Dr of Dundee - 3. D of D Ch 3

At the start of the second week, I sat the boys down and asked what they would like to do for their schooling, and I suggest to the boys the options. Remain at home and continue school locally, and for Reid to travel to senior high school in Darwin, or boarding at the school during the week and spending weekends at home, or they could both go south and attend boarding school together in Adelaide, and come home on long weekends and school holidays.

Toby looked at Reid and both of them smiled, “I think that Toby and I would like to try boarding in Adelaide, as long as we are in the same boarding facility so he can find me quickly,” Reid said to me, “That is what I thought, and so I have made arrangements to take some time off later this week, so we can all travel down to Adelaide, to view the two boarding schools that have space available,” I announced.

On Wednesday afternoon, with a small suitcase each, we drove to Darwin, and later that afternoon, we boarded a plane bound for Adelaide, arriving in the early evening and with us having a meal on the plane, we booked into our hotel rooms, with Toby and Reid sharing a twin room, and I a double room next door, with an interconnecting door.

After having a shower each, I informed the boys that the first boarding school we will visit tomorrow is Prince Albert College, which is affiliated with the Uniting Church, and is located in the inner suburb of Kent Town, just east of the city, and we have an appointment set for 1 pm, so we would have to have an early lunch before we go.

The second boarding school is St Peters College, which is affiliated with the Anglican Church, and is located the suburb just north of Kent Town, so it too is close to the city, and we have an appointment set for 10 am on Friday morning.

After breakfast the next morning, we caught a tram and began a morning of exploring the city, with a visit to the botanic gardens and the state herbarium, plus the state art gallery and museum. Before we knew it, we had to go to our first appointment.

During our meeting with the school’s bursar, and the deputy headmaster, we were told a lot of information, as well as been given a booklet that gives all the information about being a student and boarder at the school. After a detailed tour of the school grounds, which are very modern, we thanked the two gentlemen for their time and we left the campus.

“So, what are your first thoughts about this school?” I asked the boys, after we began the walk back towards the city, stopping at a tram stop to await the next tram. “I liked how the boarding was all in one building, so I can stay close to Reid,” Toby responded, and Reid nodded his head in agreement, “Fairly brand new too, which I like,” Reid added.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, exploring the Adelaide Zoo, before we went to watch a movie at the cinema’s and dinner afterwards, before returning to the hotel which is located at the west end of South Terrace.

After breakfast the next day, we set off for our second appointment, and straight away we saw that the buildings are very old, and I mentioned that the school was founded in the late 1840’s. After twenty minutes of talking with the Headmaster, Reid and I noticed Toby was fidgeting a lot, and Reid interrupted the discussions and said that Toby was not feeling very well, and that we need to leave.

“Ok, I know that Toby is not well, so what is the real reason we left early?” I asked the boys, “When Toby gets restless like he was, he is not comfortable with the surroundings, and that is why I cut the meeting short.

“I am sorry Uncle, but I don’t think this school is right for us, but we are both happy with the first school that we saw yesterday,” Reid responded, and Toby nodded his head in agreement. “Well I guess we have made a decision then, I will contact Prince Albert College and see if we can enrol you both for the start of next term,” I replied.

Once back at the hotel, while Toby and Reid relaxed, I made a phone call to PAC - Prince Albert College, and when the call ended I came into their room to tell the boy the news. “Right we have bad news and good news, the bad being that there are no vacancies for Toby for the remainder of this year, but you can start at that school at the start of next year.

The good news is that is a vacancy for you Reid, so you can start at the beginning of next term, which is just over a week away. After lunch, we need to go back to PAC, so you Reid can do all the enrolment paperwork, and lucky for me, I have brought along your education reports from the school and the distance education department, so that will make life a little easier, plus we need to fit you out with all the required school and sports uniforms that you will need,” I announced.

The enrolment process, including purchasing all the clothing and footwear that Reid need, took nearly three hours, and Toby was looking fairly tired by the time we left the college, and caught a taxi back to the hotel, where Toby lay on his bed and promptly fell asleep.

Closing the door behind him as Reid entered my room, and he asked me what the plans are now. “Well we have all of Saturday to do some more exploring and just after lunch on Sunday we set off for home. “So what are we going to do tomorrow?” Reid asked.

I have hired a car, and we are going for a drive down to Murray Bridge, which is on the Murray River, and there is a Safari Park not far from there, called Monarto, which sounds interesting from what I have read on some brochures,” I replied.

Saturday was awesome according to the boys, as we saw lions, zebras, giraffe’s, ostriches, meerkats and many other animals located on a large property, where all the animals have plenty of space to roam around, and at Murray Bridge, we spent two hours on an original steam paddle boat cruising down the river, called the Oscar W.

The next day after checking out of the hotel, we left our luggage there while we did some winter casual clothes and shoes shopping for Reid, for weekends at school, and along with his new school uniforms, we had to buy an additional suitcase to fit everything into it.

After a brunch back at the hotel, I helped Reid to put all his new clothes into the new suitcase, and once we were all packed up the hotel organised a cab for us. I had asked the driver to take us to the Parklands Terminal, which caught Toby and Reid by surprise, and less than five minutes later we arrived at a train station.

