quokka

All errors fixed

Lol.... Rubbing my sore backside

You will have to wait for the next book...

“You know what we could do with here, is the Bridge model of Ten Fold, to create a wharf for boats to get ashore,” I commented to Uncle Nat who was arranging the placing of the Desalination Plant and Waste Treatment plant. “Already thought of that, I had ordered one of them too, but it was delayed getting to Australia, so it missed the boat, so to speak, but I will arrange for it to be transported here as soon as possible. “You have chosen a good site here nephew, those rocks out there in the bay will make a perfect anchor point for the bridge, when it is opened up, and once secured even the Investigator should be able to be moored to it,” Uncle Nat said to me. “That would be good, I like the extra surprise that you gave us up top Uncle, they will save a lot of time with travelling to and from the two locations. We have put down star picket markers along the best area for a track, which will not be too damaging to the ground, and it is just over two kilometres long,” Aaron said. “Are you ready to start opening up all of the buildings?” Uncle Nat asked me, and I just smiled and nodded yes, as I walked over to the first building, and began the opening sequence. Once it was fully open, I put the locking pins into place, before walking over to the CSIRO work building, and began to open that one up, followed by their accommodation building, which are about sixty metres south of the main buildings. Once the CSIRO buildings were locked into place, they began unpacking their furniture and supplies containers, and putting everything into place, while I continued with opening up the other container buildings, and Uncle Nat soon had his staff getting the buildings furnished and ready for work. While this was happening, Aaron and I walked back up to the top of the hill, following the now marked track, and we opened up the Tree House, before beginning to get all the furniture and white goods installed, and getting settled into our shared bedroom, with Uncle Nat having the other bedroom to himself. During the first week, Aaron and I spent a lot of time hiking around different parts of the island, which was quite challenging at times. Meanwhile the RV Investigator was still anchored off the coast, with the research teams base on the ship making daily trips to different parts of the island as well, and after a week, the ship set sail for an unknown destination. I was keeping in contact with the lads, and especially with Jack at the project office, sending him photos of the different places that we were exploring, and once a week, Aaron would take some video footage of one of our daily hikes, to check out all of the penguins and seal lions. As Christmas came closer, I felt a little isolated, not being with my friends, and being so far away from mainland Australia, and when Aaron noticed this he would make a big effort to cheer me up. Christmas day was held in the joint facility, with everyone from both camps sitting around the big table to enjoy a Christmas lunch, and we were about to sit down to eat, when we heard a large ships horn blasting. It was the Naval ship, and it looked like that it had some more cargo onboard, but after setting anchor in the bay, a boat was launched to bring some people onto the island, and we were shocked to see that it was Will and Chris and both of their parents. “Hey guys, this is a real surprise, welcome to Macquarie Island and Merry Christmas,” I said in a surprised voice before saying hello to Dr & Rev Harding, and Mr and Mrs Hammond, and once Uncle Nat had said hello to everyone, he announced that Christmas lunch was about to be served. “You knew they were coming?” I asked Uncle Nat, “I did, I noticed that you were getting a little homesick, so I arranged for them to come and spend a few days with us,” Uncle Nat replied. Christmas ended up being a lot better than I had expected, pleased to see my good mates again, and over the next few days, Aaron and I showed Will & Chris and their parents around parts of the island. The Ten Fold bridge was on this load of supplies for the island, and I supervised its positioning, and once we were happy with it, and with a small floating platform positioned at the end of where the bridge will end, I opened up the bridge to it’s full length of thirty two metres long. Using a specialised machine, one-metre long steel rods were fired into the rocky outcrops to secure the bridge into place, so that it would not move with any rough weather. Another piece of extra machinery that was offloaded from the ship, was an Australian Naval 30 metre patrol boat, with six crew, that will be permanently based at the island, for defence and fisheries patrol prurposes. As the ships departure fast approached, I was feeling a little disappointed on them leaving, and Uncle Nat suggested that Aaron and I return to the mainland with them. This would give us some time to get settled back in Adelaide, and get prepared for the new year of university studies, of which I am half way through my third year, due to the time I had off recovering from my injuries. I happily agreed to return to the mainland, and Aaron said he didn’t want to be left alone, so he would come back with me, and so we quickly packed up our belongings, and joined the ship the following morning, after saying farewell to Uncle Nat who would be remaining on Macquarie Island for a little longer than originally planned. The five-day journey back to Hobart was uneventful, with the ship arriving in the early afternoon. Uncle Nat had booked us all into a hotel for overnight, as our flight would not be until the next day, which gave us the rest of the afternoon to explore a bit of the capital of Tasmania, and do a little bit of shopping. With a two hour stopover in Melbourne, we arrived back in Adelaide shortly before 3pm, and with the lads having placed my vehicle in long term parking, Aaron and were able to drive directly to North Haven, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon there, while the lads returned to their homes with their parents. The following day, I was still feeling very unsettled, and with four weeks left till the start of the new semester, I decided to make a trip to Tanzania, to spent some time my family there. I sent and email to Uncle Nat to let him know of my decision, and I received and email back soon after, saying that he thought it would be a good idea. I let Aaron know of my decision, and he said that he had done enough travelling for a while, and that he will be happy to stay at home. After booking the flights to Kilimanjaro, via Johannesburg, I let Jabali know that I was coming for a few weeks visit, and I gave him the flight details, which includes an overnight layover in South Africa. Four days later, I was on my way to Africa, with a flight from Adelaide to Perth being the first stage, and after an overnight layover, I was on the morning flight to Johannesburg, which is very long and tiring. As I was waiting to collect my luggage, I sent a text to Uncle Nat and to Aaron, to let them know that I had arrived in safely to Johannesburg, before collecting my luggage and I headed to the taxi rank. As soon as I said the name of the hotel that I was booked in to stay, all the doors locked, and I was now on high alert, as I knew this was not normal. “Calm now my friend, it is for both of our safety that the doors remain locked till we arrive at the hotel,” the driver said to me. I tried to relax for the twenty-minute drive, but I still remained fully alert, and I wished that I had some sort of weapon to protect myself. I slipped my passport, mobile and some cash into my socks to try and protect my travel documents, and have some money if my wallet is stolen. When I arrived at the airport, I thanked the driver for my safety concern, as I paid him and he drove off to get another fare. As I turned to walk into the hotel a van pulled up beside me, the side door opened and I was pulled inside, before I felt the a bag placed over my head and my hands tied behind me, as the vehicle raced off. Suddenly, I was now caught in some sort of hostage situation, which I was not prepared for, as I tried to stay calm and listen carefully to my surroundings. I had no idea what was going to become of me, all I knew for now was that I would not be checking into the hotel and that I would not be arriving In Tanzania tomorrow afternoon, as planned. I just had to stay calm and see how things pan out, and maybe somewhere and at some time, an opportunity will come when I can escape from this nightmare. The End.

