quokka
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Everything posted by quokka
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Finally, it all happened within a week, the passports, visas and temporary residency permits had arrived, the farm had been sold to a neighbouring farmer, and the forwarded luggage had arrived on the station. Getting to the capital of Vaduz would be a short drive followed by a train trip, which would take 4 hours, followed by a short flight to Bern in Switzerland. Bryce planned a 16-hour stopover in Bern, so as to not make it so tiring for everyone, before the long flight to Singapore and Perth,
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“If we can get Scuba gear to you, it should be a matter of just swimming up to the surface, wait…” and after a few moments silence another message could be heard, “Is there an airlock anywhere on the boat?” and Uncle Jay smiled and nodded his head. “Yes, on open main deck, midway there are two doors to stairs, the portside door is to stairs down, another door, is located at the bottom of the stairs, and a third door about 5 metres from that in the passageway” was the reply message, and ther
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yeah down in the deeps lol
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Hey everyone sorry about all the confusion I must have posted the wrong chapter when I was half asleep. I have corrected the error, hope you enjoy the proper chapter 13. Regards Quokka
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About twenty minutes later we had heaps of cold meats, salads, butter, a couple loaves of bread, a 20 pack of 750 ml bottles of water, plus a billy, teabags, Weet-Bix cereal, sugar, UHT milk, cheese, firelighters, steaks and sausages, cooking tools and a set of six camping cutlery, cups, bowls and plates. I also bought a postcard of Tom Price, and wrote Jasper’s name and home address in Jurien Bay, and without writing anything on it I posted it. I informed my travel mates that I was happy t
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Storms in the southern ocean can often come out of nowhere, so weather checks can only be useful to a point
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It would be a two-day trip to Georgetown, so Aunty Jacq and I went to do some shopping, while Uncle Jay had the boat refuelled, and checked the engine, to make sure all was good, he also washed out the two catch freezers, so they were properly clean, and he made sure that the on-deck hatches for the freezers and the engine room, were in good order. When everything was checked, and all the food was stored away, we set off in the late afternoon on Thursday, with Uncle Jay at the helm. As I f
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Preparing for the trip, I packed my small suitcase of clothes, shoes and in a box, I packed my laptop computer, some more CD’s & DVD’s, some more books and a few posters that I had collected from the book store, which were of ocean scenes and aquatic animals of various kinds, and some blue tack to put the posters up on the walls in my cabin. The next morning, I heard Uncle Jay’s phone ring as I was getting up and getting ready, and as I entered the house for breakfast, Aunty Jacq had a
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Thanks Everyone for your comments Quokka
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Thanks everyone for your comments Quokka
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Thanks everyone for your comments Quokka
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We have to be very self-sufficient; the station has wind and solar generators for power with backup diesel generators when required. Additionally, we grow a lot of our own fruit and vegetables. We have dairy cows, goats and chickens (we call them chooks). We even have wild camels! My daily routine consists of very early morning starts, mostly at 5am, after feeding the animals including horses. I have breakfast and start school at 7am. School on a cattle station is called 'School of the Air'
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“About time you called back. Where were you?” Jasper said as soon as he answered. “Sorry, mate, we went to the yacht club for dinner, and I left my mobile behind. I guess you are in Denham now?” I replied. “Yes, we are. Now tell me what is this all about a charter back to Perth, and to see you for more details?” Jasper asked me. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t get a charter straight away, as we need the trimaran for a specific task,” I responded. “Oh, and what exactly is that task?” Jaspe
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“Are the others up yet?” Uncle Jay asked, “yep they just getting up after I pounded on their door” Amanda said with a grin, and we all laughed, as we heard Peter and Sam approaching, “you’re a cruel witch” Peter said with a frown, which made us start laughing again, as the boys joined us at the table for breakfast. “Ok, just to let you know what the plans are for today, since the wind has dropped to almost nothing, we will spend the morning exploring the island, and maybe have a game of be
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I spent the next ten minutes giving more detail on what the work was like on the cray boat, including the regular motion from side to side and up and down in rough weather. I mentioned that we depart the St Helens fishing harbour at 6 am tomorrow, on return mid-morning on Monday, with an average of 12-hour days, I suggested that anyone who is susceptible to motion sickness may not be suitable for the job, and this reduced the number down to below half. I added that there is a lot of h
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Like many young blokes, I had a tough life as a kid, as I was small for my age and of slight build, so I was always prone to bullying, but this didn’t affect my grades at all, I was near the top of my class in all subjects, as I always studied hard, even when I was also holding a part time job, since the age of 14. My father was a merchant seaman, who held the rank of Bosun on an Australian cargo ship when he was accidentally killed during a voyage in the Coral sea, where some cargo had co
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Carlton Henderson, who at the age of 12, lost his father in a shipping accident, and for two years, he and his mother Elizabeth, struggled to survive. With the assistance of Carlton's uncle, his father's brother, Jayden - (Jay) and wife Jacqueline - (Jacq), who are owners of three Cray fishing boats in North- East Tasmania, Carlton spends his weekends and holidays working on the lead Cray boat with his Uncle and Aunt, while completing his high school education, then University to study Marine Science and Applied Science.
