Springbank - 14. Spring Ch 14

I headed back to the Watch Tower, not sure if I would find the young man there or not when I arrived. A few hundred metres before the Tower, I tooted the horn three times, and slowed right down, before parking in my usual undercover carport behind the tower. Once I had unlocked the back main door, I slowly entered, “Hello, this is Cooper entering, you can leave if you want or stay too, I don’t mind either way,” I said as I paused at the door and listened, and I heard no sounds so I entered, and headed down the passageway to the kitchen, where I packed away all of my extra food shopping, and I left the bag of new clothing on the kitchen bench, where the note was located, but it had been moved, which made me smile knowing the note had been read.

Next, I headed into the laundry and collected the now-washed clothes before I carried them upstairs and entered my room then the back verandah, where I hung the clothes over the balcony to let them dry, before heading downstairs again. After having a cup of tea, I headed out, not bothering to lock the main door, and I walked to the zipline and strapping into it, I travelled across the river to the other side. With keys to the house, I entered and soon found the keys for the quad bike, relocking the house, I jumped onto the bike and went for a ride around the property to see how it looked.

Noticing the gates to the property closed, I presumed this meant that we had no guests in at the moment, and I headed to the camping area, where I found the Buggy with the trailer attached parked near the machinery shed and I was shocked to see a lot of rubbish scattered around the place. “What on earth happened here,” I said more to myself than anyone, “Oh, hi boss, yeah we had a bit of a problem last night, and we had to shut down the campground so that we could get it back into good order,” Kurt said when he appeared from the side of the shed.

“Can you tell me a bit more about what exactly happened please?” I asked, “Well, we had two group bookings, which turned out was a bit of a diversion, as individual bookings were part of the same group, so we had all of the western section of the campground, as one huge group, with over 60 people in just that one area. When we became aware of the ruckus that was happening, we tried to get them to quieten down and asked them to doust their large campfires, but they just kept ignoring us and kept partying, both at the campsite as well as here in the shed, where they used power to have loud music playing,” Kurt explained.

“Did you call the police?” I asked, “Yes boss, and when they arrived, with extra units coming from Northam, it took them some time to get them out of here. Some of them were arrested and taken to Northam, while the others did as requested and packed up before leaving, with your Police friend staying until all of them had left. “I hope that you refused to return any deposits,” I asked, “Yes boss, we have kept all of it to cover damages and extra cleaning costs, which won’t cover it, with the mess they left in the showers and toilets,” Kurt replied.

“Ok, no more group bookings, unless it has been approved by me and only me, understood?” I said to Kurt, “Yes boss, understood,” Kurt replied. “Ok, do we have any bookings for the rest of the weekend?” I asked, “Just the ones on the east side of camp, and half of them left this morning, because of what happened last night,” Kurt replied. “Ok I want a contact list of all the campers on the east side of camp, so I can reimburse them all, plus I want to speak to some of those who are still here. Keep the gates closed for the remainder of the weekend, and any bookings that you have for this coming Monday to Wednesday, cancel them and give them a refund and an apology,” I added as I heard an approaching quad bike.

“Hi boss, was that you that entered the house?” Joe asked me when he arrived, “Yes mate, just to get some keys, hope that was ok?” I responded, “That is fine, just as well I was already sitting on the toilet when I heard you enter,” Joe replied smiling and I smiled at this comment while Kurt burst out laughing. “Too much information to the boss, I think mate,” Kurt said once he had calmed down a little, and Joe just blushed and nodded his head in agreement. I helped the lads with the clean-up until it was dusk, and I suggested that we finish for the day, and the lads asked if I would like to stay for dinner.

“Thank you, lads but I will stay in the tower tonight. By the way, if you didn’t already know, we have an unexpected guest staying at the tower at the moment, he is young and by the quick look I got of him when he was dashing away earlier, he is homeless. I found what small amount of clothes he had hidden away, which I had washed for him. I would like everyone to stay away from the tower for now, just to give him some space, until I can determine what his history is. By the looks of it from a distance, he is about our age, and he is about the same height as me, but I think he hasn’t eaten much for a while, as he looked awfully thin. I will see you lads in the morning when I come over to help you with the cleanup,” I said to the lads.

