Chapter 19

Thankfully the day was a bit cooler than the last few. I like it warm but sitting in the dickie seat in the blazing sun is no treat. Our trip to Bairnsdale had left us with a slight case of wind burn, Dom's mum had given us some cream to sooth the burn and to protect us on the return trip.

We were about half the way to Sale when I tapped Dom on the shoulder. "Dom, can we go back and look at that old house?" Dom pulled up and did a 'U' turn and drove back to the house.

"What have you got in mind Tony?" he asked.

"I know it's only early days, but this would be an ideal location for my roadhouse Dom."

The house was needing a good coat of paint and the windows were boarded up. The place was obviously unused, there were bales of hay under the veranda. A small vegetable garden at the back of the house was overgrown and the chook shed had seen better days. We had a bit of a look around and before too long an old ute rattled up.

"What do you young folk think you are doing?" was the not unfriendly question. I walked up to him and introduced myself.

"G'day, I'm Tony Concept, this is my fiancé Jess and my two friends Cheryl and Dominic. We were driving past and I noticed the old house, would I be rude if I asked you about it?"

"Funny way of being nosey" he chuckled, "It belonged to my late parents; they passed away a few years back so it's just been left to deteriorate. A pity really but I don't have the money for the upkeep. I thought perhaps my son might live in it but his interests are not in farming."

I explained my dream of having a roadhouse and thought that this would be an ideal location. It was far enough away from competition but would be a good spot for truckies who didn't like trying to find parking space in towns. There was also the traveller who wanted refreshments en route.

"Your idea seems a bit of a gamble son, do you have any experience in this type of business?"

I gave him a brief rundown on my background and he seemed impressed. "You have apparently put a lot of thought into the idea Tony. There would be a hell of a lot of work to set this place up though, plus a lot of money as well."

"What I had in mind at this stage, was to buy something like this and as funds were available, build on it. I have some money although not enough to start up right away. Seeing the house was probably the first concrete step I've made. The question is, would you consider selling it to me?"

"Hmmm, I would need to give this some thought son, have you got a telephone number I could call you on?" I gave him the camp number and told him I was usually available, if I was out Fred would take the call for me.

We parted company with him promising to call me as soon as he had talked to his family and made a decision.

As to be expected, the talk for the remainder of the trip back to the camp was dominated by the prospects of buying the house. Jess was enthusiastic about the idea, I told her that I had intended to discuss my dream with her and see if she shared my plans.

"I think it's a great idea Tony, like the farmer said though, there would be a hell of a lot of work and expense setting it up."

"True, but you have to start somewhere, I think that the old house would be a good starting point; as I told the farmer, once I had the house I could build on that afterwards. I hope he decides to sell it to me."

"To 'US' Tony, we are a partnership."


"Yes, 'us' Jess, we need to do a lot of talking so we both know where we are going on this."

"I agree with Tony Jess, you both have a lot of things to sort out, for that matter, Dom and I need to have a long talk as well," said Cheryl.

Dom just give a little smile.

...

The following day Doug Henry the farmer gave me a call.

"Tony, I discussed selling the old house with my family, although they think your idea is a good one; they would rather keep the house in the family. Sorry mate, no sale."

"Thanks for your call Doug, I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed, the house seems to be in just the right location. If you do have a change of heart would you let me know; as I said I'm not in any great hurry."

"Right Tony, I'll keep you in mind, but at this stage the family want to keep it."

...

I think Jess was more disappointed than I was after I told her about Doug's phone call. "That's a shame Tony, the house is only going to waste, why couldn't he let it go?"

"Farmers don't see thing like you and I do Jess. Land is the most important thing to them, it's collateral against hard times and every acre is a potential profit maker."

"I just hope he doesn't let it run down too much and then change his mind."

"Ah well, it's early days yet. Anyhow if we bought the place, where would you go to school? I didn't see any schools in that area."

"Yuk, why did you have to bring that up?"

"It's only a few more weeks before school starts Jess, no wife of mine is going to be uneducated and I'm sure Ernie hasn't overlooked it either."

"Yeah, I know, it's going to be a bit hard going into a school where I don't know anyone."

"Like I said about farmers, country kids think a lot differently than townies love. They tend to be a more friendlier than town folk, probably because they have to rely on each other more often."