New Beginings - 13. NB Chapter 13

“I had it refuelled and washed yesterday, so your car is ready to go” Annette annnounce as she gave me a kiss on the cheek, and gave me a little shove towards my vehicle. I waved goodbye and climbed in, and I was soon on my way heading for Perth and on to Fremantle, with the clock in the vehicle ticking over to 7am, as I left the Rectory.

Nearly two hours later, I finally arrived at the ferry terminal on the river at Fremantle, during the journey I called the ferry company and booked two adult and two children tickets return to Rottnest Island, and I rushed to the ticket office after parking the vehicle, and locking it up, forgetting to grab the backpack. Once I had the tickets in hand, I looked around to see if I could find Sebastian and the twins.

Suddenly I realised two boys standing nearby looking straight at me, “Ciao Huon” they shouted to me, as they came rushing towards me, and I squatted down to prepare for a big hug from both of them, which nearly knocked me off my feet. “Ciao ragazzi” I said in reply, with a big smile, they looked like a smaller and younger version of Sebastian, who I spotted standing nearby with a big grin on his face.

“Hello cousin, it’s good to see you again” Sebastian said to me in English as he approached, and we hesitated for a moment, before we embraced in a warm hug, and the twins wrapped their arms around us to join in, and we laughed at this. “Oh damn, I left the backpack in the vehicle, I will be back in a moment” I said as I handed Sebastian the tickets and I raced off back to my car, just as I noticed the Ferry approaching the jetty.

I managed to get back to the ferry just before they were about to remove the walkway and set off, and we all headed upstairs to an outdoor seating area with great views. As we sat down, I pulled out my phone and typed “quokkas” into the search bar, and series of photos came up on the screen, and I clicked on the best looking photo, so it took up the whole screen.

“Questo è ciò che sembra un quokka” I said to the twins, explaining the picture is what a quokka looks like, and the boys eyes lit up in amazement, “possiamo vedere un sacco di quokkas?” Louis said asking if they can see lots of them, and I smiled, “Sì, vedrete un sacco di loro, in tutta l'isola” I replied, saying they will see lots all over the island. The trip over to the island was uneventful, but it was difficult to keep the boys from wandering away, they were just to eager to get onto the island.

Sebastian was silent for most of the trip over, spending most of his time trying to keep his brothers under control, “Yes Sebastian, that was me on the Falkland Islands, I work on a farm there every summer and mid-year holidays, and I am a 2nd year university student, studying Veterinary Medicine” I said to Sebastian, to break the silence. “I thought it was you, I saw you driving an old landrover when the boys and I were walking into town” Sebastian replied.

“I am sorry for avoiding you Seb, I just didn’t like the way you were hunting me down like a stalker, I understand now why, but because I didn’t know what you want, I was scared” I admitted, “I understand, and that it fine, we are here now, and I hope it will be the start of a great friendship as long lost cousins” Sebastian replied. “I am sorry for what happened on the ship too, I was alone amongst strangers, I was bored with nothing much to do, and it all just got to me in the end.

I went to the crew mess, so I could eat with the crew, so I had people around me, and when the captain tried to insist that I go up to the formal dining room to eat, I just had enough, and I went to my cabin, then one of the stewards barged in without waiting for a reply, and he copped a mouthful from me as well” I explained to Sebastian.

“Yes I finally got the full story, once I pressured them in telling me. All of the Norwegian crew are now gone, plus some of the British and German crew, I have replaced all the officers with Australian’s and New Zealanders, and the other crew are Canadian’s and South African’s, so it is a real mixture of crew now from 6 nations” Sebastian explained.

“So the Southern Explorer is still in the Falklands?” I asked, “No, they left a week after me, which would be around the time you left, they are on their way back to Cape Town, and will be there in a weeks time, as it is a twelve day trip from Stanley to Cape Town, depending on the weather.

They will stay there, till it is time to start the next supply run, leaving March 1st, and they will get to Albany at around March 27th, depending on how the supply run goes, so far each run has been going smoothly” Sebastian explained. “That is one very unique mail run that you do there, probably the most remote mail run in the world” I commented with a smile.

