NB New Direction - 19. NB ND Chapter 19

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and doing no work, as part of the tradition of Sunday being a day of rest. The following morning, a community meeting was called, and we all gathered in the village square, and Sebastian chaired the meeting. All the recommendations, were accepted, and so the Deepdale Shire Council was formed. Just minutes later a shower of rain arrived, and everyone dashed indoors, to wait for it to end.

In the now Shire council building, Sebastian, Kyle and I sat down and began to gather information from other island and coastal shire councils, plus from Federal government agencies, in health, environment and quarantine and customs procedures. Rain continued to stop and start for most of the day, putting a hold on most outdoor activities, and as the daylight approached an end, the rain had finally stopped and the skies began to clear.

As we stepped out of the Shire Council building, we looked around. “You know, I have seen at a hardware warehouse a semi-permanent rectangular gazebo, which has these bars on a rail system, that slide across the length of the gazebo, with a shade material attached to the bars, to provide a large shaded area, or with a big open area, depending on the shade screen” Kyle said after a period of silence.

“Yes, I know what you mean, and if we do it in a bigger scale, we could have this whole village rectangular area into a multi - purpose area” I replied, remembering seeing the gazebo myself once. “Well give me the measurements, and I will have it made for you” Sebastian added and Ismiled, know that it would be done and quickly.

Two days later, the ship set off once again, after spending five days on the island, bound for Fremantle, to reload and prepare to return to the island, leaving Sebastian, the twins and Mrs Cooper to remain in Claremont, as the start of term two at school was about to commence, while the ship had another 5 weeks, before it has to recommence supply runs, after Sebastian had made adjustments to the supply timetable.

This time it was the smaller helicopter that was left behind, and is now sitting on the new Helipad, just up the track from the village, with 6 anchor points set into the concrete, to keep the chopper safely grounded during storms. Once a day at a varied time, Flight Officer Lentz would do some patrol flights over and around the island, up to 5 nautical milesout to sea, while the patrol boat would also do daily patrols, going out as far as 15 nautical miles out from the island.

At times, Kyle would go on the helicopter flights, to get some photographs of the island at different times of the day, and also take pictures of the whales that pass by regularly. Rain was becoming fairly regular now, and Kyle was recording averages of 4 to 11 mm of rain most days, which was doing great for the island, which was starting to look quite green, with a lot of plant germinations being successful, dramatically changing the landscape from a black rocky island, to a nice green island with low vegetation.

Meanwhile other staff were keeping busy with establishing stairs, using rocks and dirt, and a little it of concrete, to get easier access to the other two main beaches. The jetty was now in place, with it’s “T” shape allowing for the patrol boat to be moored there in protected waters, and there is also space for the ship to come right up to the jetty, for easier unloading of supplies. Some redesigning of the village had also been done, with the four double cabins now having views of the main bay and beach below, while the other cabins are located at the other end of the village along with the main dining, lounge and recreation buildings, and the medical centre.

The vehicle shed which now houses the two quad bikes and two buggies, is tucked away on the northern corner of the village, diagonally across from the town square and the soon to be location of the church, while the island administration is in the north east corner, just after the town square, and opposite the water storage and waste treatment plants are located.

The lake has overflowed a number of time now and provides a wonder scene, even if it is only for a short while and after a two week absence, Kyle received a message from the Ocean explorer, informing us that it would be arriving in the late afternoon, with the extra three team members, and lots of extra supplies, since it will be the last visit, for three months, while it is doing its freight supply run, and would not return till the third week in August.

I was in the office, when satellite phone rang, “Deepdale Island, how may I help you?” I answered, “hey cousin, how have things been going for you” I heard Sebastian reply, “everything is going nicely, and the Island is starting to look magnificent, with all the plants growing well. Are you on the Ocean Explorer?” I replied.

“No sadly I’m not, as I have commitments here at the school, I just wanted to let you know, that I have sent an extra buggy, so that you and Kyle have one just for your use, and the new church is on the ship.

