Desert Air - 60. DA Ch 60 - Marcus

“Settlement is taking place next week, and the new owner is Amanda Kendrik, my mother, who runs three other cattle stations on the western side of the NT along with her brother-in-law Owen, my Uncle,” I said.

“I see, well I am glad that it is going to a family company and not a big listed company like Heytesbury or Consolidated Pastoral or Australian Agriculture Company,” Mac said. Well as you know, I am the DVO for Western Victoria River District and the Wyndham East Pilbara Shire.

With my family owning stations on the Victoria and Buntine Highways, I will be making a recommendation to my government colleagues, to establish permanent Livestock Quarantine Stations at both locations, but not this close to the homesteads,” I said to Mac and Pete.

“Well if you want staff to manage the northern LQS, we would both be interested in doing the job,” Mac said to me, and Pete nodded his head in agreement. “That is good to know, now if it does go ahead, it will be a lot closer to the border than here, and do you have any suggestions?” I said.

Corner of Duncan Road and the highway is just 14 kilometres from the border, and it would have to be on the south east corner, as there is a finch reserve on the south west corner and along the north is the Keep River National Park,” Mac suggested.

What about that station track just 4 clicks past there also on the south side?” Pete suggested, and I could see Mac thinking about the suggestion, “Yeah, well that is a good spot too, there is a natural spring not far from there, and it is all flat country, with very small amounts of trees around, but enough to provide shelter for the stock,” Mac said eventually.

“Ok, I will go and check these two spots out, to see which is the best spot, before I make my recommendations,” I said, before getting prepared to vaccinate all of the cattle, with the assistance of Pete, while Mac went to do some other work around the place.

I caught Pete checking me out a few times, and he would straight away begin to blush as he looked away, and I smiled knowing that there was a good chance that he was gay, even thou he is a little too young for me, as we worked together.

We were about half way through work when the truck arrived with two of the modular buildings, with the third, being the storage container missing, and in its place was a large poly tank. “Can you go and find Mac, and ask him to bring the large front-end loader over to here, and yes Mr Shanks knows about me wanting to use it,” I said to Pete, who raced off to find Mac.

While waiting for the loader, I looked around the area to see, where the best location for the modular buildings is; and I eventually decided to place them between the main station access road to the homestead and the loop road for the trucks to load and unload cattle.

This is good twenty-metre spacing, plenty of room for the two buildings and the water tank, with enough room for trucks to drive past without any problems.

After supervising the unloading and positioning of the two buildings and the water tank placed between the two buildings, I signed the waybill, saying that they have been received in good order, and let the truck driver head back to Kununurra, while Mac and Pete headed back to the main sheds, in the loader.

When Pete returned, I was already inside the main building, with the air-conditioning working perfectly to cool down the hot inside. “Wow, this is way more comfortable than I was expecting it to be,” Pete said when he stepped inside, after taking off his boots.

The main area of the building has a versatile wood floor, with two lounge chairs and a coffee table, with the kitchenette at one end, which includes a large bar fridge under the benches. There is a bedroom at the other end, which has a hardwearing carpet on the floor, a double bed, fixed wardrobe, fixed desk and a solid looking plastic chair.

“Thanks for this Boss, I will be more than comfortable staying here,” Pete said to me happily. “You are welcome, now apart from the furniture, I have had some linen included, which should be in the wardrobe and in a box in one of the larger drawers, and there should be cutlery, crockery and cooking utensils.

Now let’s get the rest of these cattle vaccinated, as I still have a busy day ahead of me,” I said to Pete. Once I had completed the vaccinating, I packed up all of my equipment, and loaded them into my vehicle. “Now, I have to make a trip to derby, so I won’t be back here this afternoon, but if you do have some problems, don’t hesitate to call my veterinary practice in Kununurra, which is a 24 hour number, that gets diverted to whoever is on call after hours,” I instructed Pete.

An hour later, I arrived back at the Vet clinic, and after putting my boots through the disinfecting wash, and putting my overalls in the quarantine wash basket, I dashed towards the door with a quick wave to Amanda and Julia.

“Let Marcus know I am on my way please,” I said as I exited the building and I drove to the airport. With a three-hour flight ahead of me, I did a thorough check of everything, before starting up the engines, and making a call on the radio to log my flight plan for a direct flight to Derby.

Shortly after taking off and now heading west, the radio clicked, “Tango Oscar Kilo 401, do you copy, over,” came a familiar voice, “Tango Oscar Kilo 401, receiving you Riveren Station, over,” I responded.

“Hi Jex, Mum sent me up to help you out with the Quarantine Station, and I have just found out that you are on your way to Derby, over,” my brother said. “That is correct Rhodes, I have just taken off, over,” I replied, “Bugga, over,” Rhodes said and I chuckled when he said that.

