Andrew's Outback Love: Outback Australia Series, #1

By Susan Horsnell

Dr. Andrew Lowman is an Australian Eye Specialist who has a passion for restoring sight to those who would otherwise endure life with poor eyesight or blindness.

Medical facilities are not easily accessed in the wide-open spaces and isolation of the outback where the air is hot, flies are plenty, and life is tough for those on the land.

Thanks to the Flying Doctor Service, Andrew and his team are flown in to a cattle station near Bourke, NSW, where they conduct a regular clinic for the Aboriginals and others on the land in the area.

Their time is divided between two stations and the town of Bourke itself.

They follow this routine every second week, giving the outback a service it wouldn't otherwise receive.

Become a part of the outback – the land, they call home.

A land as beautiful as it is harsh.

A land which captures the hearts of all those who live on her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lipstick Publishing
• Release date: Sep 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223575054

Susan Horsnell

I’m an Australian author who lives in Queensland when not travelling and I write in a variety of Romantic sub-genres, including Western,  Historical, Gay, Mafia, and Contemporary Romance.  I have published over 60 books and novellas, many of which feature strong, independent heroines and rugged, alpha male heroes. Some of my popular series include the Outback Australia series and The Carter Brothers series. My books are known for their well-researched historical details, vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape and real life experiences. My work has garnered praise from readers and critics alike, and I have been a Finalist in both the Rone Awards and Laramie Awards as well as being a multiple times International Bestselling Author and USA Today Bestselling Author. If you're interested in learning more about my books:  Linktree https://linktr.ee/SusanHorsnell   

Book preview

Contents

Contents

Copyright

Prologue Notes

Information

The Royal Flying Doctor Service

Disclaimer

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

About the Author

Author of Amazon No 1 Best Sellers in 2018:

Matt—Book 1 in The Carter Brothers Series

Clay—Book 3 in The Carter Brothers Series

Amazon No 1 Best Seller in February 2019

Andrew’s Outback Love—Book 1 in The Outback Australia Series

Amazon No 1 Best Seller in July 2019

Ruby’s Outback Love—Book 2 in The Outback Australia Series

Amazon No 1 Best Seller in May 2019

Eight Letters

Will—Book 2 in The Carter Brothers Series

Amazon Best Seller in April 2020

Cora: Bride of South Dakota

Amazon Best Seller in March 2023

It Was Meant To Be

ANDREW’S OUTBACK LOVE

OUTBACK AUSTRALIA ROMANCE

BOOK 1

Copyright © 2019 by Susan Horsnell

The right of Susan Horsnell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical or mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people are coincidental.

Written by Susan Horsnell

Edited: Redline Editing

Proofread: Leanne Rogers

Published by: Lipstick Publishing

A close-up of a lipstick Description automatically generated

Prologue Notes

This book is purely fictional, a product of the author’s imagination and is written for the reader’s enjoyment. It is not intended to be used for Historical or Practical education.

Some characters, although real have been given fictional names, the towns and businesses mentioned are real and information has been sourced from notes after my visits. At the time of my visit, the information was accurate.

I would like to thank the people and businesses of Bourke NSW.

This book is written in Australian English.

Recommended Reading Order for Outback Australia Stories:

Andrew’s Outback Love

Ruby’s Outback Love

Information

The language in this book is Australian and spelling, Australian-English.

Station is the Australian equivalent of an American Ranch.

Mozzies is Australian slang for Mosquito.

Biscuits are known as cookies in the US.

Ngemba and Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) are Aboriginal tribes local to the area around Bourke. More information can be found at—https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1943.tb00171.x

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamilaraay

Thank you to the NSW Aboriginal Service for their guidance.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service

The Royal Flying Doctor Service—a factual service which the FDS service is modelled on throughout the story, provides an invaluable service for the people of Outback Australia.

They not only deal with emergencies but also run clinics and provide services which would otherwise not be available to isolated communities.

2018 was a celebration of 90 years of service to this country.

For more on the history and origins of this amazing service goto:

https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/about-the-rfds/history/

The use of FDS in this story involves dramatization for the purpose of the story and should not be considered factual. The FDS characters mentioned are a figment of the author’s imagination.

Disclaimer

Please note:

This story is a figment of the author’s imagination.

Some places are fictional, some are real.

Vision of Light Humanitarian Organization is fictional.

FDS—Is a fictional service based on the Royal Flying Doctor Service—a real organization.

All characters and events, outback stations and locations are fictional and do not represent anyone living or dead.

Medical procedures are in the main—factual.

Chapter One

ANDREW

One Week Earlier

Dubbo, NSW

I hurried across the tarmac to the offices of the Flying Doctor Service and when I pushed the door open and entered the building, a welcome gust of cold air greeted me. I figured it must have been at least a thousand degrees in the shade outside.

Rachel, one of the radio operators, glanced up from her computer and smiled before handing me the bug spray to kill off the zillion flies which had hitched a lift into the building via my back. I sprayed it around liberally, causing a couple of other staff members to let out a curse and start coughing. The looks directed my way were enough to melt icebergs.

What? I spun around.

Ignore them, Andrew, we all know it’s non-allergenic. It doesn’t even have an odour. They do it just to get under your skin. You’ve been coming here long enough to know it.

I know, Rachel, but I still hate the thought that one of them might be affected by it even if we aren’t. Team here?

In the back enjoying a cold drink.

