New Beginings - 6. NB Chapter 6

“On this deck sir, we have the VIP Storm lounge, and 4 VIP suites, were you are staying in the back left hand suite” the steward said as he opened the door, to reveal a very luxurious cabin, with a huge bed, a small table and two chairs, and a good sized ensuite bathroom. “I will allow you to settle in, there is a steward service call button there near the light switch, if you need anything, just press it at any time day and night” the Steward said, and after thanking him, the steward left, closing the door behind him, as I looked around the cabin in more detail.

About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and I called out “enter”, and the Chief Steward entered, “Sir, my name is Oliver Hensworth, Chief Steward, at your service” he said to me, in a middle class English accent, as I smiled, “Ok, lets get this tour on the way” I said as we exited the suite, “This way sir, the Captain has asked me to direct you to the bridge” the Cheif steward said to me.

He led the way through a small door, out onto the helicopter hanger, and around the corner to another door, back inside, down a short passage, through another door, into a stairwell, and we went up the stairs, and exited into the Bridge. “Wow what a maze of doors and stairs, it must get confusing to the crew” I stated as we stepped onto the bridge, “Welcome to the control centre of this vessel, we have a First Officer, a Navigation Officer, two Navigation Crew and myself that work from here, and sometimes the Chief Engineer” the Captain said to me.

“The other officers, consist of a medical officer, the helicopter pilot and two junior engineers, as you can see, we are a very modern vessel, with all the trimmings, with just over half of the maximum number of crew, each crew member has their own cabin, with own ensuite bathroom, not as luxurious as yours, and there are a number of day lounges for the crew, so they have plenty of space to spread out during their time off” the captain informed me.

Just then a satelliet phone rang, and the Captain answered it, and he listened for a moment, “Yes sir, he is, and right here at this moment, yes sir” the Captain said as he smiled and handed the phone over to me, “It is Mr Wagner, wishing to speak to you” he informed me. “Hello Huon, so what do you think of my little boat?” Sebastian said and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Little, you got to be kidding, this is huge, and the suite I was shown is enormous, even bigger than my bedroom at home” I replied.

“I am glad that you like it, that is your assigned cabin from now on, you also have permission for full access to the vessel, crew areas included, just not their private cabins, we have to give them some personal space of their own” Sebastian said to me. “Understood, so what am I suppose to do for the weekend?” I asked, “Well I suggested to the Captain that he take you on a short cruise, she has a cruising speed of 12 knots or 22 km/h, so you could go up the coast a little way, and anchor off the coast, somewhere near Jurien Bay, I have heard that it is a nice place to visit, and at just over 100 nautical miles, you could be there in jsut over ten hours” Seb suggested.

“I think a little closer would be better, what about Lancelin?” I said, “I have never heard of the place, sort it out with the Captain, and he will take you, its after midnight here, so I am off to bed, enjoy your weekend cruise, and see you soon, bye for now” Seb said and he ended the call. When I turned to speak to the Captain, he was at a navigation desk looking at a map.

“Yes Lancelin is possible, we can be there in jsut over 6 hours, and we will be able to fit inside the reef only just” the Captain announced and I smiled. Kyle and I had called into Lancelin the on the Sunday, travelling back from Northampton, where we had lunch and it looked like a nice place, but we didn’t stay long to explore it, and we would be there at about 2pm, so there was plenty of time to explore the town, and the famous sand dunes on the eastern side of town.

The captain made a call to the Fremantle Port Authority, gving them notice that we would be leaving in fifteen minutes for a short sail up the coast, returning late the following day. Once approval had been given, the Captain made a vessle wide announcement to all crew to prepare for departure. “Sir if I may suggest, Lancelin is a small holiday and fishing town, and it would be an ideal place to allow your crew to have some R & R while we are there.

With sand dunes on the edge of town, with sandboarding and dune buggy tours, there are a number of small restaurants, a hotel and a tavern, and even an island and plenty of beaches that can be explored, some good areas for surfing at hte south end of town from what I hear” I said to the Captain, “I will ask the owner later on when we arrive there” the Captain said and I left the bridge, with the Senior Steward following, to make sure I don’t get lost.