“It is owned by Kilimanjaro Distributions, and is the Hotel model, the CSIRO has two containers that they own, one is a hotel model and the other is the U Box model, both will be part of the research base at Carrick Bay,” Uncle Nat announced. “I see, so what configuration will all of the buildings be in?” I asked. “That is why you are coming to Carrick Bay, since you are the Australian expert to these buildings,” Uncle Nat replied. “I would hardly say I am the expert, but ok, I guess I need to sit down and work out the best options available, are there any other surprises for me to know about?” I asked. “Well yes there is a few, On board here we have a refrigerated container, for food storage, a portable desalination plant, to provide all the fresh water needed for the research facility, as well as two poly tanks to store the water in. We also have a portable waste storage and treatment plant that will treat all liquid waste, which will then be heated so as to evaporate, while the solids are stored in biohazard containers, to be shipped off the island when the next supply ship arrives. We have two wind turbine generators, to provide most of the power supply that is needed, plus we have a containers with furniture for all of the buildings, including two king single beds in each of the bedrooms in the hotel model buildings, giving us sixteen beds. The home and away model already has the four fold down king single bench beds, in both ends, giving another eight beds, three of them at one end will be our sleeping area. The other end will be for the two Defence security personnel and the two Catering staff, who are on the other ship,” Uncle Nat informed to us. “So there will be a total of eight CSIRO researchers staying at the facility?” Aaron asked, “That is correct, they will stay in their hotel container, the other hotel container will consist of Defence support personnel, two communications specialists, two cleaning staff, a paramedic, two electrical and electronics technicians, and a administration assistant,” Uncle Nat said. “Ok, so I am presuming that you are the CO of the facility for the time we are at Carrick Bay?” I asked, “Affirmative on that, there have been a lot of reports of illegal Patagonian Tooth Fish fishing in the region, along with illegal whale hunting, so we will be monitoring it from Carrick Bay,” Uncle Nat said. “Right so upstairs of the Home and Away model will be the Defence operations centre in that case, and that leaves the Twist and Shout model for the Defence work space, and the CSIRO will use their U Box Container for research,” I surmised. “Yes, that sounds about right, with the centre area of the Home and away for our dining and lounge area, for everyone,” Uncle Nat replied. “Does that mean we are spending Christmas on Macquarie Island?” Aaron asked, “Yes, that is correct, the Investigator will collect us in seven weeks time, to take us back to Tasmania, so you boys can get home in time to for the new semester of studies and I have to return to Canberra for work,” Uncle Nat replied. “Wow! That is awesome, we are going to be down on a remote Island for Christmas. Will it get cold down there Uncle Nat?” I asked, “I have bought you some cold weather gear, just in case there is a cold snap while we are down there,” Uncle Nat replied. “Who takes over from you, when we head back to the mainland?” Aaron asked, “The Investigator will be bringing my replacement when it returns to collect us,” Uncle Nat replied. “So the base will be here for just six months?” I asked, “Initially, with the option to extend it for a further six months,” Uncle Nat replied. For the rest of the day, while the ship began the journey southwards, Aaron and I wandered around to get our bearings around the ship, getting lost a number of times and needing to refer to the ships layout. At mealtime, we sat with Uncle Nat and some of the other Army personnel, while the researchers sat in their own group. The following day at lunchtime, we were half way through eating when Uncle Nat stood up, “Can I have everyone’s attention please…?” he said loudly, and with not much response, Aaron let out an ear piercing whistle, which made everyone stop talking. “Thankyou Aaron, my name is Colonel Nathaniel Blackwood, and I will be the base commander for the first seven weeks of this joint expedition. On my left is my nephew Corporal Jacob Blackwood, who is the specialist with all of the Ten Fold container buildings that we will be living and working in,” Uncle Nat said and he looked to me before sitting down, and I stood up. “Good afternoon, I would like to set up a team to discuss the placements of the buildings once we arrive in Carrick Bay, so I would like one of the Defence personnel and two researchers to join me after lunch to have our first meeting, that is all I have to say for now,” I said as I sat down. “Half an hour later, the administration assistant, who is also a Corporal and two scientists sat down in the now cleared dining room and in the middle of the table, was a topographical map of the southern half of the island. We had a lively discussion on location of the base, as there are a number of possible sites, with the biggest site being 160 metres above sea level, and where a one-kilometre J shaped track would need to be created, to provide easy access between the beach in the bay and the base. The other location is at just 80 metres above sea level, and is in a valley, which may cause a few issues with a wind tunnel effect, and a third location is at 280 metres above sea level, with an approximately 2 kilometre long track required to get to it, but it is a more protected area from strong winds. In the end I let the group know that I would suggest the three possible locations and let the Colonel make the final decision, as he has more experience in regards to the logistics of establishing base camps. With that discussion put on hold, the next thing to discuss was the placement of the buildings. It was agreed that the Home and Away building would be the main central building, and the its location should be in the middle of the base site, with the other buildings surrounding it, and the CSIRO representatives said they would like to have their two buildings close together, which everyone was happy to agree too. That left just the Twist and Shout building for the Defence Force, which I decided has to be fairly close to the central building, and the waste plant and desalination plant and pump would be a little lower than the main base camp. After the meeting, I was staring at the map when Uncle Nat made an appearance, “How did it all go?” he asked me and I sighed, “Not as good as I had hoped, there was a lot of discussion about the location, and some felt that Carrick Bay was not the ideal location,” I replied. “Ok, we chose Carrick Bay based on your submission to the Army, but if I remember right you recommended another site,” Uncle Nat said to me, “Yes, Mawson Point at Bauer Bay, which is just 7 ¼ kilometres south-west of the former base location,” I replied. “Ok, get the map for that area, and lets have a look at it, and see if we can get a better outcome,” Uncle Nat said to me, as I walked over to the cupboard where the maps are stored and I retrieved the map for the northern half of the island. We looked at the map closely for a few minutes before Uncle Nat smiled. “I like it, apart from the Historical significance, it is very flat, just above sea level, and it has a bay, even if it isn’t a very protected one, and this area just south of there is slightly higher and a protected area from the winds on two sides,” Uncle Nat said. “Ok, so that is going to be the base site then, will you need to let the other ship know of the change of location?” I asked, “Yes, I will go and see the captain now and get a message sent to the Naval Ship right away,” Uncle Nat said, before leaving the room, while I packed up the maps and put them away. With another four and a half days of sea travel to go, before we arrive at Macquarie Island, Aaron and I kept busy with trying to work out the best positioning of the buildings, now that the location has been finalised, and the CSIRO wanting to be a little farther apart from the main building. Uncle Nat had recommended that the Twist and Shout building be placed at the back of the camp, as a joint recreation facility. With that, all agreed on, I had a few days to relax, and do some more research on what it is like on Macquarie Island. A day out from the island, with news that he Naval ship was approximately twelve hours behind us in arrival time, I received an email from Jabali, which I was a little surprised about. “Hello Brother, we have heard that you are on your way to a remote island in the Southern Ocean, so I gathered a few friends of mine from the village, and have recorded some music to fit in with the video footage I took of you, when we climbed the mountain and had two unexpected visitors. I hope that you enjoy it. Mama Afya says to tell you to be good and take good care of yourselves. Your Brother; and friend always. Jabali.” My eyes were watering a little with emotion, as I remembered that day at the top of Kilimanjaro, a day that will be in my mind for the rest of my life. I opened the video clip and pressed the play button, and soon sweet African music and singing filled my cabin, as I watched the edited video clip of our trip up the mountain, once of the happiest times in my life. I didn’t hear the door open, as my attention was fixed to the computer screen, but when I did, I saw Uncle Nat and Aaron standing at the door smiling. “Did Jabali organise that?” Uncle Nat asked when the video clip ended, and I just nodded yes, as I wiped away some tears with the sleeve of my shirt. “That is an awesome video, we should add it to the Kuishi Project promotional video on the promotions as well as on the website,” Aaron suggested, “I will think about that, but firstly we need to concentrate on getting the new base set up tomorrow,” I replied. While we are together, I have one more small surprise, I ordered a second Tree House Container, which is on the Naval ship, and I thought that we could set it up higher up from the main camp, as our camp and observation base, and that it could be the research base for Kuishi Project. I arranged for the project logo to be put onto it, and it has a its own four little pods, that sit under each corner of the upper deck, and one contains a fresh water storage tank, another has a waste storage tank, and the other two are store rooms, that contain all the furniture to accommodate four people. It will have the same layout as the other Tree House model when you were using it as a temporary home and with the furniture out of the store rooms, one which is refrigerated can be turned on and used to store food supplies, while the other one can be used for just general storage,” Uncle Nat announced. “Wow, that is awesome, does the CSIRO and Defence Force know about this?” Aaron asked, “They only know that there are a total of six main buildings, and they each know that the CSIRO own two and the rest are owned by Kilimanjaro Distributions, on contract,” Uncle Nat replied. After consulting the island maps, we decided on a location, which will be at 224 metres above sea level. Although only 550 metres away in a straight line, getting to the observation base requires a 1.5 kilometre strenuous hike up the mountain to get to it, which we were easily capable of doing. We arrived on the west coast of Macquarie Island just before sunset, and it was an amazing sight, to see so many king penguins, gathered on the rocky shores of the island. I was very much looking forward to stepping onto the island in the morning. “The next morning, Uncle Nat, Aaron and me were on the first boat to the island, with a supply of snacks and water bottle to keep us sustained. Trying to avoid interfering with the penguins as much as possible, we headed inland to where we had estimated to be the new location for our base. When we arrived at the location, we were stunned to see even more penguins, Emperor Penguins this time, plus a few groups of Sea Lions, so we had to go in search of a place where we would not be disturbing the local wildlife, and we hiked northwards along the coast to see if we could find a better location. Just over a steep rise we came to Douglas Bay, were there was only some seals, and no penguins, and there was a good flat area set back near the foot of the hill, as about forty metres above sea level. There was a flat area at the top of the hill, about four hundred metres away; that will be idea for the Kuishi Building, which will be at 230 metres above sea level, and would be just 4 kilometres away from the original base. Uncle Nat radioed back to the Investigator, to let them know of the new location, before doing the same with contacting the Naval ship. Aaron and I decided to go and hike up to the top of the hill to get a good look at the Kuishi site, and Uncle Nat gave us a spare radio, to keep in touch. From the top of the hill, I was able to guide the helicopter ship on where to place each of the containers, with Uncle Nat making sure that there was enough space between them for when they are opened up. When the last container was being lifted off the ship and knowing that it was the Kuishi container, I guided the helicopter up to the top of the hill, to where Aaron and I are standing. The container was placed about fifty metres away from the edge, with the smaller containers placed close by, so they can be moved into place later on. What I didn’t expect, was when I heard Uncle Nat over the radio, guiding the helicopter ship to lift one final container up to the Kuishi Camp. As the helicopter ship returned to the naval ship, I carefully opened the huge two doors, of the ten foot long container, and I gasped when I saw what was inside, two quad bikes, fitted with storage containers on the back for carrying supplies, and on the front of both bikes was the Kuishi logo. Aaron noticed a pile of star pickets and a small heavy hammer laying on the floor of the container, with each picket, with the top section being bright red in colour. “I guess they are to make the track where these bikes can go, which I am guessing will be fairly limited,” I commented. The northern side has a gentler slope down to the bottom, which would make it idea for the bikes, so from the Kuishi container, we began to pace out two hundred and fifty metres in that direction. We hammered in the star pickets to make the trail, as it went down the slope and around the base of the hill to where the new research base is located, with the distance been just over two kilometres.

