Deception - 13. Dec Chapter 13

After a fair amount of silence, I glanced over to Tom, to find that he had fallen asleep, I smiled and just watched him sleep for a while, before I went to the car to grab the book that I had brought with me. Tom woke up about an hour later, when I was making a cup of tea, and I made one for Tom as well.

Afterwards we walked up to the top, to find the whole roof and two walls of the main shed removed and stacked in piles, I was amazed at how fast they had worked, and Tom and I started to cart lengths of wood down to the beach, so it was ready to take back to the mainland, and we stopped after an hour as Tom was getting a bit too tired from all the exercise.

While Tom rested, I went to start preparations for returning to the mainland, by packing up most of the campsite. When Jack and his sons returned to the beach, each with an armful of wood from the shed, I picked up a piece of wood that was about the right size for cricket bat, and Lloyd produced a tennis ball from the back of the Ute, and a game of beach cricket began.

After about an hour, I called a stop to the game, as it was time to get going back to the mainland, so we all got to work to pack up our swags and the rest of the campsite, and I drove my vehicle onto the barge, with Jack doing the same to his vehicle. About half an hour later, we arrived at Louth Bay, and we unloaded the vehicles, Jack and his sons said farewell and headed towards Port Lincoln, while I secured the barge and refuelled it ready for the following weekend, before we too headed home.

During the week, I made some phone calls for some purchases, to make life a little easier for us on the island, that being two quad bikes with trailers, so as to get all the pieces of the dismantled buildings down to the beach a lot easier, and also to travel around the island easier as well. I had also bought a couple large solar panels, some batteries, a power converter, and a large camping fridge, to make sure our food kept cold.

On the Thursday after work, I set up the solar panels and connected them to the batteries, to get the batteries charged up before getting to the island, and Tom and I packed up the car ready for the trip. When I had finished work on Friday, like last week I collected Tom from school, and we went home and changed, loaded up the solar panels and batteries, connected up the large trailer that I had on loan, which has the two quad bikes and trailers attached, and we set off to Louth Bay.

When we arrived at the boat ramp, Jack and his sons were already there, and their vehicle was already loaded onto the barge. “Hello Gres and Tom, how are you today?” Jack said as we drove onto the barge, and the boys began to wind up the ramp. “We are good thanks mate, have you been waiting long?” I replied to him as I headed to the back of the barge and started up the engine of the barge.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at Louth Island, and with the vehicles and trailer unloaded, Tom and I took the two quad bikes and small trailers off the large trailer, and carefully we rode the bikes up the steep slope of the island to the top. When we had reached the location of the sheds, Jack and his sons began to load up the trailer with corrugated iron from the shed roof and walls, before tying it all down.

I took the first quad bike down the slope first, going slowly and carefully, as we were not sure how hard it would be to get the fully loaded bike down to the beach. Once I had reached the beach, Tom followed, doing exactly as I had done it, taking care not to tip the bike or the trailer over, and I was very relieved when Tom reached the beach, as we started to stack the iron at the front of the barge.

Having watched us, Amos and Lloyd took the quad bikes back up to the top, while I set up the solar panels & batteries, and with the convertor I connected the large car fridge and the 12-volt lights, and Tom went to collect wood for the fire.

Jack also remained on the beach and set up the swags for his family, while I set up the newly purchased popup gazebo, and camp chairs, and helped Tom with setting up the swags. When Jack’s sons returned with two more loads of wood and corrugated iron, we all pitched in to load it all onto the barge, before calling it quits for the day. We talked and laughed as we cooked dinner and ate by the camp fire, which now has a ring of large rocks around it, making it easier to contain the ashes and making it easier to cook.

After we had cleaned up, Tom and I stripped down to our boxers, and we went for a short swim, and Amos and Lloyd soon joined us, while Jack settled down by the fire to read a book. Once we had a good swim and dried off, Tom headed to bed, while I joined the others around the camp fire to chat about the plans for the next two days.

I asked Jack if he could try and get as much of the demolition and clearing up done by the end of this weekend, so that the following weekend would leave just the few stock water tanks and troughs to be removed. I asked that the water tank near the sheds to remain, so as to hold fresh water from the nearby deep well, which has a submersible pump in it.

The following morning, I woke up to the sound of Jack and his boys leaving the campsite on foot, to begin the day’s work, and quickly cooked some breakfast for Tom and myself, and once we had cleaned up, we drove the two quad bikes and trailers up to the top. Dropping off the trailers, I asked Tom to drive five metres away from me as we do a couple sweeps of the final area of the south end of the island, to make sure there are no more holes.

We completed this in less than an hour, and returned to where the demolition work was happening, where we connected up the trailers, and helped to load more wood and iron, before we carefully drove down to the barge on the beach. After three return trips, we had managed to get everything that had been demolished so far, down onto the barge, which was now quite full, and I had arranged with a second-hand scrap dealer to come to Louth Bay, once we had a full barge load ready to be collected.

