Country Retreat - 11. Surprise Reunion

On the way over to the farm, which was a one-hour and twenty-minute journey, which included passing by their former home at Regan’s Ford, my grandparents informed me that my parents and siblings had no idea of this recent purchase and that they would like to keep it that way, so I agreed to say nothing about what I had seen today. During my first week of school holidays, I was kept very busy with farm work, while Dad caught up on the backlog of mechanical work, and for the few days that my grandparents stayed, Gramps helped me with the work.

On the weekend, Dad announced that he would be back on deck on the farm on a three-day basis, so if I wanted to return to Upper Swan, he was happy with that to happen, but I was happy to be home and the work on the farm, and when I had some free time, I would go over to Dad’s workshop and learn a bit about diesel mechanics. On Thursday afternoon, shortly after lunch, Dad drove me back down to Upper Swan, so I had a few days before commencing school again.

Terms three and four of the second semester, were largely uneventful in the way of any difficulties and drama, which I was happy about. Every Saturday Jarrad and I would go on a long horse ride, taking with us a picnic lunch, and on days when the weather was lousy, we would just exercise the horses, between showers of rain in the paddocks, to keep them from getting too fat.

With the Summer & Christmas break quickly approaching, over the phone with my parents, along with my grandparents and I worked out plans for the holidays, and it was agreed that I would spend the first two weeks including Christmas & New Year at home on the farm, then I would return to Upper Swan for one week, before joining the whole family at Lancelin for a two week beach holiday like we always do each year, and the final week of holidays would be back at Upper Swan, preparing for the new school year.

It was a great holiday, although I kept very busy on the farm, with Dad teaching me some more about diesel mechanics, as well as keeping up with all the never-ending farm work, and while I was away, Jarrad looked after my horses, Dixi and Charlie, which he was now earning some good pocket money for doing the work. He was very happy to see me again, when I returned from my time on the farm, as we spent nearly every day riding the horses along the bridle trail, and he would continue to look after them when I spent two weeks at Lancelin with the family, with Gran and Gramps spending two days with us at the start and end, so to take me up there and bring me back.

With it now being mid-January and the middle of summer, I had just finished packing my bags for the trip up to Lancelin when I remembered something, and I went looking for Gran, but instead I found Gramps in the loungeroom watching the cricket. “Hey Gramps, what’s happening with the secret project up the coast? Is it all still going well?” I asked, and Gramps hit the mute button on the remote, as I took a seat.

“Funny that you bring that up, we were going to discuss that with you on the way up and maybe briefly call in to see how the changes look. All of the boundary fences are completed, so no one can get in unless they have keys for the front gate or the southwestern gate, and we have had contractors in to remove all of the rubbish and clear away the old shed and yards, so there is only the water tank, trough, bore and windmill remaining, as to allow water available for any wildlife that is still inside the fence line.

Maybe we can leave a little earlier tomorrow, and we can spend a bit of time looking around before we continue to Lancelin,” Gramps suggested as I nodded my head in agreement, and I remained in the lounge to watch the cricket with Gramps. The following morning, we set off early, once I had fed the horses and put them out to graze, and we were soon on the familiar Indian Ocean Drive once more, although it had been nearly two months since I was last on the property.

When we arrived, I was surprised to see how solid and secure the fence looked, with railway iron upright posts every few hundred metres, with steel poles between them, to keep the ringlock fencing very tight. The gates themselves were quite a sight, with a clever design in the steelwork, making it an impressive and very solid entry point. At the top of the high steel poles on either side of the gate, were solar panels, and I was about to ask what they were for, when Gran pressed a button on a small remote, and the gates began to open.

“Wow, solar-powered automatic gates, that is very impressive,” I commented, “there are also some low-power lights, that highlight the design of the gates when it is dark,” Gran added, as we drove through and looking back I saw the gates automatically close behind us.

As already mentioned, the sheds and yards were now gone, and as we continued towards the main part of the property, I was surprised to see that there had been lots of trees planted on both sides of the road, which was now in a much better condition, than when I was last on the property.

