Country Retreat - 43. New Uni & New Home

I groaned on hearing this. “I heard that, what was it for?” Rebecca asked as we approached the others who were seated on the oval. “I just mentioned the reunion invitation,” Marcus replied. “I had no idea until now, as I haven’t been home to check my mail yet, and my grandparents usually just stack any mail of mine on my desk and leave it there till I come home,” I explained. We had an enjoyable dinner out at the tavern in Seabird and returned to relax and retire early.

The next morning, after a late breakfast we did a full tour of the farm, before returning to the complex to change and heading down to the beach to swim and kayak, which is where we spent most of the time over the next three days, as well as a little bit of farm work, which Marcus and I mainly did, as the others were not as interested in Farming.

Once back in Upper Swan, I dropped my friends off at their homes before backtracking to Yanchep to my home with my Grandparents, who were very happy to see me again. Over the next few days leading up to Christmas, I did some research into the possibilities of relocating to a University closer to home to complete my degree in Neuroscience and Psychology, but there weren’t any courses similar to the one I was doing in Canberra.

I started to look further afield, firstly in South Australia, where I found the University of SA did have a similar degree, that led to a few phone calls, and a few long discussions with the Faculty Dean I was able to apply for a transfer to that university in the new year, and I got to work right away to complete all the paperwork and send it off.

Christmas Day celebrations with the whole family were spent at Yanchep for a change, and it appeared to be going smoothly, although I was getting the stare down by my mother, which I was not quite sure what it was about, and I made a mental note to ask my grandparents about it, once they were on their way home to Moore. Midway in the afternoon, I received a call from Koen in Canada, to wish me and my grandparents a Happy Christmas, and about an hour later I received a text message from Hugh.

“Hey my Aussie Friend, wishing you the very best Christmas to you and your family. I hope you are having an enjoyable holiday. I received a message from R, who asked me to wish you a happy and safe Christmas on his behalf. He said thank you for accepting his apology and he understands that it will take time for you to heal, and wishes you a great new year ahead. Hugh.”

I was unsure how I felt when I read this message, and I read it a second time to just fully understand everything said in the message, and much to my surprise, I didn’t feel any anxiety attack coming which made me smile. “Good news dear?” Gran asked when she saw me smiling, “Yes, I seemed to have overcome some of my anxiety issues, which I am pleased about,” I replied, and Gran gave me a big warm hug in response.

After Christmas, I received confirmation that I was relocating to the University of SA for my final year of studies, and I sent a message to Sam, Jean and Jake to let them know that I would not be returning to Canberra, which they were very sad to hear, as they had been relying on me a fair amount with farm work over the past two years. Giles however was thrilled that I would be studying at UniSA, as we would be able to catch up regularly since we would be in the same city.

As well as Cert 4 in Work Health & Safety, I would also be doing Cert 4 in Auslan Sign Language, which are both part-time courses for two semesters, so I would be easily able to cope with the extra workload, with the start date for the new year of studies starts on January 30^th, so we had to leave Perth no later than January 15^th, so give us both a few days to get settled before our studies begin, with Gran and Gramps madly looking for private accommodation for me and Giles to share. They explained to me that we would be living in fairly basic accommodation, just to get by for the remainder of our studies, which I didn’t mind, as we would both be very busy with our studies this year.

I did not go to the reunion, as I had no interest in catching up with people who are virtually strangers to me, apart from my closest friends, who I am in regular contact with. By the time we were ready to set off for our four-day journey across the Nullabor, Gramps had made all the arrangments for us to share a rental house in St Peters, which is located north of Adelaide and is 17 kilometres north of Flinders University for Giles, and 6 kilometres west of the Magill Campus of Uni SA, where I will be studying.

It is a fair amount of travelling for both of us to Uni each day, but since I had a direct route via bus, it shouldn’t be a problem for me, while Giles will use my vehicle to drive to Flinders University each day. Gramps explained to me that I would need to call in and see the real estate agency located about two kilometres from the house to collect the key and sign some lease documents before we could move into the house which is fully furnished.

