Desert Air - 57. DA Ch 57 - Home Visit

“Frilly is a adult Frilled neck Lizard, which I rescued and brought back to good health, but unfortunately she and her partner in crime have grown attached to me, and won’t go back to living in the wild, they are both happy being with me,” I replied.

“Should I ask who the partner in crime is?” the Dog’s owner asked, and Auggie laughed, and I smiled, “That would be Spike, the echidna,” I replied. “Double trouble is what I call them,” Auggie added.

Heading back to my office, I took a few moments to relax, before picking up the phone and making a call, to Marcus. “Hey mate, how are things going in Derby?” I asked when the call was answered, “Very busy actually, been getting a few late night call outs as well, so hectic is more like it,” Marcus replied.

“Well that is good in a way, how would you like to come and work at the main practice in Kununurra, as I have another vet who is interested in working for us?” I asked, “Who? Oh don’t tell me it is Jessica?” Marcus said, “You got it in one, she has been made redundant, mainly because we have set up a full time clinic at Derby, so she called me, asking if I had any positions available.

I thought with me doing a lot more station work, you could come here and work with Auggie, while Jessica can run the Derby clinic,” I responded. “Yes, that sounds good, would she be doing Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek too?” Marcus asked.

“Fitzroy Crossing yes, but not Halls Creek, I would put you and Auggie on a rotation roster for doing Halls Creek, while the other does Wyndham, and you would have to rotate for working on Saturdays, and being on call,” I replied.

“Well it will be nice to be able to work in a bigger clinic, with more than one vet, so I accept, when would you want me to move,” Marcus said to me. “I will call Jessica, and see if she can start on Monday, and if so, I will come and pick you up in the plane,” I replied.

After finishing the call with Marcus, I called Jessica, and said that if she can start work on Monday, she has the job, and that it would be at the Derby clinic. Jessica accepted the offer, and as I ended the call, I just remembered, that I needed to call Mum.

After a short chat with mum, we ended the call and I headed to the reception area. Julia, I have to head down to my uncle’s property of Riveren, I will be gone for the rest of today and most of tomorrow, before walking out the door, and climbing into my vehicle, and headed o the resort to pack an overnight bag.

Once I had done all my checks, I was soon in the air, and heading south-east for Riveren station. After one and a half hours of flight time, Riveren Station homestead came into view, I circled around the area to make sure there is no stock, before landing on the airstrip that is also the access road, and I taxied up to near the homestead.

Rhodes and Wynn came to greet me, as I closed the door, and locked it, after grabbing my duffel bag for my short stay. When we entered the homestead, I noticed a heap of boxes stacked up in one corner. “What is all this?” I asked, just as Mum appeared.

“Hello Jexon, nice to see you again and to answer your question, we are moving stations, I bought neighbouring Inverway Station, which has a better accommodation, and we will run both stations from the other homestead.

Which I may add is just two kilometres south of the Buntine Highway, and it has a much bigger and better airfield as well,” Mum replied. “I see, so is Uncle Owen ok with all of this?” I asked, “Yes I indeed am, as it allows us to breed more cattle over a greater area, on three stations and not have to worry about low or limited water sources,” Owen said as he entered.

“Wait, you said three stations?” I asked sounding surprised, “Yes dear, with the sale of Corunna station, I was able to purchase Inverway Station plus Limbunya Station, which is adjoining to the north, and located 80 kilometres north of here and 70 kilometres north of Inverway, with it being 70 kilometres between the two lower stations, so it forms a kind of triangle,” Mum replied.

“Holy cow droppings mum, you could have talked to me about all of this,” I stated sounding shocked, “Calm down son, I am doing this for the future of the family, although Owen will be the Stations Operations Manager, I will be the General Manager.

You and Rhodes and I being the key share holders, as I have made an offer to purchase a 45% share of Riveren, to help Owen get out of debt and get the Riveren working properly, which he has accepted.

I am also looking at the possibility of purchasing another two stations, those being Waterloo and Rosewood Stations,” Mum announced. “Wow Mum, that is quite a lot of investment, do you think it is wise to invest in so many pastoral stations when it has been this dry,” I asked.

“I think it is the perfect time, because looking back at the old records of Riveren, there is a clear cycle of when there are good seasons and when there are dry seasons, and this drought is about to break,” Mum replied.

The two of us have been to see the other two stations, and they look fairly good,” Rhodes commented, and Mum nodded her head in agreement. “Ok, well I would like to see these other stations before we even start looking at the other two, and I don’t want any trucks or vehicles that have been on other stations in the NT, as there has been an outbreak of Leptospirosis,” I responded.

“Where was the outbreak?” Owen asked me, “At Carlton Hill Station north of Kununurra, but the cattle and the truck that delivered them came from a station in Central NT,” I replied. “Does the Department of Primary Industries NT know about it?” Owen asked me.