“It is, and the researchers are alway grateful for news from home. We also do the changeovers for researchers to their new postings, and bring the others off, so they can return home. That is a bonus for us, as we charge them passage to and from their research station, including their food and accommodation for the days at sea. We visit 5 research stations in the Southern Ocean and two in the South Atlantic, which takes twenty one days to complete.

Once we have refuelled in Cape Town, we go to Bouvet Island, which has a Norwegian Research Station, then to the South Georgia Islands and Falklands, which is a further twelve days, getting there after the worse of the winter weather has gone, and the same on the way to Albany, except its a race to get there before the winter weather arrives, with a four month lay over in Summer in the Falklands and South Georgia Islands, and a 5 month lay over in Western Australia for winter, although last year, we went up the coast, and managed to get a few charters up that way” Sebastian explained.

“It must get pretty rough out there in the Southern Ocean?” I asked, “It definately does, but we have been lucky so far, we have only hit storms once in the three trips so far, and that was the last trip on the way to Cape Town, the twins didn’t like it one bit, but, the ship did very well, and it is built to handle extreme weather conditions, it is even classed as a icebreaker, if we ever needed to get down to any of the Antarctic research stations” Sebastian said, as we watched the ferry approach the main jetty of Rottnest Island.

“We need to get the boys covered in sunscreen lotion, as it is going to be hot today, and we better buy some hats too, I left my wide brim hat at FI, so I will need to get another one” I explained to Sebastian. Once we had stepped onto the jetty, we covered the boys with lotion on their faces, arms, legs and back of their necks, and with Seb and I having a twin each to hold onto, we walked down the long jetty towards the main settlement.

We stopped off at a shop to get hats for everyone, before going to the bakery to get a milkshake for the boys, Sebastian ordered a coffee, and I ordered a cup of tea and some breakfast, as I hadn’t had time to eat before leaving the rectory this morning. “Quokka’s the twins shouted in unison, when they saw the friendly furry little marsupials, and I grabbed their arms, to stop them both from jumping up and frightening them.

“Ragazzi, devi essere tranquillo, quindi non li spaventate e non li nutrite di cibo” I said to the twins, to tell them to be quiet, so as not to scare them away, and not give them any food, and holding the boys hands, we slowly walked forward, and then crouched down. I let go of the boys hands, and they held their empty hands out to the quokka’s, and a number of quokkas cautiously approached the boys, as I backed away, and reached for my camera, out of the backpack, and quickly took some photos of the boys and the quokkas.

“Vieni ragazzi, vedremo molto di più, finisci le tue bevande ora” Sebastian said, asking them to come, that they will see lots more and to finish their drinks. Once we had finished our drinks and my breakfast, we went into the general store, where we found some kids and adults snorkelling gear, next we found a sports clothes store for board shorts for everyone, plus some towels, and once we were kitted out properly, we headed to the nearest protected beach for a nice cool swim, and building sand castles.

“This has been the happiest I have seen the boys in a long time, thankyou for this” Sebastian said to me, as we watched the boys playing in the shallows of the water. “When I saw the photo of our mum’s together, I lost it completely, I miss my mum so much it hurts” I said to Sebastian, “I can understand that, I guess I was kept so busy by my dad with showing me the business, and spending time with the twins, I didn’t really have time to grieve after my mum died” Sebastian commented, in a sad tone.

“I don’t know why I didn’t recognise how simular you look to me, I bet Annette would have spotted it right away, when you met her last week” I said, “She did indeed, and when I explained it all to her, she understood why I ws trying so hard to spend time to get to know you. Annette said that she has known you for four years, since she became the chaplain at your school and minister at your home town, she seems to care for you very much” Sebastian said to me. “Yes she does, that is why I came up with an idea yesterday, and I was wondering if you could help me with it” I said, “Go on, tell me what your idea is” Seb asked. I don’t really have the funds for all of it, so I was hoping you could help me out a bit.

Firstly in the mid year holidays, in late June, I am going to pay for Kyle, that is Annette’s son, who is a year younger than me, he is in his final year at school, and me to fly to New Zealand to do a quick trip around both islands. We both only get two weeks holidays at that time. We have done a feature on ABC television on Sundays, and we want to expand that to cover part of New Zealand” I explained, “Wait a minute, do you mean, you and Kyle are the two mysterious singers, singing at different churches around WA?” Seb asked, and I smiled as I nodded my head yes.