I hope Annette likes it” Seb said to me. “I hope so too, have you added something extra to it have you?” I asked, suspecting that Seb had done exactly that, “Well let’s see, that rings a bell in some way. Yes, I think I did, but I can’t think what it is just now” Sebastian said, and I was laughing uncontrollably before he had even finished, “You are such anass sometimes Seb, I bet Kyle will be the bell master every Sunday morning from now on” I responded, and now Sebastian started laughing.

“I have also included that shade gazebo for the village square, It just needs to be put together, as we had to dismantle it to fit on the ship, oh and one other thing, and don’t get angry with me, but I have invited one Australian naval vessel to make a friendship visit, I am not sure which ship it will be or when it will arrive, but with all of the international media about our island, has me a little worried, with you guys being so remote, and the ship soon going on its supply run, it is a safety precaution, ok?” Sebastian announced.

“Yes ok, I will make sure that we give them a friendly welcome, but don’t expect me to get into a grass skirt and start doing the houla dance” I replied, which made Sebastian chuckle,” I bet you would look great in a grass skirt” Seb said and be began laughing loudly, just as Kyle walked into the building. When he saw the annoyed expression on my face he stopped, then I stood up and handed him the phone and before I walked out.

“Hello?” I heard Kyle say before closing the door, and I walked to the stairs and went for a walk along the beach, and I was about halfway down the beach when the ground began to shake violently, and I turned and headed back towards the stairs. Gasping for air as I reached the admin building, I found Kyle hiding under a desk, still talking on the phone, so I walked up to him and grabbed the phone.

“Seb is that you still, we have just had quite a large earthquake, we have to end this call so we can go and check for any damage, I will call back later, bye” I said and I attached the phone to my belt, and started to walk out, “Are you coming, or are you going to stay under the table?” I asked Kyle as I opened the door, and Kyle quickly followed me outside, where staff members began to gather in the village square.

“Ok, first thing we need to do is, make sure everyone is accounted for, and not injured” I said loudly to everyone gathered, and Kyle began doing a roll call of everyone, with everyone on the island answering that they were present, much to my relief. “Ok, engineers, can you please check all the buildings here and at the hamlet, to see if there is any structural damage, Flight officer, can you please do a fly around the island so check if there are any land sides anywhere, take someone with you to assist.

Patrol crew, can you do the same please, go around the island carefully, and see if there is anything that may cause us any issues, the spiral stairs are fine as I came up them straight after the quake hit, although a more thorough check might be a good idea. We also need to check all waste treatment plants, and water storage tanks, to se if there is any damage, and…”, Well bless me, would you look at that” Annette said interrupting me, and she pointed towards the lake, where there was water flowing down the waterfall, and we hadn’t had any rain for a few days.

Everyone stared at it in silence, for what seemed a very long time, and it was the sat phone that interrupted the silence, and I answered it, “Deepdale Island, how may I help you?” I said, “Mr Devonport, this is Paul Kingsley, am I imaging it, or do you have a flowing waterfall?” came the voice of the captain off the Ocean Explorer, and I looked out to sea, to see the approaching ship.

“No you are not imagining it, we have just had a powerful earthquake a few minutes ago, and it just started up, I am guessing that an underground spring has opened up and it filling the lake, probably with warm water” I responded, and when Kyle heard me say that he headed towards the stairs, and was soon on the beach, Kicking off his shoes and socks, and his shirt, Kyle dived into the bay, and began to swim towards the waterfall.

“I see, well in that case we better anchor the ship away from the island, instead of mooring at the jetty, in case there are aftershocks, I will see if I can get some more details on the earthquake. I have been informed of the Naval visit, I think that it will be happening in the next few days, maybe before we leave next week. Talk to you shortly, Bye” the captain said and he ended the call.

“Cooee” I heard come from near the waterfall, and I looked over, “The water is very warm” Kyle shouted, “Enjoy your swim” I shouted back, and Kyle gave me a wave, before diving into the water, and I headed to the Administration building, and went to the communications room.

As I sat down in the chair, I turned on the VHF radio, and held down the mic switch, “Deepdale Island to Australian Naval ship, are you receiving me, over” I said into the microphone. HMAS Avon to Deepdale Island, receiving you loud and clear, over, Commander Lyle York speaking” came the response.

