NB New Direction - 24. NB ND Chapter 24

After a lot of hard work by everyone, especially with the planting of all the trees, and the establishing of fruit orchards and vegetable patches around the island, we are now ready to accept our first guests onto the island. All of the larger trees were doing very well, and we had planted a variety of fruit trees amongst them, as well as having the large orchards, so we can have a plentiful supply of fruit for most of the year, and the golf course was now ready to be used.

At 2600 metres long, the airfield is a good length to accept smaller aircraft, which Sebastian had done some investigating into, and he found a company that flies the De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8aircraft, that has the fuel range to reach the island easily, with two cockpit crew and 1 or 2 cabin crew, and seating for 38 passengers.

The plane can travel the distance of 1675 kilometres to reach the island in 3 hours and 25 minutes, which was perfect. Seb also estimated that the cost per passenger would be $375 one way, to cover the cost of leasing the plane, and he suggested that with our plans to limit the number of guests on the island, that we could have one group leave, when the next group arrives, so the plane is not flying empty.

After some thought into this, we decided that the departure day and time at Perth for guest to travel to the island will be Wednesdays at 0800 hours, arriving at 1125 hours on the island, for a week-long stay, and the plane would depart with the leaving guests, at 1300 hours, arriving in Perth at 1625 hours.

When the Southern Explorer finally arrived, they offloaded the air-conditioned shipping container that will be used for storing the Aviation fuel, to refuel the plane and the islands helicopter. As the fuel and basic food supplies were being unloaded, Captain Kingsley came down onto the jetty, where I was checking of the food supplies, that we had ordered from South Africa.

“Permission to allow the crew some shore leave please sir” the captain said very officially, which made me chuckle, and I stood at attention, “Permission granted, do you have anything to declare?” I replied, and we both laughed, “Yes that is fine Paul, just make sure the crew members don’t bring anything unsealed onto the island, as we are growing our own fruit and vegetables now” I added.

“Good thinking, I will have a foot sterilisation bath set up at the end of the jetty, just to be extra careful” the Captain said to me, as I continued with my work, and he returned to the ship, and I soon heard a PA announcement, “Attention all crew, permission has been received for all crew to have shore leave on Deepdale Island, all customs and quarantine procedures are to be followed, and follow any safety instructions that the islands give you. Shore leave is for 4 hours, that is all”, and I heard some crew members cheer.

“Oh, I nearly forgot, in that pallet being unloaded now, is the special order that you made” the captain said as he reappeared on the main deck, but stayed onboard. “Thankyou captain, some of your crew members may like to try them out” I replied, not saying what was in the giant box, marked sporting goods.

Once the chopper had moved the fuel storage shipping container into place, with its drums of fuel already inside, it landed on the deck, and wound down its motors, while the pilot secured the chopper to the deck. “I see you have a golf course now Mr Devonport, are we permitted to give it a try out?” the pilot asked from the rear of B deck, and I saw the captain frown at me, and I just laughed.

“Yes, you can, just see Kyle Davies at the administration building for a golfing guide to the island. The admin building is the big red one opposite the town square” I replied, as I smiled to the Captain, who dashed off out of sight, and returned about ten minutes later, dressed casually, and by the looks of it ready for a game of golf, which made me laugh again.

About an hour after the Southern Explorer had departed, to make its way to Albany, to prepare for the next trip, I was in the office, when another earthquake struck the island, and this time it felt a lot stronger, and I heard the church bells ringing, from the ground movement, as I made my way outside, with the VHF radio in hand.

“Administration to Defence, do you copy over” I said which was followed by three very loud bangs. Receiving you sir, don’t be too concerned about those three bangs, I am guessing that it was landmines being set off by the earthquake, over” came rapid response. “Oh, ok, can you send out a patrol and see if there is any damage to the fuel dump, the airfield and Heli pad please, over” I asked, “yes sir, and we will check the rest of the island, I am sending out three platoons as we speak, over and out” the Major responded, before signing off.

