Chapter 29

The paint on the inside look smart and fresh, Dom suggested we do the outside next. "We did well with buying the café stuff so there's still enough in the kitty to buy some paint, what do you think?"

"Good idea Dom, let's talk to our designers and see what colour scheme they would like." We caught up with the girls who were up to their elbows scrubbing the tables and chairs.

"We need to talk about painting the outside of the building girls. Would you two get your designer hat's on and come up with a colour scheme?"


"Oh goody, thanks Dom, Jess and I were just discussing the outside and how it looked a bit shabby. I've still got all of the colour charts in my bag so let's take a look at them."

We were poring over the charts when a voice called out. "Can I talk to the owner please?"

I looked up and told him to come in, "We are the joint owners. How can we help you?"

"Good day, I'm Bob Brown, I work as a rep for Golden Fleece, I was passing and noticed you were setting up as some sort of food outlet."

"Yes, that's right Bob, we are opening a roadhouse."

"Good, have you considered selling petrol once you get going?"

"Yes, we were hoping to attract one of the oil companies."

"OK, you have just attracted Golden Fleece, we are keen to have a presence in this area and I think your roadhouse would be the ideal place. Golden Fleece would set you up with tanks and pumps, we would retain ownership of these as long as you sold our product. We would supply the first fill on credit which you could pay off over a period of six months. How does that sound to you?"

"That sounds great Bob, we would need to look at your contract agreement before we committed ourselves but I'm sure we would agree."

"That's good Dom, I'll get the secretary to send out our agreement form and we can take it from there."

We talked a little longer and then he took off. Things were moving fast.

When we departed for our last week at the camp, Cheryl and Jean were arranging to go into Bairnsdale and purchase the paint for the outside. Seeing as how we were becoming a Golden Fleece outlet the predominant colour choice was a golden yellow with a royal blue trim.

It was a slow week at the camp, we were leaving a lot of good friends behind, Jess was particularly sad as they had treated her like their kid sister. We extended an open invitation to visit whenever they were in the area, which they said they would do.

Paul had everything under control, he fitted in well with the boys, he also could speak several languages which helped a lot. All of my contacts spoke well of him, so although it was sad to be leaving I was happy that I wasn't letting down my friends.

Jess and I decided to take a run over to the orphanage and bring the folk there up to date with our progress. Sister Maria was very happy for us and said she would drop by from time to time. Mrs Cooper and Mrs Andrews wished us both well and said they would also drop in and see us.

Friday was finally here, we packed the last of our belongings and headed off for 'Home'. Before we left Wally took me aside.

"The solicitor has drawn up all the paperwork for you to sign Tony, I don't know if you thought about it, but Fred's car is still in the local garage, they finished the repairs and it's just sitting there. You had better let them know what to do with it. Jesus, I'd completely forgotten about his car, how the hell am I going to drive two cars over to Bairnsdale?

I dropped into the garage and discussed the car, they would hold it for me until I could collect it. They were aware of Fred's death and expected a delay in picking it up.

When we finally got to the Sundowner Jess had worked out a way to collect the car, "Cheryl will want to go home some time soon, so if Dom drives her there she can pick up Fred's car and bring it back, problem solved."

Yep, like I said someone in the family has brains.

The paint work glistened, it made the place look a lot bigger, and certainly a lot fresher, again Ernie and Jean had done a great job. Cheryl hadn't been idle while we were gone either, she had been making all the little womanly touches that made the place look homey. It wouldn't be long before we opened the doors for business.

We looked at the contract details from Golden Fleece and agreed that we should accept their offer, we reasoned that if petrol was available the travellers would probably want to buy food as well, also vis versa. I rang Bob Brown and told him we would go ahead with his offer.

One week later Golden Fleece was installing the tanks and pumps, a few days later we had a big golden Marino sheep sign sitting on a pole outside. We were ready to open.

I gave Alan Prescott a call and told him we were just about ready to open our doors for business, we would like him to come and inspect our premises. He arranged to have himself and the health inspector here at two o'clock.

Five to two and they arrived, Jess made us all a cup of tea and we talked about our progress. Jack Bell, the health inspector was continually looking around the dining room.

"If the rest of the place is up to this standard I won't have any problem passing inspection. I think from what I see, you know what you are about."

"Thanks Jack, I think we have to thank Ernie and Jean for most of the good work, they've been a Godsend to us."

We finished our tea and did the inspection tour, Alan was interested in the electrical installations. "The sparky suggested we rewire the whole place Alan, most of the old stuff was single wire in metal conduits, he said it would eventually give us problems so we went ahead and did a full rewire."