“Well I be... my cousin the mysterious choir boy, man you have a great set of lungs, I watched some of those, and I even managed to get a copy of the DVD at the ABC shop, so I could show it to the twins, they have been watching it every Sunday since” Seb announced to me, “Wow, I never expected to hear that, thanks” I said as I blushed a little. “Now what is the second thing you want to do?” Sebastian asked. “As you know, we recorded two songs here on Rottnest Island, I want to leave a note at the chapel on the island, for Reverend Allenby, asking him to call me when he can. I want to ask him a big favour.

On Sunday, I will be going to church in Toodyay, and when the Rev isn’t watching, I want to asked one or two of the senior members of the church a few questions. What this is building up to is, to give Rev a well deserved holiday, I want to ask the senior members of the church to help convince her to go on the holiday, which I want to be at Christmas time, and I will ask Reverend Allenby, if he could fill in doing services for two weeks, while Annette is away” I explained.

“I can roughly guess where this holiday is going to be, maybe Chile and the Falkland Islands?” Sebastian asked with a big grin, and I nodded my head yes. “Well considering that I have had a lot of help from Reverend Annette, to get to speak to you, I am more than happy to pay for all the travel costs, including accommodation, food and airfares, now what about Christmas day, where is that going to be spent?” Sebastian replied.

“I was hoping in Stanley, your ship will be in port at that time won’t it? Is it possible for you to host a Christmas lunch on the ship for Tom, Margaret, Jose our farm worker, Mary and her partner, Annette and Kyle plus us four” I asked, hoping that Seb will say yes, and he said nothing for a long time, looking as if he was thinking about it seriously, “I think 11 extra people will be fine” Seb eventually said with a big grin.

“That will be great thanks, it will be the start of a New Beginning for all of us” I said in reply, pleased that my plan was starting to take shape. After nearly two hours at the beach, we headed back to the settlement for some lunch and more encounters with the quokkas, which the twins were thrilled about. From the store, I bought a note boook and pen and wrote out a short note.

“Dear Reverend Allenby. I would like to speak to you at the earliest possible time to ask you a large favour, please can you call me on my mobile. Kind regards Huon Devonport – Mystery Choir Singer”. Once I had written the note, I left Seb and the twins to check out the local musem, while I headed over to the chapel and slid the note under, hoping that he would see the note in two days time.

Once I had returned, we boarded a bus and headed inland to check out the fort ontop of the hill and also the underground tunnels, which the twins enjoyed, before we boarded another bus, and went to the far end of the island so see the rugged coastline, and the few remote beaches. We returned to the settlement just after 3pm, and after a drink and snack for the boys, we made our way towards the jetty to make our way back to the mainland.

“When are we going to see your home on the farm” Sebastian asked me after we found seats on the ferry, and my face went glum, when I heard him ask that. “While I was away in FI, there was a thunderstorm, which caused two bush fires in the district, one of them was on my property, unfortunately most of my close neighbours were away on that day, and it was some time before the fire was noticed.

I lost my family home, and the other homestead buildings and machinery, some boundary and internal fencing, the vineyard and the orchard, everything is gone according to Annette, I haven’t been out there yet. I am going there tomorrow with Annette for support, as we are meeting the insurance assessor, to work out what the total damage is. I had temporarily forgotten about it till just now” I replied.

“That is terrible, I am sorry that you lost everything, the photos I gave Annette to show you, those you can keep, I have copies of them, and I have some of our dad’s as well, which I will get copied for you as well, that way you still have photos of your parents” Sebastian said to me, “That would be great thanks, I appreciate that” I replied softly, feeling the pain of loosing everything that was a reminder of my parents.

“Where are you and the boys staying while you are here?” I asked Seb, “At the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, it is perfect for the twins, they have a nice swimming pool, and there are some beaches close by, so we have everything that we need till the ship arrives back next month” Sebastian replied. “Will you fly to Cape Town to rejoin the ship there?” I asked.

“No, I think it will be nice to have a rest from the wild weather for a change, and I hope that maybe we can spend some weekends with you, when you are not too busy with your studies” Seb said, I’m not available every weekend, but maybe every second weekend I could, depends on what work experience excursions are planned” I replied.