“Kyle to Administrator, Huon, can you come back inside please, over” I heard over the radio, as I finished walking towards the stair case to check on it, and it appeared to be fine, so I headed back to the administration building, to see what Kyle wanted. “That was a 6.9, a little smaller than the other one, but it was a lot closer, that is why it felt stronger” Kyle informed me, as Annette walked in.

“Are you and the church ok?” I asked as she sat down, “Yes the building is fine, and I am just a little dazed, it is the first time I have felt such a strong earthquake” Annette said, as Kyle delivered a drink for his mum. “Do you want me to get the doctor?” Kyle asked, “No son, I will be fine thanks, just a little nit of shock that is all” Annette replied, as she gave us a smile of reassurance.

“Major Dutton to Administration, over” came a voice over the radio, “receiving you sir, go ahead, over” I answered, “Pleased to report no building damage at the defence base, the fuel dump, airfield, and Heli pad are all ok as well, but if I am not mistaken, I think we have gone higher in the air, over” the Major said, and I dashed outside to have a look at the bay, and sure enough I could see the water stain on the cliffs opposite the stairs, and there was now a lot more beach area, as we had risen by about 1.5 metres, which was the distance I had to jump from the bottom of the stairs, onto the sandy beach.

The jetty was still in one piece, with the patrol boat still moored to the jetty, and I noticed that the waterfall was not running as fast as before, but it still sounded the same, so I went down the stairs and onto the jetty, and just around the bend a little, I could see a second waterfall, it was a very narrow, one, but a lot stronger, and I just hoped that we won’t loose all of our fresh fish from the lake.

I was in the process of turning to return to the top, when I stopped as I spotted something unusual. “Huon to Shawn Robertson, what is your location, over” I called over the UHF radio, “About 4 metres above you” came a shout reply from Shawn, which we both laughed at.

“Take a look out there, tell me what you see instead of those scaggy rocks” I asked Shawn, “I see those scraggy rocks, but they are higher like the island, and so is the land between the rocks, man I am so glad I didn’t take a short cut the other day” Shawn replied, as he came down the stairs, and landed heavily on the beach. “A good job for our defence team when they have finished their patrols” I commented.

“What were those three loud bags after the quake hit?” Shawn asked, “The Major thinks it was more landmines, triggering off because of the earthquake” I replied, as we climbed into the Rib dinghy, and Shawn started it up as I took a seat near the front, and secured the safety belt.

As we approached the rocks, I was amazed that the pointy rocks that had been sticking out of the water, were now well out of the water, and some rocky ground had also appeared, but it was only about half a metre above the ocean. “Let’s go and check the rest of the island and see if it is the same where the other rocks are at the north end?” I commented, and Shawn changed direction and increased the speed, forcing me to hang on tight.

Calling into the small harbour where the defence base is, there didn’t appear to be any damage to the jetty, and once again, there is a lot more beach at the end of the harbour. Heading back out, we continued northwards, on the east side of the island, till we rounded the top, where we saw a long narrow island in front of us, with lots of jagged rocks well out of the water now.

The new island was almost as high as the main island, and it formed a sheltered narrow passageway, which we followed, to see if it goes all the way through, or is it joined with the main island. We came out the other end, and went around the north side of the second new island, to find yet another island, this one about half the size of the other one, also with some jagged rocks, and a passageway between the islands, which is a lot wider, with the distance between the islands being over 800 metres, compared with the other two only being about 100 metres from the main island.

Returning to the main harbour, which is a lot bigger now, thanks to the extra island at the south end, making the harbour a lot calmer as well, we moored the Rib Dinghy, and headed back up top, where I climbed onto a buggy, and set off to see the north end islands from a higher viewing point.

When I returned to the administration building, I could see that Kyle has been busy. “Hey boss, the defence team has reported in, they have found another 6 more landmines, that have been disarmed, they report that there is no building damage, and the main road has no damage at all. They also said that the larger waterfall has slowed a lot, while the new thinner waterfall is flowing fairly fast.

