She checked the tripmeter — approximately ten kilometres until Greenvale — and her turnoff was roughly eight kilometres this side of the little township, so shouldn’t be too far now. She was on the lookout for a white post with six signs on it, one of which said Bilgarra Springs. White station signposts had been popping up randomly once she was a few kilometres out of Charters Towers, a place she wouldn’t mind having a poke around in if she got the chance. There was some lovely old architecture and it had aroused her curiosity.
She had been hoping like mad that the Landcruiser GXL wagon that she had rented wasn’t going to give her any trouble on the trip as her mobile phone had lost signal not too far out of Charters Towers. So far so good, though. She slowed the car as she saw another signpost, quickly trying to check if this was the one that she was looking for. Sure enough, there it was, Bilgarra Springs 11km, second sign from the top. She turned onto the road and zeroed the tripmeter. Eleven kilometres to go. She had already travelled a few thousand but the butterflies started in her stomach as she made her way down the very badly rutted road. Clive had advised her that the station owners had been very adamant that a conventional car wouldn’t cope with the road into the station, especially if it had rained.
The Fairleys had originally offered to collect her from Charters Towers and whilst it was a lovely gesture, Aurora had felt that she needed the escape route that her own car provided. They had then suggested that she make sure that she had a sturdy four wheel drive vehicle to cope with the road to Bilgarra Springs. Apparently September wasn’t the wet season and they hadn’t received much rain, so the road wasn’t too bad, but it still would be impassable to anything except a four wheel drive. She snorted to herself, fat lot of good a four wheel drive was going to do if things got too bad — she didn’t have the foggiest idea how to drive one in an off-road capacity. Up until now she had strictly been a city or main highway driver. They were expecting her for dinner and she hoped that if something happened and she hadn’t arrived by nightfall then they would come looking for her.
Being inexperienced on these roads gave her a bonus in that in going slow she got a much better view of the countryside and any wildlife. Kangaroos and wallabies look so much more attractive in the wild than they do at Taronga Park Zoo, not to mention the birds and the odd lizard or two. Hooting along the highway all you got to see were the dead ones. The live ones that were popping up now were so much better.
Aurora took a mental note — she had just passed the turn off to Springvale Station and the turn off to Bilgarra was the next road on the left about another kilometre and a half further along. The butterflies in her stomach were now having a party. She wiped her sweaty palms on the legs of her jeans. She never had been the most social person, but to have to pull up in a place where she knew nobody, in a situation outside of her element, was twisting her stomach into knots. Who knew, maybe the knots would strangle the butterflies…
The turn off appeared on the left. With a huge sigh she indicated and turned. The fact that she bothered to indicate ripped a self-deprecating snort out of her. Like there was any other driver to care which way she was turning. She guessed old habits died hard. She just hoped that nobody had seen her indicate; she could just imagine the jokes that would give rise to. She was already going to be the brunt of a few no doubt, purely by being the new kid on the block, without fuelling the fire.
She was still thinking that she was a prize idiot when the homestead came into sight. Oh crap, this was it. No backing out now. She quickly checked the clock — 2:13 p.m. She had made good time considering that she had stopped for an early lunch in Charters Towers, although lunch had been more of a delaying tactic than hunger driven.
The homestead was a sprawling white, timber building with a large verandah that went across the front and half-way along both sides of the house. A cluster of other buildings could be seen behind it. In checking out the house her attention hadn’t been on driving, or what was in front of her, and she didn’t notice the pair of blue cattle dog pups until the last moment. They had come bolting around the side of the house as soon as they had heard the car, barking their little heads off. Because her attention had been elsewhere, they well and truly took her by surprise and she hit the brakes hard, partly due to fright and partly due to not being used to dogs flying at the car. Dust flew around as the car skidded sideways in the gravel and then stalled.
Oh shit!
Aurora only ever blushed when seriously embarrassed and this fit the bill. Her face went red in mortification — she had just made herself look like a complete imbecile. Way to go girl. Her heart was beating like mad. She sat very, very still wishing that there was rock nearby that she could quietly slip under. Now she really, really didn’t want to get out of the car.
Through the clearing dust she could see that an older lady had come out onto the verandah. A young woman and two youngish looking girls were hovering in the doorway. She fought the urge to drop her head onto her hands on the steering wheel. This just kept getting better and better: not one, but four people to witness her humiliating entrance. The older lady was making her way down the steps over to where Aurora was still sitting in the car.
Aurora’s heartbeat was starting to slow after sky rocketing from the adrenalin rush as a result of the fright caused by the dogs. There was no other option; the woman was just about up to the car. She had to get out and face these people, no matter that she would have given her right arm to hide. She took a deep breath, opened the door and swung her legs out. The style of her arrival may not have gone to plan, but she could at least pretend that she had meant to come to a screeching halt. Didn’t they say that attitude was everything — pretend that you owned the room and suddenly you would…
The minute that her feet touched the ground and she stood up the two rogue puppies that had flown at the car raced from between the old woman’s legs. The slightly larger one attached itself to the leg of her jeans and started playing tug of war, complete with sound effects. The second puppy soon joined in the game. Aurora was too stunned to react. The woman stepped forward, extended her hand towards Aurora and at the same time gently used her foot to shove the puppies out of the road.