Who’s our pilot?

James.

I nodded before striding towards the back room which was in fact a kitchen. When I entered I found James Rigon—a fully qualified doctor in emergency medicine, paramedic, and pilot with the FDS. The other occupants were Cameron O’Brien who was a notorious playboy but an extremely talented and serious anesthetist, and nurse Allison Sykes - who we were to lose in a week’s time due to her advancing pregnancy.

My favorite person on Earth – aboriginal nurse, Ruby Waters would meet us at the sight of our first stop. Ruby was as round as she was high with a belly laugh I couldn’t get enough of. She didn’t know her age. It wasn’t important to the people she’d grown up with in a settlement on the outskirts of Bourke. We figured she was probably in her early thirties, but it was anyone’s guess. Her chestnut-colored skin was flawless, her eyes as bright as the night stars shining in the outback sky. She wasn’t married, and from the way she spoke—had no intentions of ever doing so. All men were wamba (stupid) as far as she was concerned.

Ruby had trained in Sydney to be a Nurse but wasn’t content with just a degree as she put it. She’d gone on to obtain a Doctorate with Honors. When her training was done, she’d turned up at the Flying Doctor offices and demanded a job helping ‘her’ people in the outback. I’d been in the office on that day two years ago and instantly taken her on as one of my team. She’d proven invaluable. While Ruby was one to call things as she saw them, her caring, compassionate nature broke down the barriers when patients from an isolated community came to us for the first time. She was able to reassure the indigenous parents, we were there to help their children, not harm them.

I’d only been doing the work for around six months when I met Ruby and had been struggling to break down the walls of suspicion and distrust we’d encountered in the isolated communities. From the first time Ruby joined us, around ten months ago, everything changed. Parents now walked kilometres with their young ones, who were suffering with vision problems, when they heard we would be at a nearby cattle station. We treated babies through to the very old, it didn’t make any difference to me. If they had a vision problem and were living in darkness, my goal was to bring them back into the light.

Together, the four of us had done more eye surgeries and consults than I could count. We’d treated hundreds of eye problems, which if left, would have caused blindness and I felt a deep satisfaction in the work we were doing. It was life changing for the indigenous people and other severely underprivileged children and adults.

I accepted the glass of iced water Allison held out to me and drank rapidly, needing to quench the thirst brought on by the short time in the furnace like heat.

Plane ready? I asked James.

Almost, just finishing the fueling.

He’d barely finished speaking when a maintenance engineer poked his head in the door and announced our aircraft was ready. As Allison passed me to leave the kitchen, she handed me a file. I’d catch up on the patient information on the plane trip out to Barrawon Station, an enormous cattle property around three hours southeast of Bourke. I smiled at the thought of seeing Ruby when we arrived.

First up after our arrival would be surgeries, which had been scheduled two weeks before, followed by a clinic and scheduling of surgeries for the week after next. The routine didn’t change much. We’d all stay the night and catch up on the local gossip with Viv, Gary, and their station hands, over a barbeque. The following day, we’d be taken to Bourke via two four-wheel drive vehicles. James, who’d also stay the night, would return to Dubbo with the plane.

We’d spend two days in Bourke where I’d have a mix of post-op consults, new patients, and surgeries. I’d also catch up with Dr. Barry Bright who, together with Ruby—his Nurse Manager, took care of my patients in town while I was gone. Two more four-wheel drive vehicles would then transport us to Tarara Station, which ran both cattle and emus, around four hours or so northeast of Bourke. One of the pilots would meet us at the station on Thursday afternoon, spend the night and fly us back to Dubbo as soon as post-op consults were done on Friday. I’d spend the weekend around the town before returning to Sydney where I’d perform eye surgery the following week.

Ruby would normally be taken back to Bourke by one of the station hands but this week she was returning to Dubbo with us. There was to be a surprise farewell party for Allison on Saturday night and after that, Ruby would be flown back with the team who had a dental clinic in Bourke on Monday.

I had one week in the outback, one week in Sydney rotation. During the time I was away, Cam worked in Dubbo at the hospital while Allison was a member of the FDS. The routine worked well.

I loved the outback. The endless blue skies, star filled nights and the silence of everything but nature. It was where I was meant to be, away from the politics and arguments of medicine in the city. I was passionate about giving eyesight back to those who had lost it and preventing others from losing it because of treatable disease.

I pushed open the door, breathed in a lungful of Dubbo’s stifling hot air and climbed the steps to the King Airplane which the others had already boarded. As I stepped through the door, the propellers kicked into life, and I hurriedly took a seat. James left the cockpit to secure the cabin hatch and ensure we were all strapped in and ready for lift off.

***

I should have been reading the file in my hand, but no matter how many times I came out here, I was still captivated by the Australian outback and watched out the window instead. Cattle and sheep were mere dots on the landscape below. The land still showed signs of green after an unusually wet winter, but with the searing heat which had returned with a vengeance, it wouldn’t last long. Property owners would be forced to bring in feed to sustain their herds.

People out here were bred tough but compassionate. For the most part they worked with the environment, not against it like those who lived in the cities. I knew my future would eventually be out here somewhere which is why I’d had no interest in women. Those in the circles I was forced to occasionally move in were high maintenance, social butterflies. They would be horrified if I even suggested they visit the outback. No, they weren’t the type of women who would happily fit into the lifestyle I had planned. At thirty-six