Interesting idea, I may consider it

“Yes and three days after my end of year exams too,” so we will have just that amount of time to get packed with enough gear for three weeks,” I said. “Where are we spending Christmas?” Aaron asked me. “If all goes well, we will be spending Christmas with Uncle Nat in Canberra, if it doesn’t go well, then we will be spending Christmas on Macquarie Island,” I replied, “Oh ok, that will be interesting,” Aaron said. “We will take our swags with us, as I am not sure how many people there will be based on the island, even though there are only eight single bunk beds in the building, but they may bring their own beds with them, we will just have to wait and see,” I suggested. Aaron and I decided to keep the ‘Home and Away’ container at the project for the Nature Festival, as I wanted it to be in good order for the trip to Macquarie Island, although we didn’t mention that to the other team members, and they didn’t ask why, so we didn’t say anything. For the Nature festival, we had decided on having three different sites for our project displays, the first would be the ‘Moot Hall’ that will be based at Semaphore Beach, for the weekend of October 3rd and 4th, to coincide with the Coastal Dunes Walk in the Sunday morning. The second location will be the ‘Tree House’ that will be based at North Haven, on our vacant property opposite our house, where landscaping work has been underway for a few weeks now, and part of that work includes a concrete pad in the centre of the property. There is a narrow concrete and paving path from the side of the property to the road, which provides access to unload the container into position, as well as for pedestrian access afterwards. The rest of the property has native gardens around three sides of the concrete pad, while on the fourth side, closest to the ocean, there is a full size tennis court with high fencing. After the Nature Festival has ended, the Tree House container will remain in that location, as a permanent display site, with the Project information visible on the outside, as well as from entering the building, while the other container will be packed up, and moved back to the Project Base. The third location will be at the Project Base, where the Twist and Shout container will be opened up as a display for the project in the front car park. With just four days until the Nature Festival begins, the team met on the Wednesday afternoon to finalise the plans for the ten-day festival. Once again, we would be taking it in turns to be at the sites, but this time with three different sites, we would be stretched to the limit, with a three-day overlap on two of the displays, which would be entirely about the Kuishi Project. The day before the Nature Festival began, as I prepared to set off to supervise the placing of the two ten Fold Containers, I asked Jack to limit the number of shows each year to just the two main events in September, plus one country show in August and two country shows in October. I felt that any more than that would have a big effect on our studies of the next three years. With the festival going for ten days, starting on a Sunday, the whole team was able to participate for the first day, and we had all three locations open. During the weekdays of the festival, we only had the displays open for half a day at two locations, as the main festival website refers to our own website for opening time for our displays. The following weekend was our busiest times, with people flocking to see our unusual buildings, and we even had some representatives from the major universities came and check out the display at North Haven, and at Semaphore Beach. With Sunday been the last day of display at Semaphore, the display material was packed up late that afternoon, and loaded into our new trailer, before packing up the container, ready to be collected and transported to the project the next morning. As the team gathered for a BBQ dinner at our home that evening, Aaron and I announced that we would be going away for approximately a month, as two of the project containers have been contracted as a research facility, and that we would be going to supervise its unloading and opening up. We informed the team that the Home & Away and the Twist and Shout containers, would be collected by the Royal Australian Navy in the third week of November, just five weeks from now. A few days later, we would be flying to Hobart to join the CSIRO research ship Investigator, for the trip to supervise the base been established. I suggested to Will and Chris that they may want to house sit our home, while we are away, which will include over Christmas, as we would be spending Christmas with Uncle Nat in Canberra, and the lads happily agreed to this. “Where exactly is this research facility going to be?” Jack asked, “Macquarie Island” I replied smiling, “Really, that is like in the middle of no where,” Chris said sounding surprised, “It is, approximately halfway between Tasmania and the Antarctic mainland, and slightly closer to the southern tip of New Zealand,” I replied. “Holy smokes, that is amazing,” Will said. “Yeah, it is, and I am really looking forward to it, but I have a feeling that it will be really cold down there,” Aaron replied. “Not really, as Carrick Bay on Macquarie Island, in the Southern Hemisphere, is almost at the same level as Edinburgh in the Northern Hemisphere,” I replied. “Well that is good news,” Aaron said smiling, “Yes, that would be good, but with Carrick Bay been on a small narrow island in the middle of the ocean, has a higher wind chill factor, so it will feel a lot colder, compared to Edinburgh, even though it will be early Summer down there,” I said. For the next five weeks, we all worked hard with our college and university studies as well as our work with the project, attending two more country shows, in Clare and Mount Gambier, which were both very successful. After the last one, I was beginning to think that attending country shows and the Royal Show was probably not the best way to promote the Kuishi Project and Kilimanjaro Distributions, but I decided to not say anything just yet, and concentrate on the approaching trip to Macquarie Island. With our bags packed, including our laptop computers, cameras and a satellite phone, we set off for the airport for our trip to Hobart via Melbourne. At the airport as we approached the security screening area, we removed our electronics and communications from our on flight luggage. “Your destination today, please sir?” the security officer asked me, Hobart Tasmania, where we are boarding the RV Investigator,” I replied, “The research ship? Where is it taking you?” the security officer asked, “To an undisclosed location within Australian Territorial waters,” I replied, as I felt that it was none of his business where we are heading. “And you? Are you going to the same location?” he asked my cousin, “Yes, I am travelling with him to the same undisclosed location,” Aaron replied, and I could see that the security officer was not happy and that he was thinking if he should take this matter further, but instead he waved us through. What I was not aware, was that two plain clothes Army officers who had gone through a few moments earlier, was watching the exchange between us and the security officer. When we reached the waiting lounge and sat down to wait for our flight, I had a feeling that we were being watched, and I scanned the area to see who was watching us, but I did not see anything unusual. Moments later, I received a text message from Uncle Nat, “You are been watched for your protection, just relax and enjoy the trip. Uncle Nat,” and I showed the message to Aaron and we both looked to see who was watching, and I soon spotted a smiling young man who nodded to me, and I nodded back, before whispering to Aaron, “We have some Army Guardians travelling with us,” I said. “Why is that?” Aaron asked, “Probably because I am the nephew of an Army Colonel, and that I have a high security clearance, far higher than that security officer back there,” I whispered back, and Aaron smiled at this comment, “Just as well I am on your side then eh!” Aaron whispered. As we boarded our flight for the 1 /12 hour flight, I was surprised when we were directed to the business class seats towards the front of the plane, with Aaron having a window seat and I was sitting next to him with an aisle seat. We placed our carry on bags in the locker directly above our seat, so we can keep an eye on them, and the flight was very uneventful, as we headed to the other terminal to prepare for our second flight, with our main luggage tagged to go right through to Hobart. This time when we approached the security screening, I noticed the two Army Officers being questioned, then allowed to pass, after showing their ID cards. “I think they are DIO officers,” I whispered to Aaron, and when Aaron was about to asked, I added, “DIO means Defence Intelligence Organisation.” Once again, we pulled out our cameras, computers and the sat phone to pass through the screening, and we walked through the screening gate, and directed to step to one side. I saw one of the DIO officers start to approach and I held up a hand to let him know that I could take care of it. “What is it that you are concerned about officer?” I asked casually, “You are been randomly selected for a security sweep, so if you are quite finished and let me do my job, it will soon be over,” the officer replied. I had a scanner go over my whole body for anything metal, then parts of my clothing were checked for any hazardous chemicals. “Sir, I would like to ask you and your fellow traveller to follow me for a body search,” the officer said to me, and I groaned in annoyance. “We took two steps to follow so we were out of the way of other travellers, before we stopped. “I wish to know what grounds and authority do you have to request such a search?” I asked the security officer, “I have the authority as an airport security officer, so I suggest that you do as I ask,” the security officer said. I was getting tired of this situation very quickly, and I could see that the two DIO officers were feeling the same way as they were fidgeting, so I put my hand into my inside jacket pocket, and retrieved my Army ID, which I was glad to have brought with me, along with my passport. “Do you see those digits and letters at the bottom of my Army ID, they tell you that I have a much higher Federal security clearance than you do. So if you don’t want to mess with two very impatient Defence Intelligence Organisation officers standing just over to your left, and with my uncle who is a Colonel at Defence HQ in Canberra, I suggest that you let us pass without hindrance,” I said to the security officer. The officer looked over his shoulder, and saw the two men that I had mentioned standing there impatiently and I could clearly see him swallow, “You can continue with your journey, have a safe flight,” the officer croaked out, and we picked up our bags, and walked towards the two men, who were now grinning. “Hello, no doubt you know who we are, and I am guessing you gentlemen are DIO?” I said to the two men, “Yes Corporal, we know who you are, and yes we are DIO. Well done on putting that idiot down one place,” one of the men replied. “Yes, it felt real good doing that, now all we have to do is get to Hobart without a problem,” I replied, “We won’t be joining you, but you will be met at the airport in Hobart and driven to the harbour, where the RV Investigator is waiting for it’s last two passengers,” the second officer said. Because it was a short flight, we were just given a regular seat, and when we landed in Hobart, we went to collect our luggage, where two uniformed Army personnel were waiting for us. “Corporal Blackwood, welcome to Tasmania, is this your first time here?” the female soldier asked. “Thankyou, and no this is my third visit to Tasmania, but it is a first for my cousin here, who was mostly brought up in the UK, but born in Adelaide,” I replied, and Aaron nodded his head to agree with what I said. When we finally spotted our two swags and two duffle bags, we grabbed them and followed the two soldiers out of the terminal, where the Army vehicle was parked out front, and twenty minutes later, we pulled up outside a large group of buildings with the CSIRO logo on them. “Good luck with your trip,” the male soldier said to us after we gathered our entire luggage and they drove off, while we wondered which building to go into, when we were caught by surprise of Uncle Nat approaching. “Welcome back to Tasmania Jacob, hi Aaron, did you both have a good trip?” he said to us. “Yes, apart from the idiot airport security,” I replied, “Yes, I have been briefed about that, now let us get onboard, as the captain wants to leave as early as possible while we have favourable weather,” Uncle Nat said to us. “You are coming with us?” Aaron asked in shock. “Yes, I have some well overdue holiday leave, so I am taking it now while I can,” Uncle Nat replied, as we followed him into the building in front of us, and out the other side, where we were dockside, with the research vessel moored alongside. “Wow, big ship,” Aaron commented, “That she is, and we have adjoining cabins, with you boys sharing,” Uncle Nat said, “That is fine uncle, I am just looking forward to seeing this very remote island,” I replied, as we followed him along the wharf, and up the gangway to the main deck of the ship. “Mr Hunter, this is my nephew Jacob and his second cousin Aaron, let the captain know that we are all onboard now,” Uncle Nat said to the officer standing at the top of the gangway. “Will do Colonel, I will leave it to you to show the lads their cabin,” the officer replied, before he headed inside, and soon there was a lot of activity on the deck, as we headed up one set of stairs, and then indoors. “If you ever get lost during the voyage, just ask someone, or you will spot these layout maps on the wall, and there is an info kit in your cabin here, that shows you what you have access to during the voyage,” Uncle Nat said to us. “That looked like another Ten Fold container on the aft deck, along with a heap of other containers,” I asked as we looked around our basic but comfortable cabin, which comes with our own bathroom. “You are correct there, when you received the latest two containers, a third was sent to Sydney, so the Army could see them.