‘Tumble, NO! Rough, NO!’ came out in a short, sharp and not to be messed with manner. Aurora decided in that split second that if she were the puppies she would run for the hills. Come to think of it, the run for the hills option was mighty appealing at this particular point in time. Instead, she smiled, extended her hand and grasped the other woman’s hand, whose grip was sure and firm. No floppy fish handshakes from this woman — her handshake matched the no-nonsense attitude to the puppies. Aurora met the other woman’s eyes and got a genuinely friendly smile in return.
‘You must be Aurora. I’m Fiona Fairley. Welcome to Bilgarra Springs. My apologies for Rough and Tumble,’ she said, her hand making a vague gesture in the direction of the two puppies, ‘Everything and everyone is fair game to them at the moment.’ The voice delivering this was much gentler than that which had delivered the rebuke to the now sitting puppies.
Even with the warm welcome, Aurora was still feeling a little hesitant.
‘Thank you. It’s lovely to meet you Fiona,’ she replied, mentally noting that she must sound completely pathetic. She couldn’t even manage to come out with something even remotely original as a greeting. For a woman who had delivered academic papers to professors from Oxford, why was she faltering now? She was really not off to a very good start. Why had all that hard earned self-confidence decided to desert her all of a sudden?
Fiona took a step closer to Aurora and briefly laid a hand on her shoulder, looking her squarely in the eye.
‘I was really sorry to hear about your grandmother. She was a lovely lady.’
Fiona’s gaze slipped to some point in the distance before she continued.
‘We grew quite close while she was here and we made sure that we kept in contact over the years. I will certainly miss her.’
Fi
ona’s voice faltered ever so slightly at the end. Aurora was stunned by the news that her grandmother had spent time here, miles away from her home. She realised that Gran must have known the people, but she had assumed that they had met in Sydney. She never for an instant thought that her grandmother had been here. Gran had never, ever mentioned Bilgarra Springs, or the Fairleys.
Her mind was positively whirring, questions and thoughts tumbling haphazardly over one another. She was trying to think of a polite way to ask about Gran’s visit when Fiona’s eyes slid back to Aurora’s.
‘Come inside and I will introduce you to my grand-daughter-in-law and great-grand-daughters. The rest of the crew won’t be back until tomorrow, all going well.’
With that, Fiona made her way back to the steps leading onto the verandah. She moved with an assurance that let everyone know, including the puppies circling her feet, that she knew exactly who she was, the parameters of her role and that it best just be accepted. Aurora couldn’t help but admire that in a lady who had to be over eighty years old. No sweet, little, knitting granny this one. Both blue heelers fell in behind her. Aurora hesitated only slightly before following, both puppies doing crazy eights around the two women. Aurora was glad she hadn’t blurted out any questions about Gran’s visit — she had a whole month to ask whatever she wanted to know, and there would no doubt be other chances when the timing was better.
As Fiona, the puppies and Aurora reached the top of the steps the others emerged from the doorway. All three of them were smiling, but the two younger girls were still sort of hanging back, seeming more uneasy due to shyness than scared as such.
Fiona paused on the verandah and turned to address Aurora.
‘This is my grand-daughter-in-law Trudy, and my great-grand-daughters Kate and Harriet.’
Trudy spoke first, very quietly.
‘Hello. Glad you had a safe trip.’
Trudy gently elbowed both of the younger girls who chorused hello in unison.
Aurora wasn’t too sure whether to extend her hand to Trudy or not, and Trudy’s hands were behind her back, so she did the only thing that she could do and plastered a big smile on her face and addressed Trudy and the girls in the most friendly way she was capable of.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
Kate’s and Harriet’s eyes were the size of saucers and they looked like they would have bolted, but for the dressing down that they would no doubt receive from their great-grandmother if they behaved in such a rude manner.
Fiona turned to face Aurora again.
‘Come into the kitchen and I will make us a cuppa. You can tell me how your journey went.’
She then moved past Trudy, Kate and Harriet as she disappeared down the hallway. Trudy started to follow Fiona, and Kate and Harriet flattened themselves along the hall wall as Aurora made her way through the doorway to follow the other women. Fiona spoke without turning around.
‘Kate, Harriet, Aurora isn’t going to bite. And even if she was inclined to, you’re not babies anymore. Deal with it. ‘
Trudy didn’t say anything as both girls scurried out the front door and took off down the steps, disappearing from sight very rapidly. The puppies had been sprawled on their stomachs out on the verandah, but quickly scrambled to their feet and bolted after the girls.
Aurora had no idea what to make of the girls’ behaviour. Her experience with children was incredibly limited. By the time the students got to her at university they were practically grown up, and being the only child of both an only child and an orphan meant there were no cousins either. She had nothing to gauge the girls’ behaviour against. She quickly decided to put it in the too hard basket. She figured at the moment she had enough to worry about without stressing over two little girls.