I had been given some money to cover our accommodation and meal costs for the journey, so we would not be roughing it this trip, as we stopped for our first night at a motel in Norseman, at the Western end of the Eyre Highway, and we had travelled just over 620 kilometres in our first day, which would be our shortest day. For our second day, we travelled just over 700 kilometres, taking turns driving, so we both didn’t get too tired, and we spent the night in the Eucla motel right near the state border.

For our third day, we travelled for 790 kilometres to the remote town of Kimba, and we were quite exhausted from the long day that we had, and after a hot meal, and a long hot shower we headed to our beds to get a good night's sleep, as we would be arriving in Adelaide the following afternoon, with the distance to be only about 465 kilometres, which was great to know.

Meeting the real estate agent after struggling out of the vehicle, she had us sign some documents, which stated that we would pay for any damages to the property that we may cause and that the power and water bills were to be forwarded to my grandparents to be settled. This confused me somewhat, and I was about to ask why this was the case, before being handed a large yellow envelope, and she watched as I opened the envelope and retrieved a single piece of paper.

“Dearest Oscar, we hope that you and Giles have a rewarding year at your new University and that you and Giles take some time to relax and spend some time just enjoying South Australia. The document that you signed was just a rouse, as our family owns the house that you will be living in. Once you have settled in, let us know how you like the place. If you have any issues, do not hesitate to contact the Real estate agent, so they can deal with it promptly. Love Gran and Gramps.”

“Wow! Is this all true?” I said the real estate agent, who smiled and nodded her head yes. “Just let me know if you have any problems. You are in a fairly quiet neighbourhood, with the Torrens River close by, as well as a park, a sports oval and just over 500 metres from the Botanical Gardens,” she said to me, as she handed me the keys for both apartments and a gate code, for the front gate. I thanked her, as we turned and headed back to my vehicle.

“What was all that about?” Giles asked once we were in the vehicle, and I handed him the letter from my grandparents, while I started the vehicle and put in our new home address. “Holy Crap, wow!” Giles said when he finished reading. “Yeah, a bit of a surprise eh? At least we don’t have to worry about weekly rent and quarterly rental inspections, which is great,” I commented, as I made my first turn. Less than five minutes later I turned off the road and into a double driveway, with a very modern-looking house in front of us.

“Are you sure we have the right place?” Giles asked me, “This is the address I was given and I think my grandparents went a little overboard with purchasing this house,” I replied, as I pressed the remote button and the garage door on the left began to open, to reveal a large wide space for two vehicles. “Any more information about this place?” Giles asked me, “No idea, anything else in the big envelope?” I replied. “Yes. It looks like a layout plan of the house… wow, this place is enormous,” Giles replied, as he looked at the sheet of paper.

We first started to unload all of our luggage, which also included our study books, computers and other supplies. After emptying the car and dual-zone fridges, I put them in the garage store room for storage, we set off to explore our new home, and Giles was right, the place was huge.

We had a grand entrance with a couple of steps upwards, with the master suite on the right, and two bedrooms and a bathroom on the left, which is where the long sweeping hallway further back begins, with a laundry on the left, and a lawned yard and swimming pool with decking beyond that. Next to the laundry is a Movie theatre room, with seating for ten, with a billiards room just beyond that. A small decking is located just after that, with stairs leading down to a small Wine cellar and bar area that is empty of any alcohol, with the large decking, pool and a spa on the other side of the passage.

Just past the small decking area is another bedroom with a private bathroom and a day bathroom, with the kitchen, an outdoor dining decking area, a lounge room, a formal dining room and a study to end the tour of the house. “How the hell are we meant to clean this huge place?” Giles commented, “No idea, but I did spot another envelope on the kitchen bench that may answer that question, but let's unpack first,” I replied, as we headed back to the garage.

Once we had unpacked our luggage, Giles came into the lounge where I had just sat down. “I was thinking while I was sorting out all my sh.. stuff, would it be ok if I buy some plants and do a bit of re-landscaping out the front?” Giles asked me as he sat down at the kitchen table, while I finished unpacking all the kitchen stuff. “Trying to tone down your swearing are we?” I asked.