On the weekend, Jack took Aaron and me up into the Adelaide Hills, East of the city to spend two days doing a brief survey of animals in the Conservation Park in the Mount Lofty area, and Aaron filmed a lot of it, so we could add it to our promotions videos. As I was leaving the lecture room on campus on Wednesday, I received a text message from Jack. “Two packages have arrived for you. Will you be long before you get here? Jack.” As I dashed down the passageway, I sent a fast reply, “Leaving campus in a moment, see you soon,” and I jumped into my vehicle and set off for the project. When I arrived, I was shocked to see two containers sitting in the front car park, both have the project logo on them, with one looking like it is the expected Twist and Shout design, and the second one is tall and narrow, so I was guessing that it is possibly the K-Case design, also known as Moot Hall. “Did these just get dropped off? Did it include anything else?” I asked Jack who had come outside to meet me in the front car park, where I had parked well away from the two containers. “If you mean the remotes, yes I have them here with me,” Jack replied smiling, as he handed them over. I walked around both of the containers, before shouting out, “All Clear” and Jack replied, “Clear” before I pressed both buttons at the same time, and together the two containers folded out, with the Twist and Shout container taking almost a minute longer to fully open. “Wow, awesome. Are we taking them both to Port Lincoln with us?” Jack said as we headed inside the K-Case designed building, and I put the locking pins into place as I entered. They are so different, but they can still pack up into a small box, it is amazing what Ten Fold have done with these designs,” Jack commented as we looked around both levels of the building, before going into the second building, and checking both levels. “Shall I contact the trucking company in Port Augusta, and get them to collect these two building tomorrow?” Jack asked me, just as Chris arrived in his vehicle with Will travelling with him. “Hey Guys, I see we have two more Ten Fold Buildings, and they look so different from the other one,” Will commented. “Yeah, one is for you to sleep in,” Chris added, which had Jack and I laughing, while poor will looked a little sad, “Sorry mate, it was just a joke, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Chris said to Will, Yeah, we are sorry for laughing too,” I said to Will. While Chris and Will were exploring the new buildings, we headed inside, where Jack made a phone call to the trucking company, and they had a truck in Adelaide now, which was preparing to return to base empty, so they were glad to get our call. Less than an hour later the truck arrived, and the two containers were folded up and loaded onto the trailer, and were soon on it’s way northwards to Port Augusta. I had arranged to take Thursday afternoon and Friday off from University, and I would be travelling with Jack in my car, while Aaron would fly to Port Lincoln on Friday afternoon, once he has completed his college lectures for the day. The following day after lunch, Jack and I were on our way northwards in my project vehicle and we took it in turns to drive, so that we did not get too tired during the journey. We already knew that the trucking company had collected the Ten Fold Container at Marion, and that it along with the other two containers, were already on their way south to Port Lincoln. Although we only planned to have just the one Container display for this show, with the arrival of the other two containers, we contacted the show organisers, and they were able to allocate an open area that would be ideal for our display. I planned to use our usual display container to promote the Kuishi Project, while the other two containers will be used to demonstrate how they open and close, with set times when people can inspect the insides of the display containers. We arrived at the house in Marion with plenty of daylight to spare, so we went and did some snorkelling for an hour, before cooking some dinner on the portable BBQ, and retiring early, as we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We have five hours of driving, plus setting up our display ready for the weekend country show, and collecting Aaron from the airport late in the afternoon. The Port Lincoln show was a big success, with a big crowd gathered each time we did a display of the two different kinds of containers, opening up and closing again, and we did this every two hours, at 9 & 11 am and 1 & 3 pm. We also had alot of people come in to see the Project display, but I think it was more to see what it is like inside a fold up container building. Once again, we camped in our swags upstairs, and the three of us took it in turns to talk about the project to the visitors. When it was time to pack up and head back home, Aaron informed me that he had only a tutorial on Mondays, so he would be happy to travel back to Adelaide with Jack, once the containers had all been packed up and all loaded onto the trucks. Meanwhile I flew back to Adelaide late on Sunday afternoon, so I can attend my lectures at Uni on Monday morning. When we all gathered late on Monday afternoon, for a debrief on how the weekend show went, we read out the report that Jack had made showing approximate numbers of people watch the Ten Fold Buildings demonstration, as well as the number of visitors that cam inside to see the Project display. With there now being a two week break until the next event, which is the Royal Show, we would only be using the gazebos and fold up tables for our display as it was going to be an indoor display, after a late cancellation allowed us to participate in the show. On Monday evening, after Aaron and I had eaten dinner, my phone rang and the caller ID informed me that it was Uncle Nat calling. “Hello boys how did the show at Port Lincoln go?” Uncle Nat asked, “Good, we had the usual display for the project, plus the two containers for displays of the Ten Fold Containers, which attracted a lot of visitors,” I replied. “That is good to hear, now I have been notified that your modular home is ready to be put into place, so you will need to camp at the project for about a week, while it is being installed. I have arranged for the trucking company that you use for transporting the containers, to collect a small shipping container, to store all of your furniture, until the house is in place. That will also be stored at the project, so the front car park will be quite full with the additional container, on top of the others that you already have there, plus the Tree House container that will be moved tomorrow, so you need to pack all of your personal belongings and take them to the project. The trucking company will pack up the furniture and ship it to the project for you, since you both have studies to deal with,” Uncle Nat said to us. “So we now have four Ten Fold Containers for display?” Aaron asked, “That is correct, and I am guessing that with the Nature Festival approaching, that you will probably be using all four of the containers?” Uncle Nat responded. “Not sure yet Uncle, it will stretch the resources very thin if we did that, as we were going to set up a display in the hall of the project too, but I guess we could use one of the containers instead,” I replied. “Well, I will leave that up to you boys to decide, I better sign off now, as it is fairly late here in Canberra. I will keep in touch, bye for now,” Uncle Nat said before ending the call. Quickly we washed up our dishes, and headed to our rooms to pack up our belongings, and loaded most of it into my vehicle, before grabbing a few boxes that we still had and packing all of our linen, kitchenware, laundry and cleaning supplies, before retiring for the night. Over the next week, Aaron and I visited the site of our new home, as we watched it been put into place, but unlike the other buildings, which are on stilts above the water at street level, with a jetty below it, our new home would be a little closer to the water. Sitting on a floating platform, that adjusts in height with the tide, just like the bottom half of the jetty does, with pylons keeping the barge in place, and our vehicle parking space was on the side of the road, with a semi-enclosed carport, once a retaining wall had been built, to stabilise the ground. When Aaron and I arrived at North Haven at lunchtime on Friday, the finishing touches, were been done to the carport, and the builders handed over the keys to our new home. Looking around the house for the first time, we found some unexpected things, like the master suite, located on the lower level, along with a small lounge, laundry, kitchen and dining room, while upstairs has the main living area, a study library, second bedroom and ensuite bathroom, and a wide verandah. Having kept most of our belongings in the vehicle, we began to move everything into our new home, and we did a few trips to and from the project to move everything over, using a borrowed trailer to transport all of our furniture and white goods, instead of having the container transported to the site. We had also managed to get rid of the other small container, that stores all of our office furniture, and promotional display material and supplies, which we stored in the main hall of the project. I was looking at buying a large covered trailer that can transport all of this to every display site, when attending shows, so we do not have to worry about another container to transport, so all we have now are the four - Ten Fold Containers. With just a week remaining before the Royal Show, the team was now spending all of our spare time preparing for this event, as it would attract the highest volume of visitors for us, and it would be all hands on deck for the week ahead of us. Aaron, Will, Chris and myself spending just the bare minimum of time at university and college, so to be able to operate the display at the show. Aaron and Jack took on most of the workload, but I skipped a few tutorial sessions to assist as much as possible, and we were all glad when the week had finally finished, and all of Sunday was spent doing absolutely nothing, and we all gathered at my home in North Haven for a BBQ dinner. During dinner, I received a text message from Uncle Nat. “Check your email. Uncle Nat.” This confused me a little and I frowned, which Aaron noticed. “What is it?’ he asked me, “A cryptic message from Uncle, I need to check my emails,” I replied, as I headed inside to get to my laptop computer. Once I opened the email, I hit the print button before reading the email. “Holy snakebite, this is… wow,” I said to myself, unaware that Aaron was at the doorway of small lounge. “What is it that made you say that cousin?” he said, which made me jump a little. “Boys, as the legal owners of Kilimanjaro Distributions, I am happy to announce that you have received your first contract, to provide facilities for a period of six months for a joint research project between the CSIRO and the Australian Army, to be based on Macquarie Island. Congratulations, regards Uncle Nat,” I read aloud to Aaron, who whistled in surprise. “Wow, that is amazing, congratulations, but what did he mean by legal owners as in plural,” Aaron asked me, and I smiled, “because cousin of mine, you are joint owner along with me, as in equal partners,” I replied, “Wow; now I didn’t expect that, thanks. So what now and where the heck is this Macquarie Island?” Aaron responded. I chuckled at this, “Macquarie Island is in the Southern Ocean, and is the most southern territory of Australia, half way between Tasmania and Antarctica, 1,500 kilometres south-east of Tasmania and 1050 kilometres south of New Zealand,” I replied. “Wow that is a long way from anywhere, does it have anything on the island?” Aaron asked, “It used to have a Australian Antarctic Research Division base on it, until fairly recently, but it was shut down because of Earthquake damage and Asbestoses contamination. They have just spent the past three months cleaning up the asbestos contamination, and the area where the base was located, is now a restricted area. I am guessing that the new location will be further south on the west side of the island, where there is a bit of a flat area and a semi-sheltered bay,” I replied. “So we are providing them with facilities, which ones will we be sending to Macquarie Island?’ Aaron asked me, “I think we will be sending two of them, the ‘Home and Away’ for their living space on the ground floor and some research space on the upper level, and the ‘Twist and Shout’ which will be the main research facility,” I responded. I scanned the second and third page of the email, and smiled. “According to the additional information, they are wanting the research project to be on location at Carrick Bay, and that the HMAS Canberra will be anchoring just out of Port Adelaide at the start of the third week of November, to collect the containers and transporting them the 2,700 kilometres to Macquarie Island,” I informed Aaron. “How will they get them onto and off the ship?” Aaron asked me, “They have a transport ship, otherwise known as a giant helicopter, which can lift very heavy objects. It will take the Naval ship about 6 ½ days to get to Macquarie Island, so it will be close to December when it arrives, and that is perfect, as I will have finished my exams by then,” I answered. “Does that mean that we will be travelling to Macquarie Island too?” Aaron asked, “Yes, as we are the only ones with the remotes to open the two buildings,” I replied with a big smile, and Aaron laughed, “So how do we get there?” Aaron asked. “Easy, we catch the CSIRO research ship – Investigator, which leaves Hobart on Tuesday, November 24th, to arrive at Macquarie Island on or about Monday the 30th of November. We just have to get to Hobart before it leaves, that will mean a flight from Adelaide to Hobart via Melbourne, leaving on Monday at 7.50 am, and arriving in Hobart at 12.30 pm,” I replied. “That is just two days after my last exam,” Aaron said.

“What kind of nick knacks do you suggest?” Will ask me. “I would like to include some artwork from our local indigenous groups, if that is possible to arrange, Jack?” I responded, “You bet, and I am very pleased that you have suggested that, I will get onto our group to organise it,” Jack replied happily. Aaron, can you lookup what some of the promotional companies in the state have available, and make some recommendations before our next meeting?” I asked my cousin, who nodded that he understood. “Maybe include some gift sets that we could sell, to help cover the costs of the giveaways,” Chris suggested, “Yes, go with that plan too, we don’t want to be broke before the first year of operation,” I added. With our first public even being in just two weeks time, at the Whyalla Show, when not attending University or college, we were all at the Project base helping jack with preparations. We had been confirmed to have a large area reserved for us at the bottom right end of the athletics oval, at the very end of the trades stalls, which meant that we could take our portable Project lab and set it up as our trade display. Uncle Nat had arranged for the delivery of promotional material for Kilimanjaro Distributions of Ten Fold Engineering products, which we could include in our inside display. We decided to take our swags with us and camp in the upper level of the building, which will be off limits to the public. Until some of us get truck licences, we have arranged for a trucking company based in Port Augusta, to travel down to Flagstaff Hill to collect the furniture container plus the Ten Fold Building on Thursday, and transport it back to Port Augusta, then on Friday morning, transport it down to Whyalla. With most of us having lectures on Friday morning, Jack had arranged flights for the four of us, from Adelaide to Whyalla on Friday afternoon, arriving shortly before 5 pm. With Jack being the only one that is currently based at the office, he would follow the truck in the project vehicle on Thursday. Camping with family overnight, and following the truck down to Whyalla the next morning, to supervise the unloading of the two containers, with the furniture container at the back, well clear of the area needed for the Ten Fold building to open up, before coming to the airport to collect us when we arrive. On the Sunday afternoon, we would have to close our display at 2pm, to have time to pack away the furniture, and for jack to drive us to the airport, for our flight back to Adelaide. Once he returns to town the truck should have arrived to come and collect the two containers, to transport them to our northern base at Marion, where they will be stored until the next country show, to be held in Port Lincoln the following weekend. Jack had arranged for the trucking company to do regular transport jobs for us over the next four months, to transport our display containers to the country shows, as well as the Nature Festival, and we decided not to use the containers for the Royal Show because of the limited space available. By the time that we had all arrived in Whyalla, there was a bit of a crowd gathered around our two containers, and from the back of the vehicle, Jack pulled out some star pickets and a short handled heavy hammer. “There is more in the back, and I have got some safety barrier netting too,” Jack announced, as he began to pace the distance from the corner of the display container, stopping and panging in the first picket. Soon, all of us were pacing out or banging in pickets, while I was tying off the wire at one of the two pickets that are only two metres apart. Once done, I began to feed the wire through the holes of each picket, all the way around the container, before tying it off at the other end, and cutting off the remainder, while Jack started securing the safety barrier netting to the wire. With a staff member at each corner of the barrier, I called out “All Clear,” and I received four replies of “All Clear, before I pressed the button on the remote, and there were sounds of amazement from those watching, as the container began to unfold into a 36-metre diameter display unit. The barrier fence was just one metre beyond the building, a perfect distance, and we walked around to the back of the building and I unlocked the second container, which at the project base, we had unloaded, and loaded just what we needed for the weekend, with all the rest being stored in the hall. With a front and back entry to the display building, I secured all of the safety bolts into place, before allowing anyone go inside, and from the smaller container, we collected all of the display tables, gazebos and feather flags first. The feather flags are to be installed, around the front of the building, while two gazebos will go in each of the bedroom spaces, with a lounge suite and two chairs in each, with a table and a large flat screen television at each end, so there are four separate screening rooms, showing video footage of our scuba diving trips. A plastic Chain with a large sign hanging on it, was placed across the foot of the stairs to the upper level, with the sign saying “Restricted area, No Entry,” on it. Across the space, which is usually a dining and lounge area, we will have the large posters of photos taken on the islands during our surveys, showing us at work taking measurements and recording information about the animals that we are surveying. On the kitchen bench, in the middle of the room, with be the display area for Kilimanjaro Distributers, with some posters of the different designs of buildings that can be built by Ten Fold Engineering. Once we had all of the display set up, we brought in our swags, and took them upstairs, along with a couple of tables and some fold up chairs, to use for work over the weekend, as we still have to finalise our report on our latest survey on Grantham Island. With everything ready to go for the start of the show in the morning, we locked up and headed into town to get some dinner. While we were eating, I received a text notification, and looking at it, I saw a message from Mum and Dad, and I frown. “Hello Son, we are both well and enjoying life here in Canada. A work colleague of Mum’s spotted something online, that we thought you had better have a look at if you don’t already know. Here is a link to video clip, which has gone viral. Pardon the pun, LOL. Love, Mum and Dad.” “What is it? You are frowning,” Aaron asked me, “Not sure yet, parents have just texted to say to check out this video clip,” I replied, as I clicked on the link and placed my phone in the middle of the table so we could all see. Much to our surprise, it was a video clip of the Ten Fold Building unfolding this afternoon here at Whyalla, and we watched the whole four minutes of the video clip, which even zoomed in on our project logo. Chris checked his watch to see what the time was, and retrieving his I-Pad from his bag, he clicked on the News App, and pressed play. “…Good evening, coming up on tonight’s news, we have a video clip that was taken in Whyalla this afternoon which has gone viral…” we heard the news reporter announce and I groaned. “Looks like we have got some free advertising boss,” Jack commented smiling, “Yes, I guess we do, ok I suggest that you direct all media enquiries to me, and I had better shut off my phone before I start getting calls,” I commented, just as my phone rang, and everyone laughed, “Too late mate,” Chris said. I checked the screen and it was Uncle Nat calling. “Good evening Uncle Nat, yes we have seen the video and also the news,” I said when I answered the call… “Yes, I was about to do that when you called, I received a text message