there, so you are at the campsite on your property now?” Constable Frazer asked.

“Yes, Constable mate, a Uni friend and I arrived mid-afternoon yesterday. We have two estate workers who are now the caretakers of the Cobbler Pool property, and last night’s patrols seemed to go fine, until early this morning, when one of them discovered an additional five unauthorised vehicles camping under the trees at the end of the campsite, having snuck in after the last patrol at 10 pm.

We have locked the front gate to prevent them from leaving, and we have recorded their vehicle registrations, and we would like to have police attend to deal with these trespassers please,” I asked. “My sergeant has just walked into the office, I will brief him on the situation and one of us will be out there soon. Speak to you again soon Coop, bye for now,” the constable said before ending the call.

Just twenty minutes later, as Jasper and I had just finished breakfast, Kurt radioed in to say that the police had arrived, and I let him know that we would be there shortly. When we arrived, I was surprised to see two police vehicles parked in the driveway just inside the open gate, and I saw that my former schoolmate had not changed in looks one bit, which made me smile. “Sergeant, thanks for the prompt response. Hello Constable Frazer,” I said keeping things as formal as possible as I shook their hands.

“You know each other?” the Sergeant asked us, “Yes, Sergeant, Cooper is a former schoolmate from high school days, I haven’t seen him since we graduated all those years ago,” Banjo replied, which made me laugh, “Hey, it wasn’t that long ago, we are still only 22, so only just over four years,” I responded, “Yeah, true I guess, how are your folks and siblings?” Banjo asked, “They are all well thanks,” I replied, as the Sergeant cleared his throat and frowned at his junior officer. “Right, where can we find these trespassers and what would you like to do with them?” he asked me, and I thought about this for a moment.

“Well, firstly they need to pay an overnight camping fee for their short stay, and is it possible to make the adults walk the plank into the river?” I replied smiling broadly, which had the Sergeant roaring with laughter, and Jasper, Kurt and Joe were quietly laughing. “Was he this bad at high school?” the Sergeant asked Banjo. “No Sarge, he was far worse than this,” Banjo replied smiling. A few minutes later, the two police vehicles followed Jasper and me, as we drove to the east end of the campground, and as I stepped out of the vehicle I heard someone curse.

“Err, Dad you need to get out here, coppers are here,” I heard a teenage boy say when he appeared. “Vehicle licence and photo ID please gentlemen,” the Sergeant demanded when three men appeared from their campsites. “Why? We haven’t done anything wrong?” one of them asked, “You have, you are trespassing on private property, and camping illegally,” I replied. “Who are you to tell us we are trespassing?” a woman said when she appeared. “I am the owner of this property, and you are not on the guest register, so you are trespassing and illegally camping on my land,” I responded.

“Can’t we just pay the fees and stay on for the rest of the weekend?” the same lady asked nicely, “I would consider it, if there were any vacant dedicated campsites available, which there are not, and…” I said as Kurt appeared and whispered some information to me. “But since you have entered late at night, and damaged some bushland in the process, I am going to ask these two nice uniformed gentlemen to escort you off the property, once you have each paid the overnight camping fee, plus a damages fee of $150 each for the damage to the property,” I replied.

“That’s extorsion?” one of the men exclaimed, “No, it is part of the conditions listed on the website, a refundable damages fee, which you will be required to pay if you had booked for a site or not,” I responded. Reluctantly they handed over the cash for camping and damages before they packed up camp and were escorted to the front gate, where they were briefly interviewed, handed back their ID and Licences and issued a move-on order before they were told to leave and not return until they have proper authorisation to enter the property.

Banjo informed me that he finished work at 3 pm today and asked if he could return to catch up, which I agreed to, and he seemed very happy with this as they left to return to town. While Kurt and Jo took turns to be at the gate, we strolled around the campsite and spent some time relaxing by the river near the house, a good 250 metres upstream from the wharf, with a post and rail fence dividing the two areas.

Before lunch, Jasper and I headed to the gate, to take over duties there, while Kurt and Joe had a 1 ½ hour meal break, which they appreciated, and on return, they had plenty of drinks and snacks to keep them going for the rest of the day of guarding the front gate, as well as patrolling the campsite and dealing with cleaning the toilets and bathrooms and picking up any stray rubbish.

Shortly after 3 pm, Jasper and I, with Andrew (Banjo) Frazer following drove around to the estate, and after speaking to Davies and Leah at their home, we headed over to the Watch Tower, where we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, as it is a little more peaceful there, also we have a good view of the campsite from the upper floor. The rest of the weekend was uneventful, as we thanked our hosts as we left the property on Sunday afternoon, to return to the city. On the drive down, with the phone on hands-free, I dialled Dad’s number.