After unloading our luggage and the taxi leaving, Reid took a closer look at the long grey train that was at the station, and it was then that he saw the logo of a camel on the side. “We are taking the Ghan train to Darwin?” Reid asked sounding quite surprised.

“Yes we are, I thought it would be nice to take a slow trip home, and just relax for nearly three days of train travel,” I replied smiling.

“Wow, we have never been on a long distance train trip before,” Toby responded. “Well you are now, you boys are sharing a twin cabin, and I have a cabin at the other end of the same car, with us having platinum service cabins,” I said to the boys.

“Platinum, what does that mean?” Toby asked, “It means that we will get the best service available, bigger cabins and private bathrooms,” I replied. “Sounds great, I can hardly wait for this short adventure,” Reid said smiling, and Toby agreed with him.

When the train left Adelaide’s terminal, we were surprised that they were serving lunch for us straight after departure, so we headed to the lounge car first, and one of the stewards asked for our names and cabin numbers, which I gave, and we were escorted to the dining car next door.

It looked like a very fancy restaurant, with a centre aisle and a dining table on each side, with comfortable seats for two, and Toby and I sat together, while Uncle James sat opposite, so we could still chat to each other.

The meal we had was huge, and the boys stated that they felt like stuffed pigs by the end of lunch. “Well that was very nice, did you enjoy it boys?” I asked us as we headed back to the lounge car. “I am a bit too full, I think I won’t be eating much for dinner,” Reid responded, “Me too, I can hardly walk,” Toby added.

As we sat in the lounge, we met some of the other Platinum passengers, as we travelled through the country side, and it was amazing to see the landscape change so quickly, from the outer suburbs too green paddocks with plenty of trees, as the train continued northwards.

As we saw the Flinders Ranges in the background, nightfall approached, as we headed back to our cabins to shower and change for dinner. This time, Toby and Reid just had soup and a bread roll for dinner, as they were not very hungry, while I enjoyed a full meal.

When we returned to our cabins, the boys found that the lounge had been turned into a bed, and the upper bunk bed had been lowered and a ladder at the end for Rid to climb up. I left Toby and Reid chatter for a while, and when I checked on them an hour later, they had both fallen asleep by the train’s rocking.

The following morning, we woke to see a totally different view outside, with low shrubs and plenty of red dirt, and we noticed that the train had stopped, so I quickly dressed and headed to the boys cabin, woke them up, and told them to get dressed quickly.

After enjoying a cup of tea, to warm us up and chatting to other passengers, we went for a brief stroll outside, at the locality of Marla, which we learnt is in the far north of South Australia.

Once back on the train and moving again, we headed to the dining room from Brunch, and some more of watching the passing terrain, which was always changing, the further north we headed.

A public announcement, informed us that we had just cross the border into the Northern Territory, and that we would be arriving in Alice Springs for a three-hour stop at approximately 2 pm.

At our stop in Alice Springs, we visited the RFDS Museum, the Women’s Outback Museum, and the Botanical Gardens, that over looks the mostly dry Todd River. Once back onboard the train, we had afternoon tea and we just watched the scenery pass us, always changing the further north we went.

The whole train trip was really enjoyable, with a stop over in Katherine to do a tour of the Katherine Gorge, arriving back in Darwin the following day, and we drove back home. Although it was nice to be back at home again, Reid knew that he would only be home for a few days before he will have to fly down to Adelaide to start the new school term at his new school.

After sorting through all of the new clothes, including the school uniforms, most of it was put through the wash, with three loads needed to be done, and while I was waiting for everything to be washed and dried, I tidied up the living room, and went for a walk check on the boys, who had gone to check on the birds down at the pond.

For the last two days that Reid is home, I spent as much time as possible with him and Toby, and when we travelled to Darwin Airport; we were all in tears as we said farewell to Reid, as his flight was called. When we arrived back home, it was only an hour later before the telephone rang, and Reid informed us that he had arrived at the boarding school without any drama, and that he was getting settled into his room.

As Toby settled back at school in town, I settled into the routine of being the only doctor in 60 kilometres in a straight line, or 109 kilometres by road, which was keeping me fairly busy, and I was wanting to make sure that everyone in the district has access to medical services, so I asked my staff to keep one day free to be able to travel to Belyuen Community and Wagait Beach.

At Belyuen, I arranged for the purchase of a modular building that is 80 square metres, to be placed next to the general store and post office, which has an open plan entry area, two large rooms and a bathroom that will be used from my weekly clinics, and can be used for community meetings on other days.

I did the same in Wagait Beach, also placing the modular building near the supermarket, and I had my nurse travel with me to assist with anything minor that she was able to cope with, and we made a great team. The work on the new yacht club was getting close to completion, and most of the permanent locals were looking forward to using the facilities, since many of them have motor yachts and some have sailing yachts, with most of the permanent bays already booked.

At a recent community council meeting, it was decided to put a stop to any further expansion of land for sale, as there are already plenty of people coming to the locality, often out doing the number of permanent residents, which put a lot of strain on the facilities that we have in the community.

All current vacant land for sale that is less than 15% cleared will be made into local nature reserve land, all properties that are more than 16% but less than 49% cleared but does not have a building of any kind will be acquired by the community council, to be added to community nature reserve and will be rehabilitated.