from Mum and Dad, they alerted me to the video clip, and Chris has his pad with him so we have just sent he start of the news,” I said after Uncle Nat suggested shutting off my phone. After the call, I shut off my phone, so as too not get any more calls, “We better monitor the emails over the weekend, as I have a feeling that we will have a very full inbox, by the end of the weekend,” I commented, as Chris did just that. “We already have one, it is from Ten Fold in the UK, the subject line is Video Clip online,” Chris announced. “You better open that one and read it out, then flag it so we don’t loose that email,” I suggested. “Dear Jacob, congratulations on the launch of your distribution business in Australia. The board of directors has seen the viral video footage, and although I am guessing it was not intentional, you appear to have stirred up a lot of interest, not just there but here in the UK as well. Well Done.” “Well that is a good comment, we will have to save that one, as our first excellent comment, Will commented. “Already done mate, now lets see what the weather is going to be like here for the weekend,” Chris said, as he changed to the Weather App. “It says, we have a 60 percent chance of rain over both days, with most of it being just light showers or drizzle,” Chris announced, “Just as well that our display is all indoors then, we better get a few door mats to keep most of the water and sand out of the building,” Jack suggested. “Can you and Will do that first thing tomorrow, there should be a hardware store around town somewhere that sells those big rubber ones with the hexagon shapes, get two for each doorway, and maybe some cleaning gear to sweep and mop the floors,” I asked. Not long after we had settled into our swags, we heard the rain begin outside, and it continued for most of the night, with Will’s snoring keeping waking me a number of times. When I woke the next morning, I went outside for a bit of a walk, around the show grounds, which was fairly well soaked, with puddles of water everywhere. When I returned to the complex, the others were just coming down the stairs, “What is it like outside?” Will asked, “Not raining, but plenty of muddy puddles around. Once you have had breakfast can you go to the hardware, and see if you can find if they have some long mats, that protect the floors, oh and I am sorry to say this, but Will you are to sleep downstairs tonight, as I had very sleep last night,” I replied. “I am sorry about that boss, I should have thought of that myself, and I am happy to camp downstairs tonight,” Will responded sadly. “Thanks mate, it is appreciated, even if it does separate you from us, maybe we can come up with a solution later down the track,” I replied. By 8 am, we were ready for the start of the country show, with the gates now officially opening to the public, and we were swamped with people coming into the building to see what we are about. Will was the first to catch a teenager try to sneak up the stairs. After telling the girl to stay on the ground floor, Will grabbed his I-Pad and sat a quarter of the way up the stairs to keep anyone from coming upstairs, and we ended up taking it in turns to sit on the stairs, so all team members participated in informing the public about the Kuishi Project. After a very long day, which included a few hours of drizzle rain, with many using our display base as a shelter from the rain, we were all very tired and looking forward to an evening of relaxation and sleep. I had a group of media people that wanted to interview me in regards to the project and this amazing building, which was held upstairs away from the busy activities downstairs. After and early dinner, we retired for the night as we had a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, which includes packing up and rushing to the airport to catch a flight back to Adelaide. By the end of the second day, we were quite tired after a weekend of promoting the project, and as soon as we had cleared the Adelaide terminal, I contacted Jack, to see how he was going with the loading of the two containers and heading back to Adelaide by road. When I was preparing for bed that Sunday evening, I called Jack one last time to check on him, and he reported that both containers are now at the Marion vacant property, and that he was spending the night in the house next door. He informed me that all went well with the transporting the containers, and that he would make the last part of the trip home in the morning. With the next country show to be held in Port Lincoln, the following weekend, I was beginning to realise that maybe we had taken on too much to promote the project, and I decided to have a chat with Jack about it tomorrow afternoon, after I have finished my day at University. Jack was working on his computer when I walked into the project, “Afternoon boss. How was your day at Uni?’ Jack said to me, “Long and tiring, how about you, how are you feeling after so much road travels?” I asked in response. “I am fine, looking forward to getting back to my own bed tonight,” Jack replied. “Mate, I need to run an idea by you, after our full on week end, I am a bit concerned that we will burn out before we even get to the Royal Show and the Nature Festival. So I wanted to ask what you thought about cutting every second show after we have completed the show at Port Lincoln,” I said. After a few moments of thought, Jack smiled, “I am in full agreement with you on that Jacob, I wondered that after I had finalised the list of shows. I will get onto the phone in the morning to cancel some of them, and… I will start with Gawler and Wilmington,” Jack replied, after looking at his copy of the list of shows. “Does that give us a break before and after the Royal Show and the Nature Festival?” I asked. “Yes it does, so we will have more time to plane the nature show, which will be our biggest event, especially if we get the third Ten Fold building before then,” Jack replied. As we had decided, Jack cancelled attending five shows, which means we would not be stretching ourselves, especially when most of the team is attending university and college. With the Royal show having limited space available, we would be just using a gazebo and a number of tables to promote the project. It will be the Nature Festival, that will allow us to put most of our containers into operation, with two remote locations, and as suggested by Jack, have a third display in the main hall of the project. During the week, Will and Chris informed me that they both had way too much study, to be able to spend the weekend in Port Lincoln, so I asked Jack to contact the Port Lincoln show people to let them know that we would not be attending. This was good in a way, as it gave us over two weeks to prepare for the Royal Show, and the Nature Festival a fortnight later. When not at Uni, Aaron and I were at the project with Jack, working on making improvements to our display material, and Jack took us to the reserve behind the project in the evening, to see what animals that reside in the area.

“The second building is what I thought would be ideal, if you have a large project where you will need two or all three buildings, so I selected the Twist and Shout,” Uncle Nat said. “Excellent choice Uncle,” I replied, “Man, they have some strange names for their buildings,” Jack commented. “Yes, but wait till you see them opened up, and you may understand how they got their names,” I replied. “I look forward to it,” Jack said. Once the building had fully closed up, I checked that the lock on the smaller furniture container was still in place, before we headed to our vehicles to head back home, with Jack accepting our offer to eat with us for dinner. Two days later, Will, Chris and I attended our first day back at University, while Aaron attended his first day at College, leaving Jack to remain at the office to finalise plans for the country shows, the royal show and the festival. The first country show is in mid-August, in just three weeks time in the town of Whyalla, which is on the way to Port Lincoln, on the West side of the Gulf. When I arrived at the project base after two lectures and a study period, I was feeling tired, but I wanted to get an update from Jack. To see if he managed with getting a bigger site at the Royal Show, and how he did with finalising all of the country shows that we can fit in from mid August to Mid November, which is now ten country shows plus the Royal show and the Nature Festival. When I arrived home, Uncle Nat was in his room mumbling about something, “I am home Uncle,” I called out, and he appeared shortly after. “Problems, with something?” I asked, “No, I just hate packing, it is a real pain in the… backside,” Uncle Nat replied, and I chuckled that he changed what he was going to say at the last moment. “Take a seat in the study, I have a few things I need to talk to you about,” Uncle sat said so I followed him into the room and closed the door. “Firstly, I want to let you know that I am very proud of you, especially now with your slight disability, which I see has not slowed you down at all. Secondly, I was not entirely truthful when I said that I had an extra surprise, when I told you about the second and third Ten Fold Buildings, one was cleared from customs today, while the third one arrives in a few weeks, as there has been some delays. You and Aaron are not moving into a rental house on York Street, I have purchased a house for you both to live in, and now that you have a vehicle, it will not be a problem of getting to and from university. The house is located in the suburb of North Haven, with unrestricted views of the ocean, on Gulf Point Drive. The property is across the road from the Haven Cove Marina, and is owned by Kuishi Project, it would be an ideal location, too store your buildings and use it as a display site, Uncle Nat said to me. “When do we get to go and have a look?” I asked. “I’m home,” Aaron called out before we could say any more. “Right now, since your cousin has arrived at the perfect time,” Uncle said smiling, and I laughed. “What is so funny?” Aaron asked, “Nothing, just your perfect timing that is all,” I replied. “Come on boys lets take Jacobs car for this drive,” Uncle Nat said, and Aaron dropped his bag on the lounge and followed us out the front. “Where exactly are we going?” Aaron asked, as we climbed in, “To our new home, which I have just learnt is actually in North Haven, and not in York Street,” I replied. “We are going to 92 Gulf Point Drive,” Uncle Nat said to me, and I added the address into the navigator of the car, before we set off. Taking the first turn onto Gulf Point Drive, we were seeing some very expensive houses, and further up we could see plenty of yacht masts. “Are you sure we are on the right road?” Aaron asked, “I was about to say the same thing cousin,” I added. “Keep