“Mr Wagner said I am to have access to all areas including crew area’s but not crew cabins, so let get started with this tour” I said to the Chief Steward, and passing D deck, we continued down the crew stairs till we reached C Deck. “All there is here is the senior crews cabins and the captains office” I was informed and we continued down the stairs.

“Crew B deck, this has crew cabins, the hospital, and the crew gym” I was informed, and I took a quick look at the gym and hospital, before we continued on down. “Crew A deck, this has three crew cabins for the galley crew, also we have the crew galley and dining room, a crew day room, store rooms, and we have a gangway access over the hanger, back to the pantry, and servery for the guest dining room” the Chief Steward informed me, and we continued on downwards, after I looked in the galley, where there were two crew members working, and a quick look at the day room, where some crew were watching television.

“Crew main deck, here we have the waste incinerator, garbage storage, laundry, linen store, two crew cabins, store room for equipment, dry, frozen and cold provisions stores, and the lower level of the hanger, plus two maintenance workshops. The last level down is the engine room, switch room, generators, store rooms, and the water tight bulkheads.

Towards the centre, there is another preparation galley, a larger crew day room, more food storage areas, and a passageway provides crew with access to another staircase close to the centre guest stairs, and small pantry” I was informed, as we cut through the hanger, through a door and headed downstairs to that level.

Once I had seen the crew areas, we entered another door, entering the lower deck foyer, where the two public staircases are, and I was shown the sauna, steam room and the cinema, which was very impressive, as was the guest gymnasium. As we were going back up to the main deck, I felt the vessle moving, and I steadied myself a little, before continuing on, “how are you with motion at sea?” the \Chief Steward asked me.

“No problems at all, we had rough weather, when I took the ferry over to Rottnest Island last weekend” I replied, with a smile as we arrived in the beach club lounge, and I was shown one of the guest cabins, which were just as luxurious as my suite. “I will be fine for now, you can go and do what you need to do, I am going to sit here as we leave the harbour” I announced.

As I looked around the decking area outside, I decided to stay inside until we were out to sea, in case of any photographers, and when I spotted a phone on the wall, I picked up the receiver, “Yes Mr Devonport, how may I help you” I heard a voice say, “can I have a long Lemon Lime Bitters with ice please” I asked, “Right away sir, would you care for a snack to tie you over till lunch” the Steward replied.

“No I will be fine, maybe some morning tea at around 10am, English breakfast if you have it, black, no sugar, and some fruit cake or biscuits with that, thankyou” I replied, before I hung up the phone, and sat down on a lounge chair, and watched as we sailed out of the harbour, with large freight ships on the other side, unloading and loading large shipping containers.

Just as we were passing the edge of the harbour, and the vessel began to rock a little from the waves, a Steward arrived with my drink, which tasted perfect, once I had finished the drink, I decided to head up to my suite, to have a short lay down, as I was feeling a little tired from getting up so early. I woke up to the sound of a knock on the door, and I looked around my stange surroundings, before I remembered where I was, and called out “Enter”.

The same steward as before, came in carrying a silver tray, “your morning tea as you requested sir” the Steward said, as he placed the tray on the table, “Thankyou, that will be all” I replied, and the Steward left. As I stood up, I felt the motion of the vessle, and looked at the tray, wondering why it didn’t slide off, and looking carefully, I noiced a non slip rubber mat under it, and I smiled, as I sat down in a chair, and poured myself a cup of tea.

The tray contained a stainless steel tea pot, and a china cup and saucer, plus a small plate containing two sliced of fruit cake and two biscuits, seeing the television on the wall, I looked around and found the remote control, and I was surprised to see a clear picture come up on the screen, then I realised that it was Foxtel satellite television, and I scanned through the channels, pleased to see that I had a very large number to chose from, and I stopped on the History channel, which looked interesting.

Once I had finished my morning tea, I walked down to the next deck, and I took a look inside the owners suite, which was enormous, which includes a private study. Next I went out onto the VIP outside deck, where I sat down and watched the northern beachside suburbs pass by in the distance, as I estimate that we were about five miles out to sea at least.