After parking the quad bike in the shelter, and handing the keys to Kurt, when he arrived soon after me, I headed to the river, and once again zip-lined across the river, before heading up to the back door of the Watch Tower, where I once again partly opened the door and called out. This time I heard the sound of footsteps dashing up the stairs, and I waited for a few minutes, before entering the building, where I found the bag of new clothing gone, as was the note that I had left earlier, the kitchen looked like it had been cleaned by the smell of the chemicals, and this is when I realised that the oven was on.

I peered inside and found a roast inside, that included vegetables. I closed the oven door before I quickly made a cup of tea and stepped out onto the front verandah, where I sat down and watched the amazing sunset. When I heard some noises in the kitchen behind me I didn’t turn around at all, I just continued to drink my tea and watch the last of the daylight fade away.

When it was all silent in the kitchen again, I turned around, where I found the kitchen bench had been set for dinner for two, which made me smile, but there was no sign of my guest until I heard the sound of the shower running upstairs. When I heard the shower stop and soon after the spare bedroom door closed, I walked upstairs and I too had a shower, and I wasn’t surprised to see the spare room door open and empty when I had finished.

Once dressed, I walked downstairs where I found just one place setting at the kitchen bench, with a note beside my plate, “ Mr Cooper. Dinner is in the oven for you. Thank you for the extra clothes they are a welcome site to see, especially when I had to leave so suddenly. K.” I spotted a dirty plate, cutlery and a glass sitting in the sink, ready to be washed later, and looking into the oven, I found a plate filled with sliced roast beef and roasted vegetables ready for me, so grabbing a drying cloth, I retrieved my dinner and sat down to eat it.

Once I had eaten my dinner, I placed all the dirty dishes, cutlery and glasses into the dishwasher, added the detergent power and started it up, before I went into the lounge to read a book for a while. After an hour, I retrieved the notepad and wrote a short note which I placed on the kitchen bench, before I retired to bed for the night. “Dear K, thank you for a delicious dinner. I am usually up very early most mornings, so I will make myself some breakfast before going to help the lads with the cleanup at the campgrounds across the river. Regards Cooper.”

I had not heard my guest enter the Watch Tower after I went to bed, and after a good night’s sleep, I had breakfast and went across the river, without disturbing my guest to start another day of work, well before the lads arrived shortly before 8 am. “Good morning boss, how long have you been here?” Kurt asked when they arrived, “Since about 6 am, I am always an early riser. Good morning to you both,” I replied smiling. “Any news on your guest?” Joe asked me, “Only that he seems to be quite shy and he is an excellent cook, but I am taking it very slowly, so he is spooked in any way,” I responded.

“Davies called last night, he said he had a job for us to do next week, something about collecting a heap of rocks to build a retaining wall,” Joe added. “That would be for the retaining wall that I asked to be built in front of the Watch Tower, as I want a lower level room added to the tower, just so we have an entertainment area, as well as a social and living area for all of us to use. The spiral stairs will be extended downwards to allow access to the room that will be just the size of the upstairs living area and front verandah,” I explained.

“That sounds great boss, any idea what will be in the entertainment lounge area?” Kurt asked, “You will have to wait and see. Now once that is completed, we will have to start planning for next year’s Avon Descent. I want to have a more permanent finish and start line control centre, with a watch platform on the roof, with a lounge area for when the officials are off duty, that can also be a meeting room, and it will have two bathrooms attached.

I will also need the current walking track from the driveway to the river to become a raised boardwalk so the river and control centre can be accessed during all weather conditions. I want to add another 8 campsites on the east side from the main track towards the railway line, with four sites on each side of the new track. This will be the campsite for the ASU – Avon Support Unit during the event and we will add an extra shower and extra toilet unit at the end of the new track alongside the fenceline.

I think I will have the machinery shed relocated to it is on the corner of the paddock where the farm track and the boardwalk begin, and double its length, to provide additional space for dining, and for extra vans to be parked during the event. I have decided that for the Avon Descent, once the meal vans are in place, the railway crossing will be a pedestrian crossing only during the event, except for the farm buggy and quad bikes, for staff access. The businesses providing meals during the event can camp behind the shed. During the event, the gates to the property east of the boardwalk shall remain locked at all times,” I suggested to the lads.

