Travelling Vets - 10. TV Chapter 10

I laid out the idea of Ryley and Langley joining my brother Wyatt and three youngest cousins in attending boarding school in Geraldton, where they would come home on school holidays, with it currently the midyear holidays, which end in a few days, or the boys can stay at home and do their schooling at home by correspondence, and join some junior sports clubs to have social interaction with other kids.

In the end, it was decided that the boys would be home-schooled for the remainder of the year and that we would see how things are going after the summer holidays are nearly over, which the boys were happy about. A few days later, I returned to work again and was soon flat out with a heavy workload, which included resuming duties at Vet on Call at the Quarantine Livestock Station and the Border Station.

Auggie returned to just managing the Vet practice in Kununurra, and doing monthly trips out to cattle stations, at the start of each month, and Marcus would do the same in the middle of the month, as there was now a higher demand for vets to come out to the cattle stations, and with our practice now having three vets with pilots licences, and this kept us extra busy.

After some more discussions, we decided to keep Limestone Station and the Marble Bar Practice, and Mum bought Digger’s Rest Station from us, having managed to sell the three cattle stations in the Victoria River district with a slight profit. In regards to our other clinics, we put them on the market and managed to sell the Derby and Newman Vet practices, at a small loss, which didn’t worry us too much, as we just wanted to concentrate on just one main region.

Jessica continued to manage the Marble Bar practice, and one of us pilots would fly down to drop off veterinary supplies to her once a month. My cousin Samuel was now working at Limestone Station as a stockman, and he was enjoying the challenge of working there, and he would spend one week every three months returning home to Inverway, to help his dad out with some of the workloads at their station, with me providing the flight transport, since there is a 1,510 kilometres distance between the two stations, by road or 1090 kilometres by air.

As I sat down on the verandah, overlooking the river, with the sun setting, my husband and I silently watched the colours of the sky change. “You know, it has been one wonderful adventure since I first met your husband. I look forward to many more adventures with you and your wonderful family. I just want to say thank you for being part of my life, for accepting to be my husband, and for this wonderful journey with you,” Marcus said softly to me, as I gently squeezed his hand and lay my head on his shoulder.

“It is my pleasure husband, and I too look forward to many years of adventures with you… I love you,” I replied, “And I will always love you,” Marcus replied, as we kissed as the last of today’s sunlight slowly sunk into darkness, and a distant rumble of thunder could be heard.

The next morning, while eating a very early breakfast, before the others were awake, Marcus placed an envelope in front of me. “What is this? … It’s addressed to you!” I said in surprise, “Open it and read, see what you think,” Marcus replied. Although we had a very busy day lined up today, I knew this must be something important, so I stopped eating and opened the envelope, pulling out two sheets of paper.

Dr Marcus Sanderson, Veterinary Surgeon, Limestone Veterinary Practice, Kununurra, WA – Dear Sir, having seen you and your husband at work at the Ord Valley Muster a few times, I would like to offer you and your husband a position as travelling Veterinary Officers for the East Coast Rodeo circuit for the remainder of the year, starting from July 1^st. As well as a payment for veterinary services for each rodeo you attend, the association will also cover all costs for your travelling between each rodeo event.

We would very much like you both to join us for part of our season, attending a total of 24 events, starting from July 1^st at Cunnamulla, Queensland and ending at Gunnedah in New South Wales. There will be ten events in Queensland, two events in New South Wales, two events in South Australia, eight events in Victoria and the last two events will be in New South Wales. Most events will have a spacing of 5 to 7 days, but two events in Victoria are only two days apart.

There is a three-week gap over the Christmas period in South Australia, and most are only one-day events, but there are three events that are multiple days. I have included a list of events that we would require you to attend, along with the travel distance between each event by road. We look forward to hearing from you soon…”

“Wow, now that really would make us travelling vets, won’t it? But what about the boys, and Julia, and how on earth are we going to do all of this travelling?” I asked my husband. “Never fear dearest Husband, I have done some very fast research and a few phone calls, and I may have a solution to those problems. Firstly, I think Julia would enjoy sending more time out at Newry, as I noticed that Amanda and Julia get along very well, from what I have been told.

In regards to the boys, I have already spoken to Julia about this, and she would love to spend more time out at Newry as she is totally fine that the boys remain with us, no matter where we go. Regarding transport, I did some online searching for some ideas, and discovered a perfect solution,” Marcus replied, as he retrieved his iPad, and after a few flicks, he passed it over to me.

“A double-deck road coach? Wow! I never expected anything like this,” I commented, as I read all the information first, before going back to look at the photos of the outside and then inside of the Mercedes Benz Coach, and the more I saw, the more I liked it. At 10.7 metres long, 2.5 metres wide, and 4.25 metres high, it also comes with a tri-axel trailer, that is 6.32 metres long, 2.45 metres wide, and 3.3 metres high.

The trailer has a fold-down rear ramp door, that allows for a small vehicle to drive in, plus there is a side door near the front, to allow access to the laundry room, with a washer, dryer, wash sink, an inverter generator, and reverse cycle air-conditioning. The road coach has a large awning to provide plenty of outdoor shelters, with the main door into the coach being in the centre.

Climbing the three steps in, there is the fridge and cupboards on the immediate right, the opposite is the main cupboards and kitchen bench space, with the kitchen sink, oven, and freezer further forward, and the main ensuite is located opposite, that has a full shower, toilet, sink and cupboards.

Forward of the kitchen area, is the air-conditioning system, which can be controlled from numerous locations inside, and has ventilation to outside, with the driver’s seat immediately in front of that. Opposite the Air-Con all the kitchen pantry cupboards, for storing all of the food supplies, and there is an additional passenger seat across from the driver.

Turning back towards the door, just beyond the kitchen bench and main fridge, is the two leather sofa lounges, that can seat four comfortably, with two tables that can be retrieved from the cupboard to allow for dining. Past two smaller storage cupboards, at the very back, is the spiral stairs that lead up to the upper level of this road coach home, where there are five rooms.

Originally there was the master bedroom at the front, three bunk rooms and one office at the back next to the stairs, but recently the front bunk room has been turned into an ensuite bathroom, for the master bedroom. “Well, I guess we better discuss this with the boys and make a family decision about it. Then we will have to discuss it with Auggie too. When do you have to respond?” I said after going through all the information a second time.

“As the letter says, the season starts on July first, so we don’t have that long to decide and we will need to confirm that we are buying the Road Coach, which I have already made a tentative offer on,” Marcus replied, “You were that sure that I would go ahead with this idea?” I asked, “Well, I was hopeful that you would say yes,” Marcus said smiling.

That evening, before dinner, I gathered the family together, and with a phone call to Newry Station, we announced to the family our plans to be travelling Vets for the Rodeo Circuit on the East Coast, from July 1^st this year, through to the end of April next year, starting in Queensland, and ending in Gunnedah, New South Wales, where we would travel through all four mainland east coast states, and that Julia has agreed to move to Newry Station while we are away, as the boys would be coming with us.

“Where will you be living? A caravan?” Mum asked me, “No Amanda, we have something much more luxurious than that, tell them, boys,” Marcus responded, and together Ryley and Langley said, “We are living in a double-decker bus.” There was a period of silence when the boys said this before a heap of questions came flooding in.

“We have already made arrangements with Auggie, he is happy to continue running the business, while we are away, and it will be for those ten months and no more,” I explained. When the call finally ended, we settled to have some dinner, and we continued to discuss our approaching adventure.