I noticed that the waves were quite high, but the vessel was hardly rocking at all, just going up and down a bit at the front, and growing a little bored of staring out to the mainland, I went inside and up to the D deck VIP lounge, where I turned on the television and found a good cowboy movie to watch, until it was lunch time, and not sure if I was having lunch in the VIP Dining room or the Guest dining room, I decided to head down to the crew dining room on A deck,

“Lunch will be served in the VIP dining room with the Captain, Doctor and Chief Engineer joining you sir” one of the galley staff informed me, “I would prefer to join the crew for lunch, if that is alright with you” I replied, and the galley crew looked at me a little stunned and not sure what to do, and I noticed that one of the chef’s was talking to someone on the phone. A few minutes later he approached me. “The Captain requests your presence in the VIP dining room please sir” the chef said to me, and now I was really annoyed, at being told what to do.

“You can inform the Captain that I will not be attending lunch, I have changed my mind, have a boat take me to the nearest boat harbour, I wish to get off this vessel right now” I said and I stormed off, heading for the crew stairs, to take me up to D deck, and I went straight to my suite.

Luckily I had not unpacked my overnight bag, and it was still sitting on the bed, where I had left it. I decided to stay in my cabin until transport had been arranged for me, so I turned on the television and began to watch a programme. When I heard a knock on the door, I ignored it, when the knock came a second time, I was getting really annoyed. “Go away, I do not want to be disturbed, until my transport is ready to take me back to shore” I shouted, when the door opened, and the Stewards face apeared, I shouted at him to get out, and I stormed to the door, and slammed it shut and locked it.

I was bored, on my own, and I was not happy, what a way to spend weekend, not what I had hoped for, as I went back to watching the television, and I felt the slight change of motion, as the vessel changed directions. About an hour later, the telephone in my suite rang, and I hesitated for a moment before I answered it, “First Officer here sir, we are just offshore near Hillaries Marina, a boat is in the water ready to take you ashore, jsut go to the rear platform on the main deck” he informed me, “Very well, I will be there shortly” I replied and I hung up the phonee.

Once I had turned off the television, I grabbed my overnight bag, and headed for the forward main stairs, down one deck, then walking down the foyer to the central stairs, I went down two decks to the maindeck foyer, and continued walking towards the rear, exiting out onto the Beach club lounge, where I could see the waiting boat.

As I stepped down onto the platform, I saw that we were only about 500 metres out from the marina, and I climbed into the boat and we set off toward the mainland. Once I was on the jetty, the boat turned around and headed back to the vessel, while I headed for the nearest taxi rank, to get to the train station, to get to Fremantle, so I could collect my car and drive home, which I did, while still in a bad mood.

Taking the phone off the hook and turning off my mobile, I ignored the flashing light of a message on the machine, and I went for a walk around the vineyard and orchard, to try and cool off a little. When my stomach growled signalling the need for food, I climbed into my car and headed into town to get something to eat. Less than an hour later, I was back home, and at first I was not sure what to do.

When I spotted my laundry on the clothes line, I grabbed the washing basket, and retreived all of my dry clean washing, and dumped it onto the lounge room chair, as I was in no mood to fold it all and put it away, so I retreated to my bedroom, closed the curtains and lay down in my bed and fell asleep.

When I woke next time, it was almost dark, so after going to the bathroom to relieve my full bladder, I went into the lounge and turned on the television, just in time for the news. “... in tonight’s news, the mystery Norwegian Ship that came into Fremantle yesterday, went out for a short cruise early this morning, and was seen entering Fremantle Harbour, jsut before dark tonight. There is still no news on...” I changed the channel, as I didnt want to hear any more abotu that damn boat, and eventually decided to put on a DVD to distract me.

When I woke the next morning, after watching a number of movies till very late, it was almost 11am, Sunday, and that is when I remembered the programme, so I turned on the tv and switched it to channel two. A few minutes later the Sunday service programme started. “Good morning, today we start a special feature, where two talented young choir singers, take us on a musical tour of some of the anglican churches and chapels around our state.

Today we have three chapels, firstly the tiny chapel located on Rottnest Island, this will be followed by the St Georges chapel at the UWA, and finally the St George and St Mary Chapel in Guildford...” the presenter announced, and I sat and watched the whole programme, surprised a little by how well the recordings went, and without showing who we are.

When the programme ended, I remembered the message machine, and reluctantly I pressed the play button, “Hi, its Kyle here, just wanted to remind you that our programme starts this Sunday, so don’t forget to watch it”, I smiled when I heard this, and made a mental note to call Kyle back shortly.