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“Ministers, one of my crew has a family emergency. His father has fallen ill in Perth, and I was wondering, if it was possible for him to travel down with you in the jet?” I asked. “Yes, that will be fine. There is plenty of room on board, so one more won’t make a difference,” the state minister said with a smile. “Thank you, sir. I will get him sorted, so he can travel with you as soon as we arrive in Exmouth, which will be 1400 hours,” I replied. I waited till Mathew had slept f
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Mathew woke me up at 0800 hours, and informed me that we had a small boat approaching from Barrow Island. I jumped out of bed and quickly dressed, before making my way downstairs to the research office, where the letter from the government was kept, before heading to the aft, just as the boat arrived. “You are illegally trespassing, and not authorised to be in this area,” the man on the deck stated, as the boat came beside the vessel. “That, sir, is an incorrect statement,” I replied as I r
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“All three evicted students are off the vessel and in a taxi that the director had organised. He has arranged for them to be on the next flight back to Perth early this afternoon,” Jasper announced to me. “Good, thanks for doing that for me. I was too angry to deal with those bastards on my own,” I responded. “By the way, the director and Dr Reuben wish to speak to you, as soon as possible,” Jasper added. I stood up and headed down the stairs to the dining area where all of the guests
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The next morning Julia was again sedated, and both patients were loaded onto the plane, Barrett transferred the video clip to the nurses phone, to be handed to the police. They departed just after 6 am. “Bas,” Matthew informed Bryce, “After my family’s belongings are packed, I will drive back to the city” At 7am, Bas telephoned his parents in the city. “Hi Mike, I am sorry, but we have had a bit of trouble with Matthew’s family. Julia became very angry and crashed on of the Utes into
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Two days later, the two supply trucks arrived, the first being the fuel and station supplies truck, and later in the day the mail truck arrived, also carrying all of the food supplies, this time the supplies were double in size because of the approaching mustering season, in just over a week’s time. About an hour after dark, Matthew’s family arrived in their Landover with a trailer in tow, and everyone on the station was having dinner, in the main dining hall. As expected, Christopher was being
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“That’s good. Well, tomorrow we need to get your vessel steam cleaned, and we need to set up some protocols for when we board and leave the vessel when on the islands,” the director said to me. “Two nights ago we had some media get on board who trashed the place looking for information. Luckily our medic and I were still on board and we were able to lock off key areas. Why I am telling you this is that there is a good chance that there will be more media heading to Exmouth a little after 1
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Within three weeks the muster had been completed, the cattle had been drafted, sorted and the non-breeding cattle were trucked out to market or live export. With the main muster completed for the year, all the extra staff were paid and they were off to their next mustering contract, leaving just the permanent staff remaining, Jake had returned from his walkabout, but this time he had brought with him, his two younger brothers, Chris -19 and Mark -17. Their mother has fallen ill and cannot
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