“Is there a name for this place?” I asked as we continued, “Yes, it is named after a reef that is located just off the coast, known as Manakoora Reef, we call it Manakoora Nature Retreat. Apart from the trees you see planted on either side of the road, we have also been air-seeding more trees and shrubs to thicken the vegetation on the property, while also keeping some spots clear, like the main access road, and a few key areas where we have some plans for the place,” Gramps responded.

After a good look around, we headed back out, making sure that the front gate was securely locked, to have no intruders, and we headed north for Lancelin, located less than half an hour away, and after two days, my Grandparents headed back home to Upper Swan. I was really enjoying our annual holiday, but I was also missing riding my horses and being at my grandparent's place, which I now regard as home.

After just a week at Lancelin, I asked my parents if I could return to Perth, and they agreed to let me leave the holidays early, with Dad driving me down to Perth, before heading to the farm to check that everything was going fine there, as he had a part-time farmer worker, keeping an eye on things while he was away. My grandparents were informed that I was on my way back to their place, and as always they were happy to see me.

With two weeks of holidays remaining, I was up at the usual time, when it was time to feed the horses and let them out into their yards. “Hello there, I wasn’t expecting you back for another week,” I heard Jarrad say as he approached, just as I was starting to muck out the stables. “Yeah, well I missed my horses, oh and your ugly face too,” I said smiling as I kept working, and Jarrad just laughed.

“Funny that, I thought you were the one with the ugly face,” Jarrad retorted, and we both just laughed. “What is so funny, and hey, what are you doing back so early?” I heard Rebecca say as she arrived, and I saw Giles coming up behind her. “What is all this, delegating the workload are we?” I asked Jarrad who just shrugged his shoulders, “I thought it might be ok to have some friends over to help and go for a ride afterwards,” Jarrad said to me cautiously.

I chuckled at this and saw Jarrad looking at me in the hope that he wouldn’t be punished for allowing other people onto the property. “Do my grandparents know about his arrangement,” I asked, “Well, sort of, I said that I was going to ask a friend to come riding with me,” Jarrad responded, and I frowned at him, before handing him the pooper scooper. “Finish all of this off and I will let you off,” I said to my friend who smiled and got to work straight away.

“So how long have you guys been in on this scheme of his?” I asked Rebecca and Giles. “Since just yesterday. It was great to be able to go riding again, I haven’t been for some time now,” Giles replied. “I sort of twisted his arm to let me come over, late last week,” Rebecca confessed. “I will need to check with Gramps and Gran first, how about the four of us go and do something different tomorrow,” I suggested.

Everyone agreed that it was a great idea, and while we watched Jarrad shovelling horse poop, we discussed what we could do tomorrow. After some discussions, it was decided that we would go to Adventure World, Perth’s major water theme park, which has a heap of usual fast rollercoaster rides, plus a mini grand prix race track, a heap of mat slides, a large lake with paddle boats, and swimming ponds for cooling off.

After we had decided this was what we wanted to do, we headed to the house, once the horses had been finished, to consult with my grandparents, they even agreed to drive us there and come back and bring us back afterwards, and after several phone calls, Jarrad, Rebecca and Giles had received permission from their parents for us to do this day excursion.

The next day, we all piled into Gramp’s vehicle, with me cramped in the front middle seat, and we made our way to the southern suburbs of Perth to where the theme park is located, arriving just a few minutes before the due opening time of 10 am. Gramps informed us that he would be back at 4 pm to collect us, and I assured him that I had my mobile phone with me.

Once we had secured lockers for our belongings, we went to the pool first to get wet, before starting on going on the water slides, which were quite long and very fast. We stopped at about noon, to have some lunch and a rest from all of our activities, with all four of us having an awesome time, that was until…

“OQ Kingston, how the hell are you man, it is great to see you. What happened? You just disappeared so suddenly,” a voice said behind me, and it was just as I realised whose familiar voice it was, that I was wrapped in a tight bearhug from behind. “Hey you big gorilla, leave my best mate alone, he doesn’t like close body contact with anyone,” I heard Rebecca say in response, as I was released and turned, just in time to see Rebecca sweep her leg and give a slight push, sending my former Kiwi room-mate landing hard on the ground on his backside.