going, we are almost there,” Uncle Nat said to me, as we went along an S bend with houses just on the left side now, and a car park and sand dunes on the other side, as the road bent to the left. “Pull over and park on the right hand side of the road, immediately after this bend,” Uncle Nat instructed me, so I slowed right down, and seeing a high kerb, I crawled over it and parked between the road and a low pine barrier, just six metres from the edge of the road. “Ok, so where is this new home of…” I stopped short, when looking at the jetty on its own, which has the number 92 in big lettering on the security access gate, and near the end of the jetty on the left side, was a flat barge, and on it was a cube shaped container. “Why did you stop talking Jacob?” Aaron asked me, as Uncle Nat handed over a remote control, and I laughed out-loud, which really confused Aaron. “Watch the barge and you will see,” Uncle Nat said to Aaron, as I pushed the button on the remote, and suddenly the cube began to move, and Aaron jumped back in shock, as the cube lifted, revealing four legs, which had been bolted to the barge. Within four minutes, the Tenfold Tree house was revealed, with Aaron’s expression on his face, was one of amazement, and Uncle Nat and I chuckled at this. “Close your mouth, or you might catch a fly,” I said to my cousin as I headed for the security gate, where Uncle Nat showed me the eight-digit code. “Afya’s birthday?” I whispered, and Uncle Nat nodded his head yes, as the gate gave a loud click and I pushed the gate open and stepped aside to let Uncle Nat to pass and wait for Aaron to catch up. Once past the gate, which automatically locked behind us, we walked down the steps to the jetty, which adjusts in height with the tides. We stepped onto the twenty by sixteen metre barge, just as Uncle Nat was finishing inserting the safety pins into position, to stop the building from folding up. “Wow, wow, wow,” Aaron said as he looked at the building from the top of the steps. “Is that all you can say?” I asked with a big cheeky grin, “Yeah, but wow, this is even better than the other one, and this is our home?” Aaron replied. “It sure is nephew, downstairs you have the spiral stairs going up, along with a compact laundry and bathroom. Upstairs, in the core directly above the bathroom and laundry, you have a compact kitchen, pantry and storeroom. As you can see from out there, you have four separate zones, two of them are bedrooms, one is the dining area and the last is the lounge area,” Uncle Nat said before I climbed up the stairs to get a good look of the space upstairs. I could see that two zones, opposite each other have walls and doors, while the lounge and dining area are open space, as Uncle Nat and Aaron arrived, “This is so cool, living in our own tree house,” Aaron said happily, and I smiled, glad to see that my cousin was now very happy living here in Australia with us. When we heard some airbrakes, that sounded like a truck, we looked out the window to see a removalist truck parked outside, “Ah good, your furniture has arrived, lets go and help the men with the unloading,” Uncle Nat said to us. We headed back downstairs, where I had a quick look at the laundry and bathroom, which were bigger than I expected. In the end the two removalist men did all the work, with the exception of lifting the furniture from the jetty up to the first floor open window, which will be the lounge room, as it looks out to the gulf. With all of the furniture and white goods on their right levels, Uncle Nat finalised the bill for their work, including a sizable tip before the men and the truck left. We spent the next hour getting the furniture into the right places, and made the beds, with new linen that I retrieved from the store room, and with the washing machine and drying downstairs in the laundry and the fridge, microwave and dishwasher installed upstairs, we now had a fully functional floating home. “You may get some motion of the barge when there is a storm around. However, I think that the stone wall on the block on the vacant property across the road, will keep most of it away, as well as the barge being down low in the marina helps, as the roof is level with the ceiling of the ground floor on the neighbours house,” Uncle Nat said to us. “Do you know who owns that vacant block of land?” Aaron asked, and Uncle Nat smiled, “We do of course, that is why there is a stone wall on two sides to block of the wind, and I have also had planted some native trees and shrubs all along all four boundary fences, so as to create more of a wind buffer. I thought that maybe later on down the track, you may want to install a lap pool and a tennis court there, and maybe a gazebo and barbeque area, but I will leave that for you two boys to decide,” Uncle Nat said to us. I closed and locked the lower level door and followed Aaron and Uncle Nat up the stairs, and back to the vehicle, so we could drive back to what will soon be our old home. Aaron and I decided to keep the location of our new home a surprise for a while, and with Aaron and I both having a half day of studies on Thursday, we decided to make that our moving day. Uncle Nat had packed most of his belongings that he would not be taking with him, and have been put into storage at Warradale Barracks. On the Thursday afternoon, Aaron and I made our move to out new home, and Uncle Nat even helped us, and we sat down so Uncle Nat could let us know that he will mostly be out of contact, and that if it is urgent to send a email and he will respond as soon as possible. Uncle Nat would be leaving in two days time, and both Will and Chris had already moved to their new home, so Aaron and I invited Uncle Nat to have dinner with us, and we did a short shopping trip before cooking dinner, which we all helped to put together. It was an enjoyable family dinner, which will be last for quite some time. On our first night in our new home, it felt a little strange, as the barge moved slightly with the strong breeze blowing outside, but also helped me to get to sleep easily. In the morning, I felt even more refreshed than usual, as I took a shower and prepared for another day at university, dropping Aaron off at College on the way, which is just four kilometres north of Flinders University. At the end of the day, as arranged, I would collect Aaron and we would meet the others at the project after 4 pm, and we were the last to arrive. “Hey everyone. How was your first week back at university,” I said as we walked into the conference room and sat down. “Same as usual, lectures, tutorials and lots of assignments,” Chris said, “How have things been here at the project?” Aaron asked Jack. “Good, I have confirmation for us to attend the Royal Show, the Nature Festival and a total of ten country shows, beginning from mid-August,” Jack replied. “Great, good work Jack, has the coordinators of the Nature Festival indicated where we can set up our display?” I asked, “They have given us an information form that we need to fill in and send back to them as soon as possible, so they have a better understanding of our organisation, and decided where to allow us to set up our display,” Jack replied, before retrieving the form, and handing it to me. I quickly scanned the three-page document. “Ok, this document informs us that they have seven categories of events, with a variety of programmes in each category. I think we need to each look at this and make some notes on ideas where we would effectively participate in this festival, which would moving the display every one or two days for the ten day period,” I announced to the team. Chris stood up and receiving the document from me, he went to print out copies of it from the office, and Will suggested that we get our laptops too. I did not bother to get up, as I knew that Aaron would get mine, and I talked with Jack for a while, as we waited for everyone to get back. Over the next hour we were all discussing possible options on what to do for the nature festival, with a suggestion that we have a display set up in the main hall, maybe in collaboration with Fauna Rescue SA, who could provide us with some rescued native animals for visitors to see, and also arrange for a guided walk through the Sturt Gorge Park. It was also suggested that we get involved in events that have already planned to widen the experience for festival goers. Some of the events suggested are; Exploring the Tennyson Dunes, Reef Ramble at Hallett Cove, Under the Sea at MDC, which is the Marine Discovery Centre and the Dunes Coastal Walk, starting at Semaphore Beach. With the Nature festival just seven weeks away, we were not entirely sure if the third container from Ten Fold in the UK would arrive in time, so we had to start working on alternative plans. We do have the tree house container, which we could make into a temporary display, and Aaron and I would have to find alternative accommodation until then. When my mobile rang, and I saw who was calling, I smiled before putting the call on loud speaker, “Hello Uncle, you are on loud speaker wit the whole team,” I said, “Good afternoon to all, I hope that your first week at University, College and work have been good,” Uncle Nat replied. Will and Chris groaned which made Uncle Nat laugh. “We were just talking about logistics for the Nature Festival in Mid September, which would mean having multiple locations over the ten day period,” Aaron announced. “I see, well that would mean possibly using the tree house as well,” Uncle Nat responded. “Yes, that is what we were just discussing, since we don’t know when the third building will be arriving,” I said. “It is less than two weeks away, so it will be there in plenty of time, so you won’t need to give up the tree house, which I may say, is only a temporary thing until your permanent home arrives to where the barge is now,” Uncle Nat arrived. “Barge? Tree house? What is all of this about Jacob?” Chris asked, and Aaron chuckled. “It is exactly that, a Ten Fold Engineering Tree House that is currently sitting on a barge in the North Haven Marina, and man did I sleep well last night,” Aaron said, and I just smiled and nodded in agreement. “We got to check that out, and since we are over that way, you can treat is to dinner too Boss,” Will said, and Uncle Nat laughed. “Well I am glad that everything is working out ok for you all, I will check in with you again in two weeks, same day and time, bye for now,” Uncle Nat said before ending the call. “Right, we need to start getting organised with all of this, firstly we need to triple the amount of display material that we have, so Jack, we need four more gazebos and four feather flags, all with the logo on them, we need some display boards to show some of our photographs of our work on the islands near Port Lincoln, and we will need, some promotional nick knack’s as give away items,” I announced.