“I think that would be great, but what about others who would want to camp overnight during the event?” Kurt asked, “Well, I will leave that up to the board members of the Avon Descent and the shire to decide. That land where the camp has been previously should be fully recovered from the bushfire by then, so it could be back to normal in that case. “What about the east side of the current campgrounds for the event?” Joe asked, “I think we will keep that vacant unless the board request additional camping space for guests and officials,” I replied.

After a full morning of work, we had managed to finish cleaning up the rubbish from the unwanted party that took place last Friday night, and I was looking forward to just relaxing for the rest of the weekend I had left before I had to return to Perth. I suggested to the lads that they too relax as I am sure that Davies would be keeping them very busy for the next few weeks with the construction of the retaining wall and the additions to the Watch Tower.

I didn’t see my guest for the rest of my stay on the estate, as I spent the afternoon over on the main farm with Davies, working out the plans for the next couple of weeks of estate farming. By the time I arrived home, I was fairly exhausted and I just wanted to relax, which I managed to get, thanks to the family being out attending a friends' social party down the road, and my siblings staying overnight at friends' places.

I had asked Leah when she does her midweek shopping trip into town, to buy some additional shopping for the Watch Tower so that my guest doesn’t get too hungry, and I gave her instructions on how to give plenty of warning, before approaching the Tower and entering the building, in case my guest is home and doesn’t want to be seen. During the week, I had Davies put some sheep on the paddock north of the railway line, where the farm buildings are, to get the grass and pasture down low, to have no issues with fire hazards for this year’s summer season, even though it was only early October, but with little rain since the Avon Descent, I had a feeling that it was going to be a long and hot summer this year, so I wanted to be extra prepared.

I arranged for the construction of 24 additional concrete tanks on the estate, with 8 tanks per East & West line at 800 metres apart, with each line being one kilometre apart. Each water tank will have a water pump at the base which will be covered by a concrete box for protection and a giant sprinkler will sit on top of each tank, to provide a large area of the farm with some protection from bushfires. What I planned to do, was once the harvesting had been completed and the grain and hay bales had been stored away, I would get Davies to start up the water lines early in the morning on hot days to soak the ground and trees well, so there was minimal chance of a bushfire roaring through the property.

It was a large expense, but I felt that protecting the Estates' grazing land, stock, machinery and buildings was important, to keep it running smoothly, and without too much work with replacing stock, machinery and buildings if a wildfire did go through the Estate as it did with the fire that ripped through the Cobbler Pool property and neighbouring Avon River reserve and the bottom part of the estate closest to the river.

My plans for another weekend on the Estate were put on hold when my parents announced that the family including Reuben and Roderick, were flying down to Esperance to finalise packing up what was left of our family possessions before the station was sold, with a charted flight made in the late Friday afternoon, and staying overnight in a motel in Esperance, before renting two vehicles and trailers to drive the last 315 kilometres to Southern Hills Station. We would be temporarily storing the last of our belongings at Esperance until the family could sort through it all, and we would fly back to Perth on late Sunday afternoon.

It was a long and tiring weekend, and we all got a bit grumpy at some point during the weekend, but we managed to get it all completed and the station was now ready for the official handover to the new Station owners the following week. It was the only chance that our cousin would have of seeing the Station that our Grandfather had worked on for most of his life, and where our family had spent nearly every school and Christmas holiday so it was a very sad event when the plane left the Station runway and we saw the Station by air for the last time.

Once back at home in South Perth, I made a call to the Estate. “Hello boss, Davies is tied up at the moment how can I help?” Leah said when she answered the call. “Hi, I was just calling to see how things are on the Estate, and in particular any news on my guest at the Tower?” I asked. “K is doing ok, he is thankful for the additional food supplies on Wednesday, and I am guessing you would like me to do the same this Wednesday as well,” Leah responded, “Yes, if you would please. So he left you a note did he?” I replied.

“He did, asking when you will be back again, and thanks for the food. Kurt had a better glimpse of the lad thanks to a telescope and with his mobile, he was able to get a photo of him. Davies and I haven’t seen him before, I am going to send you the photo, and maybe you have recognised him from somewhere,” Leah said to me. “Ok, I will let you know, thanks for doing the food shopping for him, I will be up on Friday afternoon,” I informed Leah.