While Jack and his boys stopped for a lunch break, Tom and I were on the barge heading back to the mainland to deliver the wood and iron, taking a packed lunch with us to eat on the way, and about an hour later we returned to the island with an empty barge ready to be loaded up again. Jack and his sons had gone back to work by the time we had returned, and the quad bikes were already up top and nearly loaded up again, by the time we arrived up there.

When Tom and I returned up top after unloading the two trailers, we disconnected the trailers, and I asked Tom to follow me, as I led the way towards the central cavern, with the kit bag on the box behind my seat. When we arrived, we set up the ropes, and we abseiled down to the centre of the main cavern, where I began to do a more thorough examination of the cavern.

I paced out the diameter of the cavern in a number of places, to discover that it was almost perfectly round and 46 metres in diameter, with the hole in the roof being almost dead centre, and I recorded all the information into the small note book I had in my jacket pocket. With these measurements done, I did a rough sketch of the inside of the cave, including the space where the roof hole is in the centre.

Looking at the sketch for a while, I started to piece together an idea for a building inside the cavern, “What are you thinking Uncle?” Tom asked me after a long period of thinking, and I looked up at him and smiled. “I’m thinking of a magnificent new home for us, located here in this cavern, along the outer edge all the way around, but only ten metres deep, with a two-metre-wide veranda, to overlook a central tropical garden” I began describing what could be an amazing underground home.

“That sounds awesome uncle, tell me more” Tom said excitedly, “Well I was thinking that the hole that leads here, but also to the other cavern, would be the main entry, with a grand steel staircase, at the top, will be a stone wall surrounding the hole, with a grand steel gate, and a slanted roof, so it blends into the landscape” I said and I jotted down the ideas in the note book as I said them.

“The other holes, this one above us and the other two, will be covered with a thick Perspex glass, that will protect the hole, from weather and objects falling in, and surrounding these holes will be a circular row of solar panels, that will be the main power source for the house. Before this hole is covered, we will bring in a number of established trees, to be planted in the centre here, as part of the garden, and we will solar pump water from the well, to the hidden water tanks, which will be located at the bottom of one of the two holes.

The second hole will be the location for the biodegradable toilet and also the main bathroom, to keep all smells away from the main living areas” I said and by now Tom was listening with huge interest to every word I was saying. “I think this will be absolutely fantastic when its finished” Tom said to me and I nodded in agreement. “We will also need some stairs from the ledge, down to the pool cavern, and maybe a fence along the edge of the ledge for safety.

I’m thinking maybe we could maybe establish some sort of water and beach garden in that cavern, after we have finished in the main cavern” I added, as we walked back down the tunnel to the ropes, so we could climb back up. By the time we arrived back at the demolition site, the main shed was no longer standing, nor were the old shearers quarters, and Jack and his boys were sorting the wood and iron into piles.

By the end of the day, we had managed to get all of the scrap wood and iron down to the beach and onto the barge, I gave the scrap dealer another telephone call, and arranged another pickup for 9am the next day, and we settled down for a relaxing evening by the camp fire. “So, tell us, what do you have planned for the island, once we have removed all of the scrap wood and metal from the buildings plus most of the water tanks and troughs?” Lloyd asked me as we began cooking our dinners.

“Well, I was thinking of having the island as a private wildlife reserve, with some raised walkways around the northern half of the island, starting from the long beach on the eastern side, and I might get you three to do that for me once I have decided where exactly to put them” I said to Jack Masters and his sons, “That would be great thanks Gres, we have been enjoying the weekend campouts here” Jack said with a smile.

“I’m thinking of the walkway being no closer than 50 metres from the edge of the island, with a number of lookout sites leading just off the walkway, and I’m guessing that it will be close to 3 kilometres in length, with some toilets and a shade gazebo near the limestone rocks, just two kilometres north of the old sheds” I added.

The following morning, Tom and I made the barge trip to Louth Bay, to off load the scrap wood and iron, and we went to café for a drink and snack, before making the return journey to the island. We could hear the sound of the bikes being used, and on climbing up to the top, we saw the bikes heading towards us, about 50 metres from the edge of the island.

When the bikes came to a stop near Tom and I, at the site of the old sheds, Jack smiled as he climbed off the bike. “I think that the raised walkway, will be a great idea where you suggested that it goes, and the limestone rock just north of here is a perfect location for toilets and gazebo, I suggest starting the walkway on the far northern end of the beach, and ending at the beach in line with the gazebo” Jack said.

We talked about the plans a little bit more, and I decided that Jack and his team could start the project, as soon as I have the marking out done, which wouldn’t be till next weekend, as I needed to purchase some more steel pickets. Jack and his sons went to start dismantling the three water tanks nearby, and carting them down to the beach, while Tom and I went down to the campsite to relax and talk.

“So, Master Thomas, what do you think of the plans for the walkway, and additions to the north end of the island?” I asked Tom, and he smiled, “Not as good as the plans that you have for the south end” Tom replied cheekily and I laughed, as I took out my note book.