When Patrick arrived, I asked to speak to him in private, so we went for a walk around the island, and during that time, I stated that this island was special because it had a higher level of vegetation on it. This in turn provides a lot for shelter to all of the animals on the island, which is about the same as it is on Taylor Island, at this point of time of the survey. I asked Patrick not to install camping ground on this island, so to protect the animals that call this island home. I asked that if he needs to install a boardwalk for visitors, that it be one single one raised higher off the ground to allow all animals to pass under it, and that a few raised sections of the boardwalk on Little Taylor Island be raised for the same purpose. Patrick thanked me for my straight to the point views on the island, and that he would consider my request carefully before making a decision. Back at camp, Travis mentioned to his uncle about our encounter with a Great White, and Patrick contacted his staff on Little Taylor, to let them know that there is a Shark warning in affect, and to notify all the guests. I also let Patrick know that we would be staying for only six days, as three of us had to get ready for the start of another semester at university, and Aaron had to prepare to attend TAFE College. Aaron had decided to study for a Certificate IV in Business Administration, followed by a Diploma in Business, with two years in total of studies, so he can assist with the running of the project, which I was pleased that he is doing this. With just two days remaining for our stay on Grantham Island, Will and I helped with the surveys on the island, and on our last day, we spent the evening packing up camp, and loading the vehicles back onto the barge, as we would be travelling back to Port Lincoln after dark, where we would stay onboard till morning. When we woke early in the morning, I saw that we were at the Port Lincoln Marina boat ramp, so after packing up our swags and loading everything into our vehicle, we drove off the barge. We thanked Lance and Travis for their company and providing transport for us, we headed off to find a café that is open at this time in the morning, to get some breakfast to go, as we had a whole day of driving ahead of us to get back home. With a stop at Port Augusta, for a meal break, and a number of short stops to just stretch and walk around, we made the trip home in just under eight hours, and we were all feeling quite tired by the end of the day. Dropping Jack off at his place first, we headed to the project to empty out the vehicles of all of our camping supplies, and all the cages and cameras, dumping them in the main hall to sort out in the morning, before heading back to the house, in just my vehicle. “Hello boys, how was the trip?” Uncle Nat asked as we entered the house, ready to collapse. “Good, but the long trip home was a bit of an effort, we did the trip in two days there, but one day back, which I think was a bit of a mistake,” I replied. “Patrick called me and told me about the shark encounter, are you both ok?” Uncle Nat asked Will, and me “It gave be a big scare, but I am sort of ok now thanks Colonel,” Will replied, and I smiled on hearing this. “I am fine, I just kept a close eye on it, and we headed back to shore as soon as it began to get any closer to us,” I added. “Good to hear, I have heard that some of those waters have big numbers of sharks around there,” Uncle Nat said. “We have to return to the project to put everything away tomorrow. We still have to go through the last of the video footage that we collected this morning, and put together a full report of the survey, which will take some time since most of us are going to be busy with college and university,” I informed Uncle Nat. “I had a call from my sister yesterday, she wanted to know how the project is going,” Uncle Nat said referring to my Mum. “How are they, any news on what is happening up their way?” I asked, “Yes all is going good, now the other bit of news that I have for you, I have been posted to Canberra, which means there will be some changes to accommodation for all of you. This house is going on the market, so I have made some arrangements. Will and Chris, there is a woman down at 67 York Street that rents out rooms to University students, so I have managed to secure rooms for your both there, and before you ask, yes both of your parents are aware of these changes. For my nephews, I have secured a smaller house for you to live in, also located on York Drive, at number 1, so you are still all close to each other, and close to the project. I know that you start classes in two day’s time, but I won’t be leaving until the end of next week, so you will have a week to get settled into your new locations,” Uncle Nat announced. “Is the house we are in rented?” Aaron asked, “Yes it is, we have a twelve month lease on the house with the option to extend for another twelve months, and Jacob’s parents and I are covering most of the expenses for your both,” Uncle Nat replied. The next morning, I found a note on the kitchen bench, with my name on it, and a set of keys sitting on top. “Jacob and Aaron, these are the keys to your new place, it is ready to move in, including being mostly furnished, all you have to do is move your beds and belongings over there. I will be home at around 3 pm. Uncle Nat.” I had just finished reading the note after pocketing the keys when Aaron appeared, “Good morning, how are you feeling?” I asked my cousin, “Ok I guess, I had a nightmare about that bloody shark last night, woke up sweating, but I am ok now,” Aaron replied. “If you need to talk about it, just ask ok mate, I am happy to just listen,” I said to Aaron being very worried about what I had just heard. After breakfast, with the others still asleep, we headed over to the project to start cleaning up what we had dumped in the hall. “Jack was walking down the driveway as we unlocked the gate and drove in, and we parked around the back of the building, unlocking the gate and the back door to get inside. “Good morning Jack, how are you feeling today?” I asked happily, “A little tired, but I’m ready to get to work,” Jack replied. “That is good, the other two were still in bed when we left the house,” I said in response, “You all share the same house?” Jack asked, “We do, but that is about to change, as we learnt last night that Uncle Nat has a posting to Canberra, so he has made arrangements for us all while we were away,” Aaron replied. “Will and Chris will be boarding at a Uni student house at the far end of York Drive, while Aaron and I will be sharing a rented house also in York Drive, but at the beginning of the street. Which is just up the road from here, so we are close to the project as well,” I said, as we entered the hall to see the pile of stuff we had dumped the night before. “When does that all happen?” Jack asked, “By Friday this coming week, as well as having our studies to do as well. Now let’s get all this mess sorted, and packed away properly, and with the gazebos, I think we will leave them packed up for now, since we didn’t use them,” I responded. Once we had everything cleaned and packed away, we headed to the conference room to look at the video footage taken from the field cameras, which we now own twelve of them. “Jack, would you be able to put together a presentation of all the footage of all the different animals that we have captured on the night footage from Taylor Island and Grantham Island?” I asked. “Sure boss, not a problem, where can I find the footage of Taylor Island?” Jack replied smiling that he was able to do something in the office apart from menial work. “It will be on the email files on your desktop computer,” I replied. “I will get right onto it,” Jack said as he headed to the reception office where his desk is located. Aaron and I headed to our office next door, where we discussed what has to be done next, in the way of promotions for the project and we looked at the list of country shows and other public events, where we can promote our organisation. With all of the country shows being held during weekends, we decided that it would be good to be able to attend as many as possible and with a list of all country shows in South Australia. We worked out that we could attend three in August, one in September, and two in October, on top of the Nature Festival and the Adelaide Royal Show in September. With the shoes selected, we began making the applications for a spot to promote our organisation and sending the required application fees, and we managed to receive confirmation to all of the country shows that we had chosen to attend but we had missed getting a spot at the Royal Show. We were about to head home at the end of the afternoon, when we heard what sounded like a large truck arriving, and exiting the building via the front door of the hall, we were shocked to see a two trucks reversing into the front car park. “Any of you guys know what this is all about?” I asked as we watched the first truck begin to unload a twenty-foot shipping container, at he far western end of the front car park. “I may know something, but I am not allowed to say,” Aaron said smiling. When the first truck moved away once unloading was completed, we watched as the second truck with an even bigger container on the back began to reverse into the car park, and that is when I saw it. “What the… this can’t be real? Aaron is this a…” I said finding it difficult to speak when I realised that I was looking at a Ten Fold Engineering Container, and it has the Project logo on it. “What is it boss?” Jack asked me, I was almost in tears with emotion, that another part of my dream to have a portable research station available to take us almost anywhere. “Since our fearless leader can’t speak, I will tell you,” Aaron began and I just nodded my head for him to continue. “You are looking at fold out building that changes from what you see now into a building up to and sometimes over triple in size, depending on what design it is. This is created by a British company called Ten Fold Engineering, which Jacob went to England to checkout on behalf of the Australian Army, and if it wasn’t for that trip, that I would have met my cousin,” Aaron said. “If you would sign this to say that you have received both containers in good condition, I will be on my way,” the second truck driver said to me and I signed the consignment form, and watched the driver climb into his truck and drive off. As the guy’s were walking around the second container, another vehicle arrived and it was Uncle Nat, and he was smiling as he exited his vehicle. “I am glad that I made it here on time,” he said as he approached me and handed me some kind of remote. “Hey guys, you better stand right back,” I called out and once I saw everyone standing near me, I pointed the remote and the action began, just as it did when I was in the UK, and I watched the guy’s faces as the container began to open up in a two level home. “Welcome to your new mobile work base, as you know it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, kitchen and two large open areas. In the other container, is all the furniture that you need, to furnish the building, with the bedrooms turned into bunkrooms to accommodate all of the team. The furniture includes a conference lounge, simular layout to what you have here inside the project base, with six workstations, and a few other smaller seating areas, located on the upper level,” Uncle Nat announced, as the building completed its folding out, and I smiled at having this wonderful building to use for research. I paced out the length and width of the building, to get an idea of its full size, and I was happy to see that it was about twelve metres long and eight metres in width, when it is fully open, which will fit nicely in the display site we had booked for the Nature festival. We would need to make some changes to the country shows to be able to fit the Tenfold Building. We spent the next half an hour checking out the inside of the building, and once we had talked about how the place will look with the furniture, we exited the building, and pressing the remote again, we watched as the building folded up again. “How do you stop it from folding up while the furniture and we are inside?” Chris asked me, “Easy, I had the same question when I went to the UK to see the buildings up close, and the answer is that there are some safety bolts that we install once the building is open, that stops that from happening,” I replied. “Now that I have seen it up close for myself, I am more impressed with it than I was when I first saw this on the computer,” Uncle Nat said to me, “Yes, it is pretty special isn’t it,” I replied. “Any idea when we will first use this new facility?” Will asked. “I think that we should use it for just the larger festivals, as it will be a bit too big for any of the smaller country shows, so that means the Nature Festival in late September. Now that we know that we have this, I will ask the Adelaide Show if they have a large display area available,” I replied. “So, will we have a different layout when we are on the field, compared with when we are at a festival or show?” Will asked. “Yes, all of the downstairs area will become one big display area, with the bedrooms turning into video rooms, and the upstairs area will be just work space for us, and maybe our sleeping place with our swags,” I replied. “I have one more surprise for you Jacob, since you are the only expert on Tenfold Engineering buildings in Australia, I have come up with a deal with the company in the UK, and I recently set up a new company called Kilimanjaro Distributions. We have the contract to supply Tenfold building’s in the entire Oceania region, from New Zealand and Fiji to the east, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to the north and all of Australia. Part of the deal includes a 75% reduction on the cost of our second purchase, and 50% off the third purchase,” Uncle Nat said to me. “Wow. Now that is something that I didn’t expect, so what designs have you selected for the other buildings?” I responded, I think you will like the first one I chose… It is the Tree house,” Uncle Nat said to me smiling, and I laughed, “You know me too well Uncle,” I replied.