She couldn’t help but glance into the rooms she passed as they made their way along the hallway. The house was well built with beautiful leadlight panels above the stained, oak doors and the rooms seemed to be full of late nineteenth or early twentieth century timber furniture. Everywhere that she looked there was timber. Tongue and groove walls stained a light golden colour, door architraves and skirting boards in a dark honey stain and timber floors where the colours varied from almost white, through the brown hues to nearly black. Aurora thought that it all worked surprisingly well for so much timber. In her own unit everything, absolutely everything, was white, which also worked in its own minimalist way.
At the very end of the hallway she walked into a kitchen that spread right across the back of the house. She paused in the doorway and looked around. There was a very large, old fashioned dresser painted white with glass panels and plate racks against one wall. The other wall held a large wood stove with a bench on either side with heavily scarred wooden tops. The pots and pans hung over the stove from hooks dangling from a large brass circle. At a right angle to one of the benches and following the side wall was another bench with a sink set in the middle, right under the windows that looked out onto acres and acres of long, yellow grass and trees. To Aurora who was used to a built-up city environment, the view from the window was amazing.
There was a huge, timber table with lovely turned legs and matching chairs in the middle of the room that would easily sit ten. A somewhat faded rug sat under the table. The colours were quite muted now, but it would have been stunning when it was new. The room was welcoming in a very homely way. The absence of curtains at the openings or the usual security screens on the doors and windows caught her attention. She felt a little foolish for even thinking about them — the closest neighbours were probably at least ten kilometres away. Chances of getting robbed or mugged out here she guessed were pretty slim.
Trudy had gone over and sat down on the farthest corner of the table. Fiona was in front of the stove lifting off a kettle and pouring the water into the teapot.
‘Aurora, would you mind getting three cups and saucers from the dresser and three bread and butter plates too please. Trudy would you mind grabbing the fruit cake, butter and the milk out of the fridge.’
Fiona quickly flicked a tablecloth over one end of the table. Trudy quietly got out of the chair and retrieved the fruit cake, butter and milk, gently placing them before sitting again and beginning to slice the cake.
Aurora did two trips to get the crockery. She hovered nervously after setting them down on the cloth, peering closely at them. She was nearly certain that she recognised the design as Royal Doulton, but she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure and it would be incredibly rude to turn a piece of it over to check after only being here for five minutes. She was already as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof without worrying about not breaking the crockery too.
Fiona placed the teapot and sugar bowl in the centre of the table cloth. She sat herself down in one of the end chairs, motioning for Aurora to take a seat. Aurora pulled out the closest chair and sat. Fiona then flashed Aurora a smile to set her at ease flicked her hand towards everything laid out on the table.
‘Help yourself.’
Trudy smiled as she passed the plate full of sliced cake over to Aurora, who flashed her a smile back before speaking.
‘Thank you.’
She took a bite. It was good. It was really, really good.
‘Wow,’ was about the best that she could get out, and that came out unexpectedly with a mouth full of cake.
Fiona had a quiet chuckle.
‘That recipe has been handed down from generation to generation on my mother’s side. Nobody actually knows how old the recipe is, or where it originally came from, but it came out from Scotland with great-great-great grandma McNaughton in the mid eighteen hundreds. Pretty good, huh?’
There was a genuine warmth in the older woman’s eyes. She was the sort of person that you couldn’t help but like — the sort who put you at ease without really trying to do so. Fiona organised herself a cup of tea, took a slice of cake and settled back against the chair.
‘So, tell us about your trip.’
Aurora fini
shed stirring her tea and placed the teaspoon on the side of the saucer before looking up at the other women.
‘Not too much to tell really. It was quite uneventful. I left Sydney yesterday afternoon. Flew from there to Townsville, collected the car from the airport after I landed, stayed there overnight at a nice little motel on Bowen Road and left this morning, had an early lunch in Charters Towers and here I am.’
She sipped her tea. She would have liked to close her eyes and savour the moment. There was nothing that could beat leaf tea served in good china cups. Fiona reached her hand over and briefly patted Aurora’s free hand.
‘We’re pleased to have you here. You make yourself at home and if you need anything at all, you let me know. We’ll get your stuff out of the car and I’ll show you to your room when we’ve finished here.’
Trudy looked up at Aurora and spoke kindly.
‘I’ve made your bed and left towels for you already. I hope you’ll like your room.’
Trudy smiled a genuine smile that lit up her whole face, making her appear much younger than Aurora had first guessed and Aurora couldn’t help but smile back at her, her gaze taking in both women as she spoke.
‘I appreciate the trouble that you have both gone to. I’m sure it will all be fine. I’m sorry that you will be stuck with me for the next month.’
Aurora’s last statement was delivered with a tiny shrug of helplessness at a situation beyond her control. Fiona replied in what appeared to be her customary straight to the point manner, her hands pushing a few stray, wispy, grey hairs back into place.
Bilgarra Springs Page 3