“Good morning Commander, I have just been informed of your friendship visit, we have just had a strong earthquake, do you have any other information of this, over” I stated, “Yes we recorded the seismic event, it was 7.8 on the reciter scale, and it was located 67 nautical miles to the south-west of your island, and just 2 kilometres deep, do you have any damage” the Submarine Commander replied.

“Wow that is a big quake, we are still assessing the island for damage, luckily all of our buildings are ex shipping containers, so there is no building damage, so far the only thing that we have noticed so far, is that the quake has opened up a warm water spring, in the lake, creating a semi-permanent waterfall in the bay” I replied.

“That is good news to hear that, for such a large quake, we have reports that it was felt in Mauritius, the Cocos Keeling Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, and a tsunami warning was issued, but has since been cancelled” the Commander replied. “Ok, thanks for that information, now how far away are you from the island, over” I answered.

“That I cannot reveal at the moment, be assured we are in the region, as the Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers are both concerned, about the amount of International publicity of your island, appearing out of nowhere” the Commander replied, “Very well, your officers and crew are welcome to visit the island, as long as all firearms remain on your vessel, and that all footwear is disinfected before stepping onto the island” I replied, “Yes, we understand, I will contact you, just before we arrive” the Commander said.

When Kyle arrived, having dried off and had a change of clothes, “That swim was awesome, the water is a mixture of very warm and cool water, coming down the waterfall, I think I will be doing that more regularly” Kyle said to me, as he sat down at his desk, just as the phone rang, which made Kyle jump, and I chuckled as I answered the call. Deepdale Island, how may I help you” I said cheerfully.

“Mr Devonport, this is Commander York, I didn’t want to use the radios, in case they are being intercepted, I don’t want to worry you too much but you have two naval vessels heading your way, from a south west direction, approximately 1,200 nautical miles away, it looks like, they have come from Amsterdam Island, which you know is French Territory, I notified my superiors at Garden Island, and they have contacted Canberra” the Sub commander said to me.

Kyle saw the look on my face, and I could tell he was bursting to find out what is happening, “Grabbing a pen and paper I wrote. “Urgent Council meeting NOW!!!, get Captain Kingsley, Lt CommanderRobertson, and Flight Officer Lentz as well”, when Kyle read the note, he dashed out of the building, nearly crashing into the door, as he had barely slowed down to open it.

“Just a moment please, I need to include our shire council in this matter, they are being called as we speak” I said to the commander, and I picked up the UHF radio, and calmly called Captain Kingsley, Lt Commander Robertson and Flight Officer Lentz to the administration building right away. Annette was the first to arrive, and she saw the worried look on my face, as she sat down at the meeting table.

Within five minutes, the five council members, plus the three officers had arrived and sat down, and I put the phone onto loud speaker, “Right, Commander can you repeat what you said to me a few minutes ago please” I asked, “This is Commander York, from the HMAS Avon, currently in close proximity to the island, we are tracking two naval ships, presumed to be French, heading towards Deepdale Island, from the direction of Amsterdam Island.

Wait a moment… you can add a US Naval destroyer to that list, heading South East, from the direction of Diego Garcia, Naval Base, and it is a fraction further out, then the French ships. All of which are 3 ½ days away from arrival. I have been informed that HMAS Jurien and HMAS Dennison, are about to depart from Garden Island, one will arrive four hours before the foreign vessels, and one will arrive after.

Unfortunately, you are too far out to send any aircraft out, as they don’t have the return fuel range for that distance. I am getting this information from the Australian Horizon Radar System, as our current position does not allow us to get any radar tracking” the Commander informed us all, most of us looking quite shocked. “Where exactly is your present location Commander?” I asked.

“Well if you are in the long building in the far north east corner of the island, then I would estimate approximately 580 metres away, and just blow the surface” the commander replied, dashing to my desk, I grabbed the binoculars and dashed out the door, and walked towards the spiral stairs, but I didn’t need to use the binoculars, because as I looked down into the bay, I could see a very big grey shadow in the water, and I returned to the admin building, where Kyle was standing at the door.