Part 3 Farming - Preparing for the big move
Over the next couple of weeks Jim meet with the staff concerned and told them what was going on. Also passports were obtained; well Jim, John and Roger fly out to Australia spend a couple of days in Sydney while they get used to the 16 hour time change, then they are flown by private plane out to the station located up near the Queensland border. Jim is pointing out some of the land and it help to give John an idea of the terrain. We land on a grass strip and meet there by a guy and driven to Jim's home introduced to the house keeper Nancy who advises Jim his guests have the adjoining rooms on the back side so it is cooler.
Once John and Roger get there gear sorted out and a change of clothes they meet up with Jim on the veranda and have a mug of tea. Jim explains how things are run and the says we will take the jeep and I'm going to show you some of the other buildings including our school house and hopefully you will meet some of our employees. Well the tour took in a variety of places; Roger was looking at the machinery endeavoring to get an idea of its condition.
The one thing he did see that repairs had been made and there was some pretty rough welding but that could easily be fixed up. We stopped at a high spot that allowed you to see a full 360o; Jim said see that big cloud of dust over there – that is where they are getting field ready for seeding.
There will be three machines working the field and mostly take 2 – 3 days to complete. John asks how does the crew handle all that dust, Jim smiles and says all machines have an air condition cab with large dust filter on the air intake.
Eventually they get back to the house, Jim says we have an outside dirty shower, the idea being get the worst of the dirt & dust off give your shorts and shirt a good shake and the dust will come out in quite a cloud get your shower and go in to your room bare footed.
Have a further wash if required and change into better shorts and shirt. In the first two weeks at the farm both John and Roger got into the routine and by this time had meet most of the crew everyone was very friendly. John like the idea that the kids all wore Hi-Vis shirts in the same way all the crew did. A few days later Roger said I think you and I should go off somewhere and sit down and talk privately I agree. Look there is a good shady area over there or do you want to go further ask John, that fine by me. Well we had a long and lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of such a move. One big thing is the fact we will be together, we have both done this type of work before. We would need to sell both our trucks back home sort out personal possessions. With regards to clothing we need to find out what the winter temperature are here. I know they get heavy rain so our raingear is a must. Other than that I say let move ahead it's a chance in a life time, we shake hands in agreement; OK we talk to Jim next.
As we get back to the house we see Jim as he came in his truck, Jim can we all go somewhere private sure thing hop in and pulled in under the shade of some trees where cattle were resting.
We told Jim of our decision but we wanted to know what was happening to the present farm manager, oh that easy to answer he wants to retire and is coming up for 68 years of age and his daughter wants him to move to town where they already have ground level suite for him in their own home. His present house is a two bedroom home and one of the ladies comes over and does housekeeping for him since his wife passed away 3 years ago. I will introduce you to him before you go back home.
Question wintertime how cool does it get? Some mornings there is some frost maybe 2 or 3 degrees but the daytime is generally bright and sunny, November is our wet month and can really rain good and at times the roads get flooded.
If you are thinking what clothes to bring, your work gear and anything else you may need. All clothing needs to made of cotton any synthetic will stink in the warmer to hot weather.
Now I will return with you as you will both need work permits until such time you take out Australian Citizenship. Once we get to Sydney we will stay over night and this will allow me to get things rolling with the immigration department for you both.
Well we got back home, application were made for a five year work permit which was granted very promptly. Roger and I went about sorting out what we needed to dispose of the other gear we were advise to you use cardboard packing containers as all our possession would be sent by air freight a few days before our departure. We were to travel light with enough for one change of clothing as we would have to get our possession cleared by customs using the services of a customs broker and the broker would make arrangement, for our gear to be delivered to the farm three days after landing in Australia.
Ken present farm manger had cleared the spare bedroom so that our gear could all go in there. We were living in Jim place for the present. The second full day there was a call to the office that the tow hitch on one of the tractor plough had fractured and would need a welder. Jim was in the office when this call came in, I said have you got a welding truck yes was the answer. OK give me a few minutes to get my coveralls and boots on. Lucky for Roger he had his welding helmet and grabbing that as well they headed for the truck. Roger does a quick check to see what is on the truck and is satisfied. Jim I will drive this beast, as you do not know the way at present.
They get to the breakdown and Roger is looking things over and decides he needs to jack up the trailer and un-hitch. Once that was done he gets the grinder out and grinds all the way around where the cracking has taken place creating a large V-Notch. Then proceeds to weld getting a good root pass first and cleaning off any slag. After about 2 hours everything is back and the tractor is back doing its job. Everything is re stowed and this time Roger is driving back to the office. Once at the office Roger bangs the dirt and dust off himself and says I need a good mug of tea please.