“I have sent an email to DPI NT in Darwin and to the DWR WA in Perth, with my findings, along with the Australian Chief Veterinary Officer in Canberra,” I replied, just as the homestead phone began to ring, and I heard Mary answer the call.

“Jex, it is for you, a doctor someone from Canberra,” Mary called out, and I made my way into the kitchen to take the call, “Mary can you grab, my laptop from my bag please,” I asked before taking the call. “Hello, Dr Jexon Kendrik speaking,” I said into the phone, “Dr Kendrick, this is Dr Aaron Yardley CVO in Canberra, and you are on a conference call with the CVO’s of the NT and WA,” a voice said to me. “Yes sir, how may I be of assistance,” I responded.

Over the next forty minutes, I was in a conference discussion about this outbreak that I had reported, and since I am the senior vet of my practice, it was asked of me, if I would be the consulting District Veterinary Officer, which I reluctantly accepted.

When I informed the others that I have a veterinary clinic also in Derby, and two other qualified vets in my practice, with a third one starting next week, there was some more discussions, before a short break had been called, so the CVO from Canberra could consult with one other person.

Ten minutes later the telephone conference continued, and with the nearest NT Government District Veterinary Officer being in Katherine, and the nearest WA District Veterinary Officer being in Broome, it was decided to make me the District Veterinary Officer for the East Kimberly and the whole Victoria River District.

This would cover all farms and stations, in a line from 126 degrees to 130.5 degrees east, and from 14.5 degrees to 20 degrees south, and areas of approximately 224 square kilometres, or 55,351,600 acres, with the Federal Government prepare to cover costs of fuel and maintenance costs of my plane.

It was decided that I would allocate 12 hours of my time per week with DVO duties, and the rest is for time with my veterinary practice, for which I would be paid a weekly wage for that time, on top of covering my plane operational costs.

When the call finally ended after just over an hour, I was feeling a little exhausted, and I collapsed into the lounge, and Mum arrived shortly after with a nice cup of tea for me. “Thanks Mum I need this,” I said as I accepted the cup and saucer with a biscuit placed on the side.

“What was that all about?’ Mum enquired as she sat down beside me, “You are looking at the new District Veterinary Officer for the Western half of Victoria River and all of the Wyndham East Kimberly Shire. Including all stations and farms from Timber Creek in the north, down to Lajamanu in the NT, Kalumburu in the north, down to Lake Gregory in WA,” I replied.

“Holy Cow! That is a huge area. Do they expect you to travel through all of that area each year?” Mum asked, “I’m not sure Mum, but they are covering costs of my plane when I am using it for DVO business, so I can’t complain about that.

When you look at a map, in the NT it includes the towns of Timber Creek, Top Springs, Kalkarindji and Lajamanu, and in WA the towns of Halls Creek, Kalumburu, Warmun, Wyndham and Kununurra,” I said. “That is still a huge area, so much responsibility, which worries me a lot,” Mums said to me.

“Don’t worry about it too much, as I have the support of the District Office Centres of Katherine, Darwin, Kununurra, and Broome, to support me,” I replied.

Early the next morning, after a relaxing breakfast with the family, Mum, Rhodes and I flew to Inverway and Limbunya Stations, and I agreed that Inverway was a much better station for the family to be based, mainly because of the better quality buildings there.

When we returned to Riveren, just before lunchtime, Mary had lunch prepared for all of us, and we all chatted while eating, since this will be the last family meal together for some time, with me working full time in Kununurra, and the younger ones heading back to boarding school this afternoon.

Shortly after 2 pm, three of my siblings, and four cousins, climbed into the aircraft, for the trip to Kununurra, where they will catch a plane a little later to Geraldton to attend boarding school for the year.

Mum has plans to spend the first and third term holidays with them all, taking them down to Perth, and in the mid year holidays they will all come home to Inverway Station for the holiday break, and by then Uncle Owen, Mum and Rhodes will have completed the move over to the new station.

It was the first time that the cousins had flown with me at the controls, and they were all well behaved for the 90-minute journey, and once at Kununurra, I taxied to my recently completed Double aircraft hanger, where I was surprised to find my bi-plane parked inside, and I smiled happily to see it again.

“Cool bi-plane, is that yours too cousin?” Samuel asked me, “Yes mate, it is my recreational aircraft, but I haven’t had much time to take it out for a spin, as it has been living out at the Corunna Airbase for some time now,” I replied.

I came to a stop in the hanger and shut off the engines, before climbing out of my seat and opening the door for everyone, and helped with unloading everyone’s luggage, before locking up the hanger, and we headed over to the terminal, to await for their flight south.

Once the commercial flight had left, I walked back to the hanger, and walked down the vacant block of land, beside the hanger till I came to the back of it, where my brand new home now stood, and it looked great.