“Claire, there has to be a more humane way doesnt there?” Tess Silverman-McLeod asked, as the lamb being docked maa-ed innocently.
“Tess, its docking, its neccessary, and also the tails taste so nice” Claire laughed, watching Tess’ horrified face.
“You gunna give us a hand Tess?” Becky laughed from over the fence, picking up another lamb for Claire to dock. Tess shot her a rather sarcastic look before heading back to the homestead.

As she approached the old house, a strange station wagon pulled up in their driveway, and out climbed 2 women, one furiously trying to get phone reception, the other staying silent. Tess smiled, remembering the many times she’d been standing on the bonnet of her car trying to get reception.
“You need to get up high” Tess called out, still smiling. The 2 other women spun around, and Tess walked up to them.
“Tess Silverman, this station belongs to my sister and I”
Bette shook Tess’ hand.
“Bette Porter and Tina Kennard”
“Want to come inside?” Tess was confused by these obvious city Americans. Before they could answer, there came a tense curse from the docking paddock and Jodi came running through.
“tess, you better come quick, Isabell’s gotten loose, she’s heading back to the rest of the sheep”
“*****…sorry, Jodi take Bette and Tina inside…I’ll be back” Tess ran off, Isabell, her favourite alpaca, had gotten attached to her herd of sheep that she hated being apart from them.

“No ***** phone reception!! where the ***** are we?” Bette mused, banging her phone down on the kitchen table. Tina put a hand on her thigh to placate her.
“Sorry Tina” Bette said, her face softening slightly. “I just want to know whats going on at the gallery”
“It’s ok” Tina smiled back. Bette leaned over, and slowly and gently their lips joined.
Theer came a crash and quickly Bette and Tina broke apart, turning to see who made the noise. Jodi was standing in the doorway, after dropping a glass, her face going from shocked to bright red in a matter of seconds.
“Sorry..I umm..disturbed you” Before she could embarras herself futher, Jodi bolted.

“This is it Tina, we’re going back to the last town and finding our way from there” Bette said, standing up, Tina followed her, rather more slowly. As they found their way through the maze of rooms in the Drovers homestead, they found themselves at the opposite house to where they’d entered, and facing the front door. As Bette tried to open it to get through, Tina explored the photo frames on the wall, the picturs of Claire and Jack before he died, pictures of Sirocco, Blaze and Phoenix, most recently, pictures of Claire and Tess. As she explored through the life of the McLeod clan, Bette had a strong argument with the extremly stubborn door. When she finally managed to get the door open, a cascade of cobwebs and dust drifted down onto her and Tina.
Tess was waiting outside, laughing to herself as Bette battled with the door, reminded of when she first came to Drovers.