The residents have reported that all buildings in the village and guest village have no damage” Kyle reported. “That is good, can you get Stephan Lentz to prepare the helicopter, for a trip to the new islands, and can you call Seb and the twins, and ask them to join me, I will…” I said and I was interrupted by Sebastian entering the building.

“You called?” Seb said with a big grin, which made me chuckle. “I thought it would be good to take a little trip, to check out the new islands, from what I saw on the buggy, the most northern and smallest island, looks interesting” I said to my cousin. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the helipad, after picking up the twins from their cabin, and Stephan had the helicopter started and ready.

We stopped at the southern island first, which is very close to the defence base. “I think we could get a bridge over the gap, so the army can use it as a training area” I said as we walked around the island. Next, we landed at the largest of the northern islands, which is the second biggest of the group, “I think we could realign the golf course to include this island, say three holes on this island and the remaining six on the main island, with a connecting bridge for access” I suggested.

“If you look further north, you will see yet another island, the smallest in the group, I have special plans for that island, if it reaches your approval” I added after walking for a little while. Back in the helicopter, we made the very quick trip to the most northern island, and I asked Stephan to leave us here and ask Shawn to come and collect us in an hour, in the rib dingy, which he was a little surprised about, and he handed me a hand-held radio.

Once the chopper had gone and all we could hear was the wind and the waves, I sighed loudly. “What was that for?” Seb asked me, “Oh, I’m not sure really, just so much has happened and I would like to be able to spend some time just relaxing and doing nothing” I replied, as we stared walking around. “Stay away from the edges of the cliffs boys” Seb shouted as they took off to explore the island.

“And you are hoping that maybe this maybe a good place to do that, away from everything?” Sebastian asked me, and after a long period of silence, I nodded my head yes. “How about we build a shipping container mansion, maybe over there where it is sheltered, and plant a heap of trees, like we did on the main island, and this island has a … well looks like the boys have found it” I said when we came around the corner of a rocky ridge to the beach, where they were building sandcastles.

“Yes cousin, I think this is perfect and I definitely approve of the plans” Sebastian said smiling, as we watched the boys. When the rib arrived, we all climbed in, and I whispered to Shawn to give us a high-speed thrill ride around the island. By the end of it, when we arrived at the main jetty, Sebastian was a little pale, while the twins had huge smiles on their faces.

“Again, please” the boys chorused, “Not with me you don’t” Sebastian said as he quickly jumped off the rib, and I just smiled, as I indicated to Shawn to go for another trip. This time when we arrived back, and the boys asked for another ride, I firmly said no, and we climbed out of the rib boat, “Thanks Shawn, that was interesting” I said as I climbed onto the jetty, and followed the boys back to the top of the island.

Once I had showered and changed into some dry clothes, I headed back to the administration building, where I found Seb and Kyle talking with Annette. “I was thinking, if we are going to have guests fly in here, why not have guests sail to the island.

With the sheltered bay on the island, created from the last earthquake, and a separate beach, we could set up some mooring points in the bay, and have a couple of cafés near the beach, exclusively for the yachting guests” I suggested, “Sounds great, I will add it to the list of other things you want” Sebastian said with a big grin. “Sebastian tells us that you took him of a thrill boat road earlier” Annette commented, “Yep, it was great, that rib dinghy is awesome for fast rides around the islands” I replied, and Sebastian groaned, which made us all laugh.

“How are things going for you Annette, are you enjoying your new ministry?” Sebastian asked once the laughing had died down, “Yes I am actually, just not too keen on all the drama that has been happening lately that’s all” Annette replied, “That is understandable, we are just sorry that you have had to go through all of that” Sebastian replied, and I nodded my head in agreement.

“When are we getting the extra staff to run the bakery, café and restaurant?” I asked my cousin, “Well actually, I am having the Ocean Explorer come back here for a short trip, once it has reloaded with supplies and extra staff, before it makes its next round trip, we should be able to get the extra containers onboard, for the extra bakery and café that you want at the safe harbour beach, plus the start of our new mansion” Sebastian said happily.