Jim says thank you Roger, in the past something like that has taken a day and half by the time we get someone out here, and as far as I'm concerned we only had just over three hours downtime from the time the radio call came in.
Question Jim how often is that truck used or do the contract welder use there own. Believe or not it has to be at least 2 years since that truck was out, why do you ask. Well I was looking for the radio good point; I will get you a good hand held radio that can be carried on your belt with all our channel plus the police, flying Doctor and the phone exchange.
I asked the farm manager what routines did he have in place for routine servicing of the farm equipment, the answer no real actual routine. Roger asks does the equipment have hour meters; yes to the best of my knowledge the answer is yes thanks for your input you are most welcome.
Therefore, Ken how long have you worked here well I took over after my Dad retired and that was about 30 years ago, wow that is a long time. I am sorry I was not there when you that repair but I am told you did a real good job and what impressed the crew was the fact you ground out as far as you could go the crack and then rebuilt it. I can see you are going to busy for some time as I am sure you will find out.
I could see it was getting close to suppertime and left Ken to wash before supper. Well John and I had lots of discussion about the maintaince side. Therefore, I asked John what about his side of the job; his first comment was I have a lot office work to do because I want down on paper like a flow chart the various jobs that need to be done. I added I want to see what you come with because I need to do a though inspection of the equipment and do the servicing so it is ready for use when actually required.
One thing what office accommodation is there, as I would like to have an adjoining office with yours as I plan to setup equipment records and such like. Who is else is in the office John, just June who does the bookkeeping and payroll and some secretarial work.
Well the time has come for a retirement party to honor Ken and all his years of service; this formed a party outside during the evening when Jim arranged for a large BBQ and lots of beer flowing, well the next morning I believe there were a few sore heads.
Kens daughter was there that night for the party and she said to Jim thank you so much and wishes those taking over the best of luck. The two of them departed the next day; Jim said with spending so much of your life here you would always be welcome to visit.
With Ken's departure John is not making any changes that will upset to crew who all appear to very sincere and careful on what ever job they do. Three months later John has, his flow chart made up, Roger has added the maintenance items to the flow chart. Slowly between them, they got many items up to peak performance resulting in better operation. The crew all seem happy because between them they met with all the equipment operators and explain what and why they doing it.
Some six months later Jim lets John know he is going to visit; his visit was interesting as he claimed our operating cost had gone down and wanted to see for him self what we had done.
The result was a pay rise for both of the brothers, them they are asked have you ever thought of getting a pilots license, they both said no however says Roger in this country I see, it is a very useful tool to help with ones work, good for you Roger says Jim. Jim said let me know if either wish to proceed that way and I will get the require forms etc and find out the where the nearest flight school is located.
Thank you for your efforts and very impressed at what you have be able to achieve, John comments was meet frequently with your crew and keep them informed plus spend some time out in the bush and stay with then using your swag. Jim asks have you been doing that, well we have both have a number of times.
Jim's face is priceless as he grinning from ear to ear – thanks guys; well I'm taking off tomorrow morning and will be visiting the other stations and explain what you have been doing because I know there was sort of apprehension by the managers and there assistants especially with bringing you two out from the Canada to replace Ken on his retirement as he was well respected by the others.
After Jim left both John and Roger talked about getting a flying license, however neither had the money to purchase a light three seated plane, but the farm had two planes both in tip top condition.
We have now been here two years and you must be an Australian Citizen to get a license. Between us we both agreed we must get that dealt with ASAP and it will also remove the temporary work permit we are both working under.
Some time later we got both our Australian Citizenship and pilot's licenses, Jim heard about this and showed up un-announced came and visited complete with several bottle of champagne to celebrate our success. That first evening we had a great meal all done for us at Jim's place, his housekeeper had excelled herself with roast beef, Yorkshire pudding vegetable etc. Everything was well wash down with champagne.
Jim then said neither of you have had any holiday since living here and I know you would both like to be together so I'm arranging for the assistant manager from one of the other station to take over while you are away. He will arrive in about one week's time and then you can take off using the two seated plane to go where ever you wish, so hear are the maps of places where it is easy to land and the distances plus where fuel stops are located. The plane has a radio covering all channels that you will plus all our different farm offices. Thank you so much we will both look forward to this and we both gave Jim a big hug, take a month off.
About five days later Gavin showed up and was very interested in what we had done. Then a few days later we had got our gear together and loaded on the plane we took off into the unknown.