“What is your location, over?” I asked, “Just entering town from Duncan Road, over,” Rhodes replied, and I had already turned around, “Copy that meet you at the airport in two minutes, over,” I said, “Great, over and out,” Rhodes said.

“Tango Oscar Kilo 401 to Kununurra traffic control, over,” I said into the radio, “Copy you Tango Oscar Kilo, you are cleared to land on runway 21, over,” came a response and I smiled, “Thanks Kununurra, it will be just a short stop to collect one passenger, before I resume my previous course, over,” I said.

Once I had landed, I taxied to the terminal, where my brother was waiting for me, and as soon as I had stopped, he carefully approached from behind, and opened the door, lowered the stairs and climbed in, before reversing the process, and taking a seat beside me.

Once back in the air, I looked at the time, and it was just after 11 am, so I still had plenty of time to get to Derby and back before dark, and I may even have time to fly to Newry Station as well, since it is only twenty-minute flight.

“So, when did you leave Riveren to get up here?” I asked my brother, “I left from Inverway, and it was straight after lunch at 1 pm, the owners of Rosewood where kind enough to put me up for the night, last night.

I left there at 9 am, but a got two punctures on the second half of the trip so two hours ended up being three,” Rhodes said to me. “Well as long as you got up here safely, that is the main thing. I guess that was your first long distance drive with you at the wheel?” I replied.

“Yep sure was, much more tiring than driving around the station checking water points and cattle,” Rhodes replied.

After an uneventful flight to Derby, we collected Marcus who was waiting at the airport for my arrival, and once his luggage was loaded and he was in, we took off again for the trip back to Kununurra. When we arrived back in town, I decided to put off going to Newry until tomorrow morning, and after securing the plane in the hanger, we drove to the resort, where I booked Marcus and Rhodes in.

After a relaxing hot shower, we met up again for dinner, and I asked Marcus to help Auggie with work at the clinic for a week, while I deal with this quarantine situation, and he said he was happy to do that, as long as he gets to drive my vehicle.

I was about to complain, when I realised that I can easily fly to Newry, which is a lot faster, so I agreed to that, making a mental note to buy another vehicle. Rhodes had followed me to the result in the station Ute that he had been driving, and if need be, we could use that vehicle to drive to Newry Station.

The next morning, Rhodes and I headed to the airport in the station Ute, for the short flight to Newry, and I had to buzz the airfield as there were cattle gathered at the north end, once they were clear, I landed coming in from the north, so as not to frighten the cattle in the yards.

As I came to a stop near a small shed, I saw a vehicle approaching as high speed. “Oh, oh, I am in trouble for buzzing the cattle,” I commented, as I switched off the engines, and followed my brother to the door. “Who the hell do you think you are buzz… oh it is you Dr Kendrik, Mr Shanks said as he stopped near the plane in his quad bike.

“I am sorry, but the cattle were on the airfield and I needed to land,” I responded, “That is fine, if I had known that you are a pilot, and that you would be flying in, I would have made sure the airfield was clear,” Mr Shanks replied.

“Ok, now Mr Shanks, this is my younger brother Rhodes Kendrik, who works on the home station of Inverway Station, on the Buntine Highway,” he has been sent up by the big company boss to lend a hand with the LQS,” I said and Rhodes burst out laughing.

“I will tell Mum, that is what you called her, when I get back,” Rhodes said and I just smiled. “Go ahead, I am sure she won’t punish her oldest child,” I responded, and now Mr Shanks was smiling. “Families eh! Great to have around when you need them,” he commented.

Pete stepped out of the building as Mr Shanks headed off do his own work, as we changed into overalls and gumboots, and walked towards the yards, and I introduced Pete to my brother, before we approached the yards. “Have any problems overnight?” I asked Pete.

“No sir, not a peep. I did a check every three hours from the time that you left at about 11.30 am with the last check at 11 pm, before I headed to bed,” Pete replied. “Good and no station staff attempted to approach the yards?” I asked, “No sir, with the exception of Mac who delivered my dinner for me,” Pete replied.

After a good look at the cattle, I was happy with their progress, and I informed Pete that if the cattle show any signs of lameness, bad runs then have Mac give me a call, “I will be back again this afternoon, so I will see you then. Good job so far,” I said to Pete.

Back in the plane, we made the short trip back to Kununurra, and once back in the Ute, I directed Rhodes where to drive, and we came to the Toyota dealership. “What are we doing here?” Rhodes asked me.

With Marcus now here, he needs a work vehicle, as the vehicle he was using in Derby has stayed there for the new vet,” I replied. “Ok, so what sort of vehicle are you going to get?” I was thinking of another Toyota Prado, but the other day I saw a Land Rover 110, that maybe better for these rough conditions,” I replied.